Vikings and Dragons: A Primer

Did the Vikings believe in dragons? Their myths are full of serpents: Níðhöggr gnawing at the roots of the World Tree, Fafnir coiled on his cursed gold, and the Midgard Serpent circling the whole world. But a Norse dragon wasn’t quite the fire-breathing winged beast of modern fantasy. Even the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok got his nickname, “Shaggy-Breeches,” from the tarred pants he wore to fight one.

How Vikings Depicted Dragons

Old Norse had two main words for dragons: dreki and ormr. Dreki came into Norse from Latin draco, which comes from a Greek word tied to “seeing clearly,” perhaps for the dragon’s glittering stare. Ormr, related to English “worm,” comes from a root meaning ‘to turn’. Many Norse dragons are essentially giant serpents, and much Viking art shows them as long, twisting, snake-like beasts. The dragon heads on the prows of longships are the best-known example.

The Dragon Níðhöggr

Níðhöggr (‘Malice-Striker’) lives beneath Yggdrasil and gnaws at its roots. The Völuspá also shows him sucking the corpses of the wicked in a hall on the Shore of Corpses. At the poem’s very end, after the world is reborn, the dark dragon comes flying up from below with corpses in his feathers, a haunting hint that evil has not entirely vanished.

From below the dragon dark comes forth,
Nithhogg flying from Nithafjoll;
The bodies of men on his wings he bears,
The serpent bright: but now must I sink.

Voluspa, stanza 66, trans. Henry Adams Bellows (1923)

The Old Norse text says he carried the dead in his feathers, which Bellows translates as wings. For once, a Norse dragon flies.

Dwarf and Dragon, Fafnir

Fafnir was one of three sons of Hreidmar, a wealthy man skilled in magic. Fafnir killed his father for the cursed gold of Andvari and turned himself into a dragon to guard it. The hero Sigurd later killed him from a hidden trench. Read the full story in our posts on Hreidmar’s downfall and on Regin, Sigurd, and Fafnir.

Midgardsormr: Encircling Midgard

The Midgard Serpent lies in the ocean that surrounds the world, so vast that it bites its own tail. It is often called Jörmungandr, though Professor Jackson Crawford points out that this may be a description (‘huge monster’) rather than a true name. It is one of the three monstrous children of Loki and the giantess Angrboða, along with the wolf Fenrir and Hel. Odin threw the serpent into the sea, where it grew until it encircled all the lands. At Ragnarök it will rise from the ocean to face Thor, and the two will kill each other.

Vikings and Dragons

Vikings and dragons had an interesting relationship. While dragons themselves were always evil, many of their qualities were noble. Kings were praised for watchfulness, fearlessness, and powerful speech, and these qualities were related back to the dragons of Old Norse stories.

The Vikings also named their finest ships after dragons. King Olaf Tryggvason’s great warship was Ormrinn langi, the Long Serpent, named with the same word ormr. Her end came at the Battle of Svolder in the year 1000, where she was the last ship taken.

Keep reading: how Sigurd killed the dragon, in Regin, Sigurd, and Fafnir; how Thor first met his great enemy, in Thor and Hymir fish for the Midgard Serpent; and the ships that carried the dragon heads, in the Viking longship.