Hrolf Kraki Notes

Halfdan: King of Denmark. Defeated by his brother Frodi.

Frodi: Takes Denmark from his brother, Halfdan. Finds out who Hroar and Helgi are.

Helgi: Son of Halfdan; hides from frodi on the island; uses a fake name [Hrani] ; Rules Denmark; marries his daughter Yrsa; has son Hrolf

Hroar: Son of Halfdan; hides on the island from Frodi as well ; uses a fake name [Ham] ; escapes into the forest where he is revealed; burns Frodi in the hall; settles in England; killed by Hrok.

Signy: daughter of Halfdan ; almost reveals identities of her brothers, Helgi and Hroar. Mothe rof Hrok.

Regin: Hides Helgi and Hroar from Frodi ; helps them escape from Frodi ; ends up dying .

Vifil: Reveals true identity of Helgi and Hroar; island dweller

Heid: betrayer of Helgi and Hroar

Olaf: Mother of Yrsa ; warrior Queen ; turns down Helgi when he asks to marry her ; raped by Helgi later on ; Tells Yrsa that she married her father incestly. Agrees to Adils proposal to marry Yrsa.

Yrsa: Daughter of Olof and Helgi ; has son Hrold by Helgi [her father] ; Marries Adils

Hrok: Son of Saevil & Signay; wants either a ring or part of kingdom of Denmark; throws ring into the ocean; gets feet cut off; kills Hroar, then killed by Helgi .

Adils: King of Sweden. Married to Yrsa. Ambushes and kills Helgi. Takes in Svipdag as one of his champions, then abandons him in battle against the berserkers.

Skuld: Marries Hjorvard; attacks Hrolf

Berserkers; warriors who fight for honor to their King.

Svipdag: son of Svip ; battles the berserkers ; leaves Adils kingdom for another King ; joins Hrolf in Denmark ; goes to Adils hall with Hrolf ; asks for truce between Adils and Hrolf.

Svip: has a dream that Svipdag is in trouble ; tells Svipdag's brothers, Beygad and Hvitserk to go and help him.

Bjalki: Warrior of King Hrolf

Bera: falls in love with Bjorn the bear; takes ring from underneath his shoulder; Hvit forces her to eat Bjorn; has sons Elk-Frodi, Thorir, and Bodvar ; tells Bodvar of father's legacy. Marries Valsleyt.

Bjorn: Man who turns into bear form; loves Bera; turned into a bear by Hvit due to sexual rejection.

Bodvar Bjarki: Son of Bjorn and Bera ; kills Hvit by avenging his father ; succeeds Hring as king; draws the sword from the rock Bjorn left for him ; drinks his brothers blood ; saves Hott from the bone pile in the hall ; kills monster and makes Hott drink the blood and eat the heart ; marries Drifa, Hrolf's daughter ; named Hrolf's greatest warrior .

Drifa: Married to Bodvar ; Daughter of King Hrolf.

Elk-Frodi: Half man half elk ; draws the short sword from the rock ; becomes an outlaw ; wrestles his brother Bodvar until he recognizes him ; makes Bodvar drink his blood for strength.

Haki:
Hakland:
Hardrefil:
Hjalti:
Hott:
Hjorvard:

Hring: Father of Bjorn; marries Hvit; Father in law of Bera.

Hromund:
Hvit:
Skuld:
Storolf:
Vogg:
Vott:

2. Explain how the following themes work and what characters can looked at as symbols of the theme:

Role of Kings:
Role of the warrior:
Role of women:
Concept of Magic:
Revenge:
Hospitality:
Loyalty:
Pride:
Man alone in a hostile world:

3. Discuss one event in the story that seems to represent what you believe the book to be about.
4. How do Hrolf and his Champions compare with King Arthur and the round table?
5. Make a list of at least ten moments of magic in the book.
6. Who is your favorite character and why?
7. How is the Cult of Odin important to this book?
8. Compare Hrolf Kraki to Beowulf.

Beowulf Part III Questions

1.) He may think that he;s a good king, but really, he doesn't exactly take on the role all that well. No king should be fighting for his country, he should be picking the best warriors he has to fight. At the age of 90, he tries to kill a dragon, but to no avail, he isn't able to kill him. After this happens, he dies. And lastly, no king should allow his men to kill an allie.

2.) When Beowulf dies. The whole book is titled after him, and about his three battles that he encountered. He floated in on a boat to take on Grendel for King Hrothgar. He succeeds, then ends up killing his mother in the aftermath. He rains as king for 50 years, until in part 3 he dies while battling a dragon.

3.) The most important part to me was when Beowulf defeated Grendel by ripping his arm off. That was the best part of the book, cause it showed what Beowulf really had in him to defeat a beast.

4.) The dragon represented Beowulf's tragic flaw. He was the only beast that he wasn't able to defeat. It comes to him that the end was near.

Words of the Day (2nd)

The obsolete car brand never sold their products for five years.

The paucity of Skagway compared to Haines is terrible.

The philistine man thought te church service was incorrect.

The girl saw a group of meticulous boys staring at her.

The officious teacher kept making her students leave the classroom.

The young boy perused a book by Stephen King and got super scared.

The boy mitigated the pain when he fell and scraped his knee.

The girl treated her boyfriend very perfidy, so he dumped her for another girl.

The boy felt very morose after the championship lose to their rivals.

Vocab Words #2

Obsolete; adj; no longer in general use

Paucity; n; smallness of quantity

Philistine; n; a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them

Meticulous; adj; showing great attention to detail

Officious; adj; assertive of authority in an annoyingly domineering way

Peruse; v; reading something throughly and carefully

Mitigate; v; making something less severe, painful, serious

Perfidy; n; untrustworthiness

Morose; adj; sullen or ill-tempered