Bess
Warrior and father of Gram in the Gesta Danorum, combining defiant speech with brutal action.
Bess is attested in the Gesta Danorum as a warrior and the father of Gram and Roar (Gesta Danorum, Book One). He appears in a dramatic exchange with Groa, who warns them to turn back lest Sigtryg vanquish them and fasten them to stakes (Gesta Danorum, Book One). Bess replies with defiance, prophesying that Gram will slay Sigtryg before his own eyes close in death (Gesta Danorum, Book One). In a later exchange with Groa's daughter, Bess counsels her to return to her father with good cheer and not imprecate swift death upon them (Gesta Danorum, Book One).
Bess is also recorded as a man of violent capability: he slew two robbers who tried to despoil him, then propped their corpses upright to block the road as a sign of hatred toward Sweden (Gesta Danorum, Book One).
The Gesta Danorum presents Bess as both a speaker of prophetic defiance and a man capable of grim practical violence. The verbal exchanges — first with Groa, then with her daughter — show him as resolute in the face of threats, countering each warning with confident assertions of Gram's prowess. The corpse-propping episode adds a different dimension: a tactical brutality that uses the bodies of the slain as a public statement. The juxtaposition of eloquent speech and graphic intimidation paints a figure who commands through both word and deed.
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Gesta Danorum (Books I-IX), Norse Tradition
On trail: Genealogies