draugr

The Old Norse word draugr (initially draugʀ, see ʀ), in the sense of the undead creature, is hypothetically traced to an unrecorded {{langx|proto=yes|gem-x-proto|*draugaz}}, meaning "delusion, illusion, mirage" etc, from a *dreuganą ("to mislead, deceive"), ultimately from a Proto-Indo European stem {{lang|ine-x-proto|*dʰrowgʰos}} ("phantom"), from {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰréwgʰ-s}} ~ {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰrugʰ-és}} ("deceive").{{Cite encyclopedia |first1=Edgar C. |last1=Polomé |first2=Douglas Q. |last2=Adams |editor-first1=J. P. |editor-last1=Mallory |editor-first2=Douglas Q. |editor-last2=Adams |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture |title=Spirit |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1997 |page=538}} Cognates includes {{langx|sv|bedraga}} ("to deceive"), {{langx|nds|drog}} ("impostor, scoundrel"), {{lang|nds|dregen}} ("to deceive"), {{langx|goh|bitrog}} ("delusion"), {{lang|goh|gitrog}} ("illusion, mirage, ghost"), {{langx|de|Trug}} ("deception, delusion, illusion"), {{langx|nl|bedrog}} ("deceit, deception"), {{langx|osx|gidrog}} ("delusion"), {{langx|cy|drwg}} ("bad, evil"), {{langx|ga|droc}} ("bad, evil"), {{langx|br|droug}}, {{lang|br|drouk}} ("bad, evil"), {{langx|sa|द्रुह्}}, drúh ("injury, harm, offence"), {{lang|sa|द्रोघ}}, drógha ("deceitful, untrue, misleading"), {{langx|peo|𐎭𐎼𐎢𐎥}}, drauga ("deceit, deception"), {{lang|peo|𐎭𐎼𐎢𐎩𐎴}}, draujana ("deceptive, deceitful, misleading"), ultimately from the same root as 'dream', from a Proto-Indo European {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰrowgʰ-mos}} ("deceit, illusion").{{cite web |title=bedraga v.3 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=B_0521-0103.3U1H&pz=5 |website=saob.se |publisher=Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB) |access-date=2024-12-02}}

{{langx|sco|drow}}, {{lang|sco|trow}} ("evil spirit, troll"), appears related, possibly via a unrecorded {{langx|nrn|*drog}} ("draugr"), but also effected by {{langx|non|trǫll}} ("troll"), which at the time was different and more ambiguous than today and rather meant something akin to magical creature of ill will, even being used figuratively for draugr. Further, the Swedish form drög has also acquired the meaning of "nut" (idiot); compare with {{langx|da|drog}} ("a good-for-nothing"), {{langx|sco|draighie}}, {{lang|sco|draich}}, {{lang|sco|draick}} ("a lazy, lumpish, useless person"), {{lang|sco|draich}} ("slow, spiritless").{{cite web |title=DRAICH, Draick |url=https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/draich |website=dsl.ac.uk |publisher=Scottish National Dictionary (1700–) |access-date=2024-12-02}}

One of the earliest dictionaries for draugr, or rather its descendants, was Swedish linguist and priest Johan Ernst Rietz's (1815–1868) dialect dictionary of Swedish vernacular (1862–1867), which listed the Swedish descendants of Old Norse {{lang|non|draugr}} as {{lang|sv|dröger}} and {{lang|sv|drög}} (compare {{langx|is|draugur}} vs {{lang|sv|dröger}}, {{langx|no|draug}} vs {{lang|sv|drög}}), including the archaic form {{lang|sv|draugr}} in the province of Närke. He also included Norwegian {{lang|no|draug}}, {{lang|no|drauv}} and {{lang|no|drog}} for comparison, giving the definition for both Swedish and Norwegian as:

{{quote|"pale, powerless, slow human, striding forward", alternatively just "ghost or undead".{{cite book |last1=Rietz |first1=Johan Ernst |author1-link=Johan Ernst Rietz |title=Svenskt dialektlexikon: ordbok öfver svenska allmogespråket |date=1862–1867 |location=Sweden |page=102 |url=https://runeberg.org/dialektl/0132.html |access-date=2025-01-26 |language=sv }}}}

Around the same time, although published a few years later, English philologist Richard Cleasby (1797–1847), and Icelandic scholar Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1827–1889), in "An Icelandic-English dictionary" (1873), defined Old Norse {{lang|is|draugr}} (old form to {{lang|is|draugur}}) as:

{{quote|"a ghost, spirit, especially the dead inhabitant of a cairn".Cleasby; Vigfusson edd. (1974) An Icelandic-English dictionary. s. v. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NTVoAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA103 draugr]}}

This description was repeated almost word for word by Icelandic linguist Geir T. Zoëga (1857-1928), in his book "A concise dictionary of old Icelandic" (1910).{{cite book |title=A concise dictionary of Old Icelandic |date=1911 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford}}

Norwegian journalist, author, and editor Johan Christian Johnsen (1815–1898), in his Norwegian dictionary (1881–1888), gave a different, more specific definition for Norwegian {{lang|no|draug}} than Rietz did in the 1860s, defining it as:

{{quote|"(really a revenant) in Norwegian folk superstition, a supernatural being that dwells on and by the sea. It appears most frequently as a man dressed in sea clothes with a bundle of seaweed instead of a head, sailing in half a boat, always proclaiming that the person or someone from the boat to whom it appears will perish".{{cite book |last1=Johnsen |first1=Johan Christian |author1-link=Johan Christian Johnsen |title=Norsk Haandlexikon |date=1881–1888 |location=Norway |page=391 |url=https://runeberg.org/haandlex/1/0391.html |access-date=2025-01-26 |language=no |chapter=A-J}}}}

