Study › Runes & Norse › Andvaranaut
Andvaranaut is a gold ring that breeds more gold, first owned by the dwarf Andvari. When Loki took it, Andvari cursed it to destroy whoever held it, and the curse ran through the Volsung heroes.
What is Andvaranaut?
Andvaranaut is a golden ring with the power to breed more gold, first owned by the dwarf Andvari. When Loki seized the dwarf's whole hoard to pay a blood-debt, Andvari cursed the ring so that it would destroy whoever held it.
The curse
The curse ran true. It brought ruin to the house of Hreidmar, set brother against brother, and passed at last into the treasure guarded by the dragon Fafnir. Through the hero Sigurd and the Volsungs it carried death down the generations — the Norse image of gold that is never truly owned, only borrowed against disaster.
It passed with the hoard that Sigurd won with Gram; its taker was Loki.
Questions
Who cursed Andvaranaut?
The dwarf Andvari, after Loki took it.
Who owned Andvaranaut?
Andvari, Hreidmar's family, the dragon Fafnir, and then the hero Sigurd.