Hey everyone, guess what? I was supposed to be researching fairies for our upcoming Coven gathering, but Norse elves just kept popping up in my searches! (They're so different from the sparkly, happy elves you might be used to watching in movies. Norse elves are more super-skilled and so very powerful they can sometimes seem a little scary!) Today, I want to tell you about one particular elf named Völund. As the son of the giant Badi, Völund is a grandson to a Mermaid! As a blacksmith, he's a total rockstar who can make amazing weapons and jewelry. Some people even say he made 14 different swords – that's a lot of metalworking! (No, while the sagas do call Völund "Weyland" he is not explicitly the same "Weyland" described in Beowulf. Although the Sagas refer to Völund with various kennings (descriptive phrases) like "Weland" or "Welandes", which are related to the Old English name Weyland, scholarly articles do not equate the Sagas and Bewolf with each other. However, Bewolf refers to the same figure known as "Weyland" in Germanic legend, as a skilled smith (or blacksmith). Yet I regress. One thing is for sure, Völund's story isn't all sunshine and rainbows. He falls in love with a warrior goddess (Valkyrie, who brings warriors that die valiantly in battle to Odin's Hall at Valhalla), but the Valkyrie ends up dumping Völund. (Talk about love unrequited) and some sources claim that the two had a son together! This heartbreak makes Völund super vengeful, and he starts plotting his retaliation. (Not exactly the best way to deal with a breakup, but hey, it's Norse mythology!) The details of Völund's revenge are a bit too gruesome for this blog post, but let's just say it involves a grumpy king and a not-so-happy ending. There's a cool poem called the Völundarkviða that tells this story. It also talks about why the king might have captured Völund in the first place. Maybe he wanted Völund to make his cool weapons of war, or maybe he was just jealous or fearful of Völund's skills. Whatever the reason, things don't go well for that king! So, even though I was looking for faeries, I found out that Norse elves can be pretty interesting too. Like the fey, they're not afraid to get a little dark, which is what makes them so cool! If you'd like to read more about Völund, you can start here!
NorseMythology #Elves #Völundarkviða #PoeticEdda #MythologyMonday
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