fylgja

The word {{wikt-lang|non|fylgja}} means "to accompany". The term fylgja is typically translated into English as "fetch", a similar being from Irish folklore.

The term {{wikt-lang|non|fylgja}} also has the meaning of "afterbirth, caul", and it has been argued by Gabriel Turville-Petre (cf. {{section link||Placenta origins}}) that the concept of the supernatural fylgja cannot be completely dissociated from this secondary meaning; in fact, there may well be a connection to the hamr, referring to the skin used by shapeshifters ({{lang|is|hamramr}}, cf. fjaðrhamr).

The fylgja is a ghost who associates with (or, for a lack of better word, stalks or shadows) a particular individual, and may be characterized as a "guardian spirit".{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|p=lxxix}} However, contrary to its name meaning 'follower', it generally moves ahead of its host, making a kind of "contact" with the person before they arrive at some key spot. The fylgja will, however, follow a person when they are near death.{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|p=lxxxii}}

A fylgja is sometimes associated with a particular family or clan, in which case it is called an {{lang|is|ættarfylgja}} (pl. {{lang|is|ættarfylgjur}} 'family followers'). A closely related type of fylgja is the "dream woman", as appears in Gísla saga (Cf. {{section link||Sleep and dreams}} below).{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|pp=lxxix–lxxx}} It is contended that the Icelandic mar or mara (the folkloric "[night]mare") is a dream fylgja which has strayed from its assigned host and visiting the dreams of others, which tend to be more sinister than when visiting its usual host or ward.{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|p=lxxx}}

The fylgja is said to take on either an animal form or a female human form, and this is due to a conflation of two distinct types of spirits, according to Else Mundal; the term fylgja, she argues, was first associated with the animal spirit, then later applied to the woman-spirit type.

The Icelandic word fylgja can also mean "placenta" or "afterbirth of a child" and the folkloric supernatural connection made between child and afterbirth may be the origins of the fylgja as a concept.{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|pp=lxxx–lxxxi}} According to some, the fylgja takes on the form of whatever animal that first showed itself and consumed the newborn baby's afterbirths, hence, such creatures take on the forms of such carnivores, as mice, sheep, dogs, foxes, cats, and raptors, birds of prey, or carrion eaters.

Thus, while the fylgja usually was a female ghost in the shape of a woman, it sometimes took on the shape of animals (also female animals according to Mundal{{efn|Cf. the example of the vixen representing a wizard in the Hávarðar saga Ísfirðings example below.}}). The animal fylgjur typically came in the form of a dog, but also as various other land or even sea creatures,{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|pp=lxxxi–lxxxii}}

The particular animal type that the fylgja takes on may reflect the character of the person it represents, akin to a totem animal. Hence fox-like fylgjur shadowed deceitful people, swan-like forms shadowed beautiful women.{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|p=lxxxi}} Men who were viewed as a leader would often have a fylgja displaying their "true" character. This means that if they had a "tame nature", their fylgja would typically be an ox, goat, or boar, and if they had an "untame nature", they would have a fylgja in the shape of an animal like such as a fox, wolf, deer, bear, eagle, falcon, leopard, lion, or a serpent.

The animal fylgja is also said to appear in front of its owner, often in dreams, and offer portents of events to come. As such it is a representation of the future itself, not the character of a person. Like a person's fate the fylgja is not changeable, nor can it improve or act on its own.{{Cite book|title=The Viking World|url=https://archive.org/details/vikingworld00brin |url-access = limited|last = Brink |first = Stefan |author-link=Stefan Brink |publisher = Routledge|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-415-33315-3|location = London|pages = [https://archive.org/details/vikingworld00brin/page/n263 239]}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024}}

