Hreimdmarr Family: When Gold Corrupted the Best, Attracted the Worst
In Norse sagas, there was a precious treasure that gave out gold days after days. It made the owner of the treasure become wealthy. But on one occasion, this treasure went wrong when it completely shattered the family of Hreimdmarr: son killing father and brother slaying one another for the gold.
The story went back to an occasion that Odin, Thor, and Loki were wandering to Svartalfheim Land of the dwarf. There they saw a beautiful otter and Loki decided to kill the otter for its skin. He did this with a stone and managed to take the skin of the otter. They continued the journey and entered the hall of the dwarf king - Hreimdmarr. There the gods showed off the beautiful otter's skin only to get seized by the dwarf king because the otter was Prince Otr in disguise. Hreimdmarr the Dwarf King asked for a sum of money to compensate for this loss.
Loki went back to gather the ransom. He found Andvari the dwarf in possession of precious gold. Loki threatened to kill Andvari and demanded his gold to spare Andvari's life. Andvari was so in love with his gold that he cursed the gold that anyone who possessed this gold, later on, would meet their demise very very soon.
This curse probably was for Loki, yet Loki didn't possess the gold later. It finally reached the hand of the Dwarf King Hreimdmarr. This was the beginning of the demise that Andvari cursed.
Some sources mentioned that Loki had warned the Dwarf King but he didn't listen a word.
Dark days finally approached. Fafnir one of the sons of Hreimdmarr had been guarding the treasure for the father and now turned greedy. Fafnir killed the Dwarf King in a brutal way but not to take the throne. He seized the gold for himself only.
Fafnir carried the gold into the forest where he didn't leave his treasure. Deep inside the woods, Fafnir turned into a dragon, probably kind of fire-breathing dragon.
Regin was another son of the dead Dwarf King now becoming the new ruler. He adopted a man as his son. The name was Sigurd. Whether he raised this son merely with love or to become his tool remains a mystery. Regin with his excellent crafting skills created a sword for Sigurd and asked the son to find Fafnir and killed him to take treasure back to the throne.
Sigurd never disappointed his foster father as he managed to kill Fafnir by the potent sword. He brought the gold back to Regin.
Sigurd killing Fafnir became an inspiration for runestone design
His father had told him to cook the heart of Fafnir as well so this son did what his father said. When he licked the blood of Fafnir to check if the cooking was done, he suddenly understood the voice of birds who warned him that Regin was about to kill him. Realizing that Regin had been using him as a tool, Sigurd turned back and wielded his sword to slay Regin before the dwarf could do anything.