In the written corpus, the draugr is regarded not so much as a ghost, but a corporeal undead creature, or revenant, ie, the reanimated corpse of the deceased, for example inside the burial mound or grave (as in the example of Kárr inn gamli in Grettis saga). Commentators extend the term draugr to the undead in medieval literature, even if it is never explicitly referred to as such in the text, and designated them instead as a {{lang|non|haugbúi}} ("barrow-dweller") or an {{lang|non|aptrganga}} ("re-walker") – see Gjenganger. Compare {{langx|is|afturganga}} ("after-walker"), {{langx|sv|gengångare}} ("again-walker").

Unlike Kárr inn gamli (Kar the Old) in Grettis saga, who is specifically called a draugr,{{Refn|Kárr is called a draugr by Grettir when he sings a verse to reply to the question of how he gained the treasure sword. This was rendered "In the barrow where that thing .. fell" in the 1869 translation, and "in a murky mound.. a ghost was felled then " by Scudder.{{sfnp|Scudder (tr.)|2005}}}} Glámr the ghost in the same saga is never explicitly called a draugr in the text,{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=284}} though called a "troll" in it.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Ármann Jakobsson notes that in this and comparable instances, the term "troll" designates some sort of revenant, more specifically the human undead. Since the term can also mean 'demon', the sense is ambiguous.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=285}} }}{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=285}} Yet Glámr is still routinely referred to as a draugr by modern scholars.{{Refn|{{harvp|Clemoes|Dickins|1959|p=190}}, e.g., and Willam Sayers }} Beings not specifically called {{lang|non|draugr}}, but only referred to as {{lang|non|{{linktext|aptrgǫngur}}}} "revenants" (pl. of {{lang|non|{{linktext|aptrganga}}}}) and {{lang|non|{{linktext|reimleikar}}}} "haunting" in these medieval sagas,{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Besides Glámr, other examples are Víga-Hrappr Sumarliðason in Laxdæla saga; Þórólfr bægifótr (lame-foot) or the ghosts of Fróðá in Eyrbyggja saga.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=284}}}} are still commonly discussed as a {{lang|non|draugr}} in various scholarly works,{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009}}{{sfnp|Caciola|1996|p=28}} or the draugr and the haugbúi are lumped into one.{{sfnp|Chadwick|1946|p=51}}

A further caveat is that the application of the term draugr may not necessarily follow what the term might have meant in the strict sense during medieval times, but rather follow a modern definition or notion of draugr, specifically such ghostly beings (by whatever names they are called) that occur in Icelandic folktales categorized as "Draugasögur" in Jón Árnason's collection, based on the classification groundwork laid by Konrad Maurer.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|pp=281–282}}{{Refn|It is pointed out that the lexicographer Guðbrandur Vigfússon (who defined draugr as 'ghost' in his dictionary) wrote the preface to Jón Árnason's folklore collection.}}

In Old Norse, draugr also meant a tree trunk or dry dead wood, or in poetry could refer to a man or warrior,{{cite web |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/draugr#Old_Norse |title=Draugr |date=11 February 2024 }} since Old Norse poetry often used terms for trees to represent humans, especially in kennings, referencing the myth that the god Odin and his brothers created the first humans Ask and Embla from trees. There was thus a connection between the idea of a felled tree's trunk and that of a dead man's corpse.

Also, one of the names for Odin was {{lang|non|Draugadróttinn}}, "Lord of the draugr", in the Ynglinga saga, chapter 7.

The haugbúi, meaning "mound-dweller" or "howe-dweller" (composite of {{langx|non|haugr}}, "mound", cognate to English "how, howe, height", and búi, "dweller", from búa, "reside"), the dead body living within its tomb, is a variation of the draugr. The notable difference between the two was that the haugbui cannot leave its grave site and only attacks those who trespass upon their territory.

Beings in British folklore such as Lincolnshire "shag-boys" and Scots "hogboons" derive their names from haugbui.{{cite web |title=shag-boy |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shag-boy |website=Wiktionary |access-date=12 January 2023 |language=en |date=29 September 2019}}

A modern rendering is also barrow-wight, popularized by J. R. R. Tolkien in his novels, however, initially used for the draugr in Eiríkur Magnússon's and William Morris' 1869 translation of Grettis saga, long before Tolkien employed the term;{{Refn|Burns citing Gilliver et al. (2009) [2006]. The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary, pp. 214–216.}} rendering Icelandic "Sótti haugbúinn með kappi" as "the barrow-wight setting on with hideous eagerness".{{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}. Ch. 18. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA48 p. 48]{{harvp|Boer (ed.)|1900|p=}}, Cap. 18, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA65 p. 65]{{cite web|url=https://skaldic.abdn.ac.uk/db.php?table=verses&id=26687&if=myth |title=Pre-Christian Religions of the North: Sources : [excerpt from] Gr ch. 18b: Living in gravemounds |year=2014 |access-date=2020-11-17 |author=PCRN project and Skaldic project}}

The draugr is a "corporeal ghost" with a physical, tangible body and not an "imago,"{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|p=284}} and in tales, it is often delivered a "second death" by the destruction of the animated corpse.{{Refn|"The will appears to be strong, strong enough to draw the hugr [animate will] back to one's body. These reanimated individuals were known as draugr. However, though the dead might live again, they could also die again. Draugrs die a "second death" as Chester Gould calls it, when their bodies decay, are burned, dismembered or otherwise destroyed".}}

