Gjúkung
Högni
Gunnarr's brother: in some poems he opposes Sigurðr's murder, in others he helps; at Atli's court he laughs while his heart is cut out.
Högni is the second of Gjúki's sons, brother of Gunnarr and Guðrún. The poems agree on how he died and disagree on what he did before.
Sigurðr's death
The Short Lay makes him the voice of conscience. When Gunnarr proposes killing Sigurðr for the gold, Högni refuses to break their oaths and says Brynhildr's hate has gone too far Sigurðarkviða hin skamma 17-19. Later, when Brynhildr is dying, he alone says no one should hold her back Sigurðarkviða hin skamma 45. The Fragment shows him first questioning Gunnarr and blaming Brynhildr's jealousy. Then he rides home with the killers and tells Guðrún, "Sigurth we with our swords have slain" Brot af Sigurðarkviðu 1-3 Brot af Sigurðarkviðu 7. In Guðrúnarkviða II he again brings the news, saying Sigurðr lies "hewed to death at our hands" Guðrúnarkviða II 7. Guðrún's sons in Guðrúnarhvöt and Hamðismál speak of "Hogni's deed" in waking Sigurðr from sleep Hamðismál 6, although the next stanza says it was "Gunnar's doing" Hamðismál 7.
At Atli's court
In Atlakviða Högni reads the warning: Guðrún has sent a ring with a wolf's hair wound in it Atlakviða 8. At Atli's hall he kills seven men and throws an eighth into the fire Atlakviða 20. When Gunnarr demands his heart, the Huns first try to pass off the heart of a thrall, Hjalli. When they cut out Högni's own, he laughs Atlakviða 23-25.
Atlamál builds a household around him. His wife Kostbera reads the doctored runes and has dreams of fire, a bear and an eagle. He explains each one away Atlamál in grœnlenzku 9-19. His sons Snævarr and Sólarr go with him and die in the fighting Atlamál in grœnlenzku 28 Atlamál in grœnlenzku 49. When Atli's steward suggests killing the cook Hjalli instead, Högni begs for the slave's life and goes to the knife laughing Atlamál in grœnlenzku 57-61. Snorri's summary keeps only the bare fact that Atli had the heart cut out of him alive Skáldskaparmál 41.
A son of Högni survives. In Atlamál he helps Guðrún kill Atli and is called Hniflungr Atlamál in grœnlenzku 83-84, and Snorri also names "Högni's son" as her helper Skáldskaparmál 41.
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.
Us it beseems not so to do, To cleave with swords the oaths we swore
Sigurth we with our swords have slain
In the red ring a hair of the heath-dweller found I, Wolf-like shall our road be if we ride on this journey.
Then Hogni laughed when they cut out the heart Of the living helm-hammerer; tears he had not.
Then fain was Hogni— there are few would do thus— To beg for the slave that safe hence he should go
Where the sources disagree or fall silent
- His part in Sigurðr's murder: opposed in the Short Lay, a participant in the Fragment and Guðrúnarkviða II, and the one blamed in Hamðismál.
In modern culture
Not from the medieval sources.
In the German Nibelungenlied, Hagen is the dark centre of the story: Siegfried's killer and the keeper of the hoard he sinks in the Rhine. Wagner's Hagen in Götterdämmerung is Alberich's son. The Norse Högni is a far more sympathetic figure, which makes the German change one of the clearest differences between the two traditions.
