Svanhild- Germanic FigureMortal

The Most Beautiful of Women

Svanhild was the daughter of Sigurd the dragon-slayer and Gudrún, born into a lineage already drenched in catastrophe. The Völsunga saga describes her as the fairest of all women, with eyes of such piercing brightness that they became the defining detail of her death. After the destruction of the Gjúkung dynasty and the slaughter at Atli's hall, Gudrún survived to marry a third time, to King Jónakr, and Svanhild grew to womanhood in this last, uneasy household.

She was betrothed to Jörmunrekr (the legendary Gothic king Ermanaric), a match arranged across great distance. Jörmunrekr sent his son Randvér to escort the bride, but the treacherous counselor Bikki whispered to both Randvér and Svanhild that it would be more fitting for the young prince to marry her than the old king. Whether the accusation of adultery that followed was based on truth or Bikki's manipulation, Jörmunrekr condemned both: Randvér was hanged, and Svanhild was sentenced to be trampled to death by horses.

The Völsunga saga records that when Svanhild was brought out and the horses were driven at her, the animals would not tread upon her. Her eyes were so bright, so fierce, that the horses shied away. Only when Bikki ordered her head covered with a sack could the execution proceed. She died beneath the hooves, and the last of Sigurd's children was gone.

The Doomed Vengeance

Svanhild's death set in motion the final episode of the Völsung cycle. Gudrún, who had survived the deaths of Sigurd, of her brothers, of her sons by Atli, now lost her daughter. In the Guðrúnarhvöt (Gudrún's Incitement), she goaded her sons by Jónakr, Hamdir and Sörli, to avenge their half-sister. They set out knowing they would not return.

The Hamðismál tells the end. Hamdir and Sörli reached Jörmunrekr's hall and hewed off his hands and feet, but they had killed their half-brother Erpr on the road, refusing his offer of help, and without him they could not deliver the killing blow. Jörmunrekr called for his men to stone them, and the brothers died under a hail of rocks, the last warriors of a bloodline that had been destroying itself since Grímhild first mixed the potion of forgetfulness.