Draugr

[[File:Giant draugr by Kim Diaz Holm (cropped).jpg|thumb|Kim Diaz Holm's contemporary art depicting a draugr haunting in enormous hamr ("magical shape")]] [[File:Sea Draugr by Kim Diaz Holm 1 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Kim Diaz Holm's contemporary art depicting a sea draugr in Norwegian folklore]]

In Nordic folklore, the '''draugr''', or '''draug''' ({{langx|non|draugr}}; {{langx|is|draugur}}; {{langx|fo|dreygur}}; {{langx|no|draug, drauv}}; {{langx|sv|drög, dröger}}; {{langx|se|rávga}}),{{efn|'''Draug''' also exist in Swedish as a loanword from Icelandic sagas. In Danish, the loans from Icelandic are {{lang|da|drauge}} and {{lang|da|dravge}}.}} is an archaic term for a malevolent revenant with varying ambiguous traits. In modern times, they are often portrayed as Norse supernatural zombies, loosely based on the draugr as described in early medieval Icelandic sagas. However, in myth and folklore, they comprise several complex ideas which change from story to story, especially in surviving Norwegian folklore, where the draugr remains a staple – see {{section link||Norwegian folklore}}.<ref name="HerrHolm 1">{{cite web |title=Draugr VS Draugen: A Norwegian Fairytale of Sea Trolls and Viking Zombies |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5XgbMcd2Bk |website=youtube.com |publisher=Kim Diaz Holm |access-date=2024-12-16}}</ref><ref name="HerrHolm 2">{{cite web |title=God of War is wrong... |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuvG35j8aAM |website=youtube.com |publisher=Kim Diaz Holm |access-date=2024-12-16}}</ref>

In the Icelandic sagas, from which most modern interest is garnered, ''draugs'' live in their graves or royal palaces, often guarding treasure buried in their burial mound. They are revenants, or animated corpses, rather than ghosts, which possess intangible spiritual bodies.

== Etymology == === Development === The Old Norse word ''draugr'' (initially ''draugʀ'', see ʀ), in the sense of the undead creature, is hypothetically traced to an unrecorded {{langx|proto=yes|gem-x-proto|draugaz}}, meaning "delusion, illusion, mirage" etc., from {{lang|proto=yes|gem-x-proto|dreuganą}} ("to mislead, deceive"), ultimately from a Proto-Indo European stem {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰrowgʰos}} ("phantom"), from {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰréwgʰ-s ~ dʰrugʰ-és}} ("deceive"),<ref name="eiec">{{Cite encyclopedia |first1=Edgar C. |last1=Polomé |first2=Douglas Q. |last2=Adams |editor-first1=J. P. |editor-last1=Mallory |editor-first2=Douglas Q. |editor-last2=Adams |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture |title=Spirit |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1997 |page=538}}</ref> ultimately from the same root as 'dream', from a Proto-Indo European {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰrowgʰ-mos}} ("deceit, illusion").<ref name="JER102"/><ref name="SAOB bedraga">{{cite web |title=bedraga v.3 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=B_0521-0103.3U1H&pz=5 |website=saob.se |publisher=Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB) |access-date=2024-12-02}}</ref>

Cognates includes {{langx|sv|bedraga}} ("to deceive"), {{langx|nds|drog}} ("impostor, scoundrel"), {{lang|nds|dregen}} ("to deceive"), {{langx|goh|bitrog}} ("delusion"), {{lang|goh|gitrog}} ("illusion, mirage, ghost"), {{langx|de|Trug}} ("deception, delusion, illusion"), {{langx|nl|bedrog}} ("deceit, deception"), {{langx|osx|gidrog}} ("delusion"), {{langx|cy|drwg}} (/druug/, "bad, evil"), {{langx|ga|droch}} ("bad, evil"), {{lang|br|drouk}} ("bad, evil"), {{langx|sa|द्रुह्}}, ''drúh'' ("injury, harm, offence"), {{lang|sa|द्रोघ}}, ''drógha'' ("deceitful, untrue, misleading"), {{langx|peo|𐎭𐎼𐎢𐎥}}, ''drauga'' ("deceit, deception"), {{lang|peo|𐎭𐎼𐎢𐎩𐎴}}, ''draujana'' ("deceptive, deceitful, misleading").<ref name="JER102"/><ref name="SAOB bedraga"/>

=== Descendants === Recorded descendants of draugr include:

* {{langx|fo|dreygur}} * {{langx|is|draugur}}<ref name="Zoëga 1910"/> * {{langx|no|draug}}, {{lang|no|drøg}}, {{lang|no|drog}}, also the forms: {{lang|no|drauv}}, {{lang|no|drøv}}, {{lang|no|drov}},<ref name="dialektl 0132"/><ref name="haandlex"/><ref name="vorgamle">{{Runeberg |filename=vorgamle |htmlno=0251.html |name=Vor gamle bondekultur}}</ref> in 1741 recorded as: {{lang|no|drau}} ({{compare}} Insular Scots: {{lang|sco|drow}})<ref name="Egede"/> * Scanian: ''dråe'', ''dråker'', ''dråkel'': "devil"; definite forms: ''drån'', ''dronn'', ''dröken'': "the devil"<ref name="dialektl 0132"/><ref name="JER98"/><ref name="Västra Göinge 1">{{cite web |title=Ordbok över Folkmålen i Västra Göinge Härad Del 1 |url=https://isof.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1090038/FULLTEXT05.pdf |website=isof.diva-portal.org |publisher=Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore (ISOF) |access-date=2025-12-22}}</ref> * {{langx|sv|drög}}, {{lang|sv|dröger}}, {{lang|sv|draugr}}<ref name="dialektl 0132"/><ref name="JER98">{{Runeberg |filename=dialektl |htmlno=0129.html |name=Svenskt dialektlexikon: ordbok öfver svenska allmogespråket}}</ref>

Descendants of draugr also exist in Shetlandic and Orcadian dialect, stemming from Insular Scots, which ultimately got it from an unrecorded {{langx|nrn|*drau}}, or {{lang|nrn|*drog}} ({{compare}} 18th century {{langx|no|drau}} → {{lang|no|drov}}), but also being effected by {{langx|nrn|trǫll}} ("troll") by linguistic and figurative convergence;<ref name="JER102"/> Norn being the Old Norse descendant spoken in the Northern Isles and Caithness until the early modern period: * Insular Scots: {{lang|sco|drow}}, {{lang|sco|trow}}: "malignant spirit, troll, gnome" * Shetland dialect: ''{{lang|en|drow}}'', ''{{lang|en|trow}}'': "malignant spirit, ghost;<ref name="korobzow">{{citation|last=Korobzow |first=Natalie |author-link= |title=Nynorn: Die Rekonstruktion des Norn |journal=Dialectologia et Geolinguistica |volume=24 |issue=1 |date=2016 |pages=126–144 |url= |doi=10.1515/dialect-2016-0007 |doi-access=free }}</ref> troll, gnome, huldufólk"<ref name="jakobsen-drow">{{citation|last=Jakobsen |first=Jakob |author-link=Jakob Jakobsen |chapter=drow |title=Etymologisk ordbog over det norrøne sprog på Shetland |publisher=Prior |year=1921 |chapter-url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89099475378?urlappend=%3Bseq=175 |page=123 |hdl=2027/wu.89099475378?urlappend=%3Bseq=175 }}</ref> * Orcadian dialect: ''{{lang|en|drow}}'', ''{{lang|en|trow}}'': "malignant spirit, troll, gnome, the devil" ({{compare}} Scanian descendants: "devil, the devil")<ref name="snd-drow">{{cite-web |url=https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/drow_n3 |title=drow |publisher=Scottish National Dictionary |date=1976 |access-date=2026-01-28}}</ref>

Cognates of the draugr also exist in the Sámi languages (reconstructed Proto-Samic: ''*rāvkë'', ''*rāvkkē''), suggesting a common loan from Proto-Norse.<ref name="southsaamihistory"/> * {{langx|sma|raavke}}: vision, ghost<ref name="southsaamihistory">{{cite web |title=Religiösa företeelser och kosmologi |url=https://southsaamihistory.wordpress.com/category/saami-toponymia/ |website=southsaamihistory.wordpress.com |access-date=2025-06-16}}</ref> * {{langx|sje|rávvga}}: analogous to the {{sectionlink||Norwegian draugr}}<ref name="kirken.no">{{cite web |title=Samiske sagn på pitesamisk og svensk |url=https://www.kirken.no/globalassets/fellesrad/saemien%20%C3%A5%C3%A5lmege/dokumenter/daerpies%20dierie/dd%20nr%201%202024_ferdig.pdf |website=kirken.no |access-date=2025-06-16}}</ref> * {{langx|smj|rávgga}}: analogous to the {{sectionlink||Norwegian draugr}}<ref name="munin.uit.no">{{cite web |title=”Bare gudsordet duger” |url=https://munin.uit.no/bitstream/handle/10037/2967/thesis.pdf?sequence=4 |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=munin.uit.no}}</ref> * {{langx|se|rávga}}, or {{lang|se|čáhcerávga}} ("water rávga"): analogous to the {{sectionlink||Norwegian draugr}}<ref name="samer.se">{{cite web |title=Oral Tradition |url=https://www.samer.se/2987 |website=samer.se |access-date=2025-06-16}}</ref><ref name="nrk.no">{{cite web |title=Tar samisk barneoppdragelse i forsvar |url=https://www.nrk.no/sapmi/pedagog_-_-_ahceravga-ikke-farlig-1.7945100 |website=nrk.no |access-date=2025-06-16}}</ref> * {{langx|sjd|роа̄ввк}} (''rååvvk''): geist; phantom, vision<ref name="slovari">{{cite web |title=Роа̄ввк |url=https://slovari.saami.su/index.php?option=com_seoglossary&view=glossary&catid=1&id=4970&Itemid=108 |website=slovari.saami.su |access-date=2025-06-16}}</ref>

