Sigrún

"Victory rune." A valkyrie, the daughter of king Högni of Östergötland, and the wife of the hero Helgi Hundingsbane, the son of Sigmundr. She was the valkyrie Sváva regenerated.

Sigrún appears briefly in the eddic poem Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, but more prominently in Helgakviða Hundingsbana II. She was betrothed to Höðbroddr, the son of king Granmarr of Södermanland, but unwilling to wed him. She told Helgi of her predicament and he assembled a force at Brandey and sailed to Frekastein. The sons of Granmarr collected a host themselves, and many kings came thither. Among them were Högni and his sons Bragi and Dagr. A great battle ensued in which Högni and Bragi and all their chiefs were slain, except Sigrún's brother Dagr, who obtained peace and swore oaths to the Vösungs.

Sigrún, going among the slain, found Höðbroddr at the point of death, and said to him:

Not will Sigrún

of Sefafiöll,

King Hödbrodd!

sink in thy arms:

thy life is departed.

Oft the axe' s blade

the head approaches

of Granmar' s sons.

Helgi and Sigrún married, but Dagr was bound by honor to avenge his father and brother and invoked Odin's help. With Odin's spear he killed Helgi, whereupon his sister cursed him.

Helgi's body was placed in a burial mound. A serving woman, passing the barrow one evening, saw him ride towards it with his ghostly following and told Sigrún of the encounter. Sigrún went into the mound and spent one last night together with her beloved. At dawn, Helgi and his attendants rode away, and Sigrún returned home. That night, she ordered her serving woman to hold a watch at the mound but Helgi did not return. Sigrún died of sorrow and grief.

It was said that Helgi and Sigrún were born again; he became Helgi Haddingjaskati, and she Kára the daughter of Hálfdan, as is told in the Káruljóð, and she was a valkyrie.

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