| “ | Oh, come on! You’ve heard the stories. Every time I lose my ring, it bounces around the Nine Worlds for a while. Some schmuck gets a hold of it. They win the lottery and make millions. But they always end up broke, divorced, sick, unhappy, and/or dead. Is that what you want? | ” |
–The Hammer of Thor | ||
Andvari is a Dwarf who appears in the Magnus Chase series. He is very old and skilled with magic. He has a large amount of treasure with him and a magic ring which controls the treasure. Andvari now stays in Alfheim, as a fish in a lake.
History
Andvari used to live in a cave behind a waterfall. Loki once fished him using a net from Ran and demanded gold to pay off his wergild for killing Órt. Andvari warns him about the treasure and the ring, Andvaranaut, that he just cursed but Loki takes it anyway. The ring eventually turned Órt's brother, Fafnir, into a dragon who was defeated by Sigurd.
Sigurd gave the ring to Brynhild, a Valkyrie, so they could be married. But a queen sorceress named Grimhild gave him a potion to forget about this betrothal and manipulate him and Brynhild into marrying her own children, Gundrun and Gunnar. Betrayed, Brynhild had Gunnar kill Sigurd [1] and Andvaranaut's curse was brought into the family.[2] Although the rest of the gold was eventually returned to Andvari by Gunnar, Andvaranaut was lost.
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard
The Hammer of Thor
Magnus Chase and Hearthstone set out to find him to steal his treasure so they can pay off Alderman's wergild for Andiron's death. After Hearth lifts a river and Magnus reads all the fish's minds and finds the dwarf. He changes back into his original form and, after interrogation, gives them his treasure and ring. He warns them of the curse placed on his treasure about death coming afterwards just like Fafnir. He reveals that after what happened with Sigurd, the ring bounced across the Nine Worlds, once falling into the hands of people who won the Powerball lottery, until it finally came back to him. Nonetheless, Magnus and Hearth took the gold and ring because they needed to save Blitzen after he got stabbed by Skofnung. Andvari jumped back into the pond and disappeared.
The Ship of the Dead
Andvari is mentioned when Magnus, Hearth and Blitzen go back to Alfheim to slay Alderman and get Bolverk's whetstone. After they obtain the gold, they return it all, including the ring, to the lake where they found it. But they think that Andvari may have moved someplace else.
Appearance
In dwarf form, Andvari was tiny for a dwarf. He wore a fish-skin tunic and underwear that was basically a moss diaper. Slime coated his limbs. His stubby arms couldn't hurt Magnus a bit. His face looked like a wrinkly, discolored, gross thumb after it was under a wet bandage for so long. He had scraggly white whiskers and mold-green eyes.
Abilities
- Shapeshifting: Andvari has the ability to change himself into any kind of fish at will.
- Sunlight Resistance: Despite being a dwarf, sunlight has very little to no effect on Andvari, allowing him to survive even in Alfheim, though he does strictly sticks to its more shadowy parts.
References
- ↑ Myths and Legends: An Illustrated Guide to Their Origins and Meanings by Philip Wilkinson
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andvaranaut