Fylgjur may also "mark transformations between human and animal"{{Cite book|title = Old Norse religion in long-term perspectives; The heroized dead|url = https://archive.org/details/oldnorsereligion2004andr|url-access = limited|last1=Andrén |first1 = Anders |author-link=Anders Andrén |publisher = Nordic Academic Press|year = 2006|pages = [https://archive.org/details/oldnorsereligion2004andr/page/n130 137]–138|last2 = Jennbert|last3 = Raudvere|first2 = Kristina|first3 = Catharina}} or, in other words, shape shifting. In Egil's Saga, there are references to both Egil and Skallagrim transforming into wolves or bears, and there are examples of shape shifting in the Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, where Bodvar Bjarki turns into a bear during a battle as a last stand. These transformations are possibly implied in the saga descriptions of berserkers who transform into animals or display bestial abilities.{{cite web|url= https://runeberg.org/nfbc/0468.html|title=Bodvar Bjarke

|publisher=Nordisk familjebok|access-date=June 1, 2019}}

Else Mundal has argued that the animal fylgja and the woman-ghost type fylgja are of different origins, and the solitary animal fylgja is actually that individual's alter ego present since birth, which perishes together when that person dies.

{{Refn|{{harvp|Mundal|1974}}, reviewed in English by Brønner.}}

Fylgjur usually appear in the form of an animal or a human and commonly appear during sleep, but the sagas relate that they could appear while a person is awake as well, and that seeing one's fylgja is an omen of one's impending death. When fylgjur appear in the form of women, they are then supposedly guardian spirits for people or clans (ættir). And according to Else Mundal, the female fylgja could also be considered a dís, a ghost or goddess that is attached to fate.

Fylgjur commonly appear during sleep.

In Gísla saga, the title hero Gísla Surrson is visited upon by two beautiful fylgjur, one bearing good omen, and the other one ill-boding and trying to edge him towards violence. These two are dream-women ({{lang|is|draumkona}}), as already described, and mentioned as an example of Norse fetches by several authorities.{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|pp=lxxix–lxxx}}{{sfnp|Turville-Petre|1958|p=100}} {{cn-span|These two women could represent the women ancestors of Gisli's family ties, such as the ties between his wife Aud and his sister Thordis, relating to the idea of the Hamingja and Dís.|date=March 2024}} The good 'dream-woman' and the bad here are also difficult to distinguish from the dísir according to Carolyne Larrington.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Jón Árnason's introduction to the "Fylgjur" section notes that the fylgja is also called dís, citing Fornmanna sögur II: 195.{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|1862|p=354}} }}

It is hardly surprising in medieval context that a dream message should have prognosticating context, giving warning about the person's fate. Both Andy Orchard and Rudolf Simek note parallels between the concept of the female guardian hamingja—a personification of a family's or individual's fortune—and the fylgja.

In another saga example, Atli of Otradalr dreams of a vixen leading a pack of 18 wolves. The ensuing attack was led by the "most wicked wizard in the whole of the region" (Hávarðar saga Ísfirðings, i.e. "Saga of Hávarður of Ísafjörður{{Cite news|title = The Story of Howard the Halt - Icelandic Saga Database|url = http://sagadb.org/havardar_saga_isfirdings.en|newspaper = Icelandic Saga Database|access-date = 2015-11-21}}). This is a fylgja'' or fetch example discussed by G. Turville-Petre, etc.{{sfnp|Kelchner|1935|p=20}}

A rare or even uniquely surviving case of the horse-fylgja occurs in Vatnsdæla saga.{{sfnp|Kelchner|1935|p=21}} Here, the dreamer ({{lang|non|Ingólfr Þorsteinsson}}) sees himself riding on a red horse, which he optimistically regards as a good portent. But his wife disagrees, and explains the horse to be a marr (mentioned above, ≈nightmare, mare), and is a man's fetch, furthermore, the red color betrays bloody-mindedness. She unsuccessfully tries to dissuade him from attending the meeting to select the chieftain (goði), and though Ingólfr is elected, he is immediately killed by an assassinator.{{sfnp|Kelchner|1935|pp=20–21}}

The sagas also relate that they could appear while a person is awake as well, and that seeing one's fylgja is an omen of one's impending death.