The draugr has also been conceived of as a type of vampire by folktale anthologist Andrew Lang in late 1897,{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|p=311}} with the idea further pursued by more modern commentators. The focus here is not on blood-sucking, which is not attested for the draugr,{{harvp|Keyworth |2006|p=244}}: "there is no mention of draugrs being swollen with the supposed blood of their victims". but rather, contagiousness or transmittable nature of vampirism,{{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|p=313}}: "Vampirism is transmittable, to which Þórólfr bægifótr's many victims bear witness". that is to say, how a vampire begets another by turning his or her attack victim into one of his kind. Sometimes the chain of contagion becomes an outbreak, e.g., the case of Þórólfr bægifótr (Thorolf Lame-foot or Twist-Foot),{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. Eyrbyggja Saga, "Ch. 34: Thorolf's ghost". p. 115ff.; "Ch. 63: Thorolf comes back from the Dead". p. 186ff. and even called an "epidemic" regarding Þórgunna (Thorgunna).{{efn|Both these occur in the Eyrbyggja saga.}}{{harvp|Caciola|1996|p=15}}: "Thorgunna's death also brought on what might be called an epidemic of aggressive revenants".{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. Eyrbyggja Saga, "Ch. 51: Thorgunna dies", p. 158 – "Ch. 54 More ghosts", p. 166ff

A more speculative case of vampirism is that of Glámr, who was asked to tend sheep for a haunted farmstead and was subsequently found dead with his neck and every bone in his body broken.{{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}. Grettis saga. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA102 p. 102]{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Note similarity to a shepherd killed by Thorolf's ghost, also found with every bone broken.{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. Eyrbyggja Saga, "Ch. 34: Thorolf's ghost".}} It has been surmised by commentators that Glámr, by "contamination," was turned into an undead (draugr) by whatever being was haunting the farm.{{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|pp=310–311}}: "This creature [evil spirit] contaminates Glámr"; {{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=297}}: " some kind of infection is also apparent in the account of Glámr".

File:Norse draugr by Kim Diaz Holm.jpg

Draugrs usually possessed superhuman strength,{{sfnp|Lindow|1976|p=95}} and were "generally hideous to look at", bearing a necrotic black or blue color,{{sfnp|Smith|2007|p=15}}{{sfnp|Curran|2005|p=82}} and were associated with a "reek of decay"{{sfnp|Curran|2005|p=82–83}} or more precisely inhabited haunts that often issued foul stench.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|pp=291–292}}

Draugrs were said to be either hel-blár "death-blue" or nár-fölr "corpse-pale".{{sfnp|Curran|2005|p=82}} Glámr when found dead was described as "blár sem Hel en digr sem naut (black as hell and bloated to the size of a bull)".{{harvp|Boer (ed.)|1900}} Grettis saga Kap. XVIII.9, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA64 p. 64];{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The color is literally 'blue', thus "blue as hell, and great as a neat" is the rendering in {{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}, {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA99 |2=p. 99}}.}} Þórólfr Lame-foot, when lying dormant, looked "uncorrupted" and also "was black as death [ie, bruised black and blue] and swollen to the size of an ox".{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. Eyrbyggja Saga, p. 187; Pálsson & Edwards (trr.) (1989). pp. 155–156, quoted by {{harvp|Keyworth|2006|p=244}}. The close similarity of these descriptions have been noted.{{sfnp|Boer|1898|p=55}} Laxdæla saga describes how bones were dug up belonging to a dead sorceress who had appeared in dreams, and they were "blue and evil looking".{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, Laxdaela Saga, p. 235.{{sfnp|Bennett|2014|p=44}}

Þráinn (Thrain), the berserker of Valland, "turned himself into a troll" in Hrómundar saga Gripssonar, was a fiend (dólgr) which was "black and huge.. roaring loudly and blowing fire", and possessed long scratching claws, and the claws stuck in the neck, prompting the hero Hrómundr to refer to the draugur as a sort of cat ({{langx|non|kattakyn}}).Chadwick (1921)/{{harvp|Kershaw|1921|p=}} The Saga of Hromund Greipsson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sAEzAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA68 p. 68]

{{harvp|Clemoes|Dickins|1959|p=}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=TGo0AAAAIAAJ&q=Hr%C3%B3mundr+draugr p. 188] The possession of long claws features also in the case of another revenant, Ásviðr (Aswitus) who came to life in the night and attacked his foster-brother Ásmundr (Asmundus) with them, scratching his face and tearing one of his ears.{{efn|As related by Saxo Grammaticus, hence the Latinized names.}}{{harvp|Andrews|1912–1913|}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=fSE_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA603 p. 603–604]{{harvp|Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson|1987}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=JqwSAQAAIAAJ&q=%C3%81svi%C3%B0r pp. 9–10]

Draugrs often give off a morbid stench, not unlike the smell of a decaying body. The mound where Kárr the Old was entombed reeked horribly.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|loc=p. 291, n43}}{{harvp|Boer (ed.)|1900}} Grettis saga Kap. XVIII, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA125 p. 125]; {{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}} Ch. 18, p. 47: "{{lang|non|þeygi þefgott}} (and smell there was therein none of the sweetest)". Literally þeyg ("not") + þefr ("smell") + gott ("good"). In Harðar saga Hörðr Grímkelsson's two underlings die even before entering Sóti the Viking's mound, due to the "gust and stink ({{lang|non|ódaun}})" wafting out of it.{{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|loc=p. 291, n42}}, citing Harðar saga. Þórhallur Vilmundarson; Bjarni Vilhjálmsson (edd.), p. 40. {{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Also Þráinn's " barrow was filled with a horrible stench" in Hrómundar saga Gripssonar.}} When enraged Þráinn filled the barrow with an "evil reek."

