History Literature / TheSagaOfHrolfKraki

By design or coincidence, Hrolf Kraki has several similarities to Myth/ArthurianLegend: 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, who grows from Bödvar Bjarki’s wimpy sidekick into a kickass hero in his own right.

By design or coincidence, Hrolf Kraki has several similarities to the Myth/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, who grows from Bödvar Bjarki’s wimpy sidekick into a kickass hero in his own right.

* CinderellaCircumstances: Yrsa is raised as a servant, without knowing that Queen Oluf is her mother.

Can be read online [[http://www.oe.eclipse.co.uk/nom/Hrolf%20Kraki.htm here.]]

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* YoungestChildWins: Elk-Frodi, Thorir Dogfoot and Bodvar Bjarki are triplets, but Bodvar is born last, and is the last to leave home. While Thorir rises to the hightest position of the three, as he becomes a king, it is Bodvar who takes revenge for his father, receives the most valuable of his father's three heirlooms, and becomes the most famous of the three brothers.

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, who grows from Bödvar Bjarki’s wimpy sidekick into a kickass hero in his own right.

[[caption-width-right:350:Hrolf Kraki's Last Stand. [-- [[labelnote:(c)]]Copyright holder's message: ''Picture is 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.[[/labelnote]] --] ]]

''Hrolf Kraki's Saga'' is also the name of a novel by PoulAnderson, a retelling of ''Hrólfs saga kraka'' augmented by various other sources on King Hrolf, such as Saxo Grammaticus’ ''Literature/GestaDanorum'' and the ''Literature/ProseEdda''.

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->''For every man Hrolf's warriors cut down, another half-dead walking corpse was there to take his place. Bothvar even engaged the Swedish king Hjorvarth in single combat, cut off both of the guy's arms, slice off a leg, and cleaved the dude in half through the torso, but Skuld reanimated her husband's corpse within minutes and hurled his cobbled-together body back into the fray anew. I can only assume this was pretty demoralizing to everybody involved.''
-->BadassOfTheWeek

* LadyOfBlackMagic: Skuld. She has [[http://www.badassoftheweek.com/skuld.html her own page]] on ''BadassOfTheWeek''.

* WeNamedTheMonkeyJack: After being raped by Helgi, Queen Olof gives birth to a daughter. She names her Yrsa after one of her dogs and has her raised like a serf.

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

[[caption-width-right:350:Hrolf Kraki's Last Stand. [-- [[hottip:(c):Copyright holder's message: ''Picture is 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.]] --] ]]

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

* RetCon: ''Hrólfs saga'' describes a situation where Hrolf has twelve "champions" and twelve "berserkers" in his service, but a few decades prior, ''Snorra Edda'' was clear that Hrolf's twelve champions ''were'' Hrolf's twelve berserkers. An oversight of the author when making that change has left a slight ContinuitySnarl in the expedition to Sweden, when the saga first says that Hrolf takes both the berserkers ''and'' the champions with him, but a little later it becomes clear that only the "champions" are there.

* RapeAndRevenge: Queen Oluf avenges herself on Helgi by consciously letting him impregnate a child with his own daughter.
* RetCon: ''Hrólfs saga'' describes a situation where Hrolf has twelve "champions" and twelve "berserkers" in his service, but a few decades prior, ''Snorra Edda'' was clear that Hrolf's twelve champions ''were'' Hrolf's twelve berserkers. An oversight of the author when making that change has left a slight ContinuitySnarl in the expedition to Sweden, when the saga first says that Hrolf takes both the berserkers ''and'' the champions with him, but a little later it becomes clear that only the 'champions' are there.