Similarly, the reconstructed Proto-Finnic: ''*raukka'' may also (at least partially) derive from the same root as Old Norse: ''draugr'' and the Sámi cognates: * {{langx|et|rauk}}: a very old person * {{langx|fi|raukka}}: poor thing, wretch; coward, wimp * {{langx|vot|raukkõ}}: poor thing, wretch

Such may also be effected by {{langx|sv|rackare}}, "someone dealing with cleaning filth", such as a gravedigger, execution assistant, skinner, castrator, chimney sweeper, etc, also being derogatory to some degree, meaning "blighter, gypsy, the devil", from {{langx|gml|racker}} with similar meaning (related to "rake"). Other potentially related words to either case includes: {{langx|da|drog}} ("a good-for-nothing"); {{langx|sco|draighie}}, {{lang|sco|draich}}, {{lang|sco|draick}} ("a lazy, lumpish, useless person"), {{lang|sco|draich}} ("slow, spiritless");<ref name="JER102"/><ref name="dsl draich">{{cite web |title=DRAICH, Draick |url=https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/draich |website=dsl.ac.uk |publisher=Scottish National Dictionary (1700–) |access-date=2024-12-02}}</ref> {{langx|sv|drög}} ("nut, idiot").<ref name="JER102"/>

== Terminology == === Nonfiction literature === One of the earliest nonfiction literature to mention the draugr is by Danish-Norwegian Hans Egede (1686–1758), during his time as the bishop of Greenland. In his book, The New Perlustration of Greenland ({{langx|da|Det gamle Grønlands nye Perlustration}}), published in 1741, he describes the Norwegian myth of the Kraken, and follows up with a comment of the sea draugr:

{{Verse translation| {{lang|da|De fortælle endnu om et andet søe-trold og spøgelse, som de kalde drauen, samme skal ingen viis gestalt eller skribelse have; men lader sig see nu i en nu i en anden positur.{{efn|Extrapolating the text from the old font is hard and thus the Danish text might include errors. The old language also makes identifying potential errors hard.}}<ref name="Egede">{{cite book|last=Egede |first=Hans |author-link=Hans Egede |chapter=Kap. VI. Hvad Slags Diur, Fiske og Fugle den Grønlandske Søe giver af sig etc. / § Andre Søe-Diur |title=Det gamle Grønlands nye perlustration,.. |location=Copenhagen |publisher=Groth |date=1741 |orig-date=1729 |chapter-url={{GBurl|id=KrRgAAAAcAAJ|p=48}} |pages=48–49 |language=da}}</ref>}} | "They also tell of another sea troll and spectre, which they call ''drauen'' (the drow), which is said to have no specified form or description; but shows itself in one or another appearance."}}

=== Dictionaries === One of the earliest dictionaries for draugr, or rather its descendants, was Swedish linguist and priest Johan Ernst Rietz's (1815–1868) dialect dictionary of Swedish vernacular (1862–1867), which listed the Swedish descendants of Old Norse {{lang|non|draugr}} as {{lang|sv|dröger}} and {{lang|sv|drög}} ({{compare}} {{langx|is|draugur}} vs {{lang|sv|dröger}}, {{langx|no|drøg}} vs {{lang|sv|drög}}), including the Old Norse form {{lang|sv|draugr}} in the province of Närke. He also included Norwegian {{lang|no|draug}}, {{lang|no|drauv}} and {{lang|no|drog}} for comparison, giving the definition for both Swedish and Norwegian as:

{{blockquote|"pale, powerless, slow human, striding forward", alternatively in Närke, akin to Old Norse, just "ghost or undead".<ref name="JER102">{{cite book |last1=Rietz |first1=Johan Ernst |author1-link=Johan Ernst Rietz |title=Svenskt dialektlexikon: ordbok öfver svenska allmogespråket |date=1862–1867 |publisher=Gleerups |location=Sweden |page=102 |url=https://runeberg.org/dialektl/0132.html |access-date=2025-01-26 |language=sv }}</ref>}}

Around the same time, although published a few years later, English philologist Richard Cleasby (1797–1847), and Icelandic scholar Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1827–1889), in "An Icelandic-English dictionary" (1873), defined Old Norse {{lang|is|draugr}} as:

{{blockquote|"a ghost, spirit, especially the dead inhabitant of a cairn"<ref name=cleasby-vigfusson>Cleasby; Vigfusson edd. (1974) ''An Icelandic-English dictionary''. s. v. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NTVoAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA103 draugr]</ref>}}

This description was repeated almost word for word by Icelandic linguist Geir T. Zoëga (1857–1928), in his book "A concise dictionary of old Icelandic" (1910).<ref name="Zoëga 1910">{{cite book |title=A concise dictionary of Old Icelandic |date=1911 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford}}</ref>

Norwegian journalist, author, and editor Johan Christian Johnsen (1815–1898), in his Norwegian dictionary (1881–1888), gave a different, more specific definition for Norwegian {{lang|no|draug}} than Rietz did in the 1860s, defining it as:

{{blockquote|"(really a revenant) in Norwegian folk superstition, a supernatural being that dwells on and by the sea. It appears most frequently as a man dressed in sea clothes with a bundle of seaweed instead of a head, sailing in half a boat, always proclaiming that the person or someone from the boat to whom it appears will perish".<ref name="haandlex">{{cite book |last1=Johnsen |first1=Johan Christian |author1-link=Johan Christian Johnsen |title=Norsk Haandlexikon |date=1881–1888 |location=Norway |page=391 |url=https://runeberg.org/haandlex/1/0391.html |access-date=2025-01-26 |language=no |chapter=A-J}}</ref>}}

=== Written corpus === In the written corpus, the ''draugr'' is regarded not so much as a ghost, but a corporeal undead creature, or revenant,<ref name=langeslag/> i.e., the reanimated corpse of the deceased, for example inside the burial mound or grave<ref name="smith gregg a"/> (as in the example of Kárr inn gamli in ''Grettis saga'').<ref name=langeslag/><ref name=williams_howard/> Commentators extend the term ''draugr'' to the undead in medieval literature, even if it is never explicitly referred to as such in the text, and designated them instead as a {{lang|non|haugbúi}} ("barrow-dweller") or an {{lang|non|aptrganga}} ("re-walker") – see Gjenganger ({{compare}} {{langx|is|afturganga}}, "after-walker"; {{langx|sv|gengångare}}, "again-walker").

Unlike Kárr inn gamli (Kar the Old) in ''Grettis saga'', who is specifically called a draugr,<ref name="p. 65"/>{{Refn|Kárr is called a draugr by Grettir when he sings a verse to reply to the question of how he gained the treasure sword. This was rendered "In the barrow where that thing .. fell" in the 1869 translation,<ref name=magnusson&morris-cap18-p048/> and "in a murky mound.. a ghost was felled then " by Scudder.{{sfnp|Scudder (tr.)|2005}}}} Glámr the ghost in the same saga is never explicitly called a draugr in the text,{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=284}} though called a "troll" in it.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Ármann Jakobsson notes that in this and comparable instances, the term "troll" designates some sort of revenant, more specifically the human undead. Since the term can also mean 'demon', the sense is ambiguous.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=285}} }}{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=285}} Yet Glámr is still routinely referred to as a ''draugr'' by modern scholars.{{Refn|{{harvp|Clemoes|Dickins|1959|p=190}}, e.g., and Willam Sayers<ref name=sayers/> }} Beings not specifically called {{lang|non|draugr}}, but only referred to as {{lang|non|{{linktext|aptrgǫngur}}}} "revenants" (pl. of {{lang|non|{{linktext|aptrganga}}}}) and {{lang|non|{{linktext|reimleikar}}}} "haunting" in these medieval sagas,{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Besides Glámr, other examples are Víga-Hrappr Sumarliðason in ''Laxdæla saga''; Þórólfr bægifótr (lame-foot) or the ghosts of Fróðá in ''Eyrbyggja saga''.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=284}}}} are still commonly discussed as a {{lang|non|draugr}} in various scholarly works,{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009}}{{sfnp|Caciola|1996|p=28}}<ref name="smith gregg a"/> or the draugr and the ''haugbúi'' are lumped into one.{{sfnp|Chadwick|1946|p=51}}

