Editing Draugr

{{Short description|Undead creature from Norse mythology}}
{{hatnote|For the exoplanet, see [[PSR B1257+12 A]]. "Draug" redirects here; for the 2018 film, see [[Draug (film)]]; for the Norwegian role-playing game, see [[Draug (role-playing game)]].}}
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[[File:Giant draugr by Kim Diaz Holm (cropped).jpg|thumb|Kim Diaz Holm's contemporary art depicting a draugr haunting in enormous magical shape ({{langx|non|hamr}})]]
The '''draugr''' or '''draug''' ({{langx|non|draugr}}; {{langx|is|draugur}}; {{langx|fo|dreygur}}; [[Danish language|Danish]] and {{langx|no|draug}}; {{langx|sv|dröger}}, ''drög''){{efn|''Draug'' also exist in Swedish as a loanword from Icelandic sagas.}}<ref name="dialektl 0132"/> is a corporeal [[undead]] creature from the [[saga]]s and folktales of the [[Nordic countries]], with varying ambiguous traits. In modern times, they are often portrayed as [[Norse mythology|Norse]] [[supernatural]] [[zombie]]s, as depicted in various video games such as ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim|Skyrim]]'' and ''[[God of War (franchise)|God of War]]'', loosely based on the draugr as described in early medieval [[Icelandic sagas]], however, in myth and folklore they comprise several complex ideas which change from story to story, especially in surviving Norwegian folklore, where the draugr remains a staple (see {{sectionlink||Sea draugr}}).<ref name="HerrHolm 1">{{cite web |title=Draugr VS Draugen: A Norwegian Fairytale of Sea Trolls and Viking Zombies |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5XgbMcd2Bk |website=youtube.com |publisher=Kim Diaz Holm |access-date=2024-12-16}}</ref><ref name="HerrHolm 2">{{cite web |title=God of War is wrong... |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuvG35j8aAM |website=youtube.com |publisher=Kim Diaz Holm |access-date=2024-12-16}}</ref>

In the Icelandic sagas, from which most modern interest is garnered, ''draugrs'' live in their graves or royal palaces, often guarding treasure buried in their burial mound. They are [[revenants]], or animated corpses, rather than ghosts, which possess intangible spiritual bodies.

== Etymology ==
The Old Norse word ''draugr'' (initially ''draugʀ'', see [[ʀ]]), in the sense of the undead creature, is hypothetically traced to an unrecorded {{langx|proto=yes|gem-x-proto|*draugaz}}, meaning "delusion, illusion, mirage" etc, from a ''*dreuganą'' ("to mislead, deceive"), ultimately from a [[Proto-Indo European]] stem {{lang|ine-x-proto|*dʰrowgʰos}} ("phantom"), from {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰréwgʰ-s}} ~ {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰrugʰ-és}} ("deceive").<ref name="eiec">{{Cite encyclopedia |first1=Edgar C. |last1=Polomé |first2=Douglas Q. |last2=Adams |editor-first1=J. P. |editor-last1=Mallory |editor-first2=Douglas Q. |editor-last2=Adams |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture]] |title=Spirit |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1997 |page=538}}</ref> Cognates includes {{langx|sv|bedraga}} ("to deceive"), {{langx|nds|drog}} ("impostor, scoundrel"), {{lang|nds|dregen}} ("to deceive"), {{langx|goh|bitrog}} ("delusion"), {{lang|goh|gitrog}} ("illusion, mirage, ghost"), {{langx|de|Trug}} ("deception, delusion, illusion"), {{langx|nl|bedrog}} ("deceit, deception"), {{langx|osx|gidrog}} ("delusion"), {{langx|cy|drwg}} ("bad, evil"), {{langx|ga|droc}} ("bad, evil"), {{langx|br|droug}}, {{lang|br|drouk}} ("bad, evil"), {{langx|sa|द्रुह्}}, ''drúh'' ("injury, harm, offence"), {{lang|sa|द्रोघ}}, ''drógha'' ("deceitful, untrue, misleading"), {{langx|peo|𐎭𐎼𐎢𐎥}}, ''drauga'' ("deceit, deception"), {{lang|peo|𐎭𐎼𐎢𐎩𐎴}}, ''draujana'' ("deceptive, deceitful, misleading"), ultimately from the same root as 'dream', from a [[Proto-Indo European]] {{lang|ine-x-proto|dʰrowgʰ-mos}} ("deceit, illusion").<ref name="JER102"/><ref name="SAOB bedraga">{{cite web |title=bedraga v.3 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=B_0521-0103.3U1H&pz=5 |website=saob.se |publisher=[[Svenska Akademiens ordbok]] (SAOB) |access-date=2024-12-02}}</ref>

