Fjolsvith
The gatekeeper who questions a visitor before the fire-ringed hall; he first rejects Svipdag and recognizes his name only near the end.
Overview
Fjolsvith meets a visitor who calls himself ‘Wind-Cold’ before the hall. He asks where the stranger comes from and whom he seeks, holding him back with the fire and defences outside. Their dialogue brings out Mengloth, Lyfjaberg, and many defensive names; some names and speaker assignments are unstable in the witnesses, so they are not expanded into a second quest route here. Once he learns that the visitor is Svipdag, refusal turns to admission.
Key facts
First asks the way, then the name
Fjolsvith questions the visitor repeatedly before the hall, while Svipdag initially does not answer with his own name.
Recognizes Svipdag at the end
The final recognition makes the gate more than a place of refusal and allows Mengloth to speak directly to Svipdag.
Relationships
- Svipdagbars the visitor before the fire-ringed hall
bars the visitor before the fire-ringed hall
Story appearances
- Svipdagsmol: Charms, the Gate, and RecognitionFigure in the Svipdagsmol composite reading
The gatekeeper who questions a visitor before the fire-ringed hall; he first rejects Svipdag and recognizes his name only near the end.
Ancient sources
MythWeave distinguishes ancient-source evidence from later adaptations and modern interpretation.
- Anonymous; translated by Henry Adams Bellows, The Poetic Edda: Svipdagsmol, Introduction: Grougaldr and Fjolsvinnsmol survive only in paper manuscripts no earlier than the seventeenth century; their union is an editorial arrangement and connecting stanzas may be lost.
- Anonymous; translated by Henry Adams Bellows, The Poetic Edda: Fjolsvinnsmol, Stanzas 17–58: Svipdag reaches the fire-ringed hall; Fjolsvith questions and rejects the visitor, while their exchange turns to Mengloth, Lyfjaberg, and the hall’s defences.
- Anonymous; translated by Henry Adams Bellows, The Poetic Edda: Fjolsvinnsmol, Stanzas 59–66: Fjolsvith recognizes the visitor as Svipdag; Mengloth says she has waited for him at Lyfjaberg, and the two acknowledge their long longing.