A further caveat is that the application of the term ''draugr'' may not necessarily follow what the term might have meant in the strict sense during medieval times, but rather follow a modern definition or notion of ''draugr'', specifically such ghostly beings (by whatever names they are called) that occur in Icelandic folktales categorized as "Draugasögur" in Jón Árnason's collection, based on the classification groundwork laid by Konrad Maurer.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|pp=281–282}}{{Refn|It is pointed out that the lexicographer Guðbrandur Vigfússon (who defined draugr as 'ghost' in his dictionary) wrote the preface to Jón Árnason's folklore collection.}}

In Old Norse, ''draugr'' also meant a tree trunk or dry dead wood (then a cognate of "drought", related to "drain"),<ref>{{cite web |title=dränera v. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=D_2173-0170.ztu4 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-07-03}}</ref> which in poetry could refer to a man or warrior,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/draugr#Old_Norse |title=Draugr |date=11 February 2024 }}</ref> since Old Norse poetry often used terms for trees to represent humans, especially in kennings, referencing the myth that the god Odin and his brothers created the first humans Ask and Embla from trees. There was thus a connection between the idea of a felled tree's trunk and that of a dead man's corpse. Similarly, the term {{lang|non|kraki}} ({{langx|no|krake}}, {{langx|sv|krake}}) can refer to a branchy tree, as well as a meager creature, such as a corpse.<ref name="kraki">{{cite web |title=krake sbst.1 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=K_2421-0266.9wAV&pz=3 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2026-01-10}}</ref>

Also, one of the names for Odin was {{lang|non|Draugadróttinn}}, "Lord of the draugr", in the Ynglinga saga, chapter 7.

=== Mound dweller ({{lang|non|haugbúi}}){{anchor|Haugbúi|Mound dweller}} === ''Haugbúi'' ({{langx|da|højbo}}, {{langx|no|haugbonde}}, {{langx|sv|högbo}}) is a variation of the ''draugr''. It means "mound dweller", i.e. the dead body living within its mound (tomb), compounding {{lang|non|haugr}} ("mound"), also found in dialectal English as "how, howe" (related to "height"), and {{lang|non|búi}} ("dweller, inhabitant, resident"), from {{lang|non|búa}} ("dwell, reside, inhabit"), related to "by, be"; {{lit|howe-by:er}}. The notable difference from a draug is that a mound dweller doesn't leave its grave site and only attacks those who trespass upon their territory.<ref name="Curran-pp81-93"/>

Beings in British folklore such as Lincolnshire "shag-boy" and Scots "hogboon" derive their names from ''haugbui''.<ref name="shag-boy">{{cite web |title=shag-boy |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shag-boy |website=Wiktionary |access-date=12 January 2023 |language=en |date=29 September 2019}}</ref>

A modern rendering is also barrow-wight, popularized by J. R. R. Tolkien in his novels, however, initially used for the draugr in Eiríkur Magnússon's and William Morris' 1869 translation of ''Grettis saga'', long before Tolkien employed the term;{{Refn|Burns<ref name=burns/> citing Gilliver et al. (2009) [2006]. ''The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary'', pp. 214–216.<ref name=gilliver/>}} rendering Icelandic ''"Sótti haugbúinn með kappi"'' as "the barrow-wight setting on with hideous eagerness".<ref name=magnusson&morris-cap18-p048>{{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}. Ch. 18. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA48 p. 48]</ref><ref name="p. 65">{{harvp|Boer (ed.)|1900|p=}}, Cap. 18, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA65 p. 65]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://skaldic.abdn.ac.uk/db.php?table=verses&id=26687&if=myth |title=Pre-Christian Religions of the North: Sources : [excerpt from] Gr ch. 18b: Living in gravemounds |year=2014 |access-date=2020-11-17 |author=PCRN project and Skaldic project}}</ref>

=== Troll === The term ''draugr'' is partially synonymous with ''troll'', and both share many similarities and features in older folklore. Rather than the modern depiction of monstrous humanoids with big noses, trolls were originally rather esoteric malevolent supernatural beings, by analogy synonymous with 'demon, devil, and thereof malignant spirits', including ghosts, but also branching into the concept of esoteric fairytale races, like jötunns and hidden people/troll-folk, etc. For comparison, the word "troll" is part of one of the common words for magic in the Nordic languages: "troll-dom" ({{langx|non|trolldómr}}, {{langx|da|trolddom}}, {{langx|no|trolldom}}, {{langx|sv|trolldom}}).<ref name="SAOB troll"/><ref name="SAOB trolldom"/>

[[File:Cyanobacteria - Nostoc commune - geograph.org.uk - 1470398.jpg|thumb|The algae species ''nostoc commune'', historically called ''draugspy'' ("draug puke") in Norway, and ''trollspy'' ("troll puke") in Götaland, Sweden<ref name="trollspy"/>]] Examples of direct draug/troll synonymity: the algae species ''nostoc commune'' have historically carried the name ''draugspy'' ("draug puke") in Norway, and ''trollspy'' ("troll puke") in Götaland, Sweden;<ref name="trollspy">{{Runeberg |filename=dialektl |htmlno=0784.html |name=trollspy}}</ref> and the Norwegian sea draugr have historically often been called a "sea troll".<ref name="Egede"/><ref name="HerrHolm 1"/> The synonymity have been noted by scholars already in the Old Norse written corpus, such as ''Grettis saga'', where Glámr the ghost is called a "troll", but not a draugr, despite showing similarities to Kárr the old, which is called a draugr.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=284}} Glámr, in spite of this, is still routinely referred to as a ''draugr'' by modern scholars.{{Refn|{{harvp|Clemoes|Dickins|1959|p=190}}, e.g., and Willam Sayers<ref name=sayers/> }} Icelandic scholar Ármann Jakobsson notes that in this and comparable instances, the term "troll" designates some sort of revenant, or more specifically the human undead, and since the term can also mean "demon", the sense is ambiguous.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=285}}

The notion of draugrs who live in mountains, akin to trolls, is present in Norwegian poetry, such as Henrik Ibsen's (1828–1906) ''Peer Gynt'',<ref name="Ibsen">{{cite book |last1=Ibsen |first1=Henrik |title=Peer Gynt |date=1867}}</ref> and works of Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (1818–1870),{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} but also in Faroese folklore, where the {{lang|fo|dreygur}} share many traits seen in later troll-lore, such as inhabiting mountains and hills,<ref name="Langeslag"/> and described as large, strong creatures with pale skin and long, dark hair, and often depicted as being cannibalistic.<ref name="Smith"/> Further comparisons can be made to English derivatives of {{sectionlink||mound dweller}}: the Lincolnshire "shag-boy", Caithness-Orkneyan "hogboon", and Shetland "hjogfinni", which have been compared to goblins and brownies,<ref name="spookyscotland">{{cite web |title=Hogboon (or Hogboy) |url=https://spookyscotland.net/hogboon/ |website=spookyscotland.net |access-date=2026-01-28}}</ref> but also old Nordic traditions of the dead and mountains.<ref name="Christina">{{cite-web |url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:119949/FULLTEXT01.pdf |title=Vägen till Valhall: Begravningsriter och eskatologiska föreställningar i Gästrikland under yngre järnåldern {{!}} 5 Eskatologiska föreställningar |access-date=2025-04-30 |author=Christina Eriksson |date=2004-06-01 |publisher=Gävle University College |website=diva-portal.org }}</ref>

Northern Isle descendants, {{lang|sco|drow}} and {{lang|sco|trow}}, mainly refer to a race of folkloric beings, cognate to the Nordic trolls, wights, and gnomes, and further, in Shetland, analog to the concept of the hidden people (also referred to as "troll-folk") in Nordic folklore,<ref name="jakobsen-drow"/> a loose race or conglomeration of fairies, wights, gnomes, or trolls, etc, who live underground in an analog plane of existence, who may appear and disappear at will. It is thought that the form ''trow'' stems from L-vocalization of {{langx|nrn|troll}}, and then intermixing with ''drow'' via linguistic and figurative convergence.<ref name="JER102"/> However, the sense of "ghost" also survives in Shetland.<ref name="korobzow"/>

The sense of "devil", or "the devil" (Satan), survive sporadically as well. Scanian indefinite descendants: ''dråe'', ''dråker'', ''dråkel'', mean "devil", while some forms only survive in definite form: ''drån'', ''dronn'', ''dröken'', meaning "the devil".<ref name="dialektl 0132"/><ref name="JER98"/><ref name="Västra Göinge 1"/> In Orkney, the descendant ''drow'' can also be used to refer to "the devil".<ref name="snd-drow"/>

== Icelandic sagas == The Icelandic sagas are the earliest written material of draugr ''en masse'', describing draugr as dangerous corporeal undead which protect their burial mounds. They have magical abilities and can shapeshift, including changing size and mass.

