The Viking Dragon Blog

   In between their epic battles and their prodigious journeys, the Norse gods were fond of feasting. Once they invited themselves to the hall of a giant named Aegir who kept a good table. Aegir d...

An earlier blog post described how the young hero Sigurd rode through a wall of fire to waken Brynhild, the beautiful armored woman who lay asleep within the enchanted ring. He had been told that s...

An earlier blog post described how the young hero Sigurd killed the dragon Fafnir, who had once been human. Sigurd was egged on to this exploit by his foster-father Regin, who told Sigurd (truly) t...

'Sigurd and the Dragon' described how Sigurd killed the dragon Fafnir, thus getting for himself fame, wealth, and Andvari’s curse. But even before he met Fafnir, Sigurd had inherited a complex load...

'Fafnir and the Cursed Hoard' described how Fafnir and Regin murdered their sorcerer father Hreidmar for his treasure. Fafnir, the stronger of the two, drove Regin away and took the gold, and his f...

Returning to Hreidmar’s house, Loki showed Odin the treasure and the ring, but concealed the curse. Odin saw that the ring was fair, and he resolved to keep it for himself.

In the world of the Norse myths, great tragedies sometimes grew from small mistakes. Take, for instance, the tale of Andvari’s curse, which shadowed the lives of the gods and of many generation...

    'Balder’s Death' described how the trickster god Loki duped the blind god Hoder into killing Odin and Frigga's son Balder, the fairest of the gods. Balder’s death grieved most of his fellow...

Balder, son of Odin and Frigga, was the best beloved of the Norse gods. His beauty was radiant, his graciousness was unmatched, and his wise judgments were never disputed by his high-tempered fello...