Svafrlami (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

: ) was in the ''H'' and ''U'' version of the Hervarar saga the son of Sigrlami, who was the son of Odin. In the ''R'' version, Svafrlami is called Sigrlami and his parentage is not given. Svafrlami was the king of Gardariki and the first owner of the

magic sword In mythology, legend or fiction, a magic sword is a sword with magical powers or other supernatural qualities. Renowned swords appear in the folklore of every nation that used swords. Josepha Sherman, ''Once upon a Galaxy'' p 113 In some t ...

Tyrfing Tyrfing, Tirfing or Tyrving (the name is of uncertain origin, possibly connected to the Terwingi) was a magic sword in Norse mythology, which features in the Tyrfing Cycle, which includes a poem from the ''Poetic Edda'' called ''Hervararkvi ...

. One day, he was hunting on his horse and discovered two dwarves near a large stone. He bound them by swinging his sword above them so they could not disappear. The dwarves, who were named

Dvalinn In Norse mythology, Dvalinn (Old Norse: ) is a dwarf (Hjort) who appears in several Old Norse tales and kennings. The name translates as "the dormant one" or "the one slumbering" (akin to the Danish and Norwegian "dvale" and Swedish "dvala", meani ...

and

Durin In the fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Dwarves are a race inhabiting Middle-earth, the central continent of Arda in an imagined mythological past. They are based on the dwarfs of Germanic myths who were small humanoids that lived in mounta ...

, asked if they could buy themselves free and undertook to make a magic sword. The sword would neither break nor rust and it would cut through iron and stone as easily as through cloth and would always give victory. When Svafrlami acquired the sword, he saw that it was an exquisite and beautiful weapon and it was named ''

''. However, before disappearing into the rock, the dwarves cursed the weapon so that it would never be unsheathed without killing a man, would be the undoing of Svafrlami and cause three evil deeds. One day, Svafrlami met the

Berserker In the Old Norse written corpus, berserker were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word ''berserk'' (meaning "furiously violent or out of control"). Berserkers a ...

Arngrim Arngrim was a berserker, who features in Hervarar saga, Gesta Danorum, Lay of Hyndla, a number of Faroese ballads and Orvar-Odd's saga in Norse mythology.Henrikson, Alf. (1998). ''Den stora mytologiska uppslagsboken''. Hervarar saga Accordi ...

. According to the ''H'' and ''U'' versions, they started to fight. Tyrfing cut through Arngrim's shield and down into the soil, whereupon Arngrim cut off Svafrlami's hand, took Tyrfing and slew him. Arngrim then forced Svafrlami's daughter Eyfura to marry him. According to the ''R'' version, Arngrim became the war-chief of the aged king and was given both Tyrfing and Eyfura as rewards. For the continued legend of the sword Tyrfing, see

References

* Henrikson, Alf (1998). ''Stora mytologiska uppslagsboken''. {{Tyrfing Heroes in Norse myths and legends Tyrfing cycle Kings in Norse mythology and legends