Wayland the Smith

"Weyland Smith" redirects here. For the Vertigo comics character, see List of Fables characters.

Wayland the Smith (Old English: Wēland; Old Norse: Vǫlundr) is a legendary master blacksmith in Norse and Germanic mythology, renowned for his craftsmanship, cunning, and the saga surrounding his captivity and revenge.

Wayland's story is most clearly told in the Old Norse sources Völundarkviða (a poem in the Poetic Edda) and Þiðreks saga. In them, Wayland is a smith who is enslaved by a king. Wayland takes revenge by killing the king's sons and then escapes by crafting a winged cloak and flying away. Other sources clearly allude to similar stories, most prominently the Old English poem Deor and the Franks Casket. Wayland is also mentioned in passing in a wide range of texts, such as the Old English Waldere and Beowulf, as the maker of weapons and armour.

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