One of the best-known revenants in the sagas is ''Glámr'', who is defeated by the hero in ''Grettis saga''. After Glámr dies on Christmas Eve, "people became aware that Glámr was not resting in peace. He wrought such havoc that some people fainted at the sight of him, while others went out of their minds". After a battle, Grettir eventually gets Glámr on his back. Just before Grettir kills him, Glámr curses Grettir because "Glámr was endowed with more evil force than most other ghosts",{{sfnp|Scudder (tr.)|2005}} and thus he was able to speak and leave Grettir with his curse after his death. Do note, however, that the saga does not actually use the term ''draugr'' for Glámr.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

A somewhat ambivalent, alternative view of the draugr is presented by the example of Gunnar Hámundarson in ''Njáls saga'': "It seemed as though the howe was agape, and that Gunnar had turned within the howe to look upwards at the moon. They thought that they saw four lights within the howe, but not a shadow to be seen. Then they saw that Gunnar was merry, with a joyful face."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Robert |title=Njal's saga|date=2001|publisher=Penguin |isbn=0140447695|location=London|oclc=47938075}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=We need a source describing the ghost with these words, otherwise this is original research.|date=January 2019}}

In the ''Eyrbyggja saga'', a shepherd is assaulted by a blue-black draugr. The shepherd's neck is broken during the ensuing scuffle. The shepherd rises the next night as a draugr.<ref name="Curran-pp81-93"/>

=== Physical traits === thumb|upright|Modern depiction of a Norse warrior turned draugr

The draugr has been explained as a "corporeal ghost"<ref name=williams_howard/> with a physical, tangible body, and not an "imago".{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|p=284}} In tales, it is often delivered a "second death" by the destruction of the animated corpse.

<blockquote> "The will appears to be strong, strong enough to draw the ''hugr'' [animate will] back to one's body. These reanimated individuals were known as ''draugr''. However, though the dead might live again, they could also die again. ''Draugrs'' die a "second death" as Chester Gould calls it, when their bodies decay, are burned, dismembered or otherwise destroyed".<ref name="smith gregg a"/> </blockquote>

Draugrs usually possess superhuman strength,{{sfnp|Lindow|1976|p=95}} and are said to be "generally hideous to look at", bearing a necrotic black or blue color,{{sfnp|Smith|2007|p=15}}{{sfnp|Curran|2005|p=82}} and being associated with a "reek of decay"{{sfnp|Curran|2005|p=82–83}} (a common trait in ghostlore), or more precisely, inhabited haunts that often issued foul stench.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|pp=291–292}}

In the Old Icelandic sagas, Draugrs were said to be either ''hel-blár'' ("death-blue") or ''nár-fölr'' ("corpse-pale").{{sfnp|Curran|2005|p=82}} Glámr in Grettis saga, when found dead, was described as "''blár sem Hel en digr sem naut'' (black as hell and bloated to the size of a bull)".<ref>{{harvp|Boer (ed.)|1900}} ''Grettis saga'' Kap. XVIII.9, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA64 p. 64];</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The color is literally 'blue', thus "blue as hell, and great as a neat" is the rendering in {{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}, {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA99 |2=p. 99}}.}} Þórólfr Lame-foot, when lying dormant, looked "uncorrupted" and also "was black as death [ie, bruised black and blue] and swollen to the size of an ox".<ref>{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. ''Eyrbyggja Saga'', p. 187; Pálsson & Edwards (trr.) (1989). pp. 155–156, quoted by {{harvp|Keyworth|2006|p=244}}.</ref> The close similarity of these descriptions have been noted.<ref name="smith gregg a"/>{{sfnp|Boer|1898|p=55}} ''Laxdæla saga'' describes how bones were dug up belonging to a dead sorceress who had appeared in dreams, and they were "blue and evil looking".<ref>{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, ''Laxdaela Saga'', p. 235.</ref>{{sfnp|Bennett|2014|p=44}}

Þráinn (Thrain), the berserker of Valland, "turned himself into a troll" in ''Hrómundar saga Gripssonar'', was a fiend (''dólgr'') which was "black and huge.. roaring loudly and blowing fire", and possessed long scratching claws, and the claws stuck in the neck, prompting the hero Hrómundr to refer to the draugur as a sort of cat ({{langx|non|kattakyn}}).<ref name=hromundar-saga-kershaw-p68>Chadwick (1921)/{{harvp|Kershaw|1921|p=}} ''The Saga of Hromund Greipsson'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=sAEzAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA68 p. 68]</ref><ref name=davidson1958/> <ref>{{harvp|Clemoes|Dickins|1959|p=}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=TGo0AAAAIAAJ&q=Hr%C3%B3mundr+draugr p. 188]</ref> The possession of long claws features also in the case of another revenant, Ásviðr (Aswitus) who came to life in the night and attacked his foster-brother Ásmundr (Asmundus) with them, scratching his face and tearing one of his ears.{{efn|As related by Saxo Grammaticus, hence the Latinized names.}}<ref>{{harvp|Andrews|1912–1913|}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=fSE_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA603 p. 603–604]</ref><ref>{{harvp|Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson|1987}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=JqwSAQAAIAAJ&q=%C3%81svi%C3%B0r pp. 9–10]</ref>

Draugrs often give off a morbid stench, not unlike the smell of a decaying body. The mound where Kárr the Old was entombed reeked horribly.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|loc=p. 291, n43}}<ref>{{harvp|Boer (ed.)|1900}} ''Grettis saga'' Kap. XVIII, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA125 p. 125]; {{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}} Ch. 18, p. 47: "{{lang|non|þeygi þefgott}} (and smell there was therein none of the sweetest)". Literally ''þeyg'' ("not") + ''þefr'' ("smell") + ''gott'' ("good").</ref> In ''Harðar saga'' Hörðr Grímkelsson's two underlings die even before entering Sóti the Viking's mound, due to the "gust and stink ({{lang|non|ódaun}})" wafting out of it.<ref>{{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|loc=p. 291, n42}}, citing ''Harðar saga''. Þórhallur Vilmundarson; Bjarni Vilhjálmsson (edd.), p. 40.</ref> {{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Also Þráinn's " barrow was filled with a horrible stench" in ''Hrómundar saga Gripssonar''.<ref name=hromundar-saga-kershaw-p68/>}} When enraged Þráinn filled the barrow with an "evil reek."<ref name=hromundar-saga-kershaw-p68/>

=== Magical abilities === Draugrs are noted for having numerous magical abilities resembling those of living witches and wizards, such as ''hamr''-shifting (shapeshifting in Nordic folklore), controlling the weather, and seeing into the future.<ref name="davidson1943-p163">{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Hilda Roderick Ellis |author-link=Hilda Ellis Davidson |title=The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1943 |page=163 }}</ref> This magic is referred to as {{langx|non|trollskapr}} ({{lit|troll-ship}}, roughly "sorcery-ness"),{{efn|The prefix, {{langx|non|troll-}}, which is the same word as the creature troll, which initially meant something akin to "malevolent esoteric supernatural being" (demon, devil, ghost, jötunn etc.), is by extension, specifically in compounds, also a word for the sorcery and dark arts of said beings;<ref name="SAOB troll"/> {{compare}} {{langx|sv|trolla}} ("to perform sorcery"), {{lang|sv|trolleri}} ("sorcery"),<ref name="SAOB trolla"/> {{lang|sv|trollkarl}} ({{lit|troll-man}}, "sorcerer"),<ref name="SAOB trolla"/> {{lang|sv|trollgumma}}, {{lang|sv|trollpacka}} ({{lit|troll-lady}}, "witch"),<ref name="SAOB troll"/><ref name="SAOB trollpacka">{{cite web |title=trollpacka sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=trollpacka&pz=1 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-01-29}}</ref>}} which Icelandic linguist Geir T. Zoëga (1857–1928), defined as: "nature of a troll, witchcraft".<ref>{{cite book |title=A concise dictionary of Old Icelandic |date=1911 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=442}}</ref> The Swedish Academy expands on this for their description of the Swedish cognate: {{lang|sv|trollskap}}: {{blockquote|(ability or power to exercise) witchcraft/sorcery; also of (especially evil) action arising from such ability, etc.; earlier also concretely, about objects or tools and the like equipped with or produced by such ability and so on...<ref>{{cite web |title=trollskap sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=trollskap&pz=1#U_T2555_69299 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-01-29 |date=2008}}</ref>{{efn|Synonyms to {{lang|non|trollskapr}} and {{lang|sv|trollskap}} include: Old Icelandic: {{lang|is|trolldómr}} and {{langx|sv|trolldom}}, {{langx|sv|trollkonst}} and {{lang|sv|trollkraft}} etc. ("sorcery").<ref name="SAOB troll">{{cite web |title=troll sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=troll&pz=1 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-01-29}}</ref><ref name="SAOB trolldom">{{cite web |title=trolldom sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=trolldom&pz=1 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-01-29}}</ref><ref name="SAOB trolla">{{cite web |title=trolla v.1 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=T_2555-0054.IKDf&pz=5 |website=saob.se |publisher=Swedish Academy |access-date=2025-01-29}}</ref>}}}}

==== Shapeshifting and transforming ==== {{main|Hamr (folklore)}}

Draugrs are said to be able to shapeshift, as well as supernaturally effect their surroundings and presence, both common traits in Nordic folklore. They could change their size as well as their mass, and they could create temporary darkness in daylight hours.

