"A Wolf Among Wolves": The Social Exile and Lycanthropic Liminality of Hroar and Helgi in Hrolfs Saga Kraka

There is little difference in the Scandinavian saga between wolfishness or werewolfishness and social exile.  The aesthetic of the outlaw and miscreat is typified by that character's inherently wolfishness (symbolic of treachery, criminality, deviousness, etc.) and exile from society.  Within the Saga of King hrolf Kraki, however, this aesthetic runs in reverse in that the two sons of the slain King Halfdan -Hroar and Helgi- are forced into exile, and only then take on the characteristics of the werewolf.  This reverse-paradigm forces us to reconsider the stock narrative element of the exiled wolf and reconsider how the boys' wolfishness functions as a social construct: Hroar and Helgi are banished and treated poorly by the usurper to their father's throne, but it is that very exile that allows them the freedom and unchecked liminality to return to royal power, regain social acceptance, and overthrow the treacherous King Frodi.