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In Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...
, Ótr (Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
: ; alternately: Ott, Oter, Otr, Ottar, Ottarr, Otter) is a dwarf
Dwarf or dwarves may refer to:
Common uses
*Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore
* Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...
. He is the son of the king Hreidmar and the brother of Fafnir and Regin
In Norse mythology, Reginn (Old Norse: ᚱᛁᚼᛁᚾ/ᚱᛁᚽᛁᚿ ; often anglicized as Regin or Regan) is a son of Hreiðmarr and the foster father of Sigurd. His brothers are Fafnir and Ótr.
Regin in the sagas
When Loki mistakenly ...
.
According to the Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been ...
, Ótr could change into any form and used to spend his days in the shape of an otter
Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes we ...
, greedily eating fish. In this form, he was slain by Loki
Loki is a god in Norse mythology. According to some sources, Loki is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mentioned as a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi ...
, who wanted his pelt. Initially, Hreidmar demanded a life for a life, but with the argument that the murder had been an accident when no one involved knew that Ótr was a dwarf, he settled for receiving a large weregild
Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld (in archaic/historical usage of English), weregeld, etc.), also known as man price (blood money), was a precept in some archaic legal codes whereby a monetary value was established for a person's life, to b ...
for Ótr's death, namely to fill Ótr's skin with yellow gold and to then cover it entirely with red gold. When the skin was covered, one whisker still protruded, forcing Loki to give up the ring Andvarinaut
In Norse mythology, Andvaranaut ( 12th c. Old Norse: , "Andvari's Gift"), first owned by Andvari, is a magic ring that could help with finding sources of gold.
The mischievous god Loki stole Andvari's treasure and the ring. In revenge, Andvari c ...
to hide it. The ring had been stolen from, and cursed by, the dwarf Andvari
In Norse mythology, Andvari ( 12th c. Old Norse: ; "careful one") is a dwarf who lives underneath a waterfall and has the power to change himself into a pike (gedda) at will.
Andvari had a magical ring Andvaranaut, which helped him become w ...
. It is suggested that this story was meant to show the benefits of not only adhering to the letter of the law (repayment for manslaughter) but sticking to the spirit of the law as well (demanding an exorbitant ransom). Greed for this cursed treasure ultimately caused the deaths of Hreidmar and his two surviving sons: Hreidmar was killed by Fafnir, who transformed into a dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...
, and the other two were slain by Sigurd
Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovin ...
's sword Gram
The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram.
Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to th ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otr Nibelung tradition Norse dwarves Shapeshifting Völsung cycle Fictional otters sv:Dvärg (mytologi)#Dvärgar med mindre roller