{{langx|sco|drow}}, {{lang|sco|trow}} ("evil spirit, troll"), appears related, possibly via a unrecorded {{langx|nrn|*drog}} ("draugr"), but also effected by {{langx|non|trǫll}} ("troll"), which at the time was different and more ambiguous than today and rather meant something akin to magical creature of ill will, even being used figuratively for draugr. Further, the Swedish form ''drög'' has also acquired the meaning of "nut" (idiot);<ref name="JER102"/> compare with {{langx|da|drog}} ("a good-for-nothing"), {{langx|sco|draighie}}, {{lang|sco|draich}}, {{lang|sco|draick}} ("a lazy, lumpish, useless person"), {{lang|sco|draich}} ("slow, spiritless").<ref name="JER102"/><ref name="dsl draich">{{cite web |title=DRAICH, Draick |url=https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/draich |website=dsl.ac.uk |publisher=Scottish National Dictionary (1700–) |access-date=2024-12-02}}</ref>

== Terminology ==
=== Dictionaries ===
One of the earliest dictionaries for draugr, or rather its descendants, was Swedish linguist and priest [[Johan Ernst Rietz]]'s (1815–1868) dialect dictionary of Swedish vernacular (1862–1867), which listed the Swedish descendants of Old Norse {{lang|non|draugr}} as {{lang|sv|dröger}} and {{lang|sv|drög}} (compare {{langx|is|draugur}} vs {{lang|sv|dröger}}, {{langx|no|draug}} vs {{lang|sv|drög}}), including the archaic form {{lang|sv|draugr}} in the province of [[Närke]]. He also included Norwegian {{lang|no|draug}}, {{lang|no|drauv}} and {{lang|no|drog}} for comparison, giving the definition for both Swedish and Norwegian as:

{{quote|"pale, powerless, slow human, striding forward", alternatively just "ghost or undead".<ref name="JER102">{{cite book |last1=Rietz |first1=Johan Ernst |author1-link=Johan Ernst Rietz |title=Svenskt dialektlexikon: ordbok öfver svenska allmogespråket |date=1862–1867 |location=Sweden |page=102 |url=https://runeberg.org/dialektl/0132.html |access-date=2025-01-26 |language=sv }}</ref>}}

Around the same time, although published a few years later, English philologist [[Richard Cleasby]] (1797–1847), and Icelandic scholar [[Guðbrandur Vigfússon]] (1827–1889), in "An Icelandic-English dictionary" (1873), defined Old Norse {{lang|is|draugr}} (old form to {{lang|is|draugur}}) as:

{{quote|"a ghost, spirit, especially the dead inhabitant of a [[cairn]]".<ref name=cleasby-vigfusson>Cleasby; Vigfusson edd. (1974) ''An Icelandic-English dictionary''. s. v. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NTVoAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA103 draugr]</ref>}}

This description was repeated almost word for word by Icelandic linguist [[Geir T. Zoëga]] (1857-1928), in his book "A concise dictionary of old Icelandic" (1910).<ref name="Zoëga 1910">{{cite book |title=A concise dictionary of Old Icelandic |date=1911 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford}}</ref>

Norwegian journalist, author, and editor [[Johan Christian Johnsen]] (1815–1898), in his Norwegian dictionary (1881–1888), gave a different, more specific definition for Norwegian {{lang|no|draug}} than Rietz did in the 1860s, defining it as:

