Infopanel 40

Volsung Saga -  Birth of Kraka

The tale of Kraka (Aslaug) stems from the Völsunga Saga, composed in 13th-century Iceland from far older oral heroic lays of the Viking Age. It belongs to the legendary Volsung cycle, which shaped Norse ideals of heroism, fate, and kin-honour.

Her father, Sigurd the Dragonslayer, “the most famous of all men bred in the northern lands,” slew the dragon Fafnir with the divine sword Gram, said to have been “tempered in the fire of Odin’s wrath.” 

Her mother, Brynhildr, a Valkyrie punished by Odin and ringed in flame, was awakened by Sigurd’s kiss. Their love and betrayal end in tragedy — a story mirrored later in the Nibelungenlied of medieval Germany.

From this union was born Aslaug, later known as Kraka, a child of both divine and mortal worlds. 
Kraka was hidden after her parents’ tragic deaths and raised among humble folk on Earth. Through her, the blood of the Volsungs flowed into the age of Viking sea-kings and into the sagas of Ragnar Lothbrok, preserving the echo of myth within early Scandinavian history.