History Literature / TheSagaOfHrolfKraki

* TakeOurWordForIt: Quite cleverly used to top off the {{climax}}, the last stand of Hrolf and his champions:

* LadyOfBlackMagic: Skuld.

* NamedWeapon: Hrolf’s sword Skofnung, and Gullinhjalti which he gives to Hjalti.

[[caption-width-right:350:Hrolf Kraki's Last Stand. [-- [[hottip:Copyright holder's message:Picture retrieved from the project "Old educational posters" at the Centre for Texts in Teaching, the College of Vestfold, at http://www-lu.hive.no/plansjer.]] --] ]]

[[quoteright:350:[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hr%C3%B3lfr_Kraki%27s_last_stand.jpg http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HrolfKrakisLastStand_crop_7674.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HrolfKrakisLastStand_crop_7674.jpg]]

* HalfHumanHybrid: Skuld is a half-elf.

* FullBoarAction: Hrolf and his champions face off against a giant demonic boar (more specifically, a troll in boar form) twice -- one summoned by Adils, another one by Skuld.

* GiantBoar: Hrolf and his champions face off against a giant demonic boar (more specifically, a troll in boar form) -- one summoned by Adils, another one by Skuld.

By design or coincidence, Hrolf Kraki has several similarities to the KingArthur story: Like Arthur, Hrolf is born from a scandalous relationship as the offspring of a brave but morally defective father whom he never gets to know; and like Arthur, he does not so much excel in heroic feats himself, but lets his trusty band of heroes do the grunt work. Like Arthur, Hrolf has a sorcerous half-sister who is only part human, hates her brother, and eventually is the reason for his destruction. It also goes with the Arthur parallels that Hrolf spends much time in the background while the narrative focuses on the adventures of his famous champions, the most prodigious of whom is the near-invincible Bödvar Bjarki. Other champions that have their own stories are Svipdag the Swede, a former retainer of King Adils, and Hjalti, a farmer’s son who grows from Bödvar Bjarki’s wimpy sidekick into a kickass hero in his own right.

King Helgi of UsefulNotes/{{Denmark}}, of the famous Skjöldung line, is an accomplished [[HornyVikings Viking]] raider. On one of these raids, Helgi captures and rapes Queen Oluf of the Saxons. Years later, on another foray to Saxony, he kidnaps a beautiful shepherd girl, Yrsa. He marries her. Queen Oluf waits until Yrsa is pregnant, then reveals to Helgi that Yrsa is his own daughter.

Eventually, the young Hrolf takes over the kingship of Denmark. Noted for his generosity, the best warriors of all the Northlands flock to Hrolf’s service, and the twelve greatest of them become known as Hrolf’s champions. With their help, Hrolf finally ventures to Sweden to demand compensation for his father’s death from Adils. But the devious and sorcerous King of Sweden turns out less dangerous an opponent than Skuld, Hrolf’s own half-sister that Helgi begot with an elf-woman.

By design or coincidence, Hrolf Kraki has several similarities to the KingArthur story: Like Arthur, Hrolf is born from a scandalous relationship as the offspring of a brave but morally defective father whom he never gets to know; and like Arthur, he does not so much excel in heroic feats himself, but lets his trusty band of heroes do the grunt work, while he is celebrated for his leadership virtues that bring about a Golden Age of his kingdom. Like Arthur, Hrolf has a sorcerous half-sister who is only part human, hates her brother, and eventually is the reason for his destruction.

It also goes with the Arthur parallels that Hrolf spends much time in the background while the narrative focuses on the adventures of his famous champions, the most prodigious of whom is the near-invincible Bödvar Bjarki. Other champions that have their own stories are Svipdag the Swede, a former retainer of King Adils, and Hjalti, a farmer’s son who grows from Bödvar Bjarki’s wimpy sidekick into a kickass hero in his own right.

The Hrolf Kraki legend shares some of its cast with ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'': Etymologically, Hrolf can be equated to Hrothulf, who is mentioned in ''Beowulf'' as the son of Halga and nephew to King Hrothgar, who in turn correspond to Helgi and his brother Hroar from ''Saga of Hrolf Kraki''; their common ancestor Skjöld figures as 'Scyld Scefing' in ''Beowulf''. Some have also proposed that Hrolf’s greatest champion, Bödvar Bjarki, is the Norse equivalent of Beowulf himself. Still, the ''Saga of Hrolf'' is not the "Norse version of ''Beowulf''"; both stories have an entirely different plot and are clearly set in [[AlternateContinuity mutually exclusive continuities]] (for example, Hroar from ''Hrolf's Saga'' never gets to rule Denmark). Certain (fairly minor) parallels will most likely escape the reader without an expert pointing them out. It is however true that Bödvar Bjarki and Beowulf have much the same personality.

''The Saga of Hrolf Kraki'' (''Hrólfs saga kraka'') is a 13th century [[Literature/TheIcelandicSagas Icelandic Legendary Saga]] about the legendary Danish king Hrolf Kraki, who would have lived –- if he lived -- in the [[DarkAgeEurope early 6th century.]]

Devastated, Yrsa leaves Helgi and their infant son Hrolf, and later marries King Adils of UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}}. But Helgi’s fails to hold his yearning for Yrsa in check, and thus he is lured to his death in Sweden by Adils.

The Hrolf Kraki legend shares some of its cast with ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'': Etymologically, Hrolf can be equated to Hrothulf, who is mentioned in ''Beowulf'' as the son of Halga and nephew to King Hrothgar, who in turn correspond to Helgi and his brother Hroar from ''Saga of Hrolf Kraki''; their common ancestor Skjöld figures as 'Scyld Scefing' in ''Beowulf''. Some have also proposed that Hrolf’s greatest champion, Bödvar Bjarki, is the Norse equivalent of Beowulf himself. Still, the ''Saga of Hrolf'' is not the "Norse version of ''Beowulf''"; both stories have an entirely different plot and are clearly set in [[AlternateContinuity mutually exclusive continuities]] (for example, Hroar from ''Hrolf's Saga'' never gets to rule Denmark); certain (fairly minor) parallels will most likely escape the reader without an expert pointing them out. It is however true that Bödvar Bjarki and Beowulf have much the same personality.

''Hrolf Kraki's Saga'' is also the name of a novel by PoulAnderson, a rather faithful retelling of ''Hrólfs saga kraka'' augmented by various other sources on King Hrolf, such as Saxo Grammaticus’ ''Gesta Danorum'' and the ''Prose Edda''.