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The Saga of Hrólf Kraki: Difference between revisions
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{{work|wppage=Hrólfs saga kraka}}
{{Infobox book
[[File:HrolfKrakisLastStand_crop_7674.jpg|frame|Hrolf Kraki's Last Stand. <small> <ref>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.</ref> </small> ]]▼
| title = The Saga of Hrólf Kraki
| original title = Hrólfs saga kraka
| image = HrolfKrakisLastStand_crop_7674.jpg
''The Saga of Hrolf Kraki'' (''Hrólfs saga kraka'') is a 13th century [[The Icelandic Sagas|Icelandic Legendary Saga]] about the legendary Danish king Hrolf Kraki, who would have lived – if he lived - in the [[Dark Age Europe|early 6th century.]]▼
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| genre = Historical fiction
| publication date = 13th century
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▲''[[The Saga of
King Helgi of [[Denmark]], of the famous Skjöldung line, is an accomplished [[Horny Vikings|Viking]] raider. On one of these raids, Helgi 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.
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''Hrolf Kraki's Saga'' is also the name of a novel by [[Poul Anderson]], a retelling of ''Hrólfs saga kraka'' augmented by various other sources on King Hrolf, such as Saxo Grammaticus’ ''Gesta Danorum'' and the ''Prose Edda''.
Can be read online [
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{{tropelist}}
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* [[Cinderella Circumstances]]: Yrsa is raised as a servant, without knowing that Queen Oluf is her mother.
* [[Cool Sword]]: Bödvar Bjarki's sword willed to him from his father is a supreme weapon, but it has also many magic limitations: If drawn, it can only be put back into the scabbard after having killed a man, and Bödvar is not allowed to put it under his head when sleeping, to whet it more than three times in his life, and to use it at all during certain intervals.
* [[Cycle of Revenge]]
* [[Death of the Old Gods]]: In a metafictional sense in the [[Poul Anderson]] version. The story begins when [[Anglo Saxons|Athalstan]] is holding court with a bishop as guest. A woman is telling a story in another room. When asked to tell the tale she replies that it is a "heathenish tale" and not fit to be told in a bishop's presence. Whereupon the bishop says it is all right. This displays the [[End of an Age|the onset of Christianity]] and [[Dawn of an Era|hopefully civilization]] and thus creates a more happy side to a rather [[Dark Fantasy]].
* [[Does Not Know His Own Strength]]: When the superhumanly strong Elk-Frodi is called out for maiming or killing other kids, he argues that it's not his fault that they are so frail.
* [[Depending on the Writer]]: ''Hrolfs saga'' makes it a point that Hrolf is physically unimpressive. This is the exact opposite of Hrolf’s description in ''Gesta Danorum'', where he is unusually tall and strong. ''Gesta Danorum'' has also the scene when Vögg (Wigg) wonders at Hrolf’s size – only he wonders at Hrolf being so big, while in ''Hrolfs saga'' he wonders that he is so ''short''.
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* [[Take Our Word for It]]: Quite cleverly used to top off [[The Climax]], the last stand of Hrolf and his champions:
{{quote|''No need to spin it out with words: there fell King Hrolf and all his champions with good glory. But what a slaughter they dealt out there, words cannot describe it.''}}
* [[The Storyteller]]: The [[Poul Anderson]] version puts it in the mouth of a female visitor to the court of the [[Anglo Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] King Athelstane.
* [[Took a Level in Badass]]: Hjalti, a farmer's son, transforms from a wimp into a ferocious champion by eating the heart of a dragon-like monster.
* [[Traumatic Haircut]]: Queen Olof has the sleeping Helgi’s hair shorn off to humiliate him.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:The Epic]]
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[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Norse Literature]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saga of Hrólf Kraki, The}}
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