{{quote|"(really a revenant) in Norwegian folk superstition, a supernatural being that dwells on and by the sea. It appears most frequently as a man dressed in sea clothes with a bundle of seaweed instead of a head, sailing in half a boat, always proclaiming that the person or someone from the boat to whom it appears will perish".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnsen |first1=Johan Christian |author1-link=Johan Christian Johnsen |title=Norsk Haandlexikon |date=1881–1888 |location=Norway |page=391 |url=https://runeberg.org/haandlex/1/0391.html |access-date=2025-01-26 |language=no |chapter=A-J}}</ref>}}

=== Written corpus ===
In the written corpus, the ''draugr'' is regarded not so much as a ghost, but a corporeal [[undead]] creature, or [[revenant]],<ref name=langeslag/> ie, the reanimated corpse of the deceased, for example inside the burial mound or grave<ref name=smith_gregg_a/> (as in the example of Kárr inn gamli in ''[[Grettis saga]]'').<ref name=langeslag/><ref name=williams_howard/> Commentators extend the term ''draugr'' to the undead in medieval literature, even if it is never explicitly referred to as such in the text, and designated them instead as a {{lang|non|[[#Haugbúi|haugbúi]]}} ("barrow-dweller") or an {{lang|non|aptrganga}} ("re-walker") – see [[Gjenganger]]. Compare {{langx|is|afturganga}} ("after-walker"), {{langx|sv|gengångare}} ("again-walker").

Unlike Kárr inn gamli (Kar the Old) in ''Grettis saga'', who is specifically called a draugr,<ref name="p. 65"/>{{Refn|Kárr is called a draugr by Grettir when he sings a verse to reply to the question of how he gained the treasure sword. This was rendered "In the barrow where that thing .. fell" in the 1869 translation,<ref name=magnusson&morris-cap18-p048/> and "in a murky mound.. a ghost was felled then " by Scudder.{{sfnp|Scudder (tr.)|2005}}}} Glámr the ghost in the same saga is never explicitly called a draugr in the text,{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=284}} though called a "troll" in it.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Ármann Jakobsson notes that in this and comparable instances, the term "troll" designates some sort of revenant, more specifically the human undead. Since the term can also mean 'demon', the sense is ambiguous.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=285}} }}{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=285}} Yet Glámr is still routinely referred to as a ''draugr'' by modern scholars.{{Refn|{{harvp|Clemoes|Dickins|1959|p=190}}, e.g., and Willam Sayers<ref name=sayers/> }} Beings not specifically called {{lang|non|draugr}}, but only referred to as {{lang|non|{{linktext|aptrgǫngur}}}} "revenants" (pl. of {{lang|non|{{linktext|aptrganga}}}}) and {{lang|non|{{linktext|reimleikar}}}} "haunting" in these medieval sagas,{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Besides Glámr, other examples are Víga-Hrappr Sumarliðason in ''[[Laxdæla saga]]''; Þórólfr bægifótr (lame-foot) or the ghosts of Fróðá in ''[[Eyrbyggja saga]]''.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=284}}}} are still commonly discussed as a {{lang|non|draugr}} in various scholarly works,{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009}}{{sfnp|Caciola|1996|p=28}}<ref name=smith_gregg_a/> or the draugr and the ''haugbúi'' are lumped into one.{{sfnp|Chadwick|1946|p=51}}

A further caveat is that the application of the term ''draugr'' may not necessarily follow what the term might have meant in the strict sense during medieval times, but rather follow a modern definition or notion of ''draugr'', specifically such ghostly beings (by whatever names they are called) that occur in Icelandic folktales categorized as "Draugasögur" in [[Jón Árnason (author)|Jón Árnason]]'s collection, based on the classification groundwork laid by [[Konrad Maurer]].{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|pp=281–282}}{{Refn|It is pointed out that the lexicographer [[Guðbrandur Vigfússon]] (who defined draugr as 'ghost' in his dictionary) wrote the preface to Jón Árnason's folklore collection.}}

In Old Norse, ''draugr'' also meant a tree trunk or dry dead wood, or in poetry could refer to a man or warrior,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/draugr#Old_Norse |title=Draugr |date=11 February 2024 }}</ref> since [[Old Norse poetry]] often used terms for trees to represent humans, especially in [[kennings]], referencing the myth that the god [[Odin]] and his brothers created the first humans [[Ask and Embla]] from trees. There was thus a connection between the idea of a felled tree's trunk and that of a dead man's corpse.

