Harald Wartooth (Haraldr hilditǫnn / Harald Hildetand)

The narratives present Harald as a grandson (in most accounts) of the powerful ruler Ivar Vidfamne through Auðr, although genealogies vary across sources (Sögubrot, Hervarar saga, Saxo Grammaticus supply differing parentages). Later tradition situates him roughly three generations before the mid-9th-century events associated with the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok (placing him conventionally in the late 8th century), while some accounts date the Battle of Brávellir earlier (6th–7th centuries); the texts themselves and modern summaries note these chronological and genealogical inconsistencies and treat his genealogy as dubiously historic.

No single sustained physical portrait exists in the surviving summaries beyond details tied to his byname. Saxo Grammaticus records two traditions explaining the epithet 'hilditǫnn' / 'Hildetand': one where Harald lost two teeth in battle and later grew two new teeth, and another where the name derives from conspicuously protruding teeth. Narrative accounts of the Battle of Bråvalla provide situational imagery: Harald is described as fighting from a war chariot, kneeling with one sword in each hand and slaying many warriors before being killed by his steward Bruni. These saga and chronicle images serve as the primary visual cues in the sources.

Sources attribute to Harald extensive political and military capacities: expansion and consolidation of a wide realm (claims include Zealand, Jutland, parts of Sweden, and Wendland), levying fleets and armies, appointing sub-kings and jarls to collect tribute, and conducting large-scale warfare culminating in the pitched engagement at Bråvalla. The Brávellir tradition further frames his motive as consciously securing a glorious death to gain a place in Valhalla. The supplied texts do not ascribe supernatural powers to Harald; he functions as an exemplary, heroic human leader in saga and chronicle narrative.