The undead Víga-Hrappr Sumarliðason of ''Laxdaela saga'', unlike the typical guardian of a treasure hoard, does not stay put in his burial place but roams around his farmstead of Hrappstaðir, menacing the living.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=290}} Víga-Hrappr's ghost, it has been suggested, was capable of transforming into the seal with human-like eyes which appeared before Þorsteinn svarti/surt (Thorsteinn the Black) sailing by ship, and was responsible for the sinking of the vessel to prevent the family from reaching Hrappstaðir.<ref>{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, ''Laxdaela Saga'', Ch. 18, pp. 79–80; introduction, p. 12; index of names, [https://books.google.com/books?id=um91wPf9c7MC&pg=PA255 p. 255]</ref> The ability to shapeshift has been ascribed to Icelandic ghosts generally, particularly into the shape of a seal.<ref>{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, p.78, n1</ref>{{sfnp|Keyworth|2007|p=71}}{{sfnp|Caciola|1996|p=33, n102}}

A draugr in Icelandic folktales collected in the modern age can also change into a great flayed bull, a grey horse with a broken back but no ears or tail, and a cat that would sit upon a sleeper's chest and grow steadily heavier until their victim suffocated.<ref name="JS166">{{cite book|author=Jón Árnason |author-link=Jón Árnason (author) |editor-last=Simpson |editor-first=Jacqueline |editor-link=Jacqueline Simpson |title=Icelandic Folktales and Legends |publisher=University of California Press |year=1972 |page=166 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HY-DCKd6UgUC |isbn=978-0-520-02116-7}}</ref> Very similar motifs are also found for other mythical creatures in Nordic folklore, such as the mare, who sits on a sleeper's chest to suffocate them, and also often travels in "cat shape", or nixies, which is also said to sometimes appear as a black or white bull, horse, dog, cat, or gnome, etc. The horse motif is also found in Britain, see water horse.

==== Transcending abilities ==== The draugr's presence might be shown by a great light that glowed from the mound like foxfire.<ref name="FP36">{{harvp|Fox|Pálsson (trr.)|1974}}, ''Grettir's Saga'', p. 36.</ref> This fire would form a barrier between the land of the living and that of the dead.<ref>{{harvp|Davidson|1943}}, ''The Road to Hel'', p. 161.</ref>

The undead Víga-Hrappr Sumarliðason of ''Laxdaela saga'' exhibited the ability to sink into the ground and "swim" through the solid rock to escape from Óláfr Hǫskuldsson the Peacock.<ref>{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, ''Laxdaela Saga'', p. 103</ref>

Draugrs also have the ability to enter into the dreams of the living,<ref name="davidson1943-p163"/> and they will frequently leave a gift behind so that "the living person may be assured of the tangible nature of the visit".{{sfnp|Chadwick|1946|p=54-55}} The ability to manifest one's self out of body, such as in a dream, is a trait found in heathen witchcraft and Nordic hamr folklore, such as in the story of Bödvar Bjarki, who's mind manifests into a bear outside his body, but also many mythological creatures, like (night)mares, and haunting ghosts.

==== Cursing ==== Draugrs have the ability to curse, as shown in ''Grettis saga'', where Grettir is cursed to be unable to become stronger. Draugrs also brought disease to a village and can also kill people with bad luck.

=== Vampiric traits === The draugr has been conceived of as a type of vampire by folktale anthologist Andrew Lang in late 1897,{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|p=311}} with the idea further pursued by more modern commentators. The focus here is not on blood-sucking, which is not attested for the draugr,<ref>{{harvp|Keyworth |2006|p=244}}: "there is no mention of draugrs being swollen with the supposed blood of their victims".</ref> but rather, contagiousness or transmittable nature of vampirism,<ref name=armann-j-transmittable>{{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|p=313}}: "Vampirism is transmittable, to which Þórólfr bægifótr's many victims bear witness".</ref> that is to say, how a vampire begets another by turning his or her attack victim into one of his kind. Sometimes the chain of contagion becomes an outbreak, e.g., the case of Þórólfr bægifótr (Thorolf Lame-foot or Twist-Foot),<ref name=armann-j-transmittable/><ref>{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. ''Eyrbyggja Saga'', "Ch. 34: Thorolf's ghost". p. 115ff.; "Ch. 63: Thorolf comes back from the Dead". p. 186ff.</ref> and even called an "epidemic" regarding Þórgunna (Thorgunna).{{efn|Both these occur in the ''Eyrbyggja saga''.}}<ref>{{harvp|Caciola|1996|p=15}}: "Thorgunna's death also brought on what might be called an epidemic of aggressive revenants".</ref><ref>{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. ''Eyrbyggja Saga'', "Ch. 51: Thorgunna dies", p. 158 – "Ch. 54 More ghosts", p. 166ff</ref>

A more speculative case of vampirism is that of Glámr, who was asked to tend sheep for a haunted farmstead and was subsequently found dead with his neck and every bone in his body broken.<ref>{{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}. ''Grettis saga''. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA102 p. 102]</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Note similarity to a shepherd killed by Thorolf's ghost, also found with every bone broken.<ref>{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. ''Eyrbyggja Saga'', "Ch. 34: Thorolf's ghost".</ref>}} It has been surmised by commentators that Glámr, by "contamination," was turned into an undead (''draugr'') by whatever being was haunting the farm.<ref>{{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|pp=310–311}}: "This creature [evil spirit] contaminates Glámr"; {{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=297}}: "some kind of infection is also apparent in the account of Glámr".</ref>

=== Greed and bloodthirst === Any mean, nasty, or greedy person can become a draugr. As Ármann Jakobsson notes, "most medieval Icelandic ghosts are evil or marginal people. If not dissatisfied or evil, they are unpopular".{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=295}}

The draugr's motivation was primarily envy and greed. Greed causes it to attack any would-be grave robbers viciously, but the draugr also expresses an innate envy of the living stemming from a longing for the things of life which it once had. They also exhibit an immense and nearly insatiable appetite, as shown in the encounter of Aran and Asmund, sword brothers who swore that, if one died, the other would sit vigil with him for three days inside the burial mound. When Aran died, Asmund brought his possessions into the barrow—banners, armor, hawk, hound, and horse—then set himself to wait the three days: {{Blockquote|text=During the first night, Aran got up from his chair and killed the hawk and hound and ate them. On the second night he got up again from his chair, and killed the horse and tore it into pieces; then he took great bites at the horse-flesh with his teeth, the blood streaming down from his mouth all the while he was eating…. The third night Asmund became very drowsy, and the first thing he knew, Aran had got him by the ears and torn them off.<ref name="GSOMT99-101">''Gautrek's Saga and Other Medieval Tales'', pp. 99-101.</ref>}}

The draugr's victims were not limited to trespassers in its home. The roaming undead devastated livestock by running the animals to death either by riding them or pursuing them in some hideous, half-flayed form. Shepherds' duties kept them outdoors at night, and they were particular targets for the hunger and hatred of the undead:

{{blockquote|text=The oxen which had been used to haul Thorolf's body were ridden to death by demons, and every single beast that came near his grave went raving mad and howled itself to death. The shepherd at Hvamm often came racing home with Thorolf after him. One day that Fall neither sheep nor shepherd came back to the farm.<ref>{{SfnRef|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. ''Eyrbyggja Saga'', p. 115.</ref>}}

Animals feeding near the grave of a draugr might be driven mad by the creature's influence.<ref name="Curran-pp81-93">{{harvp|Curran|2005|pp=81–93}}</ref> They may also die from being driven mad. Thorolf, for example, caused birds to drop dead when they flew over his bowl barrow.

=== Vulnerability === Draugrs prefer to be active during the night, although they did not appear vulnerable to sunlight like some other revenants.

