Hrólf Kraki's saga
Cover of first paperback edition
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| Author | Poul Anderson |
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| Cover artist | Alan Mardon |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
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Publication date
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1973 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
Hrolf Kraki's Saga is a fantasy novel by Poul Anderson. It was first published by Ballantine Books as the sixty-second volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in October, 1973, and has been reprinted a number of times since. The novel was nominated for the British Fantasy Award in 1973.
The novel is a retelling of the story of the legendary 6th century Danish king Hrolf Kraki, pulling together and reconciling narrative strands from such diverse traditional sources as the Danish historical chronicle Chronicon Lethrense, Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum, Icelandic sagas Hrólfs saga kraka, the Skjöldunga saga and the Ynglinga saga, Norse mythological poems Skáldskaparmál and Gróttasöngr, and Anglo-Saxon poems Beowulf and Widsith.
The story is presented as if related by a female story-teller in an Anglo-Saxon court, the author feeling it would have been about that time that the legend would have reached its fullest development, and such a teller would have been least likely to abbreviate it.
The Danish king Halfdan is murdered and his position usurped by his brother Frodhi. Halfdan's young sons Helgi and Hroar go into hiding to escape his fate, successfully eluding Frodhi until they reach adulthood and can take vengeance on their father's killer. On attaining the kingship themselves they rule together. Helgi, a warrior and sea-rover, visits the equally warlike queen of the Saxons, whom he woos overbearingly. Sent packing, he later returns and rapes her, a union resulting in a daughter, Yrsa, who years later becomes an instrument of vengeance when Helgi encounters and marries her. Only after they are wed does her mother reveal Yrsa's parentage. Haunted, Yrsa leaves Denmark to wed Adhils, King of the Swedes, and Helgi is ultimately killed in battle attempting to win her back.
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