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Lævateinn

A weapon named once, in a late Eddic-style poem: made by Loki 'by the doors of death', locked in a chest with nine locks, and the only thing that can kill the cock Víðofnir.

Lævateinn is named in one stanza of one poem. In Svipdagsmál, the hero questions the watchman Fjölsviðr about the walled hall he wants to enter. Two hounds guard it, and they can be distracted only by feeding them the wing-joints of Víðofnir, the golden cock on the tree Mímameiðr Svipdagsmál 40. What weapon can kill the cock? Fjölsviðr answers:

Lævatein is there, that Lopt with runesOnce made by the doors of death;In Lægjarn's chest by Sinmora lies it,And nine locks fasten it firm.Svipdagsmál 42

Lopt is a name of Loki; "the doors of death" may mean the gate of Hel. Can anyone get it? Only by bringing the giantess Sinmara the "sickle bright" found among Víðofnir's feathers Svipdagsmál 44 Svipdagsmál 46. So the weapon can be won only with a prize from the bird that only the weapon can kill. The riddle is circular, and that seems to be its point: the hall cannot be entered by force.

What it was

Bellows has Svipdag ask about "the sword" Svipdagsmál 43, but the name means something like "damage-twig", and teinn is a word for a twig or wand. Readers have taken Lævateinn to be a sword, an arrow, a magic staff or even mistletoe. Because Víðofnir troubles "Surt and Sinmora" Svipdagsmál 34, many have guessed that Sinmara is Surtr's wife and Lævateinn the flaming sword he brings to Ragnarök. None of this is in the text.

The poem is late. The two parts Bellows joins as Svipdagsmál survive only in paper manuscripts written centuries after the Codex Regius, and Lævateinn appears nowhere else in the Eddas.

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.

Lævatein is there, that Lopt with runes Once made by the doors of death; In Lægjarn's chest by Sinmora lies it, And nine locks fasten it firm.
Svipdagsmál 42 The only mention: Loki (Lopt) made it with runes; the giantess Sinmara keeps it locked away.
What weapon can send Vithofnir to seek The house of Hel below?
Svipdagsmál 41 The weapon is introduced as the one thing that can kill the golden cock on the tree.
The sickle bright in thy wallet bear, Mid Vithofnir's feathers found; To Sinmora give it
Svipdagsmál 46 To get the weapon you must give Sinmara something taken from the cock that only the weapon can kill.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • Bellows's 'Svipdagsmál' joins two poems, Grógaldr and Fjölsvinnsmál, which survive only in late paper manuscripts; this passage is from Fjölsvinnsmál.
  • Whether Lævateinn is a sword is not certain; Bellows's following stanza says 'the sword', but the name means a twig or wand.
  • Sinmara is often taken to be the wife of Surtr, and Lævateinn to be Surtr's sword, because Víðofnir troubles 'Surt and Sinmora' (Svipdagsmál 34). The texts do not state either.

In modern culture

Not from the medieval sources.

Laevateinn appears in modern games and anime as a fire sword, often Surtr's or Loki's. That identification is modern and scholarly guesswork; no medieval source gives Surtr's sword a name.

Related

Loki The giant-born trickster counted among the Æsir: father of Fenrir, the Midgard Serpent and Hel, contriver of Baldr's death, bound until Ragnarök. Surtr The fire-giant who guards Múspell with a flaming sword; at Ragnarök he rides out from the south, kills Freyr and burns the whole world. Svipdagr and Menglöð Svipdagr ok Menglöð The young man who wakes his dead mother for protective charms, then talks his way past the giant guard Fjölsviðr to the maiden Menglöð, who has waited for him. Yggdrasil Yggdrasill The world-ash at the centre of the Norse cosmos: its roots reach the realms of gods, giants and the dead, and the gods hold court beneath it every day. Freyr's sword sverð Freys The sword that 'fights of itself', which Freyr gave to his servant Skírnir as the price of winning Gerðr. Without it he will fall to Surtr at Ragnarök.