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Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Atlas Coeus Crius Cronus Demeter Dionysus Gaia Hades Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Hyperion Iapetus Mnemosyne Oceanus Phobos Phoebe Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Tethys Themis Uranus Zeus
Bacchus Ceres Diana Juno Jupiter Mars Mercury Minerva Neptune Pluto Venus Vesta Vulcan
Amun Anubis Aten Atum Babi Bastet Bes Geb Hapi hathor heqet Horus Isis Khepri Khnum Khonsu Maat Nephthys Nut Osiris Ptah Ra Seshat Seth Shu Sobek Thoth
Alfheim Baldur Freya Freyr Frigg Heimdallr Helheim Idun Jotunheim Loki Nerthus Njord Odin Thor Tyr
Aengus Arawn Badb Brigid Cailleach Ceridwen Cernunnos Cu Chulainn Dagda Danu Gwydion Herne the Hunter Lugh Medb Morrigan Neit Nuada Taliesin Taranis
Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
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  4. Fafnir

Fafnir

Dragon. Fafnir was the son of Hreidmar, and brother of Regin and Otter.

Originally, Fafnir was a human who was able to shape-shift. Fafnir gained possession of the treasure after killing his father. He drove his brother (Regin) away by changing himself into a dragon.

Fafnir

Fafnir
Giovanni Caselli
Illustration, 1978

The hero Sigurd killed Fafnir. Since his blood and heart contained magical properties, Sigurd ate his heart. That gave him greater strength and the blood allowed him to understand the language of the birds.

(See Otter's Ransom and Sigurd, Fafnir's Bane in the Völsunga Saga, for the full story).

According to the Norwegian Thidrekssaga and other German epics, the dragon that Sigurd or Siegfried killed was named Regin, while the dragon's human brother was a smith named Mimir. The name Fafnir was ignored in these tales.

Related Information

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Fafnir, Regin, Otter, Sigurd.

Otter's Ransom, Sigurd, Fafnir's Bane.

Jimmy Joe Timeless Myths

By Jimmy Joe

Monsters:

  • • Audumla
  • • Nidhogg
  • • Midgard Serpent
  • • Fenrir
  • • Moongarm
  • • Garm
  • • Skoll and Hati
  • • Fafnir
  • • Grendel
Fafnir

Fafnir

Fafnir was the son of Hreidmar and brother of Otter and Regin . Once Hreidmar received the ransom (Andvari's treassure) from Loki, greed set in, in the entire family. Fafnir killed his father and drove Regin off, keeping the whole treasure for him...

August 27th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Regin

Regin

In the Icelandic legend, Regin was the son of Hreidmar and brother of Fafnir and Otter . When Fafnir killed their father, he wanted the entire treasure for himself, so he drove Regin away. Not long after that, Fafnir was turned into a fearsome dra...

August 27th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Hreidmar

Hreidmar

According to the Volsunga Saga , Hreidmar was a father to four sons - Otter, Fafnir and Regin. However, in the Reginsmal , an Eddaic poem from the Poetic Edda, Hreidmar was also the father of two daughters - Lofnheid and Lyngheid. Hreidmar was hos...

August 27th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Mimir

Mimir

In the Norwegian epic called Thiðrekssaga , Mimir was the great smith who was the first master to teach Velent ( Wayland ), as well as being the foster father of the hero Sigurd . Mimir was the brother of Regin , who was an evil man who had turned...

August 27th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Sigurd

Sigurd

In the Norse legends, Sigurd was the son of Sigmund and Hjordis , who was the daughter of Eylimi. He was the half-brother of Sinfjotli, Helgi and Hamund. Note that in the Thiðrekssaga (Norwegian saga), Sigurd's mother was Sisibe , daughter of Nidu...

August 27th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Heimir

Heimir

In the epic Thiðrekssaga , a long-time friend of Thiðrek. Heimir was the son of Studas. Heimir's real name was also Studas like his father, but he adopted a new name. At the age of twelve, he named himself after the great dragon Heimir. His father...

January 1st, 2001 • Jimmy Joe
Sigurd and the Guikings

Sigurd and the Guikings

Sigurd , like his father (Sigmund) and grandfather Volsung , grew at a rapid pace, both in size and in strength. His stepfather (Alf) gave permission to Sigurd to select any horse he wished from his stable. Sigurd met an old man with one eye (Odin...

August 10th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Sigmund

Sigmund

Sigmund was the son of Volsung and Ljod ( Hljod ). He was brother of Signy (his twin), and nine other brothers; no names were ever given for Sigmund's brothers. Sigmund was the only person who could draw out the magic sword Gram ( Balmung ) from t...

August 27th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Siegfried

Siegfried

The hero of the Nibelungenlied. Siegfried was the son of Siegmund (Sigmund), the king of the Netherlands, and Sieglind (Sisibe or Hjordis ). His counterpart was the hero Sigurd who appeared in many of the Icelandic and Scandinavian sagas, such as ...

January 1st, 2001 • Jimmy Joe
Nidhogg

Nidhogg

Nidhogg was a giant worm that resided near the Hvergelmir or "Roaring Kettle", one of three sacred wells. Nidhogg constantly gnawed at one of the roots of Yggdrasill ("World Tree") that supported the world, Niflheim. One of the signs that Ragnarök...

August 27th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe

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