Amleth

Role: son of Horwendil and Gerutha; avenger of his father · First appears: Book Three · Part 11

In Book Three · Part 11, Horwendil and Gerutha’s son was Amleth. In Book Three · Part 12, he feigned dulness to conceal his intelligence and keep himself safe from his uncle Feng. He recognized a warning of treachery and avoided the trap; in Book Three · Part 14, he killed the man hidden in the straw to spy on him. He explained that he wore “the mask of folly” while waiting to avenge his father, whom Feng had slain. When Feng plotted to have him killed by the King of Britain, Amleth altered the letter so that the death sentence fell on his companions instead. The king gave him his daughter as a wife and gold, and hanged Amleth’s companions.

After a year with the king, Amleth returned to Jutland, appearing at his own obsequies. He burned the palace and cut down Feng, then told the Jutes, “I have taken vengeance for my country and my father.” In Book Four · Part 3, he returned to Britain to see his wife and her father, and was asked to seek a new wife for the king. In Scotland, Hermutrude replaced the king’s letter with a forged commission asking her to marry Amleth; she urged him to wed her, and he did. His wife warned him of her father’s intended treachery. The king attacked Amleth, wounding him, but Amleth used the bodies of his dead companions to frighten the Britons into flight; the king was killed as he fled. Amleth returned to his own land with his wives and Britain’s spoils.

In Book Four · Part 6, Amleth attacked and subdued Wiglek, and drove Fialler into exile. Wiglek later killed Amleth in battle in Jutland.