Yggdrasil · Giants and Dwarves
Fáfnir at Gnitaheiðr: Wealth Beneath a Serpent
Fáfnir kills his father for the cursed gold, becomes a serpent on Gnitaheiðr, and is slain by Sigurðr.
In Anderson’s translation
“Then the brothers made an agreement to kill their father for the sake of the gold. When this was done, Regin demanded that Fafner should give him one half of it.”
“But Fafner went to Gnita-heath (the glittering heath), where he made himself a bed, took on him the likeness of a serpent (dragon), and lay brooding over the gold.”
“Here Sigurd dug a ditch in Fafner’s path and sat down in it; so when Fafner crept to the water and came directly over this ditch, Sigurd pierced him with the sword, and this thrust caused his death.”
- Rasmus B. Anderson, The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda (opens in a new tab) (1897), Skáldskaparmál, the otter-ransom and Sigurd’s tale (three excerpts) Rights: Public domain. Public domain; Project Gutenberg #18947.
What the sources say
In Skáldskaparmál, after the gods pay the gold for Otr’s death, Hreidmarr’s sons Fáfnir and Reginn ask for a share as a ransom for their brother. Hreidmarr refuses, so the brothers kill him. Reginn then asks for half, and Fáfnir answers that he has killed his father for the gold and will not share it; he threatens Reginn with the same fate. Fáfnir takes the sword Hrotti and his father’s helmet, called the Ægir’s helmet, and Reginn flees with the sword Refill.
Fáfnir goes to Gnitaheiðr, the “glittering heath”, makes himself a bed, takes the likeness of a serpent and lies brooding over the gold. Sigurðr, urged on by Reginn, digs a ditch in the serpent’s path to the water and wounds him from below, and the thrust kills him. This is the gold that bears the curse of Andvari; the first part of that story is in Andvari and Andvarafors. Gold becomes a poetic name in the account: Fáfnir’s bed, the metal of Gnitaheiðr.
- Rasmus B. Anderson, The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda (opens in a new tab) (1897), Skáldskaparmál, the otter-ransom and Sigurd’s tale Rights: Public domain. Public domain; Project Gutenberg #18947.
Names and background
Anderson’s glossary calls Gnitaheiðr Fáfnir’s abode, where he kept the treasure of the Niflungs, and renders the name as the glittering heath. In Snorri’s account the change into a serpent follows greed and violence against kin, and the curse from Andvari’s ring and gold is said to be the bane of whoever holds it. The helmet is described as a terror to all living things.
Poems of the Elder Edda also tell of Fáfnir. The account here follows Snorri alone, and other versions differ in detail. Sigurðr’s own story continues in Reginn: The Smith Who Needed a Slayer.
- Rasmus B. Anderson, The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda (opens in a new tab) (1897), Glossary, Gnita-heath; Skáldskaparmál Rights: Public domain. Public domain; Project Gutenberg #18947.
Where the sources attest it
The killing of Hreidmarr and the serpent on Gnitaheiðr are told in Snorri’s Skáldskaparmál. The translation used here is Rasmus B. Anderson’s of 1897. Poems on the same story exist in the Elder Edda and are not quoted here. No archaeological or pictorial evidence is cited for the heath.
- Rasmus B. Anderson, The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda (opens in a new tab) (1897), Skáldskaparmál Rights: Public domain. Public domain; Project Gutenberg #18947.