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Illustration of Þórólfr bægifótr
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
File No. 026 of 446

Þórólfr bægifótr

Also called: Thorolf Twist-Foot, Thorolf Lame-foot, Thorolf Halt-foot
Folklore and mythUndeadVariesMiddle Ages

Þórólfr bægifótr is the great contagious revenant of Eyrbyggja saga. After his death the valley empties: animals go mad, a shepherd is found with every bone broken, and his victims join his company. His son Arnkel reburies the corpse on a hillside behind a high wall, and it is later burned. The pattern of an undecayed corpse, spreading death and escalating disposal anticipates the vampire panics of five centuries later.12

Battle it
First recorded
1260
Eyrbyggja saga, written in the mid- or late 13th century
Origin
Norse (Icelandic saga)
Iceland
What causes it
Other
A violent old man will not lie still after death; the saga offers no further explanation.
How you become one
He dies sitting upright in his seat, a posture the sagas treat as a sign that the dead will walk.
How it moves
Varies
Leaves his cairn and ravages the district around Þórsnes for most of a year.
Intelligence
Some intelligence
Weak spots
  • reburial on a remote hillside behind a high stone wall
  • burning the body

When did it first appear?

Ancient worldMiddle Ages1500 to 18991900 to 19671968 to 19992000 to 20092010 to today1260

Eyrbyggja saga, written in the mid- or late 13th century

field notes

What the sources say

1

Father of the chieftain Arnkel, who has to bury him twice12

2

A shepherd is found near his cairn coal-black with every bone broken12

3

Birds that land on his grave drop dead and the farm oxen are ridden to death12

4

Those he kills are seen walking with him, so the haunting spreads12

5

After the corpse is finally burned he is said to return once more in the form of a bull12

Could you outrun it?

Speed class from how the sources describe it (varies), not a measurement.

You, walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
You, jogging about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)
Þórólfr bægifótr about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)
A fit adult sprinting about 24 km/h (15 mph)
A fast cyclist about 37 km/h (23 mph)

Sources

  1. Eyrbyggja saga - Wikipedia
  2. Draugr - Wikipedia

Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at [email protected].

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Folklore from the same lands

DraugrNorse, 1250GlámrNorse (Icelandic saga), 1300AsvithNorse (Danish chronicle and Icelandic saga), 1200Deacon of MyrkáIcelandic, 1860HaugbúiNorse, 1250HjaðningavígNorse / Germanic

Same era: Middle Ages

VetalaHindu (Indian), 1070Revenant (medieval England)Medieval English, 1100UpiórSlavic, 1100Berwick revenantMedieval English / Scottish borders, 1198Buckinghamshire revenantMedieval English, 1198Byland Abbey revenantsMedieval English, 1400
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