Sinfjotli- Norse HeroHero
Also known as: Sinfjötli and Fitela
Symbols
Description
A warrior of pure Völsung blood, deliberately conceived through Signý's incestuous union with her brother Sigmund to create the perfect avenger. After living as werewolves in the wilderness, he and Sigmund burned King Siggeir alive in his own hall.
Mythology & Lore
Birth and Purpose
In the Völsunga saga, King Siggeir treacherously killed Völsung and captured his sons. Only Sigmund survived, hidden in the forest by his twin sister Signý. She sent her sons by Siggeir to Sigmund one by one, testing their hardness. Each failed. Each died.
Signý used shape-shifting magic to disguise herself and lay with her own brother. The child she conceived, Sinfjötli, was of pure Völsung blood on both sides. She had made him for one purpose: to destroy Siggeir.
The Werewolf Episode
Sigmund raised Sinfjötli in the wilderness. During their time in the forest, they found enchanted wolf-skins that turned the wearer into a wolf. Father and son donned them and roamed as werewolves, agreeing to call for help if either faced more than seven opponents.
Sinfjötli killed eleven men alone and said nothing. Sigmund attacked him in wolf-rage and bit his throat open. He healed his son with a leaf brought by a raven sent from Odin. They burned the wolf-skins afterward.
Vengeance on Siggeir
Once Sinfjötli was grown, he and Sigmund went to Siggeir's hall. They were discovered and captured. Siggeir buried them alive in a mound, separated by a stone slab. Signý smuggled a sword to them wrapped in straw, and they cut through the stone with it.
Father and son set fire to Siggeir's hall. Signý came out to tell Sigmund the truth of Sinfjötli's parentage. Then she walked back into the burning hall to die beside Siggeir. She had done what she meant to do.
Death by Poison
Back in the Völsung homeland, Sigmund married Borghild. Sinfjötli killed her brother in a dispute over a woman both men wanted. At the funeral feast, Borghild offered Sinfjötli poisoned drink. Sigmund, whose body was immune to poison, took the cup and drank it for him. She offered a second cup. Sigmund drank that too. The third time, Sigmund told Sinfjötli to strain the drink through his beard. Sinfjötli drank it straight and died.
Sigmund carried the body to a fjord. A ferryman in a small boat took the corpse aboard and vanished across the water. The Völsunga saga identifies the ferryman as Odin.