Some draugrs are resistant or immune to weapons, and only a hero has the strength and courage to stand up to such a formidable opponent. In legends, since weapons would do no good, the hero often wrestled a draugr back to his grave to defeat them. A good example of this is found in ''Hrómundar saga Gripssonar''. Iron could injure a draugr, as with many supernatural creatures, although it would not be sufficient to stop it.<ref name="JS107">Simpson, ''Icelandic Folktales and Legends'', p. 107.</ref>

Sometimes, the hero must dispose of the body in unconventional ways. The preferred method is to cut off the draugr's head, burn the body, and dump the ashes in the sea—the emphasis being on making sure that the draugr was dead and gone.<ref name="VA">{{cite web|url=http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ghosts.shtml |title=Viking Answer Lady Webpage - The Walking Dead: Draugr and Aptrgangr in Old Norse Literature |publisher=Vikinganswerlady.com |date=2005-12-14 |access-date=2010-07-01}}</ref>

=== Prevention and destruction === {{more citations needed section|date=October 2018}} thumb|upright|The Nørre Nærå Runestone is interpreted as having a "grave binding inscription" used to keep the deceased in its grave.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Stephen A. |title=Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2011 |pages=22–23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=shCXJLB6mDAC |isbn=978-0-8122-4290-4}}</ref>

The main indication that a deceased person will become a draugr is that the corpse is not horizontal. It is found standing upright (as with Víga-Hrappr), or in a sitting position (Þórólfr), indicating that the dead might return.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=296}} Ármann Jakobsson suggests further that breaking the draugr's posture is a necessary or helpful step in destroying the draugr, but this is fraught with the risk of being inflicted with the evil eye, whether this is explicitly told in the case of Grettir who receives the curse from Glámr, or only implied in the case of Þórólfr, whose son warns the others to beware while they unbend Þórólfr's seated posture.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=296}}

The draugr needing to be decapitated to hinder them from further hauntings is a common theme in the family sagas.<ref name=sayers/>

Traditionally in Iceland, a pair of open iron scissors was placed on the chest of the recently deceased, and straws or twigs might be hidden among their clothes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bane |first=Theresa |title=Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers |year=2010 |isbn=9780786444526 |location=North Carolina |publication-date=2010 |pages=55 |language=English}}</ref> The big toes were tied together or needles were driven through the soles of the feet to keep the dead from being able to walk. Tradition also held that the coffin should be lifted and lowered in three directions as it was carried from the house to confuse a possible draugr's sense of direction.

The most effective means of preventing the return of the dead was believed to be a corpse door, a special door through which the corpse was carried feet-first with people surrounding it so that the corpse couldn't see where it was going. The door was then bricked up to prevent a return. It is speculated{{by whom|date=October 2018}} that this belief began in Denmark and spread throughout the Norse culture, founded on the idea that the dead could only leave through the way they entered.

In the "Eyrbyggja saga," draugrs are driven off by holding a "door-doom." One by one, they are summoned to the door-doom, given judgment, and forced out of the home by this legal method. The home is then purified with holy water to ensure that they never come back.

== Faroese folklore{{anchor|Faroese draugr|Dreygur}} == In Faroese folklore, the draugr ({{langx|fo|dreygur}}) is said to be a type of undead being that inhabits the mountains and hills of the Faroe Islands.<ref name="Langeslag">{{Cite book |last=Langeslag |first=P.S. |title=Seasons in the literatures of the medieval North |isbn=978-1-78204-584-7 |oclc=1268190091}}</ref> It is typically described as a large, strong creature with pale skin and long, dark hair. It is often depicted as being cannibalistic.<ref name="Smith">{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Gregg A. |title=The function of the living dead in medieval Norse and Celtic literature: death and desire |date=2008 |publisher=Mellen |isbn=978-0-7734-5353-1 |oclc=220341788}}</ref>

== Norwegian folklore{{anchor|Norwegian draugr|Norwegian folklore}} == In contrast to the Icelandic sagas, in later Scandinavian folklore (Norway, Sweden), the term ''draugr'' is described akin to spirits, ghosts or revenants in general, sometimes with no clear distinction at all.<ref name="dialektl 0132">{{Runeberg |filename=dialektl |htmlno=0132.html |name=Svenskt dialektlexikon : ordbok öfver svenska allmogespråket : drög}}</ref> In Norway, however, the term draugr ({{langx|no|draug}}, {{lang|no|drøg}}, {{lang|no|drog}}, and {{lang|no|drauv}}, {{lang|no|drøv}}, {{lang|no|drov}}), beyond meaning revenant in general, have also taken on a specific sense of revenants of people lost at sea, sometimes specified as "sea draugr" ({{langx|no|havdraug, sjødraug}}) relative to "land draugr". A similar motif can be seen in the Sami tradition, but with inland bodies of water.

=== Sea draugr<span class="anchor" id="Sea draugr"></span> === thumb|upright|A "draug" from modern Scandinavian folklore<ref name="JL2">{{cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13508/13508-h/13508-h.htm |title=Weird Tales from the Northern Seas |author=Housman, Laurence (illustrations) |author2=R. Nisbet Bain (1893 translation) |author3=Jonas Lie (original Danish) |year=1893 |access-date=2014-03-17}}</ref> aboard a ship, in sub-human form, wearing oilskins thumb|upright|The sea draugr by Kim Diaz Holm (2014)

The sea draugr ({{langx|no|havdraug, sjødraug}}) occurs in legends along the coast of Norway, either at sea or along the beach. Such have also variously been called "sea troll" ({{lang|no|sjøtroll}}), among others, then in the older sense of "evil malevolent being" or spectre, as opposed to the modern sense of a specific fairy tale creature.

One of the earliest recordings of the sea draugr was by Norwegian priest Hans Egede, who mentioned it in passing when writing about the Norwegian "kraken" in the early 18th century. He wrote that kraken fell under the general category of "sea spectre" ({{langx|da|søe-trold og}} [''søe'']-{{lang|da|{{linktext|spøgelse}}}}, "sea trolls and sea spooks"), adding that "the Drow" ({{lang|no|Drauen}}, definite form of {{lang|no|drau}}, {{compare}} {{lang|no|drauv}}) was another being within that sea spectre classification ({{compare}} {{langx|no|drauv}}).<ref name="Egede"/>

<blockquote> "They also tell of another sea troll and spectre, which they call ''drauen'' (the drow), which is said to have no specified form or description; but shows itself in one or another appearance."{{efn|Danish quote: {{lang|da|De fortælle endnu om et andet søe-trold og spøgelse, som de kalde drauen, samme skal ingen viis gestalt eller skribelse have; men lader sig see nu i en nu i en anden positur.}} Extrapolating the text from the old font is hard and thus the Danish text might include errors. The old language also makes identifying potential errors hard.<ref name="Egede"/>}} </blockquote>

In later folklore, it became common to limit the figure to a ghost of a dead fisherman who had drifted at sea and who was not buried in Christian soil. It was said that he wore a leather jacket or was dressed in oilskin, but had a bundle of seaweed for his head. He sailed in a half-boat with blocked sails (Bø Municipality in Norway has the half-boat in its coat of arms) and announced death for those who saw him or even wanted to pull them down. This trait is common in the northernmost part of Norway, where life and culture was based on fishing more than anywhere else. The reason for this may be that the fishermen often drowned in great numbers, and the stories of restless dead coming in from sea were more common in the north than any other region of the country.

A recorded legend from Trøndelag tells how a corpse lying on a beach became the object of a quarrel between the two types of draug (headless and seaweed-headed). A similar source even tells of a third type, the ''gleip'', known to hitch themselves to sailors walking ashore and make them slip on the wet rocks.{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}}

[[File:Theodor Kittelsen - Sjøtrollet, 1887 (The Sea Troll).jpg|thumb|"The Sea Troll", {{lang|no|Sjøtrollet}}, by Theodor Kittelsen (1887)]]

The modern and popular connection between the draug and the sea can be traced back to authors like Jonas Lie and Regine Nordmann, whose works include several books of fairy tales, as well as the drawings of Theodor Kittelsen, who spent some years living in Svolvær. Up north, the tradition of sea draugr is especially vivid.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt20krz85 |title=Beasts of the Deep |date=2018-02-02 |publisher=John Libbey Publishing |isbn=978-0-86196-939-5 |editor-last=Hackett |editor-first=Jon |editor-last2=Harrington |editor-first2=Seán}}</ref>

=== Land draugr === The land dwelling draugrs of Norwegian folklore are essentially just the regular dead, ie revenants. Arne Garborg (1851–1924) describes land-draugrs as coming "fresh from the graveyards" in his poetry collection ''Haugtussa'' from 1895,<ref name="Garborg">{{cite book |last1=Garborg |first1=Arne |title=Haugtussa |date=1895}}</ref> and the term ''draugr'' is even used of vampires, in the sense that they are revenants. Norwegian philologist Ola Raknes (1887–1975) translated English "vampire" into Nynorsk as "blood-sucking draugr" ({{lang|nn|blodsugar-draug}}) in his English to Norwegian dictionary from 1927.<ref name="Raknes">{{cite book |last1=Raknes |first1=Ola |title=Engelsk-norsk ordbok |date=1927}}</ref>

The notion of draugrs who live in the mountains is present in the poetic works of Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906), such as ''Peer Gynt'',<ref name="Ibsen">{{cite book |last1=Ibsen |first1=Henrik |title=Peer Gynt |date=1867}}</ref> and Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (1818–1870).{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} A comparison can be made to the {{sectionlink||Faroese draugr}}, {{sectionlink||mound dweller}}, as well as mountain trolls, and old Nordic traditions of the dead and mountains.<ref name="Christina">{{cite-web |url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:119949/FULLTEXT01.pdf |title=Vägen till Valhall: Begravningsriter och eskatologiska föreställningar i Gästrikland under yngre järnåldern {{!}} 5 Eskatologiska föreställningar |access-date=2025-04-30 |author=Christina Eriksson |date=2004-06-01 |publisher=Gävle University College |website=diva-portal.org }}</ref>