Also, one of the [[List of names of Odin|names for Odin]] was {{lang|non|Draugadróttinn}}, "Lord of the draugr", in the [[Ynglinga saga]], chapter 7.

=== Haugbúi (mound-dweller){{anchor|Haugbúi}} ===
The ''haugbúi'', meaning "mound-dweller" or "[[:wikt:how#Etymology 2|howe]]-dweller" (composite of {{langx|non|haugr}}, "[[tumulus|mound]]", cognate to English "how, howe, height", and ''búi'', "dweller", from ''búa'', "reside"), the dead body living within its tomb, is a variation of the ''draugr''. The notable difference between the two was that the haugbui cannot leave its grave site and only attacks those who trespass upon their territory.<ref name="Curran-pp81-93"/>

Beings in British folklore such as [[Lincolnshire dialect|Lincolnshire]] "[[shag-boy]]s" and [[Scots language|Scots]] "[[hogboons]]" derive their names from ''haugbui''.<ref name="shag-boy">{{cite web |title=shag-boy |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shag-boy |website=Wiktionary |access-date=12 January 2023 |language=en |date=29 September 2019}}</ref>

A modern rendering is also [[barrow-wight]], popularized by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] in his novels, however, initially used for the draugr in [[Eiríkur Magnússon]]'s and [[William Morris]]' 1869 translation of ''[[Grettis saga]]'', long before Tolkien employed the term;{{Refn|Burns<ref name=burns/> citing Gilliver et al. (2009) [2006]. ''[[The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary]]'', pp. 214–216.<ref name=gilliver/>}} rendering Icelandic ''"Sótti haugbúinn með kappi"'' as "the barrow-wight setting on with hideous eagerness".<ref name=magnusson&morris-cap18-p048>{{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}. Ch. 18. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA48 p. 48]</ref><ref name="p. 65">{{harvp|Boer (ed.)|1900|p=}}, Cap. 18, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA65 p. 65]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://skaldic.abdn.ac.uk/db.php?table=verses&id=26687&if=myth |title=Pre-Christian Religions of the North: Sources : [excerpt from] Gr ch. 18b: Living in gravemounds |year=2014 |access-date=2020-11-17 |author=PCRN project and Skaldic project}}</ref>

== Overall classification ==
=== Ghost with physical body ===
The draugr is a "corporeal ghost"<ref name=williams_howard/> with a physical, tangible body and not an "imago,"{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|p=284}} and in tales, it is often delivered a "second death" by the destruction of the animated corpse.{{Refn|"The will appears to be strong, strong enough to draw the ''hugr'' [animate will] back to one's body. These reanimated individuals were known as ''draugr''. However, though the dead might live again, they could also die again. ''Draugrs'' die a "second death" as Chester Gould calls it, when their bodies decay, are burned, dismembered or otherwise destroyed".}}<ref name=smith_gregg_a/>

=== Vampire ===
The draugr has also been conceived of as a type of [[vampire]] by folktale anthologist [[Andrew Lang]] in late 1897,{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|p=311}} with the idea further pursued by more modern commentators. The focus here is not on [[blood-sucking]], which is not attested for the draugr,<ref>{{harvp|Keyworth |2006|p=244}}: "there is no mention of draugrs being swollen with the supposed blood of their victims".</ref> but rather, contagiousness or transmittable nature of vampirism,<ref name=armann-j-transmittable>{{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|p=313}}: "Vampirism is transmittable, to which Þórólfr bægifótr's many victims bear witness".</ref> that is to say, how a vampire begets another by turning his or her attack victim into one of his kind. Sometimes the chain of contagion becomes an outbreak, e.g., the case of Þórólfr bægifótr (Thorolf Lame-foot or Twist-Foot),<ref name=armann-j-transmittable/><ref>{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. ''Eyrbyggja Saga'', "Ch. 34: Thorolf's ghost". p. 115ff.; "Ch. 63: Thorolf comes back from the Dead". p. 186ff.</ref> and even called an "epidemic" regarding Þórgunna (Thorgunna).{{efn|Both these occur in the ''[[Eyrbyggja saga]]''.}}<ref>{{harvp|Caciola|1996|p=15}}: "Thorgunna's death also brought on what might be called an epidemic of aggressive revenants".</ref><ref>{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. ''Eyrbyggja Saga'', "Ch. 51: Thorgunna dies", p. 158 – "Ch. 54 More ghosts", p. 166ff</ref>