Draugrs are noted for having numerous magical abilities referred to as {{langx|non|trollskapr}} ({{lit|troll-ship}}, roughly "sorcery-ness") resembling those of living witches and wizards, such as shape-shifting, controlling the weather, and seeing into the future.{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Hilda Roderick Ellis |author-link=Hilda Ellis Davidson |title=The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1943 |page=163 }} The prefix, {{langx|non|troll-}}, which is the same word as the creature troll, which initially meant something akin to "malevolent esoteric supernatural being" (demon, devil, ghost, jötunn etc), was by extension, specifically in compounds, also a word for the sorcery and dark arts of said beings; compare {{langx|sv|trolla}} ("to perform sorcery"), {{lang|sv|trolleri}} ("sorcery"), {{lang|sv|trollkarl}} ({{lit|troll-man}}, "sorcerer"), {{lang|sv|trollgumma}}, {{lang|sv|trollpacka}} ({{lit|troll-lady}}, "witch"),{{cite web |title=trollpacka sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=trollpacka&pz=1 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-01-29}}

Icelandic linguist Geir T. Zoëga (1857-1928), in his book "A concise dictionary of old Icelandic" (1910), defined Old Icelandic: {{lang|non|trollskapr}} as:

{{quote|nature of a troll, witchcraft|{{cite book |title=A concise dictionary of Old Icelandic |date=1911 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=442}}}}

The Swedish Academy gives the following description for the word {{lang|sv|trollskap}} in Swedish:

{{quote|(ability or power to exercise) witchcraft/sorcery; also of (especially evil) action arising from such ability, etc.; earlier also concretely, about objects or tools and the like equipped with or produced by such ability and so on...{{cite web |title=trollskap sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=trollskap&pz=1#U_T2555_69299 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-01-29 |date=2008}}}}

Synonyms to {{lang|non|trollskapr}} and {{lang|sv|trollskap}} include: Old Icelandic: {{lang|is|trolldómr}} and {{langx|sv|trolldom}}, {{langx|sv|trollkonst}} and {{lang|sv|trollkraft}} etc ("sorcery").{{cite web |title=troll sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=troll&pz=1 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-01-29}}{{cite web |title=trolldom sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=trolldom&pz=1 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-01-29}}{{cite web |title=trolla v.1 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=T_2555-0054.IKDf&pz=5 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-01-29}}

The undead Víga-Hrappr Sumarliðason of Laxdaela saga, unlike the typical guardian of a treasure hoard, does not stay put in his burial place but roams around his farmstead of Hrappstaðir, menacing the living.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=290}} Víga-Hrappr's ghost, it has been suggested, was capable of transforming into the seal with human-like eyes which appeared before Þorsteinn svarti/surt (Thorsteinn the Black) sailing by ship, and was responsible for the sinking of the vessel to prevent the family from reaching Hrappstaðir.{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, Laxdaela Saga, Ch. 18, pp. 79–80; introduction, p. 12; index of names, [https://books.google.com/books?id=um91wPf9c7MC&pg=PA255 p. 255] The ability to shape-shift has been ascribed to Icelandic ghosts generally, particularly into the shape of a seal.{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, p.78, n1{{sfnp|Keyworth|2007|p=71}}{{sfnp|Caciola|1996|p=33, n102}}

A draugr in Icelandic folktales collected in the modern age can also change into a great flayed bull, a grey horse with a broken back but no ears or tail, and a cat that would sit upon a sleeper's chest and grow steadily heavier until their victim suffocated.{{cite book|author=Jón Árnason |author-link=Jón Árnason (author) |editor-last=Simpson |editor-first=Jacqueline |editor-link=Jacqueline Simpson |title=Icelandic Folktales and Legends |publisher=University of California Press |year=1972 |page=166 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HY-DCKd6UgUC |isbn=978-0-520-02116-7}}

Draugrs have the ability to enter into the dreams of the living, and they will frequently leave a gift behind so that "the living person may be assured of the tangible nature of the visit".{{sfnp|Chadwick|1946|p=54-55}} Draugrs also can curse a victim, as shown in Grettis saga, where Grettir is cursed to be unable to become stronger. Draugrs also brought disease to a village and could create temporary darkness in daylight hours. They preferred to be active during the night, although they did not appear vulnerable to sunlight like some other revenants. Draugr can also kill people with bad luck.

A draugr's presence might be shown by a great light that glowed from the mound like foxfire.{{harvp|Fox|Pálsson (trr.)|1974}}, Grettir's Saga, p. 36. This fire would form a barrier between the land of the living and that of the dead.{{harvp|Davidson|1943}}, The Road to Hel, p. 161.

