The Death of an Otter

Fafnir’s story starts long before he became a grumpy, gold obsessed

dragon and it would be an injustice to not tell the tale of how he met his

fate. As with so many old tales, the story involves gods who meddle in

the lives of mortals and cause no end of problems.

Before we come to how the gods got involved in Fafnir’s story, we

should introduce Fafnir and his family. Fafnir was a dwarf before he

became a dragon, and he was royalty. Fafnir was born one of three sons

of King Hreidmar. His brothers were Otr and Regin.

Otr is an important part in why Fafnir became who he eventually was,

and it was Otr’s untimely death that started the chain reaction that

spelled Fafnir’s doom.

Each of King Hreidmar’s sons had their own specific skills. Otr was a

skilled fisher man and sorcerer. During the day he take on the form of an

otter so that he could hunt for fish and when he was done, he would

bask on the banks still in the form of an otter.

Regin was, if you think of how dwarves are often portrayed, stereotypical

for his kind. He was a master at crafting metals and jewels which he

used to decorate the palace and create weapons and armour.

Fafnir was the warrior. He was seen as the strongest, the bravest and

the protector of the wealth of the Dwarven Kingdom and its people,

especially his father.

Now we know the family dynamics, we come to the gods and how they

started this whole sad tale of greed, betrayal and death.

Otr was out fishing in his otter form and once finished he relaxed on the

banks, falling to sleep worn out from his fishing efforts.

The Norse world is known for its cold and who can think about a

traditional Norse story without thinking about snow. That winter,

however, the cold had withdrawn, and the sun was being dragged

across the sky by the Sun’s chariot and stallions, Arvak and Alsvid. The

snow was retreating away from Midgard and the birds had returned.

Feeling that the weather was just right for exploration, Odin, the ruler of

Valhalla and the Aesir gods, Loki, the trickster and Honir, believed to be

one of the gods who created human kind, left their home in Asgard and

crossed over to Midgard.

The three gods came across a river and Loki saw the otter laying

contentedly on the banks of the river. Beside the otter was a half-eaten

fish; it was a very tranquil moment. At least it was until Loki picked up a

stone and threw it at the otter, killing it with one hit. Triumphant, Loki

grabbed the otter and the rest of the fish and brought them back to Odin

and Honir, who were impressed at his skill with the stone.

By this time, the night was beginning to arrive and the gods decided that

it would be wise to look for somewhere to spend the night. Spotting the

halls of Hreidmar in the distance, they headed over to ask for hospitality

for the night. They carried the otter and its fish as payment for their

lodgings, thinking they would be gladly welcomed.

Once they arrived, they asked Hreidmar to provide a roof over their head

for the night stating that in return they would provide food for everyone in

lieu of payment. Apparently, the gods do not carry money with them or if

they do, they are unwilling to part with it preferring to offer a dead otter

and a half-eaten fish in payment instead.

Hreidmar agreed to the terms and invited Odin, Loki, and Honir into his

halls. Loki, feeling proud of himself, offered the dead otter and fish over

as payment and this is where the story begins to do downhill.

Recognising the dead otter as his son. Hreidmar was full of anger and

grief and went to tell his surviving sons that they brother had been killed.

Unaware that the culprits were Odin, Loki, and Honir, Hreidmar and his

sons planned to overwhelm them and demand retribution for the death

of Otr. Hreidmar was also a sorcerer and using his skill, he was able to

deprive Odin of his spear, and Loki of this shoes. Still unaware of what

they had done to deserve this treatment, the gods were shocked to find

out that the otter Loki had killed was the son of their host.

Odin swore they did not know that the otter was Hreidmar’s son and

reasoned that this must be true as if they had known, surely, they would

never have brought the corpse of a son to his father’s halls. Hreidmar

was so filled with rage, he was determined to take the lives of the three

gods in revenge. Odin seeing this, made an offer and said that if

Hreidmar spared their lives, they would pay a ransom for the life of Otr

and that it could be as large a ransom and Hreidmar saw fit.

Hreidmar considered this, and his greed overcame him. He had his

daughters, Lyngheid and Lofnheid, skin their brother and return his skin

to their father. Hreidmar then set his demands after he laid out Otr’s skin

in front of the fire. He told the gods that they must return with enough

gold to fill Otr’s skin and also cover it completely.

His demands were agreed to, and Loki suggested that he should be the

one to retrieve the gold and Odin and Honir should remain as the

hostages of Hreidmar and his sons. Hreidmar was unaware of who Loki

was and, if he had been more aware, he would maybe have thought that

releasing the trickster god was not the best idea but that is what

happened. Cutting Loki’s bands, Hreidmar allowed Loki to leave and with

a laugh, Loki ran off into the night.

Loki did not hurry. In fact, he took his time as he thought it was funny

that the mighty Odin was being held captive by a bunch of dwarves! With

that in mind, the strolled at a leisurely pace across Midgard to the island

of Hlesy.

Loki was intending to visit the sea god Aegir, and his wife Ran and

convince them to let him borrow Ran’s net. Loki had to be convincing

and so he needed to be convincing in his concern for Odin and Honir. It

would not have been in Loki’s best interests at this point to say that he

was so worried he had taken the longest route he would think of the get

the Aegir’s halls.