A more speculative case of vampirism is that of Glámr, who was asked to tend sheep for a haunted farmstead and was subsequently found dead with his neck and every bone in his body broken.<ref>{{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}. ''Grettis saga''. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA102 p. 102]</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Note similarity to a shepherd killed by Thorolf's ghost, also found with every bone broken.<ref>{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. ''Eyrbyggja Saga'', "Ch. 34: Thorolf's ghost".</ref>}} It has been surmised by commentators that Glámr, by "contamination," was turned into an undead (''draugr'') by whatever being was haunting the farm.<ref>{{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2009|pp=310–311}}: "This creature [evil spirit] contaminates Glámr"; {{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=297}}: " some kind of infection is also apparent in the account of Glámr".</ref>

== Physical traits ==
[[File:Norse draugr by Kim Diaz Holm.jpg|thumb|upright|Modern depiction of a Norse warrior turned draugr]]

Draugrs usually possessed superhuman strength,{{sfnp|Lindow|1976|p=95}} and were "generally hideous to look at", bearing a necrotic black or blue color,{{sfnp|Smith|2007|p=15}}{{sfnp|Curran|2005|p=82}} and were associated with a "reek of decay"{{sfnp|Curran|2005|p=82–83}} or more precisely inhabited haunts that often issued foul stench.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|pp=291–292}}

Draugrs were said to be either ''hel-blár'' "death-blue" or ''nár-fölr'' "corpse-pale".{{sfnp|Curran|2005|p=82}} Glámr when found dead was described as "''blár sem Hel en digr sem naut'' (black as hell and bloated to the size of a bull)".<ref>{{harvp|Boer (ed.)|1900}} ''Grettis saga'' Kap. XVIII.9, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA64 p. 64];</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The color is literally 'blue', thus "blue as hell, and great as a [[wikt:neat#etymology2|neat]]" is the rendering in {{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}, {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA99 |2=p. 99}}.}} Þórólfr Lame-foot, when lying dormant, looked "uncorrupted" and also "was black as death [ie, bruised black and blue] and swollen to the size of an ox".<ref>{{harvp|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. ''Eyrbyggja Saga'', p. 187; Pálsson & Edwards (trr.) (1989). pp. 155–156, quoted by {{harvp|Keyworth|2006|p=244}}.</ref> The close similarity of these descriptions have been noted.<ref name=smith_gregg_a/>{{sfnp|Boer|1898|p=55}} ''[[Laxdæla saga]]'' describes how bones were dug up belonging to a dead sorceress who had appeared in dreams, and they were "blue and evil looking".<ref>{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, ''Laxdaela Saga'', p. 235.</ref>{{sfnp|Bennett|2014|p=44}}

Þráinn (Thrain), the [[berserker]] of [[Valland]], "turned himself into a troll" in ''[[Hrómundar saga Gripssonar]]'', was a fiend (''dólgr'') which was "black and huge.. roaring loudly and blowing fire", and possessed long scratching claws, and the claws stuck in the neck, prompting the hero Hrómundr to refer to the draugur as a sort of cat ({{langx|non|kattakyn}}).<ref name=hromundar-saga-kershaw-p68>Chadwick (1921)/{{harvp|Kershaw|1921|p=}} ''The Saga of Hromund Greipsson'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=sAEzAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA68 p. 68]</ref><ref name=davidson1958/>
<ref>{{harvp|Clemoes|Dickins|1959|p=}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=TGo0AAAAIAAJ&q=Hr%C3%B3mundr+draugr p. 188]</ref> The possession of long claws features also in the case of another revenant, Ásviðr (Aswitus) who came to life in the night and attacked his foster-brother Ásmundr (Asmundus) with them, scratching his face and tearing one of his ears.{{efn|As related by [[Saxo Grammaticus]], hence the Latinized names.}}<ref>{{harvp|Andrews|1912–1913|}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=fSE_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA603 p. 603–604]</ref><ref>{{harvp|Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson|1987}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=JqwSAQAAIAAJ&q=%C3%81svi%C3%B0r pp. 9–10]</ref>