The undead Víga-Hrappr exhibited the ability to sink into the ground to escape from Óláfr Hǫskuldsson the Peacock.{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, Laxdaela Saga, p. 103

Some draugrs are immune to weapons, and only a hero has the strength and courage to stand up to a formidable opponent. In legends, the hero often wrestled a draugr back to his grave to defeat them since weapons would do no good. A good example of this is found in Hrómundar saga Gripssonar. Iron could injure a draugr, as with many supernatural creatures, although it would not be sufficient to stop it.Simpson, Icelandic Folktales and Legends, p. 107. Sometimes, the hero must dispose of the body in unconventional ways. The preferred method is to cut off the draugr's head, burn the body, and dump the ashes in the sea—the emphasis being on making sure that the draugr was dead and gone.{{cite web|url=http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ghosts.shtml |title=Viking Answer Lady Webpage - The Walking Dead: Draugr and Aptrgangr in Old Norse Literature |publisher=Vikinganswerlady.com |date=2005-12-14 |access-date=2010-07-01}}

Any mean, nasty, or greedy person can become a draugr. As Ármann Jakobsson notes, "most medieval Icelandic ghosts are evil or marginal people. If not dissatisfied or evil, they are unpopular".{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=295}}

The draugr's motivation was primarily envy and greed. Greed causes it to attack any would-be grave robbers viciously, but the draugr also expresses an innate envy of the living stemming from a longing for the things of life which it once had. They also exhibit an immense and nearly insatiable appetite, as shown in the encounter of Aran and Asmund, sword brothers who swore that, if one died, the other would sit vigil with him for three days inside the burial mound. When Aran died, Asmund brought his possessions into the barrow—banners, armor, hawk, hound, and horse—then set himself to wait the three days:

{{Blockquote|text=During the first night, Aran got up from his chair and killed the hawk and hound and ate them. On the second night he got up again from his chair, and killed the horse and tore it into pieces; then he took great bites at the horse-flesh with his teeth, the blood streaming down from his mouth all the while he was eating…. The third night Asmund became very drowsy, and the first thing he knew, Aran had got him by the ears and torn them off.Gautrek's Saga and Other Medieval Tales, pp. 99-101.}}

The draugr's victims were not limited to trespassers in its home. The roaming undead devastated livestock by running the animals to death either by riding them or pursuing them in some hideous, half-flayed form. Shepherds' duties kept them outdoors at night, and they were particular targets for the hunger and hatred of the undead:

{{blockquote|text=The oxen which had been used to haul Thorolf's body were ridden to death by demons, and every single beast that came near his grave went raving mad and howled itself to death. The shepherd at Hvamm often came racing home with Thorolf after him. One day that Fall neither sheep nor shepherd came back to the farm.{{SfnRef|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. Eyrbyggja Saga, p. 115.}}

Animals feeding near the grave of a draugr might be driven mad by the creature's influence.{{harvp|Curran|2005|pp=81–93}} They may also die from being driven mad. Thorolf, for example, caused birds to drop dead when they flew over his bowl barrow.

The main indication that a deceased person will become a draugr is that the corpse is not horizontal. It is found standing upright (as with Víga-Hrappr), or in a sitting position (Þórólfr), indicating that the dead might return.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=296}} Ármann Jakobsson suggests further that breaking the draugr's posture is a necessary or helpful step in destroying the draugr, but this is fraught with the risk of being inflicted with the evil eye, whether this is explicitly told in the case of Grettir who receives the curse from Glámr, or only implied in the case of Þórólfr, whose son warns the others to beware while they unbend Þórólfr's seated posture.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=296}}

The draugr needing to be decapitated to hinder them from further hauntings is a common theme in the family sagas.

{{more citations needed|section|date=October 2018}}

File:Norre naeraa 600px.jpg

Traditionally in Iceland, a pair of open iron scissors was placed on the chest of the recently deceased, and straws or twigs might be hidden among their clothes.{{Cite book |last=Bane |first=Theresa |title=Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers |year=2010 |isbn=9780786444526 |location=North Carolina |publication-date=2010 |pages=55 |language=English}} The big toes were tied together or needles were driven through the soles of the feet to keep the dead from being able to walk. Tradition also held that the coffin should be lifted and lowered in three directions as it was carried from the house to confuse a possible draugr's sense of direction.

The most effective means of preventing the return of the dead was believed to be a corpse door, a special door through which the corpse was carried feet-first with people surrounding it so that the corpse couldn't see where it was going. The door was then bricked up to prevent a return. It is speculated{{by whom|date=October 2018}} that this belief began in Denmark and spread throughout the Norse culture, founded on the idea that the dead could only leave through the way they entered.

In the "Eyrbyggja saga," draugrs are driven off by holding a "door-doom." One by one, they are summoned to the door-doom, given judgment, and forced out of the home by this legal method. The home is then purified with holy water to ensure that they never come back.

One of the best-known revenants in the sagas is Glámr, who is defeated by the hero in Grettis saga. After Glámr dies on Christmas Eve, "people became aware that Glámr was not resting in peace. He wrought such havoc that some people fainted at the sight of him, while others went out of their minds". After a battle, Grettir eventually gets Glámr on his back. Just before Grettir kills him, Glámr curses Grettir because "Glámr was endowed with more evil force than most other ghosts",{{sfnp|Scudder (tr.)|2005}} and thus he was able to speak and leave Grettir with his curse after his death. (Note that the saga does not actually use the term draugr for Glámr, per above.){{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

A somewhat ambivalent, alternative view of the draugr is presented by the example of Gunnar Hámundarson in Njáls saga: "It seemed as though the howe was agape, and that Gunnar had turned within the howe to look upwards at the moon. They thought that they saw four lights within the howe, but not a shadow to be seen. Then they saw that Gunnar was merry, with a joyful face."{{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Robert |title=Njal's saga|date=2001|publisher=Penguin |isbn=0140447695|location=London|oclc=47938075}}{{Better source needed|reason=We need a source describing the ghost with these words, otherwise this is original research.|date=January 2019}}

In the Eyrbyggja saga, a shepherd is assaulted by a blue-black draugr. The shepherd's neck is broken during the ensuing scuffle. The shepherd rises the next night as a draugr.

