Fafnir’s Death

All good things have to come to an end. Although you could argue that

for Fafnir, it was not such a good thing as he was tormented daily by the

curse on the gold he was protecting, but I don’t suppose Fafnir saw his

death as a good thing. As I don’t know him personally, I can only guess

at that!

When Fafnir fled with the gold, after killing his father, his brother Regin

was, understandably, not very happy. Fafnir had asked Regin to help him

with taking the treasure from their father, but in the end, Fafnir had killed

their father and betrayed his brother by running away with the gold.

In the time that Fafnir had been gone, Regin had not stopped thinking

about the cursed gold – probably because it was cursed, and it was part

of it that they would crave more and more gold!

Regin wanted the gold back, and the only way to do that was for him to

take it back from Fafnir, by any means necessary. The problem with

curses is that they drive people to commit the most heinous crimes to

get what they want and Regin wanted the gold, and as an after thought

revenge for his father’s death.

Regin had a foster-son called Sigurd and he asked Sigurd to kill Fafnir

for him. Regin knew enough about Fafnir’s powers to advise Sigurd not

to try and take on Fafnir head-to-head, but instead he should dig a

trench on the path where Fafnir came to drink from the river. Once Fafnir

was above him, Sigurd should use his sword, Gram, to stab Fafnir

through the heart.

Whilst Sigurd was digging, an old man appeared and said that if he was

planning to kill the dragon Fafnir, he should ensure that he dug a series

of trenches which would prevent him from drowning in the blood of the

dragon. The old man was Odin in disguise.

Sigurd followed these instructions and when the trenches were finished,

he waited for Fafnir to appear. Fafnir came to drink and Sigurd fatally

stabbed him through the heart. Fafnir used his final breaths to warn his

nephew, telling Sigurd that he should leave the gold behind as nothing,

but death would come from taking the gold. Sigurd was not put off and

replied, “All men die, and I would rather die rich.”

Fafnir died and Sigurd took all the gold and also Fafnir’s heart. He

returned to Regin, who was waiting for his foster-son to return so he

could kill him and take the gold for himself. Seeing that Sigurd had

Fafnir’s heart, Regin ordered Sigurd to cook it for him as eating a

dragon’s heart will give a person great wisdom.

Unaware of this fate, Sigurd started to cook the heart, but he burnt his

finger on it. As he sucked his finger, he tasted the heart, and he was

given the ability to understand birds. Above him, two ravens were

discussing Regin’s plans to kill Sigurd and so Sigurd killed Regin before

he had the chance. Sigurd left with the treasure and Fafnir’s heart.

Although Sigurd survived both Fafnir and Regin, the curse held fast, and

he eventually was murdered and suffered many betrayals from his family

and his first love.

The moral could, therefore, be that greed is never good and eventually

you will meet your end after a life of unhappiness.