Seiðr Loom

son of Hreiðmarr

Reginn

Hreiðmarr's son, a dwarfish smith who fosters Sigurðr, forges his sword and sends him against his brother Fáfnir, then plots to betray him and is beheaded.

Sigurd prüft das Schwert Gram
Sigurd prüft das Schwert Gram, Johannes Gehrts (1888). Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Reginn, son of Hreiðmarr, is Sigurðr's foster-father and the man who aims him at the dragon. Reginsmál calls him clever, fierce, skilled in magic and "a dwarf in stature" Reginsmál, prose 1, and Snorri makes him King Hjálprekr's smith Skáldskaparmál 40 without calling him a dwarf. A dwarf named Regin does appear in the list in Völuspá Völuspá 12, but nothing ties that name to him.

After his brother Fáfnir killed their father and kept the gold, Reginn asked for his share and was refused. His sister advised him to ask kindly rather than with the sword Reginsmál, prose 5 Reginsmál 12. Instead he raised a hero. He told Sigurðr the story of the ransom, and welcomed him as the "son of Sigmund" in whom he hoped to find battle Reginsmál, prose 6 Reginsmál 13. He forged the sword Gramr, and Sigurðr tested it by splitting Reginn's own anvil Skáldskaparmál 40. He sailed with Sigurðr to avenge Sigmundr Reginsmál 17, and then he urged him on to Gnitaheiðr Reginsmál, prose 10.

At the fight itself Reginn stayed out of the way, as Sigurðr points out: "thou in the heather didst hide" Fáfnismál 26. He then claimed the credit for the sword and asked for Fáfnir's heart roasted. While he slept, the nuthatches told Sigurðr that Reginn planned to kill him for the gold. Sigurðr cut off his head Fáfnismál 27 Fáfnismál 31-39 Fáfnismál, prose 6. His dying brother had already predicted the betrayal Fáfnismál 22. Wagner's scheming dwarf Mime in Siegfried is modelled on him.

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.

he was more ingenious than all other men, and a dwarf in stature; he was wise, fierce and skilled in magic.
Reginsmál, prose 1 The prose introduction to Reginn.
Had the weapon availed not that once I forged, The keen-edged blade thou didst bear.
Fáfnismál 27 Reginn claims his share of the dragon-killing.
There Regin lies, and plans he lays The youth to betray who trusts him well
Fáfnismál 33 The birds warn Sigurðr.
Then Reginn fashioned the sword Gramr
Skáldskaparmál 40 Snorri credits him with forging Sigurðr's sword.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • His own sword's name: Rithil in Fáfnismál's prose, Refill in Snorri.

Myths with Reginn

Otter's ransom and Andvari's curse Loki kills an otter that turns out to be a farmer's son. To buy their lives the gods must fill and cover its skin with gold, which Loki wrings from the dwarf Andvari, along with a ring Andvari curses. The curse starts working at once. Sigurðr slays Fáfnir Urged on by his foster-father Reginn, the young Sigurðr digs a trench on the dragon's path and stabs Fáfnir from below. A taste of the dragon's heart-blood lets him understand the birds, who warn him that Reginn means to kill him.

Related

Sigurðr The Völsung dragon-slayer of the heroic poems: he kills Fáfnir, wakes a sleeping valkyrie, marries Guðrún and is murdered by his sworn brothers, the Gjúkungs. Fáfnir Son of Hreiðmarr who killed his father for the otter's ransom and lay on the gold as a dragon on Gnitaheiðr until Sigurðr killed him from a pit. Hreiðmarr Father of Otr, Fáfnir and Reginn, who makes the gods pay a gold ransom for his son's death and is killed by his own son for it. Otr Son of Hreiðmarr who fished in otter shape; Loki killed him with a stone, and the gold paid for his death carries Andvari's curse. Gramr Sigurðr's sword, forged by Reginn, with which he killed Fáfnir; dying, he hurled it at his murderer Gotthormr and cut him in two. Grani Sigurðr's horse, chosen from King Hjálprekr's herd: he carries Fáfnir's gold and will bear no rider but Sigurðr through Brynhildr's fire. Dwarves dvergar The underground smiths of Norse myth, made from the giant Ymir's flesh or blood; they forge the gods' greatest treasures, brew the mead of poetry, and fear the daylight.