Gotland’s Picture Stones: Bearers of an Enigmatic Legacy. Gotländskt arkiv 2012, vol 84, 59–71.

The Gotland picture stones have long aroused interest and admiration, not only among tourists as objects of beauty and casual curiosity, but also among scholars who have been led to speculate about what they were originally intended to signify. One of the methods used to analyze and interpret the images has been to view them in the context of Old Norse literature. In this respect, three different strands of narrative material, or legends, have been identified as possible sources for preserved texts and comparable images referring to the Völsungs and the Gjúkungar, Wayland the Smith and the story of Hildr and Héðinn. Read more: Saga Motifs.

Speculum (87/4) 2012, 1015–1049.

While many readers of medieval literature are likely to be familiar with the narrative motif of the snake pit, and even associate it with the legend of Gunnarr Gjúkason, there are probably not many, apart from Old Norse specialists, who would know the rest of his story. According to the heroic poems of the Edda, and the derived Völsunga saga, Gunnarr is the brother-in-law of Sigurðr Fáfnisbani and plays a large part in his saga, Völsunga saga. But as Völsunga saga is first and foremost the story of the Völs- ungs, including Sigurðr, Gunnarr naturally plays something of a minor role there, being overshadowed by the magnificent and renowned slayer of the dragon Fáfnir. And so, while some people may know who Gunnarr is, they do not necessarily know much about him in his own right. Read more: Speculum. See also: Medievalists.net.