The Betrayal of Sigurd

Why did Guttorm attack Sigurd?

In *The Short Lay of Sigurd*, Brynhild demands that Gunnar have Sigurd killed. Otherwise, she says, she will return to her own family. Gunnar asks Hogni for advice. Hogni answers that they should not break their sworn oath with a sword.

Gunnar then suggests urging his younger brother Guttorm to do it, because Guttorm had taken no part in the oath. Soon Guttorm's sword pierces Sigurd's heart. Sigurd hurls Gram at him, and the sword cuts Guttorm in two.

Gudrun was asleep beside Sigurd. When she woke, she was lying in her husband's blood. The prose at the end of *A Fragment of a Lay of Sigurd* also mentions an account in which he was killed outdoors. Another says he was killed in a forest.

Whether Sigurd died in bed or outdoors depends on the telling. But in every account, his companions betrayed his trust. They attacked him as he lay down, unprepared to defend himself.

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