Draugrs often give off a morbid stench, not unlike the smell of a decaying body. The mound where Kárr the Old was entombed reeked horribly.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|loc=p. 291, n43}}<ref>{{harvp|Boer (ed.)|1900}} ''Grettis saga'' Kap. XVIII, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA125 p. 125]; {{harvp|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}} Ch. 18, p. 47: "{{lang|non|þeygi þefgott}} (and smell there was therein none of the sweetest)". Literally ''þeyg'' ("not") + ''þefr'' ("smell") + ''gott'' ("good").</ref> In ''[[Harðar saga ok Hólmverja|Harðar saga]]'' Hörðr Grímkelsson's two underlings die even before entering Sóti the Viking's mound, due to the "gust and stink ({{lang|non|ódaun}})" wafting out of it.<ref>{{harvp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|loc=p. 291, n42}}, citing ''Harðar saga''. Þórhallur Vilmundarson; Bjarni Vilhjálmsson (edd.), p. 40.</ref> {{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Also Þráinn's " barrow was filled with a horrible stench" in ''[[Hrómundar saga Gripssonar]]''.<ref name=hromundar-saga-kershaw-p68/>}} When enraged Þráinn filled the barrow with an "evil reek."<ref name=hromundar-saga-kershaw-p68/>

== Magical abilities ==
Draugrs are noted for having numerous magical abilities referred to as {{langx|non|trollskapr}} ({{lit|troll-ship}}, roughly "sorcery-ness") resembling those of living witches and wizards, such as shape-shifting, controlling the weather, and seeing into the future.<ref name="davidson1943-p163">{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Hilda Roderick Ellis |author-link=Hilda Ellis Davidson |title=The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1943 |page=163 }}</ref> The prefix, {{langx|non|troll-}}, which is the same word as the creature [[troll]], which initially meant something akin to "malevolent esoteric supernatural being" (demon, devil, ghost, jötunn etc), was by extension, specifically in compounds, also a word for the sorcery and dark arts of said beings;<ref name="SAOB troll"/> compare {{langx|sv|trolla}} ("to perform sorcery"), {{lang|sv|trolleri}} ("sorcery"),<ref name="SAOB trolla"/> {{lang|sv|trollkarl}} ({{lit|troll-man}}, "sorcerer"),<ref name="SAOB trolla"/> {{lang|sv|trollgumma}}, {{lang|sv|trollpacka}} ({{lit|troll-lady}}, "witch"),<ref name="SAOB troll"/><ref name="SAOB trollpacka">{{cite web |title=trollpacka sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=trollpacka&pz=1 |website=saob.se |publisher=[[Swedish Academy]] |access-date=2025-01-29}}</ref>

Icelandic linguist [[Geir T. Zoëga]] (1857-1928), in his book "A concise dictionary of old Icelandic" (1910), defined [[Old Icelandic]]: {{lang|non|trollskapr}} as:
{{quote|nature of a troll, witchcraft|{{cite book |title=A concise dictionary of Old Icelandic |date=1911 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=442}}}}

The [[Swedish Academy]] gives the following description for the word {{lang|sv|trollskap}} in Swedish:
{{quote|(ability or power to exercise) witchcraft/sorcery; also of (especially evil) action arising from such ability, etc.; earlier also concretely, about objects or tools and the like equipped with or produced by such ability and so on...<ref>{{cite web |title=trollskap sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=trollskap&pz=1#U_T2555_69299 |website=saob.se |publisher=[[Swedish Academy]] |access-date=2025-01-29 |date=2008}}</ref>}}

