Study › Runes & Norse › Hadding
Hadding is a legendary king of the Danes in Saxo's Gesta Danorum, a man Odin kept close. An old one-eyed stranger carried him over the sea, and a woman led him under the earth to see the dead.
Who was Hadding?
Hadding is a legendary king of the Danes in the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus, and a man Odin kept close. As a young man in danger he was taken up by an old one-eyed stranger, wrapped in the old man's cloak and carried on his horse, and when he peeked out he saw the sea beneath the horse's hooves. Later a woman came to him in winter holding fresh herbs, and took him under the earth to see where they grew. They passed through mist into green lands, crossed a river running with weapons, and came to a field where two armies were fighting — the dead, she said, who had fallen by the sword, still showing their manner of dying. At a wall they could not pass she threw a cock over it, and he heard it crow again on the other side.
The one-eyed stranger is Odin; the land of the dead is Helheim.
Questions
Who carried Hadding over the sea?
An old one-eyed stranger: Odin.
What did Hadding see under the earth?
Green lands, a river of weapons, and the dead who fell by the sword still fighting.