The Tyrfing Cycle is a collection of Norse

Norse mythology

Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

 legends, unified by the shared element of the magic sword

Magic sword

The term magic sword refers to any kind of mythological or fictional sword imbued with magical power to increase its strength or grant it other supernatural qualities. The archetype originated in myth and legend, and occurs regularly in fantasy fiction....

 Tyrfing

Tyrfing

Tyrfing or Tirfing was a magic sword in Norse mythology, which figures in a poem from the Poetic Edda called Hervararkviða, and in Hervarar saga...

. Two of the legends are found in the Poetic Edda

Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends, and from the early 19th century...

, and the Hervarar saga

Hervarar saga

Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks is a legendary saga from the 13th century combining matter from several older sagas. It is a valuable saga for several different reasons beside its literary qualities. It contains traditions of wars between Goths and Huns, from the 4th century, and the last part is used as...

 can be seen as a compilation of these legends.

The forging and the curse

The first part deals with the forging of the sword Tyrfing by the Dwarves Durin

Durin (Norse mythology)

In Norse mythology, Durinn is the name of a dwarf attested in the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá and repeated in Gylfaginning from the Prose Edda. He was the second created after the first and foremost dwarf Mótsognir. He is also attested in Hervarar saga, where he forged the magic sword Tyrfing with the...

 and Dvalin

Dvalin

In Norse mythology, Dvalin is a dwarf who appears in several Old Norse tales and kennings. The name translates as "the dormant one" or "the one slumbering"...

. They are forced to do so by Svafrlami

Svafrlami

Svafrlami was in the H and U version of the Hervarar saga the son of Sigrlami, who was the son of Odin. In the R version, Svafrlami is called Sigrlami and his parentage is not given. Svafrlami was the king of Gardariki and the first owner of the magic sword Tyrfing.One day, he was hunting on his...

, the king of Gardariki, but in revenge they curse the sword so that it will kill a man every time it is unsheathed, cause three evil deeds and be the undoing of Svarflami.

Svafrlami is killed in single combat with the berserker Arngrim

Arngrim

Arngrim was a berserker, who figures in Hervarar saga, Gesta Danorum, Lay of Hyndla, a number of Faroese ballads and Orvar-Odd's saga in Norse mythology.-Hervarar saga:...

, who takes the sword and gives it to his son Angantyr

Angantyr

Angantyr was the name of three characters from the same line in Norse mythology, and who appear in Hervarar saga, in Gesta Danorum and Faroese ballads....

.

The Battle on Samsø

The second part deals with the legend of Hjalmar

Hjálmar

- Current :*Þorsteinn Einarsson - Guitar and vocals*Sigurður Halldór Guðmundsson - Keyboards and vocals*Guðmundur Kristinn Jónsson - Guitar* Valdimar Kolbeinn Sigurjónsson - Bass* Helgi Svavar Helgason - Percussion- Former :...

, Orvar-Odd

Orvar-Odd

Örvar-Oddr is a legendary hero about whom an anonymous Icelander wrote a fornaldarsaga in the latter part of the 13th century. Örvar-Odds saga, the Saga of Örvar-Odd, became very popular and contains old legends and songs...

 and the duel on Samsø

Samsø

Samsø is a Danish island in the Kattegat off the Jutland Peninsula. Samsø is located in Samsø municipality. The community has 4,300 inhabitants called Samsingers and is 114 km² in area. Due to its central location, the island was used during the Viking Age as a meeting place...

. Arngrim's twelve sons meet Hjalmar and Orvar-Odd in a duel, but the outnumbered heroes kill Arngrim's sons. However, Hjalmar has been wounded by Tyrfing and dies.

Hervor

The third part deals with Angantyr's daughter Hervor

Hervor

Hervor is the name of two female characters in the cycle of the magic sword Tyrfing, presented in Hervarar saga with parts found in the Poetic Edda. The first Hervor was the daughter of Angantyr...

 and how she reclaims Tyrfing

Tyrfing

Tyrfing or Tirfing was a magic sword in Norse mythology, which figures in a poem from the Poetic Edda called Hervararkviða, and in Hervarar saga...

 from her father's ghost. Later she marries and has the sons Angantyr and Heidrek

Heidrek

Heidrek or Heiðrekr was one of the main characters in the cycle about the magic sword Tyrfing. He appears in the Hervarar saga, and probably also in Widsith, line 115, as Heathoric together with his sons Angantyr and Hlöð , and Hlöð's mother Sifka...

.

Heidrek

The fourth part deals with the saga of Heidrek the wise, the king of the Goths

Goths

The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....

, and contains the riddles of Gestumblindi

Gestumblindi

Gestumblindi is a character in Norse mythology who appears in Hervarar saga and in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum as Gestiblindus. Later, he also appears in several Scandinavian folk tales as Gest Blinde.-Hervarar saga:...

. If the killing of Hjalmar may be the sword's first evil deed, its second is the accidental slaying of Heidrek's brother Angantyr. The third and last evil deed is probably when Heidrek's slaves murder Heidrek during an expedition in the Carpathians

Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...

.

The Battle of the Goths and the Huns

The fifth part is about Heidrek's sons Angantyr

Angantyr

Angantyr was the name of three characters from the same line in Norse mythology, and who appear in Hervarar saga, in Gesta Danorum and Faroese ballads....

 and Hlöd

Hlöd

Hlod or Hlöd was the illegitimate son of Heidrek, the king of the Goths.He appears in the Hervarar saga and probably also as Hlith in Widsith, line 115, together with his father Heiðrekr , half-brother Angantyr , and his mother Sifka .-Claiming his inheritance:Hlöd had grown up with his grandfather...

 and how Hlöd invades the land of the Goths

Goths

The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....

 with the Hunnish horde.

The history of Sweden

The last part is about Swedish history and its line of Swedish kings from Ivar Vidfamne

Ivar Vidfamne

Ivar Vidfamne was a Danish and Swedish king hailing from Scania. He may have died c. 700. According to the Heimskringla and the Hervarar saga, Ivar was also the king of Norway, Denmark, Saxony and parts of England.- Ivar in the Sagas :He began as king of Scania and conquered Sweden by defeating...

 until king Philip Halstensson.