Heðinn

The son of King Hjörvarðr and his first wife Álfhildr, and the brother of Helgi. As he was returning home from the forest on a Yule-evening, he met a troll-wife, riding on a wolf with serpents for reins, who offered to attend him. He declined, whereupon she said that he would pay for this at the Bragi-cup. In the evening the són-hog was led forth, on which the guests laid their hands, and then made solemn vows at the Bragi-cup. Heðinn foolishly bound himself by a vow to possess Sváva, the beloved of his brother Helgi. He repented his vow so bitterly that he wandered through southern lands, and there found Helgi.

Heðinn told Helgi about the vow he made, but Helgi said that he should not accuse himself. Yet, as he spoke those words, Helgi had a foreboding that his death was at hand, and that his fylgja (attendant spirit) had accosted Heðinn. In a conflict a few days later he was mortally wounded. He told Sváva to accept Heðinn as her lover, while Heðinn swore that he would not return ere he had avenged his brother.

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