File:Draug.jpg

In contrast to the Icelandic sagas, in later Scandinavian folklore, the term draugr, is described akin to spirits, ghosts or revenants in general, sometimes with no clear distinction at all.{{Runeberg |filename=dialektl |htmlno=0132.html |name=Svenskt dialektlexikon : ordbok öfver svenska allmogespråket : drög}}

In Norway, however, the term draugr ({{langx|no|draug}}/{{lang|no|drøg}}/{{lang|no|drog}}, or {{lang|no|drauv}}/{{lang|no|drøv}}/{{lang|no|drov}}) instead became associated with ghosts (and thereof) of people lost at sea, sometimes specified as "sea draugr" ({{langx|no|havdraug}}, sjødraug) relative to "land draugr". The sea draugr occurs in legends along the coast of Norway, either at sea or along the beach. In later folklore, it became common to limit the figure to a ghost of a dead fisherman who had drifted at sea and who was not buried in Christian soil. It was said that he wore a leather jacket or was dressed in oilskin, but had a bundle of seaweed for his head. He sailed in a half-boat with blocked sails (Bø Municipality in Norway has the half-boat in its coat of arms) and announced death for those who saw him or even wanted to pull them down. This trait is common in the northernmost part of Norway, where life and culture was based on fishing more than anywhere else. The reason for this may be that the fishermen often drowned in great numbers, and the stories of restless dead coming in from sea were more common in the north than any other region of the country.

A recorded legend from Trøndelag tells how a corpse lying on a beach became the object of a quarrel between the two types of draug (headless and seaweed-headed). A similar source even tells of a third type, the gleip, known to hitch themselves to sailors walking ashore and make them slip on the wet rocks.{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}}

Although the draug usually presages death, there is an amusing account in Northern Norway of a northerner who managed to outwit him:

{{blockquote|text=It was Christmas Eve, and Ola went down to his boathouse to get the keg of brandy he had bought for the holidays. When he got in, he noticed a draugr sitting on the keg, staring out to sea. Ola, with great presence of mind and great bravery (it might not be amiss to state that he already had done some drinking), tiptoed up behind the draugr and struck him sharply in the small of the back, so that he went flying out through the window, with sparks hissing around him as he hit the water. Ola knew he had no time to lose, so he set off at a great rate, running through the churchyard which lay between his home and the boathouse. As he ran, he cried, "Up, all you Christian souls, and help me!" Then he heard the sound of fighting between the ghosts and the draugr, who were battling each other with coffin boards and bunches of seaweed. The next morning, when people came to church, the whole yard was strewn with coffin covers, boat boards, and seaweed. After the fight, which the ghosts won, the draugr never came back to that district.{{cite book |title=Norwegian-American Studies and Records - Volume 12 |date=1941 |publisher=Norwegian-American Historical Association |pages=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=no7XAAAAMAAJ}}}}

File:Theodor Kittelsen - Sjøtrollet, 1887 (The Sea Troll).jpg]]

The cultural link between draugrs and Christmas in Norway goes back to at least the early 1900s, probably much earlier. Sea draugrs and drowned people are mentioned as being part of the Wild Hunt in Norway,{{cite news |title=Själ och kropp i primitiv folktro |url=https://tidningar.kb.se/8s71lnpx6rs1nctw/part/1/page/3?q=draug |access-date=2025-01-26 |work=Sydsvenskan |date=1907-08-04 |page=3 |language=sv}} and the old Nordic Christmas tradition of leaving out food and beer on Christmas night, as to wellcome spirits of the deceased, household spirits and thereof into the house, includes draugrs in Norway; the beer left out being called "draug-beer" ({{langx|no|drøv-øl}}, from the form drauv).{{cite web |title=Før kunne du få bot hvis du ikke brygget juleøl |url=https://www.oblad.no/ol/olbrygging/historier/for-kunne-du-fa-bot-hvis-du-ikke-brygget-juleol/f/5-68-354543 |website=oblad.no |access-date=2025-01-26 |location=Norway |language=no |date=2017-12-25 |quote=Årsaken var at også de underjordiske skulle få noe å bite i. På Nordmøre ble det som var igjen i ølkruset julaften, kalt «drøv-øl» (draug-øl). Ølet sto fremme for dødningene, og ingen måtte drikke av det.}}

The modern and popular connection between the draug and the sea can be traced back to authors like Jonas Lie and Regine Nordmann, whose works include several books of fairy tales, as well as the drawings of Theodor Kittelsen, who spent some years living in Svolvær. Up north, the tradition of sea draugr is especially vivid.{{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt20krz85 |title=Beasts of the Deep |date=2018-02-02 |publisher=John Libbey Publishing |isbn=978-0-86196-939-5 |editor-last=Hackett |editor-first=Jon |editor-last2=Harrington |editor-first2=Seán}}

Arne Garborg describes land-draugs coming fresh from the graveyards, and the term draug is even used of vampires. The notion of draugrs who live in the mountains is present in the poetic works of Henrik Ibsen (Peer Gynt), and Aasmund Olavsson Vinje.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

The exoplanet PSR B1257+12 A has been named "Draugr".

The Nynorsk translation of The Lord of the Rings used the term for both Nazgûl and the dead men of Dunharrow. Tolkien's barrow-wights bear obvious similarity to, and were inspired by the haugbúi.