Thus in Hallfreðar saga, its protagonist Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld ("the troublesome-poet") had a vision of a woman clad in armour whom he recognized to be his own fylgjukona and he perceived that her appearance signified his imminent death aboard the ship.

In Jón Árnason's classification, he placed the "fylgja" branch of stories under the broader class of "draugr" ('ghost' or "goblin stories"{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|p=lxviii}}); and under this "fylgja" branch ({{lang|is|fylgjur}} or "followers"{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|p=lxxix}}) he collected many stories of ghosts which were of the female skotta and male móri types.{{harvp|Jón Árnason|1862}}, "2. Flokkur Draguasögur". "3. Grein. Fylgjur", pp. 354–404 However, modern commentators have distinguished the móri and the skotta as wicked ghosts, which are separate from the fylgja.{{Refn|name="swatos&gissurarson-apud-dempsey"|{{harvp|Dempsey|2017|p=28}} quoting {{harvp|Swatos|Gissurarson|1997|p=48}}}}

The name skotta is explained from their odd habit of wearing the {{linktext|faldur}}, the woman's headdress Icelandic national costume: instead of wearing it curved forward as she is supposed to, she wears a brown-red{{efn|{{langx|is|mórauð}}}} faldur curled backward like a tail (skott, "tail"). She also wears red stockings and sucks her fingers, but, otherwise, she is dressed properly and conducts herself normally.{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|1862|p=359}}{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|p=lxxxiii}}

Just as the skotta favored wearing a brown[ish] faldur, the male móri were also characterized by their wearing brown ({{lang|is|mór}}) clothing, hence this particular appellation. Though the móri was also known by other names such as lalli, or goggur or by other kennings.{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|1862|p=359}}{{sfnp|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866|p=lxxxiii–lxxxiv}}

• Anima and animus
• Augoeides
• Daemon
• Dís
• Familiar spirit
• Fetch (folklore)
• Luonto
• Norns
• Totem
• Valkyrie
• Vörðr

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|2|refs=

{{cite book|last=Bjarnason |first=Brigitte |author1-link= |title=Auf den Spuren von Hexern und Geistern in Island: Sagen, Mythen und Legenden. Mit Reisetipps |location=Hamburg |publisher=Acabus Verlag |date=2022 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hRVvEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT17 |page= |isbn=9783862828265}}

{{cite book|last=Davidson |first=Hilda Roderick Ellis |author-link=Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson |title=The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |orig-year=1943 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yucThMV2bKMC&pg=PA130 |page=130 |isbn=9781107632349}}

{{cite book|last=Dempsey |first=Corinne G. |author-link= |title=Bridges Between Worlds: Spirits and Spirit Work in Northern Iceland |location= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDPKDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 |page=28 and {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=7v7mDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA189 |2=n18}} |isbn=9780190625030}}

{{cite book|last=Grundy |first=Stephan |author-link=Stephan Grundy |chapter=Shapeshifting and Berserkergang |editor1-last=Poster |editor1-first=Carol |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Utz |editor2-first=Richard J. |editor2-link=Richard Utz |title=Translation, Transformation and Transubstantiation in the Late Middle Ages |location= |publisher=Northwestern University Press |year=1998 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nn0zubJW264C&pg=PA110 |pages=110–112|isbn=9780810116467}}

{{Cite book|last=Larrington |first=Carolyne |author-link=Carolyne Larrington |entry=Hose |title=The Woman's Companion to Mythology |place= |publisher=Pandora |year=1997 |url=

https://books.google.com/books?id=EPQQAQAAIAAJ&q=%22dream-woman%22 |page=132 |isbn=9780044409922}}

{{Cite book|last=Ogden |first=Daniel |author-link= |title=The Werewolf in the Ancient World |place= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PpAREAAAQBAJ&pg=PA117 |page=117|isbn=9780192596284}}

