Editing Draugr (section)

== Folklore ==
=== Icelandic sagas ===
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. (Note that the saga does not actually use the term ''draugr'' for Glámr, per above.){{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"/>

=== Norwegian folklore (sea draugr){{anchor|Sea draugr}} ===
[[File:Draug.jpg|thumb|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]]

In contrast to the Icelandic sagas, in later [[Scandinavian folklore]], 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}}, or {{lang|no|drauv}}''/''{{lang|no|drøv}}''/''{{lang|no|drov}}) instead became associated with ghosts (and thereof) of people lost at sea, sometimes specified as "sea draugr" ({{langx|no|havdraug}}, ''sjødraug'') relative to "land draugr". The sea draugr occurs in legends along the coast of Norway, either at sea or along the beach. 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 (Nordland)|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}}

Although the draug usually presages death, there is an amusing account in [[Northern Norway]] of a northerner who managed to outwit him:

{{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|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>}}

[[File:Theodor Kittelsen - Sjøtrollet, 1887 (The Sea Troll).jpg|thumb|left|A sea draug as depicted by [[Theodor Kittelsen]]]]
The cultural link between draugrs and Christmas in Norway goes back to at least the early 1900s, probably much earlier. 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 wellcome spirits of the deceased, [[household spirit]]s and thereof into the house, includes draugrs in Norway; the beer left out being called "draug-beer" ({{langx|no|drøv-øl}}, from the form ''drauv'').<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"/>

The modern and popular connection between the draug and the sea can be traced back to authors like [[Jonas Lie (writer)|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>

[[Arne Garborg]] describes land-draugs coming [[Haugtussa|fresh from the graveyards]], and the term ''draug'' is even used of [[vampires]]. The notion of draugrs who live in the mountains is present in the poetic works of [[Henrik Ibsen]] (''[[Peer Gynt]]''), and [[Aasmund Olavsson Vinje]].{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}