Hjaðningavíg
The Hjaðningavíg is the never-ending battle of Norse legend. Two armies destroy each other every day, and every night a woman's sorcery puts the corpses back on their feet to do it again until the end of the world. It is one of the oldest European images of the dead raised in mass by magic and compelled to act with no will of their own. The motif of an army that cannot stay dead recurs throughout later fantasy and horror.1
- in Snorri nothing ends it before Ragnarök
- in Sörla þáttr the coming of Christianity breaks the curse
What the sources say
Snorri sets the battle on the island of Hoy in Orkney1
Hǫgni's sword Dáinsleif gives wounds that never heal1
Hildr is both the cause of the war and the one who keeps it going1
Saxo has both leaders die and Hilda conjure the dead back each night1
The legend was known in England, where the 10th-century poem Deor mentions the Heodenings1
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at hello@zombiewiki.app.
Draugr
Abhartach
Glámr
Revenant (medieval England)
Asvith
Berwick revenant
Ghoul
Pocong
Ro-langs
Toyol
Xiangxi walking corpses
Condenado