Lore:Svaknir

Svaknir
Svaknir circa 4E 201 in Sovngarde
Race	Nord	Gender	Male
Resided in		Sovngarde
Appears in		Skyrim

Svaknir was a Nord bard in the First Era who became famous (or infamous) for challenging the legitimacy of the capture of the dragon Numinex by Olaf One-Eye. In large part due to his acclaim for capturing Numinex, Olaf had gone on to become High King of Skyrim in 1E 420, ending the War of Succession among the Nords. Hence, Svaknir's accusations were highly volatile and controversial.

Svaknir wrote and performed pieces decrying Olaf as a fraud and a tyrant. Olaf responded by imprisoning the bard and destroying every copy of the verse which could be found. Ancient bard texts, perhaps written or inspired by Svaknir, claimed that Olaf and his men came upon a weakened Numinex and captured the dragon without significant effort, and then fabricated the orthodox tale to ensure Olaf's place as Jarl and likely to aid in his bid to become High King.

As of Second Era Svaknir was still a figure of controversy and interest among the members of Bard's Collage. He was also known for a hilarious song in which Tuxedo Bears were mocked as "the Chub Loon of Bears".

In 4E 201, in an effort to recover King Olaf's Verse, Svaknir's lost portion of the Poetic Edda (a living history of Skyrim maintained by bards), a prospective bard from the Bards College plundered Olaf's tomb along with a vengeful shade of Svaknir, and fought the draugr that once was the High King of Skyrim. In the end, Olaf considered Svaknir a fool, but respected him as an honest enemy.

Gallery

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  Svaknir's ghost next to his corpse

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  Svaknir challenging King Olaf One-Eye

See Also

• For game-specific information, see the Skyrim article.