Prince Amleth of Hrafnsey (885–914) was a Norse warrior and royal heir. Born into the ruling house of Hrafnsey, a remote island kingdom in the Outer Hebrides, Amleth was the son of King Aurvandil War-Raven and Queen Gudrún of Brittany. Amleth avenged the death of his father at the hands of his uncles
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Amleth was born in the Norse kingdom of Hrafnsey in the Outer Hebrides to King Aurvandil War-Raven and Queen Gudrún. As a child, his mother told him that she came to his father as a noble bride from Brittany.
In 895 AD, upon King Aurvandil's return from a campaign, a ceremony was held in his honour. However during the festivities, Amleth's uncle, Fjölnir the Brotherless , publically tested the prince’s conduct and his parents’ relations. On the day of Aurvandil’s homecoming, the queen’s sudden harshness toward Amleth was interrupted by Halla the Maiden; the boy was led away and to his loving father.
At the throne, Aurvandil distributes the spoils of conquest and designates an amulet for his son, instructing Amleth to wear it. The household assembly included Fjölnir, the king’s brother, who received his own familial honours and presented his infant son Thórir Fjölnirson.
Sacred Vows[]
That evening Aurvandil led Amleth along a consecrated path to a local temple to take part in blood-rites and oath-taking. The king dipped a gold arm ring in blood, guided his son before an effigy of Ódinn, and in a secret chamber Heimir the Fool presided as bowls of the Vision Mead of Knowledge were set before them. In these rites Amleth was instructed in “the ways of honour, battle, and death,” and he received ethical counsel: the necessity of combining wisdom and controlled folly, the injunction not to pry into the privacies of women, and the responsibilities to live honourably, preserve his kin, and avenge his father if slain. Amleth swore to uphold these charges. During these rites Amleth hallucinated the Tree of Kings, which revealed his lineage, when Aurvandil pressed the prince’s hand to a wound in his belly.
Following the rites, Aurvandil was struck by arrows, and, despite Amleth’s attempt to defend him, the king commanded his son to flee. The ambush was planned by Fjölnir, who decapitated the king and claimed his throne; Gudrún was taken. Amleth, disguised was forced to look on and observe these events. After this he escaped by boat, dedicating himself to three objectives: avenge Aurvandil, rescue Gudrún, and slay Fjölnir.
Exile[]
During his youth in exile Amleth joined a company of Varangian Berserkers and was given the name "Björnulfr." He matured into a seasoned and feared warrior, noted for savage deeds in raids on the Land of the Rus, where he exhibited brutality beyond his fellows; tearing throats with his teeth and howling like a wolf. There, he raided under the command and mentorship of Hrólfur Split-Lip and the Berserker Priest.
During a raid on a village in the Rus in 914, Amleth encountered a blind Seeress at a temple of Svetovit. The seer recalled his oath, and prophesied that he must sail to a northern isle to find a burning lake and obtain a fated sword.
Iceland[]
Amleth learned, via Eiríkr Blaze-Eye, of Fjölnir’s location. Concealing his identity as that of a slave captured from the village, he embarked for Iceland. En route he aided a fellow slave, Olga of the Birch Forest, who recognised him as one of the Berserkers but agreed to keep his secret and aid him.
On arrival at Freysdalur, he encountered Fjölnir and Thórir; he secured a position on the farm by displaying controlled aggression and retained contact with Olga as a fellow slave. Serving as a household thrall, Amleth would survey the domestic order and steadfastly plot to rescue Gudrún, avenge Aurvandil, and kill Fjölnir. While in residence he discovered a tapestry depicting the Tree of Kings.
Guided by an arctic fox vixen, Amleth entered a cave, and met a hermit known as the He-Witch. The Hermit informed him of the sword Draugr, a weapon that, according to the tradition, can only be drawn in darkness. Amleth vowed to use it for vengeance and is directed to seek the Mound Dweller for the blade, connecting it to the one he was prophesied to wield. In the tomb of the Mound Dweller, he recovered Draugr and concealed the blade under thatching to. He observed Fjölnir attempting to harm Olga and resolves to torment his enemy until the seer’s prophecy concerning the burning lake could be fulfilled.
Amleth continued to ingratiate himself into the household by competing in knattleikr and defeating a champion of Hákon Iron-Beard, and by cultivating alliances and leverage among the servants. Intimacy developed between Amleth and Olga; she instructs him in mysticised ways used by her people to temper swords.
During a night-attack, Amleth assumed command over the slaves, eliminated some of Thórir’s companions, and instilled fear within Fjölnir’s retainers. He intervened to free Melkorka, a kitchen slave, from sacrificial peril and adulterates soldiers’ provisions with hallucinogenic mushrooms as part of a campaign of psychological warfare.
In a private moment, as Amleth attempted to rescue his mother, after which she told him that she betrayed both Aurvandil and him, admitting that his birth resulted from her prior enslavement. This revelation hardened Amleth with the resolve to destroy those she loves.
He exacted summary reprisals, slaughtering Fjölnir’s men, killing Gudrún and Gunnar Fjölnirson, and witnesses the slaves burn the farm. The severity of his vengeance forces his uncle to agree to a duel, choosing the Gates of Hell, Mount Hekla.
Escape[]
Amleth revealed his identity to Fjölnir and engaged his household’s retainers in combat, before being fleeing to safety.
Olga and Amleth board a merchant vessel and attempt to flee to England. Olga, who affected his rescue, disclosed that she had fallen pregnant after their night of passion, and is entrusted with Aurvandil’s ring by Amleth. He, however, cannot leave behind his vow of vengeance and plunges into the sea to pursue the remaining elements of his oath.
Vengeance[]
Meeting his uncle at the foot of the volcano, Amleth successfully combated and killed Fjölnir but was himself mortally wounded in the engagement. Before death he hallucinated a vision of Olga and their children; their son and daughter, the maiden-king Olga of Kiev.
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