In ''

Völsunga saga The ''Völsunga saga'' (often referred to in English as the ''Volsunga Saga'' or ''Saga of the Völsungs'') is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century prose rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story ...

'', Rerir, the son of Sigi, succeeds his murdered father and avenges his death. He rules in Hunaland and becomes a powerful ruler. Rerir's son is Völsung. Rerir and his wife were unable to have children until the goddess

Frigg Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wetl ...

, the wife of

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

sent them a giantess named Hljod in the shape of a crow to deliver an apple of fertility to the couple.Byock (1990:36) Shortly after, Rerir’s wife becomes pregnant. However Rerir dies from an illness after the conception. His wife remained pregnant for six years, until she realized that she was dying and commanded that the child be delivered by Caesarian section, an operation that in those days cost the life of the mother. When the child called Völsung was delivered, he was already well grown and he “kissed his mother before she died.” Byock (1990:37) Mount Rerir is a location in the fictional world of

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the Setting (narrative), setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Midgard, Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf'' ...

Notes

References

* Byock, Jesse L. (Trans.) (1990). ''The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer''.

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

. {{refend Heroes in Norse myths and legends