Sörla þáttr
Also known as: Sörla þáttr eða Heðins saga ok Högna, Sorli's Tale, Hedinn and Hogni, The Tale of Hogni and Hedinn
A late legendary þáttr preserved in Flateyjarbók, it fuses the Brísingamen story with the Hjaðningavíg: Freyja buys the necklace from four dwarfs, Odin lays a curse that makes Heðinn and Hǫgni fight without end, and King Óláfr Tryggvason’s retainer finally ends the battle.
Description
This short tale links mythic and heroic cycles to the conversion of Scandinavia. Freyja acquires the Brísingamen from four dwarfs by sleeping with each; Loki steals it at Odin’s command, and Odin demands that an everlasting battle be kindled between two kings to ransom it. The story then turns to Danish and Serkland kings: Sörli, Hǫgni, and Heðinn meet in feud and fellowship; an enchanted drink causes betrayal, Hildr becomes the cause and onlooker of the Hjaðningavíg, and the warriors rise nightly to resume the fight. The combat rages for 143 years until the Christian king Óláfr Tryggvason comes to the Isle of Hoy, where his man Ívarr destroys the revenant host and breaks the spell, framing heathen legend within a Christian teleology.
Historiography
Surviving in Flateyjarbók’s expanded Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta, Sörla þáttr is a late prose redaction that appropriates earlier poetic and legendary matter (Brísingamen, Hjaðningavíg) into a conversion narrative. The tale is often read alongside skaldic and eddic references (e.g., Húsdrápa; Skáldskaparmál) that mention the necklace and the endless battle. Modern scholarship notes its Christianizing closure and the editorial program of Flateyjarbók’s compilers.
Date Notes
Preserved in Flateyjarbók within Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta; narrative integrates older Hjaðningavíg and Brísingamen motifs into a Christianizing frame.
Major Characters
- Freyja
- Odin
- Loki
- Heðinn
- Hǫgni
- Brísingamen
Myths
- Freyja’s Necklace Brísingamen
- The Eternal Battle of Hedin and Hogni
- Conversion under Óláfr Tryggvason
Facts
- Extant only in Flateyjarbók within the extended Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta.
- Combines the Brísingamen episode with the Hjaðningavíg legend in a single prose narrative.
- Names four dwarfs who craft Brísingamen: Alfrigg, Dvalinn, Berlingr, and Grérr.
- States the battle lasts 143 years before being ended in Óláfr Tryggvason’s time.
- Locates the climactic haunting battle on the Isle of Hoy (Ha) in the Orkneys.
- Frames heathen myth under a Christianizing resolution typical of Flateyjarbók’s redactors.
- Attributes Heðinn’s breach of oath to an enchanted drink that erases memory.
- Presents Sörli as both foe and sworn-brother of Hǫgni in the saga’s Danish episodes.