One of Vinje's poems, ''Det fyrste du har å gjera'' (1858), goes: {{Verse translation |lang1=no |{{ubl |Det fyrste du har å gjera, Mann, |det er å døy, |når ikkje du længer elska kan |den fagre Møy. |  |For då er det ute med spræke Gut |og Mannes Værd, |for då er Livet alt brunni ut, |det Oske er. |  |Og derfor stødt som det beste galdt |eit Hjartelag, |Og derfor Mannen han elskar alt |til Døyan Dag, |  |Og lever der Nokon, som ikkje Liv |af Kjærleik saug, |då gjeng han atter og sviv og sviv |som bleike '''Draug'''.<ref name="lieder">{{cite web |title=Det fyrste du har å gjera |url=https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=16391 |website=lieder.net |access-date=2025-12-12}}</ref>}} |{{ubl |The first thing you have to do, Man, |is to die, |when you no longer can love |the beautiful Maiden. |  |For then it is over with the eloquent Boy |and the worth of Man, |for then Life is all burned out, |what Ashes are. |  |And therefore struck as the best thing, |a heart beat, |And therefore the Man he loves all |until the Day of Death, |  |And does Anyone live there, who does not live |of Love's thurst, |then he walks beyond and swivel and swivel |like the bleek '''Draugr'''.}} }}

=== Christmas culture === {{main|Christmas in Norway}}

Both the sea draugr and land draugr have ties with the Norwegian Christmas tradition, in turn related to the broader Nordic Christmas tradition involving taking care of the dead as they visit their relatives during the festivities, and beyond.<ref name="Kaliff">{{cite web |title=Exploring the Viking Age #21: Anders Kaliff – Heathen Yule |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22kne1DXYQg&list=PLMO39BYLae3qWCc1ur4WyDQuKCljyZBm5 |website=youtube.com |publisher=Grimfrost |access-date=2025-12-11}}</ref> Sea draugrs and drowned people are mentioned as being part of the Wild Hunt in Norway,<ref name="Sydsvenskan">{{cite news |title=Själ och kropp i primitiv folktro |url=https://tidningar.kb.se/8s71lnpx6rs1nctw/part/1/page/3?q=draug |access-date=2025-01-26 |work=Sydsvenskan |date=1907-08-04 |page=3 |language=sv}}</ref> and the old Nordic Christmas tradition of leaving out food and beer on Christmas night, as to welcome spirits of the deceased, household spirits and thereof into the house (compare the US tradition of leaving milk and cookies for Santa Claus), which in Norway includes draugrs; the beer left out being called "draug-beer" ({{langx|no|drøv-øl}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=Før kunne du få bot hvis du ikke brygget juleøl |url=https://www.oblad.no/ol/olbrygging/historier/for-kunne-du-fa-bot-hvis-du-ikke-brygget-juleol/f/5-68-354543 |website=oblad.no |access-date=2025-01-26 |location=Norway |language=no |date=2017-12-25 |quote=Årsaken var at også de underjordiske skulle få noe å bite i. På Nordmøre ble det som var igjen i ølkruset julaften, kalt «drøv-øl» (draug-øl). Ølet sto fremme for dødningene, og ingen måtte drikke av det.}}</ref><ref name="Sydsvenskan"/>

thumb|upright|Modern art of the Christmas story, by Norwegian artist Kim Diaz Holm (den unge herr Holm), depicting the ghosts (land draugs) fighting off the sea draug Although the sea draug usually presages death, there is an amusing account in Northern Norway of a northerner who managed to outwit him on Christmas:

{{blockquote|text=It was Christmas Eve, and Ola went down to his boathouse to get the keg of brandy he had bought for the holidays. When he got in, he noticed a draugr sitting on the keg, staring out to sea. Ola, with great presence of mind and great bravery (it might not be amiss to state that he already had done some drinking), tiptoed up behind the draugr and struck him sharply in the small of the back, so that he went flying out through the window, with sparks hissing around him as he hit the water. Ola knew he had no time to lose, so he set off at a great rate, running through the churchyard which lay between his home and the boathouse. As he ran, he cried, "Up, all you Christian souls, and help me!" Then he heard the sound of fighting between the ghosts and the draugr, who were battling each other with coffin boards and bunches of seaweed. The next morning, when people came to church, the whole yard was strewn with coffin covers, boat boards, and seaweed. After the fight, which the ghosts won, the draugr never came back to that district.<ref>{{cite book |title=Norwegian-American Studies and Records - Volume 12 |date=1941 |publisher=Norwegian-American Historical Association |pages=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=no7XAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>}}

== Sámi folklore{{anchor|Rávga}} == Cognates of the draugr also exist in Sámi folkore ({{langx|sma|raavke}}; {{langx|sje|rávvga}}; {{langx|smj|rávgga}}; {{langx|se|rávga}}; {{langx|sjd|роа̄ввк}}, ''roāvvk''), suggesting a common loan from Proto-Norse.<ref name="southsaamihistory"/>

In Southern Sami (spoken in Central Scandinavia), and Kildin Sámi (spoken on the Kola Peninsula of northwestern Russia), the cognates are said to mean vision, phantom, ghost, geist,<ref name="southsaamihistory"/><ref name="slovari"/> which is analog to the Swedish cognates.<ref name="dialektl 0132"/>

In Pite Sami, Lule Sami, and Northern Sami, the cognates are more analog to the Norwegian sea draugr,<ref name="kirken.no"/><ref name="munin.uit.no"/> in Northern Sami also called {{lang|se|čáhcerávga}} ({{lit|water rávga}}).<ref name="nrk.no"/> They are said to be the shadows of drowned people, living in a lake or stream. They were considered very dangerous, as they tried to pull the living into the water.<ref name="samer.se"/><ref name="samer.se/1192">{{cite web |title=Sagor och sägner |url=https://www.samer.se/1192 |website=samer.se |access-date=2025-06-16}}</ref> Akin to other stories, they can shapeshift, and may turn into a big fish such as a pike, or other marine animal, like a seal.<ref name="SVT Čáhcerávga">{{cite web |title=Čáhcerávga - vattnets väsen |url=https://www.svtplay.se/video/j3dQqkG/rys-i-sapmi/16-cahceravga-vattnets-vasen |website=svtplay.se |publisher=Sveriges Television |access-date=2026-01-10}}</ref> Akin to the nixie in Nordic folklore, these stories are used like a boogieman to scare children from visiting potentially dangerous water areas.<ref name="nrk.no"/>

== Use in popular culture == {{more citations needed section|date=August 2025}} The exoplanet PSR B1257+12 A has been named "Draugr".

=== Literature === The Nynorsk translation of ''The Lord of the Rings'' used the term for both Nazgûl and the dead men of Dunharrow. Tolkien's barrow-wights bear obvious similarity to, and were inspired by the haugbúi.

=== Video games === In video game series such as ''The Elder Scrolls'', draugr are the undead mummified corpses of fallen warriors that inhabit the ancient burial sites of a Nordic-inspired race of man. They first appeared in the Bloodmoon expansion to ''The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind'', and would later go on to appear all throughout ''The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim''.

Draugrs are a common enemy, the first encountered by the player, in the 2018 video game ''God of War'', with a variety of different powers and abilities.

In 2019, a spaceship named ''Draugur'' was added to the game ''Eve Online'', as the command destroyer of the Triglavian faction. Draugr appear as an enemies in the 2021 early access game ''Valheim'', where they take the more recent, seaweed version of the Draug.

The Draugr is one of the Norse myth units of the ''New Gods Pack: Freyr'' DLC of 2024 video game ''Age of Mythology: Retold'', associated to the god Ullr, fighting with bows and arrows.

=== Cinema === Season two episode two of the 2018 TV-series ''Hilda'', entitled "The Draugen", involved draugen as the ghosts of sailors who died at sea. While their form was ghostly, the captain could wear a coat, and had a shock of seaweed for hair.

In the 2018 film ''Draug'', a group of Viking warriors encounter the draugr while searching for a missing person inside a vast forest. The draugr are depicted as blue-black animated corpses wielding many magical abilities.

In the 2022 movie ''The Northman'', Amleth enters a burial mound, in search of a magical sword named "Draugr". Amleth encounters an undead Mound Dweller inside the grave chamber, which he has to fight to obtain the blade.

The 2024 Icelandic horror film ''The Damned'' features a draugr tormenting the inhabitants of an isolated winter fishing post after they let the survivors of a shipwreck drown.