{{Cite journal|last=Brønner |first=Hedin |author-link= |author-mask=(Review author) Brønner, Hedin |title=Fylgjemotiva i norrøn litteratur, Else Mundal |journal=Scandinavian Studies |volume=48 |number=3 |publisher= |date=Summer 1976 |url=|pages=335–337 |jstor=40918612}}

Orchard, Andy (1997) Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend (Cassell) {{ISBN|0-304-34520-2}}

Simek, Rudolf (2007) . Translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. (D.S. Brewer) {{ISBN|0-85991-513-1}}

{{cite book|last1=Swatos |first1=((William H., Jr.)) |author1-link= |last2=Gissurarson |first2=Loftur Reimar |author2-link= |title=Icelandic Spiritualism: Mediumship and Modernity in Iceland |location=New Brunswick, NJ |publisher=Transaction Publishers |date=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QLk0gqFi_1EC&pg=PA49 |pages=48–49 |isbn=9781412825771}}

{{Cite journal|last=Turville-Petre |first=G. |author-link=Gabriel Turville-Petre |title=Dreams in Icelandic Tradition |journal= Folklore |volume=69 |number=2 |date=June 1958 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXUNAQAAMAAJ |page=99|jstor=1258718}}

}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|author=Jón Árnason |author-link=Jón Árnason (author) |chapter=2. Flokkur Draguasögur / 3. Grein. Fylgjur |title=Íslenzkar Þjóðsögur og Æfintýri |volume=1 | location=Leipzig |publisher=J. C. Hinrichs |year=1862 |pages=354–404 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2YgnXzai88QC&pg=PA354}}
• {{Cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Jón Árnason|Powell (tr.)|Magnússon (tr.)|1866}} |author=Jón Árnason |author-link=Jón Árnason (author) |translator1=George E. J. Powell |translator-link1=George Ernest John Powell |translator2=Eiríkr Magnússon |translator-link2=Eiríkr Magnússon |title=Icelandic Legends Collected by Jón Árnason |location=London |publisher=Longman, Green, and Co. |year=1866 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJ_7jDsJPQUC&pg=PR89 |pages=lxxxix–xc}}
• {{citation|last=Kelchner |first=Georgia Dunham |author-link= |title=Dreams in Old Norse Literature and their Affinites in Folklore |place= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1935 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=phI9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA20}}
• {{citation|last=Mundal |first=Else |author-link=Else Mundal |title=Fylgjemotiva i norrøn litteratur |place=Oslo |publisher=Universitetsforlaget |date=1974 |url= |lang=no}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin}}

• Andrén, Anders; Jennbert, Kristina; Raudvere, Catharina (2006) [https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/199029916?q&versionId=218041314 Old Norse religion in long-term perspectives] (Chicago: Nordic Academic Press; pp. 137–138)
• [https://www.sagadb.org/havardar_saga_isfirdings.e The Story of Howard the Halt]{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (Icelandic Saga Database)
• Jochens, Jenny (1996) [https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/104/3/971/52443?redirectedFrom=fulltext Old Norse Images of Women] (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania)

• Connor Finn; The Secret of Snow. (Fictional novel involving fylgja)
• William Friesen, '[https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/scanstud.87.2.0255 Fylgjur in Icelandic Saga]', Scandinavian Studies, 87 (2015), 255–80, {{doi|10.5406/scanstud.87.2.0255}}.

• Zuzana Stankovitsová, 'Following up on Female fylgjur: A Re-examination of the Concept of Female fylgjur in Old Icelandic Literature', in Paranormal Encounters in Iceland 1150-1400, ed. by Miriam Mayburd and Ármann Jakobsson (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), pp. 245–62 {{ISBN|9781501513862}} (cf. Zuzana Stankovitsová, '[https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/20343/1/ZS_fylgjur_MIS.pdf “Eru þetta mannafylgjur”: A Re-Examination of fylgjurin Old Norse Literature]' (unpublished MA thesis, University of Iceland, 2015)).

{{refend}}

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