Rushing into the hall, Loki looked as flustered as he could managed and

looking as though he had rushed straight to their halls, he blurted out

that Odin was in grave danger and only Ran’s net could save him. Loki

said that he needed to capture the dwarf, Andvari to steal his gold which

would pay the ransom needed for Odin.

Ran was furious that Odin was being held hostage and agreed to lend

her net to Loki. However, Ran’s net was known as her ‘drowning net’ as

she used it to capture drowned sailors and bring her to Aegir’s halls. She

would, therefore, need it back! She told Loki that whilst he could borrow

her net, he must return it and if he failed to do so, he would have to

sacrifice his life to her. Loki agreed, and being Loki, most likely assumed

that whatever he decided he would find a way around it.

Now in possession of Ran’s net, Loki set off on the next part of his plan –

the capture the dwarf, Andvari. Andvari lived in the land of the dark

elves, which would be off putting for any normal mortal, but this is Loki,

and nothing stops him when he has a plan. Andvari lived in tunnels deep

under ground and Loki was forced to find his way through a group of

dark, dank, and musty tunnels before he came to the place where he

would set his trap.

Finding a larger cavern where there was enough light to see, Loki

spread Ran’s net into a small pool in the centre of the cavern and waited

for a short while before pulling it back out and now caught in the net was

a furious, pike.

It is common knowledge in the mortal world that pikes are a fish that you

do not want to mess with. They are huge and their mouths are filled with

sharp, vicious, teeth. This pike was just as nasty, and its angry yellow

eyes stared at Loki who simply stared back and told the pike to change

shape.

The pike was not a pike. It was the dwarf Andvari who was now sitting

wrapped up in Ran’s net, staring at Loki in a disgruntled way.

Loki demanded that Andvari hand over all his gold and in return Loki

would not kill him. A fair deal? No but it was the deal Andvari was given.

After a lot of grumbling and whining, Andvari gathered his gold together.

Loki had Andvari put all the gold in a sack, but Andvari tried to hide a

ring in his hand. Loki saw this and demanded he hand that over as well.

Andvari refused and Loki forced the ring from his hand and put it onto

his own finger. Furious, Andvari shouted after Loki

“Take my ring, but my curse is on that ring. My curse is that anyone who

owns my ring will be destroyed by it! There will be no happiness to

whoever has my gold.”

Loki smiled and told Andvari that it made the gold he had taken even

more valuable and as Andvari swore and cured in the darkness, Loki

headed back to free Odin and Honir.

Odin was understandably annoyed that Loki had taken his sweet time in

returning and Loki shrugged saying it had been a difficult journey!

Loki handed over the gold to Hreidmar and said, “Here is you ransom.”

Loki knew that the gold was cursed and so it was important that

Hreidmar and his sons acknowledged that it was now their gold and so

the curse would transfer away from Loki and onto them. He had no

intention of remaining cursed!

Loki said that Hreidmar would have to stuff the skin on his deceased

son, Otr himself and that is what happened. Taking the otter skin,

Hreidmar put gold piece after gold piece into the skin until Otr’s otter

form was filled again. Once this was done, Loki said that they should use

the remaining gold to build a burial barrow for Otr, as that was the thing

to do. Hreidmar began to cover Otr’s corpse, until everything was

covered.

Hreidmar realised that one of the otter’s whiskers was still on show and

so he looked for a final piece of gold to cover it. Odin gave Hreidmar the

cursed ring and that was placed to cover the whisker. With the body of

the otter fully covered, Odin declared that the ransom was paid, and they

would be leaving!

Hreidmar agreed that it was so, and the three gods collected their

belongings. Once Odin held Gungnir, his spear once more and Loki had

his sky shoes, they felt their strength has gods returning to them.

Loki then told Hreidmar of the curse that the dwarf Andvari had put onto

his gold and told Hreidmar and his sons that for as long as they owned

the stolen gold and the ring, they would be forever cursed to live a

miserable and unhappy life.

Feeling happy with themselves the gods left, and their part in Fafnir’s

story ended.

So, how did this story result in Fafnir becoming a dragon? Well, read on!

Hreidmar cared not at all for the curse, all he cared about was the gold

and how it would make him even more wealthy. Greed took over and

Hreidmar was willing to risk a curse to have the gold. But greed is a

dangerous thing and hoarding riches brings envy from others who want

to be as wealthy themselves. This is exactly what happened, and the

Fafnir and Regin craved the gold for themselves.

Fafnir had been given the task of guarding his father’s riches and he

spent his time watching over the treasure but not receiving any of it and

this made him resentful of his father and both Fafnir and Regin saw the

gold as their inheritance and their right. Fafnir managed to convince this

brother that they should take the hoard from their father.

However, in the end, it was Fafnir who killed his own father. His need for

the gold causing him to commit a terrible crime. Fafnir took the gold and

fled as he did not trust anyone would not try and take his treasure away

from him. The curse of the gold made him angry and suspicious.

Needing to protect his gold from dangers he could see everywhere

around him, Fafnir transformed himself into a dragon so that he could

more easily protect his treasure from anyone who attempted to take it

from him. Fafnir saw thieves in every shadow, and he trusted no one.

The dwarf Fafnir was not the dragon Fafnir, alone in his mountain

Gnitaheath festering with greed, jealousy, and preparing to kill any

intruder with his poisonous breath.

The curse on the gold held true, and Fafnir lived an unhappy existence,

obsessed and isolated with this hoard.

But this is not the end of Fafnir’s story, and these tales will be told

another time.