Yggdrasil · Fire
Freyr and Surtr
The fight at Ragnarök between Freyr, the slayer of Beli, and the fire giant, and why Freyr is without his sword.
In Thorpe’s translation
53. “Then arises Hlîn’s second grief, when Odin goes with the wolf to fight, and the bright slayer of Beli with Surt. Then will Frigg’s beloved fall.”
- Benjamin Thorpe (translator), The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson (the Poetic Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Völuspá, stanza 53 (Thorpe’s numbering; other editions differ) Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
In Blackwell’s translation
“Frey encounters Surtur, and terrible blows are exchanged ere Frey falls; and he owes his defeat to his not having that trusty sword he gave to Skirnir.”
- I. A. Blackwell (translator), The Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson (the Prose Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Gylfaginning, the account of the last battle Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
What the sources say
Völuspá does not name Freyr in the stanza; it speaks of “the bright slayer of Beli” going against Surt. Beli’s slayer is generally taken to be Freyr, and in Gylfaginning Snorri tells the fight directly: blows are exchanged and Freyr falls because he no longer has the sword he gave Skírnir.
Lokasenna has Loki jeer that Freyr gave his sword away for Gerðr and will have nothing to fight with when Múspell’s sons ride. Snorri’s earlier passage on Beli adds that Freyr could have killed Beli with his fist, and will regret giving away his falchion when Múspell’s sons come. None of these texts says where the fight happens beyond Snorri’s general scene, the plain Vígríðr.
- Benjamin Thorpe (translator), The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson (the Poetic Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Völuspá 53; Lokasenna 42 (Thorpe’s numbering) Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
- I. A. Blackwell (translator), The Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson (the Prose Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Gylfaginning, the stories of Freyr’s sword and the last battle Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
Names and background
The slayer of Beli is generally taken to be Freyr, as in Völuspá; the poem leaves the epithet unexplained, and Snorri’s account of the last battle has Freyr meet Surtr. Gylfaginning says Freyr gave the sword to Skírnir, his messenger, and Lokasenna says he gave it away for Gymir’s daughter; neither says what became of it afterwards.
The pairing also fits the larger pattern of Ragnarök, in which a god meets a chief foe: Odin and the wolf, Thor and the serpent, Freyr and Surtr. See Surtr for the fire giant on his own.
- I. A. Blackwell (translator), The Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson (the Prose Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Gylfaginning Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
- Benjamin Thorpe (translator), The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson (the Poetic Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Lokasenna 42 Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
Where the sources attest it
Freyr’s fight with Surtr is told in Gylfaginning; Völuspá (stanza 53 in Thorpe’s numbering) gives a shorter version without naming Freyr. Lokasenna alludes to his lack of a sword, and Snorri’s earlier passage on Freyr and Beli looks ahead to it. The poems do not describe the fight itself. Other editions number the Völuspá stanzas differently. No archaeological or pictorial evidence for the scene is known.
- Benjamin Thorpe (translator), The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson (the Poetic Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Völuspá 53; Lokasenna 42 Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).
- I. A. Blackwell (translator), The Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson (the Prose Edda) (opens in a new tab) (19th c.; Norroena ed. 1906), Gylfaginning Rights: Public domain. Nineteenth-century translation, in the public domain. Text as published online by Project Gutenberg (ebook #14726).