Svölðr

Svölðr is the Baltic sound where Olaf Tryggvason fought his last battle and vanished into the sea — the site of the most famous naval engagement in the whole corpus. Sailing home from Wendland with too few ships, Olaf was ambushed here by the allied fleets of Svend Forkbeard of Denmark, the Swedish king, and his own countryman Earl Eric, who watched from an island as his ships came up the strait and three times mistook a great vessel for his famous Long Serpent. Lashing his ships together and refusing to flee, Olaf made his stand until the Serpent alone remained, ringed by enemies, and then leapt overboard in his armour rather than be taken. Svölðr is the saga's image of the magnificent last stand at sea — the sound where a dazzling king, outnumbered and betrayed, fought to the end and disappeared beneath the water, leaving behind the undying rumour that he had not drowned at all but lived on, far away in the east.