Draugr

The sagas are full of dead men who will not stay buried. Thorolf Twist-Foot in the Eyrbyggja saga dies and immediately begins haunting his farm, killing cattle and terrifying servants. Hrapp in the Laxdæla saga demands to be buried upright in his doorway so he can keep watch over his household. He keeps watching after death, and the watching becomes violent.

Glámr

The most famous draugr fight appears in Grettis saga. The shepherd Glámr is killed by an unnamed creature on a farm in northern Iceland. He rises from death and haunts the valley, riding the rooftops at night, killing livestock and men. Grettir Ásmundarson, the saga’s hero, agrees to spend the night in the farmhouse. Glámr tears off the roof and drags Grettir outside. They wrestle in moonlight. Grettir pins Glámr, beheads him, and burns the body. Before dying the second time, Glámr curses Grettir: “You will never be stronger than you are now, and you will always see my eyes in the dark.” The curse holds for the rest of the saga.

The Body

Draugar are physically present. They have mass, strength, and stench. The sagas describe them as swollen, blue-black or corpse-pale, and enormously heavy. They can grow in size. Glámr is described as nearly impossible to lift. The draugr is not a ghost. It is a body that kept its occupant.

The Destruction

The formula is consistent across the sagas: wrestle the draugr, cut off its head, burn the body, and cast the ashes into the sea or bury them far from human habitation. All four steps are necessary. Miss one and the draugr returns.

Sources

Bibliography. The same list is held in the article’s frontmatter for the citation tools that read it programmatically.

• Grettis saga (Grettir vs. Glámr): most famous draugr fight
• Eyrbyggja saga: Thorolf Twist-Foot haunting
• Laxdæla saga: Hrapp’s revenant