Thursday 23 June 2016

Recapitulation

Poul Anderson's Hrolf Kraki's Saga is an eminently rich text with skilfully interwoven narratives focusing on different characters. After the Tales of Frodhi, The Brothers and Svipdag, come the Tales of Bjarki, Yrsa, Skuld and Vogg.

Since we are currently rereading the Tale of Svipdag, we know that:

Frodhi was the uncle of the Brothers, Hroar and Helgi;
Helgi was the father by different mothers of Yrsa, Hrolf and Skuld;
Yrsa is not only Hrolf's half-sister but also his mother;
Svipdag, favored by Yrsa while he served her current husband, now serves Hrolf -

- but we have yet to be introduced to either Bjarki or Vogg.

This time, I might retain more of the story, having studied it this closely.

Addendum: I spoke too soon. The genealogy on p. xv already tells us that both Svipdag and Bjarki are sons-in-law of Hrolf. Thus, only Vogg still remains to be accounted for.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And Helgi was the father of many other children by lemans. To such an extent that King Hroar worried about them disputing the succession. Helgi responded that since he had not acknowledged them as his sons, they could not make a bid for the kingship.

Sean