== See also == * Gjenganger * Norse funeral * Selkolla * Spriggan * Wiedergänger

==Explanatory notes== {{notelist}}

== References == === Citations === {{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name=burns>{{cite book |last=Burns |first=Marjorie |author-link=Marjorie Burns |title=Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey : Night-wolves, Half-trolls and the Dead Who Won't Stay Down |editor-last1=Houghton |editor1-first=John Wm. |editor2-last=Croft |editor2-first=Janet Brennan |editor2-link=Janet Brennan Croft |editor3-last=Martsch |editor3-first=Nancy |location=Jefferson, NC |publisher=McFarland |year=2014 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A_rsAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 |page=195, endnote 27 |isbn=9781476614861}}</ref>

<ref name=davidson1958>{{cite journal|last=Davidson |first=H. R. Ellis |author-link=Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson |title=Weland the Smith Burial Practices as Sites of Cultural Memory in the Íslendingasögur |journal=Folklore |volume=69 |number=3|date=September 1958 |pages=154–155 |jstor=1258855}}</ref>

<ref name=gilliver>{{cite book|last1=Gilliver |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Gilliver |last2=Marshall |first2=Jeremy |author2-link=Jeremy Marshall |last3=Weiner |first3=Edmund |author3-link=Edmund Weiner |title=The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary |editor-last=Black |editor-first=Ronald |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |orig-year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bszM-uwEQOkC&pg=PA214 |isbn=9780199568369}}</ref>

<ref name=langeslag>{{cite book|last=Langeslag |first=P. S. |author-link= |title=Seasons in the Literatures of the Medieval North |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJq7CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |page=118 |isbn=9781843844259}}</ref>

<ref name=sayers>{{cite journal|last=Sayers |first=William |author-link= |title=The arctic desert (''Helluland'') in ''Bárðar saga'' |journal=Scandinavian-Canadian Studies/Études scandinaves au Canada |year=1994 |volume=7 |url=https://hcmc.uvic.ca/~scancan/pdf/vol07.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005161642/http://hcmc.uvic.ca/~scancan/pdf/vol07.pdf |archive-date=2018-10-05 |url-status=live |pages=11 and notes}}</ref>

<ref name="smith gregg a">{{cite book|last=Smith |first=Gregg A. |author-link= |others=Paul G. Remley (foreword by) |title=The Function of the Living Dead in Medieval Norse and Celtic literature : Death and Desire |date=2007 |publisher=Edwin Mellen Press|location=Lewiston, New York|isbn=9780773453531 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ckgiAQAAIAAJ&q=draugar |page=14|quotation=}}</ref>

<ref name=williams_howard>{{cite book|last=Williams |first=Howard |author-link=Howard Williams (archaeologist) |title=Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jy_BTRVnwIC&pg=PA172 |page=172|isbn=9781139457934}}</ref>

}}

=== General and cited references === ==== Primary sources ==== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Boer (ed.)|1900}}|editor-last=Boer |editor-first=Richard Constant |editor-link=Richard Constant Boer |title=Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar |location=Halle an der Saale |publisher=Max Niemeyer |year=1900 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ }} * {{cite book|last=Kershaw |first=Nora |author-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |author-mask=[Chadwick, N. K.]{{=}}Kershaw, Nora |chapter=The Saga of Hromund Greipsson |title=Stories and Ballads of the Far Past |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1921|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sAEzAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA68 |pages=58–78}} * {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}|author1=Eiríkur Magnússon |author1-link=Eiríkur Magnússon |last2=Morris |first2=William |author2-link=William Morris |author1-mask=Eiríkur Magnússon; |author2-mask=Morris, William (trr.) |title=Grettis Saga. The Story of Grettir the Strong, translated from the Icelandic |location=London |publisher=F. S. Ellis |year=1869 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA48 }} * {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Fox|Pálsson (trr.)|1974}}|last1=Fox |first1=Denton |author1-link=Denton Fox |author1-mask=Fox, Denton; |last2=Pálsson|first2=Hermann |author2-link=Hermann Pálsson |author2-mask=Pálsson, Hermann (trr.) |title=Grettir's Saga |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1974 }} * {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}|last1=Pálsson |first1=Hermann |author1-link=Hermann Pálsson |author1-mask=Pálsson, Hermannn; |last2=Edwards |first2=Paul |author2-link=Paul Edwards (literary scholar)|author2-mask=Edwards, Paul (trr.) |title=Eyrbyggja Saga |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Southside Publishers |year=1973 |isbn=9780900025075 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gbXAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}|last1=Magnusson |first1=Magnus |author1-link=Magnus Magnusson |author1-mask=Fox, Denton; |last2=Pálsson|first2=Hermann |author2-link=Hermann Pálsson |author2-mask=Pálsson, Hermann (trr.) |title=Laxdaela Saga |publisher=Penguin |year=1969 |isbn=9780140442182 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=um91wPf9c7MC }}  * {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Scudder (tr.)|2005}}|last=Scudder |first=Bernard |author-mask=Scudder, Bernard (tr.) |title=The Saga of Grettir the Strong |publisher=Penguin |year=2005 |isbn=9780141937922 |orig-year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0DrV1rWimgwC}} {{Refend}}

==== Secondary sources ==== {{refbegin}} * {{cite journal |last=Andrews |first=A. LeRoy |author-link= |title=Fornaldarsǫgur Norðrlanda (cont.) |journal=Modern Philology |volume=10 |issue=3 |date=1912–1913 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fSE_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA604 |pages=601–630 |doi=10.1086/386906 |s2cid=224836243 |url-access=subscription}} * {{cite journal |author=Ármann Jakobsson |author-link=Ármann Jakobsson |title=The Fearless Vampire Killers: A Note about the Icelandic ''Draugr'' and Demonic Contamination in ''Grettis Saga'' |journal=Folklore |volume=120 |issue=3 |year=2009 |pages=307–316 |doi=10.1080/00155870903219771 |s2cid=162338244 |jstor=40646533}} * {{cite journal |author=Ármann Jakobsson |author-link=Ármann Jakobsson |author-mask=2 |title=Vampires and watchmen: Categorizing the mediaeval Icelandic undead |journal=Journal of English and Germanic Philology |year=2011 |volume=110 |issue=3 |pages=281–300 |doi=10.5406/jenglgermphil.110.3.0281 |s2cid=162278413 |jstor=10.5406/jenglgermphil.110.3.0281}} * {{cite journal |author-last=Bennett |first=Lisa |author-link= |title=Burial Practices as Sites of Cultural Memory in the Íslendingasögur |journal=Viking and Medieval Scandinavia |volume=10 |date=2014 |pages=27–2 |doi=10.1484/J.VMS.5.105211 |jstor=48501879}} * {{Cite journal |editor-last=Boer |editor-first=Richard Constant |editor-link=Richard Constant Boer |title=Zur Grettissaga |journal=Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie |volume=30 |year=1898 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbVDAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 |pages=1–72}} * {{cite journal |author-last=Caciola |first=Nancy |author-link= |title=Wraiths, Revenants and Ritual in Medieval Culture |journal=Past & Present |number=152 |date=August 1996 |pages=3–45 |jstor=651055}} * {{cite journal |last=Chadwick |first=N. K. |author-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |title=Norse ghosts: A study in the ''Draugr'' and the ''Haugbúi'' |journal=Folklore |year=1946 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=50–65 |doi=10.1080/0015587x.1946.9717812 |jstor=1256952}} * {{cite journal |last=Chadwick |first=Nora Kershaw |author-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |author-mask=2 |title=Norse ghosts II |journal=Folklore |year=1946b |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=106–127 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1946.9717823}} * {{cite book |last1=Clemoes |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Clemoes |last2=Dickins |first2=Bruce |author2-link=Bruce Dickins |title=The Anglo-Saxons |publisher=Bowes & Bowes |year=1959 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TGo0AAAAIAAJ&q=draugr}} * {{cite book |last=Curran |first=Bob |author-link= |chapter=Chapter 7. The Devil of Hjlata-stad, Iceland |title=Vampires: A Field Guide to the Creatures that Stalk the Night |publisher=Career Press |year=2005 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1d1EDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |pages=81–93 |isbn=978-1-56414-807-0}} * {{cite journal |author=Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson |author-link=Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson |title=Wrestling with ghosts in Icelandic popular belief |journal=Arv: Nordic Yearbook of Folklore |volume=43 |year=1987 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JqwSAQAAIAAJ&q=%C3%81svi%C3%B0r |pages=7–20 |isbn=9789122012436}} * {{cite journal |author-last=Keyworth |first=G. David |author-link= |title=Was the Vampire of the Eighteenth Century a Unique Type of Undead-Corpse? |journal=Folklore |volume=117 |number=3 |date=December 2006 |pages=241–260 |doi=10.1080/00155870600928872 |jstor=30035373 |s2cid=162921894}} * {{cite book |author-last=Keyworth |first=G. David |author-link= |author-mask=2 |title=Troublesome Corpses: Vampires & Revenants, from Antiquity to the Present |publisher=Desert Island Books |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cq4qAAAAYAAJ |pages=29–35 |isbn=9781905328307}} * {{cite book |last=Lindow |first=John |author-link=John Lindow |title=Comitatus, Individual and Honor: Studies in North Germanic Institutional Vocabulary |publisher=University of California Press |year=1976 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHAbAQAAIAAJ&q=draugr |series=University of California Publications in Linguistics 83 |isbn=9780520095496}} {{refend}}

Category:Creatures in Norse mythology Category:Corporeal undead Category:Icelandic folklore Category:Scandinavian folklore Category:Scandinavian legendary creatures Category:Undead Category:Vampires Category:Ghosts Category:Revenants