Andvars

Andvars, also rendered as Andvari or Andvarr in Old Norse sources, is a dwarf figure in Norse mythology associated with a vast treasure and a magical ring. He is most closely linked to Andvar’s hoard, a wealth store that becomes central to a chain of fate-driven events in the Norse legends.

According to sources such as the Völsunga saga and Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, Andvari possessed a hoard of gold that he hid under the sea. The social maxims of the tale revolve around Loki’s coercion of Andvari to reveal the treasure, and Andvari’s response to this violation—he curses the gold and, most famously, the ring. The curse states that wealth may bring power, but it will also bring misfortune to all who wield it. After the exchange or theft of the hoard, the ring and the treasure pass through various hands, often triggering jealousy, murder, and tragedy within the Volsung lineage and their allies.

The myth of Andvarr’s ring has had a lasting cultural resonance. It is frequently cited as an early European example of a cursed treasure motif and has influenced later literary and musical works. Perhaps the best-known adaptation in modern times is Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, where a similar ring grants power but inexorably brings ruin to its bearer.

Scholarly discussions emphasize Andvari’s role as a cautionary figure about greed and the corrupting influence of wealth. The legend survives in multiple medieval Norse texts, with varying details across manuscripts, but the core idea remains: a cursed hoard entrusted to a powerful ring alters destinies across generations.