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Hjaðningavíg (the "battle of the Heodenings"[1]), the legend of Heðinn and Högni or the Saga of Hild is a Scandinavian legend from Norse mythology about a never-ending battle which is documented in Sörla þáttr, Ragnarsdrápa, Gesta Danorum, Skíðaríma and in Skáldskaparmál. It is also held to appear on the image stone at Stora Hammar on Gotland[2] (see illustration). Moreover, it is alluded to in the Anglo-Saxon poems Deor[1] and Widsið,[3] and in the Old Norse Háttalykill inn forni.
Like the names Heðinn (A-S Heoden) and Högni (A-S Hagena), the legend is believed to be have continental Germanic origins.[4]
In the Skáldskaparmál and in Ragnarsdrápa, it's related that once when Högni was away, his daughter Hildr was kidnapped by a prince named Heðinn, the son of Hjarrandi (A-S: Heorrenda). When Högni came back, he immediately started to search for her. In the older poem Ragnarsdrápa, Högni finally found her an the island where Heðinn waited with his army. This island is explained as the island of Hoy in the Orkneys by Snorri Sturluson in Skáldskaparmál.
Hildr welcomed her father and offered him peace and a necklace on behalf of Heðinn. However, Högni had already unsheathed his sword Dáinsleif, which gave wounds that never healed and like Tyrfing always killed a man once it had been unsheathed. A battle ensued and they fought all day and many died. In the evening Heðinn and Högni returned to their camps, but Hildr stayed on the battle-field. She resurrected them with incantations and the fallen soldiers started to fight anew, and this went on until Ragnarök.
In Sörla Þáttr, the story begins with an euhemerized variation of Freyja and the dwarves. Loki then steals Brisingamen for Odin who only hands it back to Freyja in return for making two armies fight until a Christian man arrives. It then tells the tale of Sörli and Högni, until Hedinn comes into the picture. Högni is here a king of Denmark who succeeded his father when Sörli killed him.
In Serkland, there was a king named Hjarrandi, who had a son named Heðinn. This son was a great sea-king and he pillaged all over the Mediterranean until twenty kings paid tribute to him. One day he met a beautiful woman sitting on a chair who called herself Göndul. She told him of Högni, and agitated him to test his strength against the northerner. Heðinn took three hundred men, and sailed both a summer and a winter until he arrived in Denmark in spring.
When the two men met they tested each other's strength and entered sworn brotherhood. As Heðinn was unmarried, Högni betrothed him to his daughter Hildr, his only child. Hild's mother was Hervor, the daughter of Hjörvard who was the son of Heiðrekr Ulfhamr of the Hervarar saga. Heðinn soon met the beautiful woman again who asked him about what had happened since the last time. She gave him a magic potion and told him to crush Högni's wife with the prow of his ship and to kidnap Hildr. He did so and met the beautiful woman again. She gave him a new horn to drink and he fell asleep. In his dream, he heard Göndul say that she put him, Högni and their men under spells according to the wishes of Odin.
Högni hunted Heðinn down and found him on an island named Hoy. Heðinn offered to give everything back to Högni and to sail away to Serkland and never come back. Högni, however, declared that nothing could atone the betrayal that Heðinn had committed.
The two armies started to fight and even though they cut each other all over, they stood still fighting and fighting for 143 years, so strong were the spells of Göndul, until Olaf Tryggvason arrived at the island.
In Skíðaríma, the war threatens to destroy Valhalla itself, and so Odin sends Thor to fetch Skíði, a pathetic beggar, so that he can stop the war. Skíði manages to stop the fight by asking to marry Hildr and she consents.
Saxo Grammaticus relates that Hedin was the prince of a Norwegian tribe and a small man. Hedin fell in love with Hilda, the daughter of Högni, a strongly built Jutish chieftain. Hedin and Hilda had in fact been so impressed with each other's reputation that they had fallen in love before meeting.
In spring, Hedin and Högni went pillaging together, and Högni betrothed his daughter to Hedin promising each other that they would avenge one another if anything happened.
However, evil tongues spread the rumour that Hedin had touched Hilda before the betrothal. Högni believed the false rumour and attacked Hedin, but Högni was beaten and returned to Jutland.
King Frodo of Denmark tried to mediate, but had to decide that the matter be settled in a holmgang. During the combat Hedin was seriously wounded, and started losing blood. Högni decided to have mercy on Hedin, because among the old Scandinavians it was consider shameful to kill someone who was weaker, and so Hedin was taken home by his men.
For of old it was accounted shameful to deprive of his life one who was ungrown or a weakling; so closely did the antique bravery of champions take heed of all that could incline them to modesty. So Hedin, with the help of his men, was taken back to his ship, saved by the kindness of his foe. Saxo book 5,2
After seven years, the two men started to fight again but both died from their wounds. But, Hilda loved both so much, so that she used spells to conjure up the dead each night, and so the battle went on and on.
The battle is alluded to in the Old English 10th century poem Deor. The poet explains that he served the Heodenings (people of Heðinn) until Heorrenda a more skilled poet replaced him:
The Heodenings and Heorrenda are probably mentioned in Deor to add a level of irony or humour. Being eternal, the tragedy of the Heodenings would not "go by".