In video game series such as The Elder Scrolls, draugr are the undead mummified corpses of fallen warriors that inhabit the ancient burial sites of a Nordic-inspired race of man. They first appeared in the Bloodmoon expansion to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and would later go on to appear all throughout The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Draugrs are a common enemy, the first encountered by the player, in the 2018 video game God of War, with a variety of different powers and abilities.

In 2019, a spaceship named Draugur was added to the game Eve Online, as the command destroyer of the Triglavian faction. Draugr appear as an enemies in the 2021 early access game Valheim, where they take the more recent, seaweed version of the Draug.

The Draugr is one of the Norse myth units of the New Gods Pack: Freyr DLC of 2024 video game Age of Mythology: Retold, associated to the god Ullr, fighting with bows and arrows.

Season two episode two of the 2018 TV-series Hilda, entitled "The Draugen", involved draugen as the ghosts of sailors who died at sea. While their form was ghostly, the captain could wear a coat, and had a shock of seaweed for hair.

In the 2018 film Draug, a group of Viking warriors encounter the draugr while searching for a missing person inside a vast forest. The draugr are depicted as blue-black animated corpses wielding many magical abilities.

In the 2022 movie The Northman, Amleth enters a burial mound, in search of a magical sword named "Draugr". Amleth encounters an undead Mound Dweller inside the grave chamber, which he has to fight to obtain the blade.

The 2024 Icelandic horror film The Damned features a draugr tormenting the inhabitants of an isolated, winter, fishing post after they let the survivors of a shipwreck drown.

• Gjenganger
• Norse funeral
• Selkolla
• Spriggan
• Wiedergänger

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite book |last=Burns |first=Marjorie |author-link=Marjorie Burns |title=Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey : Night-wolves, Half-trolls and the Dead Who Won't Stay Down |editor-last1=Houghton |editor1-first=John Wm. |editor2-last=Croft |editor2-first=Janet Brennan |editor2-link=Janet Brennan Croft |editor3-last=Martsch |editor3-first=Nancy |location=Jefferson, NC |publisher=McFarland |year=2014 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A_rsAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 |page=195, endnote 27 |isbn=9781476614861}}

{{cite journal|last=Davidson |first=H. R. Ellis |author-link=Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson |title=Weland the Smith Burial Practices as Sites of Cultural Memory in the Íslendingasögur |journal=Folklore |volume=69 |number=3|date=September 1958 |pages=154–155 |jstor=1258855}}

{{cite book|last1=Gilliver |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Gilliver |last2=Marshall |first2=Jeremy |author2-link=Jeremy Marshall |last3=Weiner |first3=Edmund |author3-link=Edmund Weiner |title=The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary |editor-last=Black |editor-first=Ronald |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |orig-year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bszM-uwEQOkC&pg=PA214 |isbn=9780199568369}}

{{cite book|last=Langeslag |first=P. S. |author-link= |title=Seasons in the Literatures of the Medieval North |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJq7CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |page=118 |isbn=9781843844259}}

{{cite journal|last=Sayers |first=William |author-link= |title=The arctic desert (Helluland) in Bárðar saga |journal=Scandinavian-Canadian Studies/Études scandinaves au Canada |year=1994 |volume=7 |url=https://hcmc.uvic.ca/~scancan/pdf/vol07.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005161642/http://hcmc.uvic.ca/~scancan/pdf/vol07.pdf |archive-date=2018-10-05 |url-status=live |pages=11 and notes}}

{{cite book|last=Smith |first=Gregg A. |author-link= |others=Paul G. Remley (foreword by) |title=The Function of the Living Dead in Medieval Norse and Celtic literature : Death and Desire |date=2007 |publisher=Edwin Mellen Press|location=Lewiston, New York|isbn=9780773453531 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ckgiAQAAIAAJ&q=draugar |page=14|quotation=}}

{{cite book|last=Williams |first=Howard |author-link=Howard Williams (archaeologist) |title=Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jy_BTRVnwIC&pg=PA172 |page=172|isbn=9781139457934}}

}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Boer (ed.)|1900}}|editor-last=Boer |editor-first=Richard Constant |editor-link=Richard Constant Boer |title=Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar |location=Halle an der Saale |publisher=Max Niemeyer |year=1900 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ }}
• {{cite book|last=Kershaw |first=Nora |author-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |author-mask=[Chadwick, N. K.]{{=}}Kershaw, Nora |chapter=The Saga of Hromund Greipsson |title=Stories and Ballads of the Far Past |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1921|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sAEzAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA68 |pages=58–78}}
• {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}|author1=Eiríkur Magnússon |author1-link=Eiríkur Magnússon |last2=Morris |first2=William |author2-link=William Morris |author1-mask=Eiríkur Magnússon; |author2-mask=Morris, William (trr.) |title=Grettis Saga. The Story of Grettir the Strong, translated from the Icelandic |location=London |publisher=F. S. Ellis |year=1869 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA48 }}
• {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Fox|Pálsson (trr.)|1974}}|last1=Fox |first1=Denton |author1-link=Denton Fox |author1-mask=Fox, Denton; |last2=Pálsson|first2=Hermann |author2-link=Hermann Pálsson |author2-mask=Pálsson, Hermann (trr.) |title=Grettir's Saga |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1974 }}
• {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}|last1=Pálsson |first1=Hermann |author1-link=Hermann Pálsson |author1-mask=Pálsson, Hermannn; |last2=Edwards |first2=Paul |author2-link=Paul Edwards (literary scholar)|author2-mask=Edwards, Paul (trr.) |title=Eyrbyggja Saga |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Southside Publishers |year=1973 |isbn=9780900025075 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gbXAAAAMAAJ }}
• {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}|last1=Magnusson |first1=Magnus |author1-link=Magnus Magnusson |author1-mask=Fox, Denton; |last2=Pálsson|first2=Hermann |author2-link=Hermann Pálsson |author2-mask=Pálsson, Hermann (trr.) |title=Laxdaela Saga |publisher=Penguin |year=1969 |isbn=9780140442182 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=um91wPf9c7MC }}

