Legendary saga

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Fornalder (times past), painting by Peter Nicolai Arbo
Fornalder (times past), painting by Peter Nicolai Arbo

In Norse mythology, a Legendary saga or Fornaldarsaga (literally, a tale of times past) is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the colonization of Iceland. There are some exceptions, such as Yngvars saga víðförla, which takes place in the 11th century.

The setting is Scandinavia, but occasionally it moves temporarily to more distant and exotic locations. There are also very often mythological elements, such as dwarves, elves and giants, but in spite of this they were in centuries past considered to be reliable historic sources by Scandinavian scholars. In those days, they were much studied because they present a heroic and romantic past for Scandinavians, something that has fallen out favour among historians during the last century.

Many or most of the sagas are based on distant historic events and this is evident in cases where there are corroborating sources, such as Ragnars saga loðbrókar, Yngvars saga víðförla and Völsunga saga. In the case of Hervarar saga the names in the Gothic setting indicate a historic basis, and the latter parts of the saga are still used as a historic source for Swedish history. They often contain very old Germanic matter, such as the Hervarar saga and the Völsunga saga which contains poetry about Sigurd that did not find its way into the Poetic Edda and which would otherwise have been lost. Other sagas deal with heroes such as Ragnar Lodbrok, Starkad, Hrólf Kraki and Orvar-Odd.

Hjorvard and Hjalmar propose to Ingeborg
Hjorvard and Hjalmar propose to Ingeborg

The Fornaldarsagas have great value for legend research, since they contain motifs and complexes of motifs from many types of legend of which there is otherwise no documentation in Scandinavia prior to the mid-19th century. They are also of great value for scholars studying medieval Scandinavian ballads which are often based on the same matters. Moreover, they are also very important for the study of Scandinavian and Germanic heroic legends together with Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum which was based on the same heroic poetry and traditions.

Their influence on J.R.R. Tolkien's works and on the modern fantasy genre is considerable. For example, one of the most famous Swedish literary works, Frithiof's saga, was based on the Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna.

[edit] The sagas

[edit] Þættir (short stories)

[edit] External links

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