semi-legendary Swedish king, son of Freyr
Fjölnir
Fjölnir is a semi-legendary king of Sweden, claimed as the ancestor of the Yngling dynasty. In Norse tradition he was a son of Freyr and Gerðr. His name also appears as one of Odin's names, placing him between the human and the divine.
The myth
According to Snorri Sturluson's Ynglinga saga, Fjölnir was the son of Freyr and his wife Gerðr. He was the first of his line not to be deified. After Freyr's death he reigned in Sweden from Gamla Uppsala. The meaning of his name, perhaps 'the concealer' or 'the multiplier', remains uncertain.
His death is the best-known episode. While visiting Fróði, a semi-legendary king of Zealand, he fell into a vat of mead and drowned. The Ynglingatal, a ninth-century poem quoted by Snorri, speaks of a fateful word that came true in Fróði's dwelling. He was succeeded by his son Sveigðir.
Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum tells a different version, in which Fjölnir appears as Hundingus, king of Sweden. Believing the death of Hadingus, king of Denmark, to be false, he held a lavish funeral with an enormous vat of ale. While serving it he stumbled, fell in and drowned. Hearing of this, Hadingus hanged himself. A nineteenth-century Faroese ballad tells a similar story about Veraldur, a son of Odin.
Ancient sources: He appears in the Grottasöngr, the Ynglinga saga, the Ynglingatal, the Íslendingabók, the Gesta Danorum, the Grímnismál, the Reginsmál and the Gylfaginning.