Editing Berserker (section)

=== Ulfheðnar – wolf warriors{{anchor|Ulfheðnar}} ===
{{Multiple image | total_width = 300 | perrow = 2
| image1 = Torslunda Ulvhedning.png
| image2 = Gutenstein warrior.jpg
| footer = {{ubl|Left image: Probable Ulfheðinn on one of the [[Torslunda plates]].|Right image: Possible ''ulfheðinn'' on the {{Interlanguage link|Gutenstein scabbard|de|Schwertscheide von Gutenstein}} (replica).}}
}}

Wolf warriors appear among the legends of the Indo-Europeans, Turks, Mongols, and Native American cultures.{{sfn|Speidel|2004|p=10}} The Germanic wolf-warriors have left their trace through shields and standards that were captured by the Romans and displayed in the ''[[armilustrium]]'' in Rome.{{sfn|Speidel|2004|p=15}}{{Sfn|Speidel|2002|p=15}}

Frenzy warriors wearing the skins of wolves called ''ulfheðnar'' ("wolf-skin-ers" or possibly "wolf-heathens"; singular ''ulfheðinn''), are mentioned in the ''[[Vatnsdæla saga]]'', the ''[[Haraldskvæði]]'' and the ''[[Grettis saga]]'' and are consistently referred to in the sagas as a group of berserkers, always presented as the elite following of the first Norwegian king [[Harald Fairhair]]. They were said to wear the pelt of a wolf over their chainmail when they entered battle. Unlike berserkers, direct references to ''ulfheðnar'' are scant.{{Sfn|Speidel|2002|p=15}}{{sfn|Simek|1995|p=435}}

''[[Egil's Saga]]'' features a man called Kveldulf (''Evening-Wolf'') who is said to have transformed into a wolf at night. This Kveldulf is described as a berserker, as opposed to an ''ulfheðinn''.{{Sfn|Speidel|2002|p=15}}{{sfn|Simek|1995|p=435}} ''Ulfheðnar'' are sometimes described as [[Odin]]'s special warriors: "[Odin's] men went without their [[Chain mail|mailcoats]] and were mad as hounds or wolves, bit their shields...they slew men, but neither fire nor iron had effect upon them. This is called 'going berserk'."<ref name="Davidson">{{cite book|last=Davidson |first=Hilda R.E. |title=Shape Changing in Old Norse Sagas |year=1978 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |location=Cambridge: Brewer; Totowa}}</ref>{{rp|132}}

The helm-plate press from Torslunda depicts a scene of a one-eyed warrior with bird-horned helm, assumed to be Odin, next to a wolf-headed warrior armed with a [[spear]] and sword as distinguishing features, assumed to be a berserker with a wolf pelt: "a wolf-skinned warrior with the apparently one-eyed dancer in the bird-horned helm, which is generally interpreted as showing a scene indicative of a relationship between berserkgang ... and the god Odin".<ref>{{cite book |last=Grundy |first=Stephan |title=Shapeshifting and Berserkgang |year=1998 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |location=Evanston, IL |page=18}}</ref>{{sfn|Simek|1995|p=48}}