• {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Scudder (tr.)|2005}}|last=Scudder |first=Bernard |author-mask=Scudder, Bernard (tr.) |title=The Saga of Grettir the Strong |publisher=Penguin |year=2005 |isbn=9780141937922 |orig-year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0DrV1rWimgwC}}

{{Refend}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal|last=Andrews |first=A. LeRoy |author-link= |title=Fornaldarsǫgur Norðrlanda (cont.) |journal=Modern Philology |volume=10 |issue= 3 |date=1912–1913 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fSE_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA604 |pages=601–630|doi=10.1086/386906 |s2cid=224836243 }}
• {{cite journal|author=Ármann Jakobsson |author-link=Ármann Jakobsson |title=The Fearless Vampire Killers: A Note about the Icelandic Draugr and Demonic Contamination in Grettis Saga |journal=Folklore |volume=120 |issue= 3 |year=2009 |pages=307–316 |doi=10.1080/00155870903219771|s2cid=162338244 |jstor=40646533}}
• {{cite journal|author=Ármann Jakobsson |author-link=Ármann Jakobsson |author-mask=2|title=Vampires and watchmen: Categorizing the mediaeval Icelandic undead |journal=Journal of English and Germanic Philology |year=2011 |volume=110 |issue=3 |pages=281–300 |doi=10.5406/jenglgermphil.110.3.0281 |s2cid=162278413 |jstor=10.5406/jenglgermphil.110.3.0281}}
• {{cite journal|author-last=Bennett |first=Lisa |author-link= |title=Burial Practices as Sites of Cultural Memory in the Íslendingasögur |journal=Viking and Medieval Scandinavia |volume=10 |date=2014|pages=27–2 |doi=10.1484/J.VMS.5.105211 |jstor=48501879}}
• {{Cite journal|editor-last=Boer |editor-first=Richard Constant |editor-link=Richard Constant Boer |title=Zur Grettissaga |journal=Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie |volume=30 |year=1898 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbVDAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 |pages=1–72}}
• {{cite journal|author-last=Caciola |first=Nancy |author-link= |title=Wraiths, Revenants and Ritual in Medieval Culture |journal=Past & Present |number=152 |date=August 1996|pages=3–45 |jstor=651055}}
• {{cite journal|last=Chadwick |first=N. K. |author-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |title=Norse ghosts: A study in the Draugr and the Haugbúi |journal=Folklore |year=1946 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=50–65 |doi=10.1080/0015587x.1946.9717812 |jstor=1256952}}
• {{cite journal|last=Chadwick |first=Nora Kershaw |author-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |author-mask=2 |title=Norse ghosts II|journal=Folklore|year=1946b|volume=57|issue=3|pages=106–127|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1946.9717823}}
• {{cite book |last1=Clemoes |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Clemoes |last2=Dickins |first2=Bruce |author2-link=Bruce Dickins |title=The Anglo-Saxons |publisher=Bowes & Bowes |year=1959 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TGo0AAAAIAAJ&q=draugr }}
• {{cite book |last=Curran |first=Bob |author-link= |chapter=Chapter 7. The Devil of Hjlata-stad, Iceland |title=Vampires: A Field Guide to the Creatures that Stalk the Night |publisher=Career Press |year=2005 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1d1EDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |pages=81–93 |isbn=978-1-56414-807-0}}
• {{cite journal|author=Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson |author-link=Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson |title=Wrestling with ghosts in Icelandic popular belief |journal=Arv: Nordic Yearbook of Folklore|volume=43 |year=1987 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JqwSAQAAIAAJ&q=%C3%81svi%C3%B0r |pages=7–20|isbn=9789122012436 }}
• {{cite journal|author-last=Keyworth |first=G. David |author-link= |title=Was the Vampire of the Eighteenth Century a Unique Type of Undead-Corpse? |journal=Folklore |volume=117 |number=3 |date=December 2006 |pages=241–260 |doi=10.1080/00155870600928872 |jstor=30035373|s2cid=162921894 }}
• {{cite book |author-last=Keyworth |first=G. David |author-link= |author-mask=2|title=Troublesome Corpses: Vampires & Revenants, from Antiquity to the Present |publisher=Desert Island Books |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cq4qAAAAYAAJ |pages=29–35 |isbn=9781905328307}}
• {{cite book|last=Lindow |first=John |author-link=John Lindow |title=Comitatus, Individual and Honor: Studies in North Germanic Institutional Vocabulary |publisher=University of California Press |year=1976 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHAbAQAAIAAJ&q=draugr |series=University of California Publications in Linguistics 83|isbn=9780520095496 }}

{{refend}}

{{Death in Germanic mythology}}

{{Scandinavian folklore}}

Category:Creatures in Norse mythology

Category:Corporeal undead

Category:Circumpolar mythology

Category:Icelandic folklore

Category:Scandinavian folklore

Category:Scandinavian legendary creatures

Category:Undead

Category:Vampires

Category:Ghosts