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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
▲
| author =
| central theme =
| elevator pitch =
| genre = Historical fiction
| publication date = 13th century
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
''[[The Saga of
King Helgi of [[
Devastated, Yrsa leaves Helgi and their infant son Hrolf, and later marries King Adils of [[
▲''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.]]
▲King Helgi of [[Useful Notes/Denmark|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.
▲Devastated, Yrsa leaves Helgi and their infant son Hrolf, and later marries King Adils of [[Useful Notes/Sweden|Sweden]]. But Helgi fails to hold his yearning for Yrsa in check, and thus he is lured to his death in Sweden by Adils.
Eventually, the young Hrolf takes over the kingship of Denmark. Noted for his generosity, the best warriors of all the Northlands flock to Hrolf’s service, and the twelve greatest of them become known as Hrolf’s champions. With their help, Hrolf finally ventures to Sweden to demand compensation for his father’s death from Adils. But the devious and sorcerous King of Sweden turns out a less dangerous opponent than Skuld, Hrolf’s own half-sister that Helgi begot with an elf-woman.
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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 [https://web.archive.org/web/20150713205121/http://www.oe.eclipse.co.uk/nom/Hrolf%20Kraki.htm here.]
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{{tropelist}}
* [[And Now You Must Marry Me]]: King Helgi tries to force Queen Olof to marry him by landing an army in her kingdom. It doesn't work.
* [[Angel Unaware]]: The homesteader Hrani that offers his help to Hrolf is actually Odin in disguise.
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* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: Prince Bjorn, son of a king in Norway, is cursed by his sorcerous [[Wicked Stepmother]] to transform into a bear.
* [[The Berserker]]: Bödvar Bjarki in the battle of Hleidragard. "He stormed on as if he was insane."
* [[Best Served Cold]]: Oluf gets her revenge and except for the fact that it involved punishing an innocent girl in the process it is most delicious.
* [[Catch and Return]]: The retainers in Hrolf’s hall provoke the newcomer Bödvar Bjarki by throwing bones at him. It doesn’t end well for them.
* [[Child by Rape]]: Queen Oluf gets pregnant with Yrsa after being raped by Helgi.
* [[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]]: Helgi tries to kidnap Oluf and is embarrassed by Olof whereupon Helgi rapes Oluf whereupon Oluf gets her revenge as described above.
* [[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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* [[Last Stand]]: Hrolf and his champions at Hleidragard.
* [[Mugging the Monster]]: When Bodvar Bjarki first arrives at Hleidragard, the retainers in Hrolf's hall think it's a good idea to pick on the newcomer. They are wrong.
* [[Named
* [[Only the Chosen May Wield]]: Bödvar Bjarki's father Bjorn leaves his three sons three weapons struck into a wall of rock. When the sons later arrive to retrieve the weapons, everyone of them can only take the one weapon intended for him: Elk-Frodi a short-sword, Thorir Dogfoot a battle-axe; only Bödvar can pull out the most precious weapon, a longsword.
* [[Rape and Revenge]]: as described above
* [[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 [[Continuity Snarl]] 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.
* [[Same Sex Triplets]]: Elk-Frodi, Thorir Dogfoot, and Bodvar Bjarki.
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* [[Surprise Incest]]: Helgi has to find out that he unwittingly married his own daughter.
* [[Take Our Word for It]]: Quite cleverly used to top off [[The Climax]], the last stand of Hrolf and his champions:
{{quote|
* [[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
* [[Traumatic Haircut]]: Queen Olof has the sleeping Helgi’s hair shorn off to humiliate him.
* [[The Undead]]: When Skuld and Hjörvard attack Hleidragard, Skuld’s magic makes her fallen warriors come alive again to continue fighting.
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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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