Description
Gram was forged by Wayland the Smith and originally belonged to his father, Sigmund, who received it in the hall of the Völsung after pulling it out of the tree Barnstokkr into which Odin had stuck it where no one else could pull it out. The sword was destroyed in battle when Sigmund struck the spear of an enemy soldier dressed in a wide brimmed hat and a black hooded cloak. Before he died, Sigmund instructed his wife to keep the pieces so that it might be reforged for the son (Sigurd) that she was pregnant with. The sword was eventually reforged by Regin for Sigurd's use. After it was reforged, it could cleave an anvil in twain.
In the Nibelungenlied (ca. 13th century), Siegfried discards Gram after receiving a legendary sword called Balmung; in Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle (1848–1874), it is called Nothung. Some sources refer to the sword as Balmus.
Gram is depicted on several of the Sigurd stones. The depiction of Sigurd slaying the dragon by striking with the sword from below is one of the iconography used to identify those Viking Age images which depict the Sirgurd legend.
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