Svanhild

Overview

Opening prose and stanzas 15–16 make Svanhild Guthrun’s dearest child and the cause of her sons’ revenge. The accusation and punishment that kill her are retained only as this poem’s prose account.

Relationships

• Sigurdfathers Svanhild

  fathers Svanhild

• Gudrunmothers Svanhild

  mothers Svanhild

• Jormunrekmarries Jormunrek

  marries Jormunrek

• Jormunrekhas Svanhild trampled

  has Svanhild trampled

• Gudrunlaments her daughter

  laments her daughter

Story appearances

• Guthrun’s Inciting: A Daughter’s Death and Final LamentFigure in Guthrunarhvot

  Daughter of Sigurth and Guthrun; she marries Jormunrek and is later trampled to death by horses.

• Hamthesmol: The Fragmented End of RevengeFigure in Hamthesmol

  Daughter of Sigurth and Guthrun; she marries Jormunrek and is later trampled to death by horses.

• Drap Niflunga: A Bridge between LaysFigure in prose bridge

  Daughter of Sigurth and Guthrun; she marries Jormunrek and is later trampled to death by horses.

Ancient sources

MythWeave distinguishes ancient-source evidence from later adaptations and modern interpretation.

• Anonymous; translated by Henry Adams Bellows, The Poetic Edda: Guthrunarhvot, Introduction, opening prose, and stanzas 1–22: Svanhild’s death, incitement to revenge, and Guthrun’s lament.