Gjúkung
Hamðir and Sörli
Hamðir ok Sörli
Guðrún's last sons, sent to avenge their sister Svanhildr on King Jörmunrekkr; they kill their brother Erpr on the way, maim the king and are stoned to death.
Hamðir and Sörli are the sons of Guðrún and her third husband, King Jónakr Guðrúnarhvöt, prose 1. Their only deed ends the whole Gjúkung line. When Jörmunrekkr, king of the Goths, has their half-sister Svanhildr trampled to death by horses, Guðrún shames them into revenge. They go, knowing they will not come back Hamðismál 2-10. Hamðismál, which tells the story, is thought by many scholars to be among the oldest of the Eddic poems.
The brothers
The poem gives them distinct voices. Hamðir, "the high of heart", answers his mother's taunts by reminding her of Sigurðr's murder and of her own killing of her sons by Atli Hamðismál 6-8. Sörli, "wise ... ever", refuses to quarrel with her and simply tells her to weep for them now as well Hamðismál 9-10.
On the road they meet their brother Erpr and ask what help he will be. He answers that he will help "as one foot from the other has". They take it as an insult and kill him Hamðismál 13-17. Hamðismál calls Erpr their half-brother and has them call him a bastard Hamðismál 14 Hamðismál 16. The prose of Guðrúnarhvöt and Snorri make all three Guðrún's sons by Jónakr Guðrúnarhvöt, prose 1 Skáldskaparmál 41. Snorri adds the point of the riddle. Later one of them stumbles, catches himself with his hand and says that the hand helps the foot after all Skáldskaparmál 41.
The attack
They pass a gallows where "their sister's son" hangs Hamðismál 19. The hanged man is usually taken to be Jörmunrekkr's son Randvér, although the phrase would make him Svanhildr's son rather than the king's. They burst into the hall, where the drunken king boasts that he will hang them, and they cut off his hands and feet Hamðismál 22-25. No blade can hurt them. The king orders them stoned, and Sörli blames Hamðir's loose talk for giving their weakness away Hamðismál 26-27. Hamðir admits that the head would be off too if Erpr had lived. They fall at either end of the house Hamðismál 28 Hamðismál 31.
Snorri explains what the poem leaves out: Guðrún gave them mail and helmets that iron could not bite, and told them to attack the king in his sleep, the brothers to take hands and feet and Erpr the head Skáldskaparmál 41. He also quotes stanzas from Ragnarsdrápa, a shield-poem by the 9th-century skald Bragi the Old, that describe the same scene of brothers beaten to death with stones Skáldskaparmál 41. That makes this one of the earliest attested Norse legends.
"We have greatly fought, o'er the Goths do we standBy our blades laid low, like eagles on branches;Great our fame though we die today or tomorrow;None outlives the night when the Norns have spoken."Hamðismál 30
In the sources
Quoted from the hosted translations; each line is checked against the text when the site is built. Select a reference to read it in context.
Thou seest thy hands, thy feet thou beholdest, Jormunrek, flung in the fire so hot.
Stone ye the men that steel will bite not, Sword nor spear, the sons of Jonak.
His head were now off if Erp were living
Great our fame though we die today or tomorrow; None outlives the night when the Norns have spoken.
she gave them birnies and helmets so strong that iron could not bite into them.
Where the sources disagree or fall silent
- Whether Erpr was their full brother (prose of Guðrúnarhvöt, Snorri) or a half-brother by another mother (Hamðismál).
In modern culture
Not from the medieval sources.
The story is very old. The 6th-century historian Jordanes tells how the Gothic king Ermanaric had a woman named Sunilda torn apart by horses for her husband's treachery, and how her brothers Sarus and Ammius wounded him in revenge. Most scholars take these as the historical roots of Svanhildr, Sörli and Hamðir.
