The Gesta Danorum (Books I-IX) on Hother

The Danish History, > Books I-Ix > Supernatural Beings.

• attestation: Hother was befriended by Wood Maidens who gave him a magic coat, belt, and girdle.

  "Hother, befriended hy luck and the Wood Maidens, to whom he owed his early successes and his magic coat, belt, and girdle"

• attestation: Hother stabbed Balder in the side, and Balder died of the wound in three days after a dream-vision of Proserpina (Hela).

  "at last met Balder and stabbed him in the side. Of this wound Balder died in three days, as was foretold by the awful dream in which Proserpina (Hela) appeared to him"

The Danish History, > Book Three.

• attestation: After Hiartuar, Hother became sovereign of both Sweden and Denmark, having been fostered by King Gewar

  "After Hiartuar, HOTHER, whom I mentioned above, the brother of Athisl, and also the fosterling of King Gewar, became sovereign of both realms"

• relationship: Hother was the son of Hodbrodd (Helgi had slain Hodbrodd) and excelled in swimming, archery, boxing, and playing multiple instruments

  "When Helgi had slain Hodbrodd, his son Hother passed the length of his boyhood under the tutelage of King Gewar"

• attestation: Hother was supremely skilled in music, able to sway human emotions to joy, sadness, pity, or hatred through his playing

  "None was more skilful on lyre or harp; and he was cunning on the timbrel, on the lute, and in every modulation of string instruments"

• attestation: Hother was led astray by mist while hunting and encountered wood-maidens in a lodge who greeted him by name

  "Hother chanced, while hunting, to be led astray by a mist, and he came on a certain lodge in which were wood-maidens"

• attestation: The wood-maidens claimed to invisibly influence battles and determine the fortunes of war

  "it was their guidance and government that mainly determined the fortunes of war. For they often invisibly took part in battles"

• attestation: The lodge and maidens vanished suddenly, leaving Hother standing in open fields

  "the place melted away and left him shelterless, and he found himself standing in the open and out in the midst of the fields"

• attestation: Hother ambushed Miming, brought him down with a spear, bound him, and extorted the sword and bracelet as ransom for his life

  "the Satyr cast a shadow on his tent. Aiming a spear at him, he brought him down with the blow, stopped him, and bound him"

• attestation: Hother's men held formation behind shields while the Saxons exhausted their missiles, then overwhelmed them with returned spears

  "the soldiers of Hother performed the bidding of their king, and kept off the attack of the spears by a penthouse of interlocked shields"

• attestation: Hother used his eloquence to successfully plead Helgi's suit for Thora, daughter of Kuse sovereign of the Finns and Perms

  "He besought Hother, whom he knew to be an accomplished pleader, to favour his desires"

• attestation: Hother fought a naval battle against Balder in which Odin, Thor, and the gods fought on Balder's side

  "a naval battle was fought with Balder. One would have thought it a contest of men against gods, for Odin and Thor and the holy array of the gods fought for Balder"

• attestation: Hother hewed off the haft of Thor's club, rendering it useless, which caused the gods to flee

  "Hother, though his line had already fallen back, darted up, hewed off the club at the haft, and made it useless. And the gods, when they had lost this weapon, fled incontinently"

• attestation: Hother gave Gelder a royal funeral, placing his body on a pyre of vessels and burying his ashes in a noble barrow

  "Gelder, the King of Saxony, who met his end in the same war, was set by Hother upon the corpses of his oarsmen, and then laid on a pyre built of vessels"

• attestation: After winning, Hother married Nanna and brought her back to Sweden

  "he went back to Gewar and enjoyed the coveted embraces of Nanna. Next, having treated Helgi and Thora very generously, he brought his new queen back to Sweden"

• attestation: Hother took possession of Isefjord in Zealand, was appointed king by the Danes, and later joined the Swedish empire to Denmark after his brother Athisl's death

  "he took possession, with a very great fleet, of Isefjord, a haven of Zealand, so as to make use of his impending fortune. There the people of the Danes met him and appointed him king"

• attestation: Hother retreated to Sweden alone, told the grandees he was weary of life due to his defeats by Balder, then wandered into remote forests

  "he summoned the grandees, and told them that he was weary of the light of life because of the misfortunes wherewith Balder had twice victoriously stricken him"

• attestation: Hother found the same cave maidens who had given him the invulnerable coat; they told him he had dealt as much defeat as he had received

  "he chanced to come upon a cave where dwelt some maidens whom he knew not; but they proved to be the same who had once given him the invulnerable coat"

• attestation: The maidens told Hother he could win victory if he obtained a special food devised to increase Balder's strength

  "the favour of victory would be speedily his, if he could first lay hands upon a food of extraordinary delightsomeness which had been devised to increase the strength of Balder"

• attestation: The maidens' words inspired Hother with confidence to fight Balder despite warnings against attacking a god

  "the words of the maidens inspired Hother's mind with instant confidence to fight with Balder"

• attestation: Hother and Balder fought to near-equal carnage, the battle ending at nightfall

  "Both sides made a great slaughter; the carnage of the opposing parties was nearly equal, and night stayed the battle"

• attestation: Hother spied on Balder's camp at night, tracked three maidens carrying Balder's secret feast, and entered their dwelling posing as a lutanist

  "he heard that three maidens had gone out carrying the secret feast of Balder. He ran after them"

• attestation: The nymphs gave Hother a belt and a victory-assuring girdle

  "the same nymphs, in their gracious kindliness, bestowed on him a belt of perfect sheen and a girdle which assured victory"

• attestation: Hother met Balder on his return and plunged his sword into Balder's side, wounding him mortally

  "meeting Balder plunged his sword into his side, and laid him low half dead"

• attestation: Hother avenged his foster-father Gewar by burning Gunne alive on a pyre

  "he surprised Gunne, cast him on a blazing pyre, and burnt him"

• attestation: Hother made Herlek and Gerit rulers of Norway

  "he made his sons, Herlek and Gerit, rulers of Norway"

• attestation: Hother foretold his own death at the hands of Boe and asked the elders to make his son Rorik king

  "he told them that he would perish in the war wherein he was bound to meet Boe"

• attestation: Hother met Boe in battle and was killed; Boe himself died the next day from his wounds

  "he met Boe in battle and was killed; but small joy the victory gave Boe. Indeed, he left the battle so sore stricken that he was lifted on his shield"

• attestation: After Hother's death the Kurlanders, Swedes, Slavs, and others revolted against Danish tribute

  "the Kurlanders and the Swedes, as though the death of Hother set them free from the burden of their subjection, resolved to attack Denmark"

The Danish History, > Book Three. > Endnotes:

• attestation: Saxo notes that the events of Book Three concerning Hother are a retrospective digression from the main Danish history

  "Saxo now goes back to the history of Denmark. All the events hitherto related in Bk. III, after the first paragraph, are a digression in retrospect"