Synonyms to {{lang|non|trollskapr}} and {{lang|sv|trollskap}} include: [[Old Icelandic]]: {{lang|is|trolldómr}} and {{langx|sv|trolldom}}, {{langx|sv|trollkonst}} and {{lang|sv|trollkraft}} etc ("sorcery").<ref name="SAOB troll">{{cite web |title=troll sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=troll&pz=1 |website=saob.se |publisher=[[Swedish Academy]] |access-date=2025-01-29}}</ref><ref name="SAOB trolldom">{{cite web |title=trolldom sbst. |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=trolldom&pz=1 |website=saob.se |publisher=[[Swedish Academy]] |access-date=2025-01-29}}</ref><ref name="SAOB trolla">{{cite web |title=trolla v.1 |url=https://www.saob.se/artikel/?unik=T_2555-0054.IKDf&pz=5 |website=saob.se |publisher=[[Swedish Academy]] |access-date=2025-01-29}}</ref>

=== Shape-shifting ===
The undead Víga-Hrappr Sumarliðason of ''[[Laxdaela saga]]'', unlike the typical guardian of a treasure hoard, does not stay put in his burial place but roams around his farmstead of Hrappstaðir, menacing the living.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=290}} Víga-Hrappr's ghost, it has been suggested, was capable of transforming into the seal with human-like eyes which appeared before Þorsteinn svarti/surt (Thorsteinn the Black) sailing by ship, and was responsible for the sinking of the vessel to prevent the family from reaching Hrappstaðir.<ref>{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, ''Laxdaela Saga'', Ch. 18, pp. 79–80; introduction, p. 12; index of names, [https://books.google.com/books?id=um91wPf9c7MC&pg=PA255 p. 255]</ref> The ability to shape-shift has been ascribed to Icelandic ghosts generally, particularly into the shape of a seal.<ref>{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, p.78, n1</ref>{{sfnp|Keyworth|2007|p=71}}{{sfnp|Caciola|1996|p=33, n102}}

A draugr in Icelandic folktales collected in the modern age can also change into a great flayed bull, a grey horse with a broken back but no ears or tail, and a cat that would sit upon a sleeper's chest and grow steadily heavier until their victim suffocated.<ref name="JS166">{{cite book|author=Jón Árnason |author-link=Jón Árnason (author) |editor-last=Simpson |editor-first=Jacqueline |editor-link=Jacqueline Simpson |title=Icelandic Folktales and Legends |publisher=University of California Press |year=1972 |page=166 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HY-DCKd6UgUC |isbn=978-0-520-02116-7}}</ref>

=== Other magical abilities ===
Draugrs have the ability to enter into the dreams of the living,<ref name="davidson1943-p163"/> and they will frequently leave a gift behind so that "the living person may be assured of the tangible nature of the visit".{{sfnp|Chadwick|1946|p=54-55}} Draugrs also can curse a victim, as shown in ''Grettis saga'', where Grettir is cursed to be unable to become stronger. Draugrs also brought disease to a village and could create temporary darkness in daylight hours. They preferred to be active during the night, although they did not appear vulnerable to sunlight like some other revenants. Draugr can also kill people with bad luck.

A draugr's presence might be shown by a great light that glowed from the mound like [[foxfire]].<ref name="FP36">{{harvp|Fox|Pálsson (trr.)|1974}}, ''Grettir's Saga'', p. 36.</ref> This fire would form a barrier between the land of the living and that of the dead.<ref>{{harvp|Davidson|1943}}, ''The Road to Hel'', p. 161.</ref>

The undead Víga-Hrappr exhibited the ability to <!--"swim" through solid rock-->sink into the ground to escape from [[Olaf the Peacock|Óláfr Hǫskuldsson the Peacock]].<ref>{{harvp|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}, ''Laxdaela Saga'', p. 103</ref>

Some draugrs are immune to weapons, and only a hero has the strength and courage to stand up to a formidable opponent. In legends, the hero often wrestled a draugr back to his grave to defeat them since weapons would do no good. A good example of this is found in ''[[Hrómundar saga Gripssonar]]''. Iron could injure a draugr, as with many supernatural creatures, although it would not be sufficient to stop it.<ref name="JS107">Simpson, ''Icelandic Folktales and Legends'', p. 107.</ref> Sometimes, the hero must dispose of the body in unconventional ways. The preferred method is to cut off the draugr's head, burn the body, and dump the ashes in the sea—the emphasis being on making sure that the draugr was dead and gone.<ref name="VA">{{cite web|url=http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ghosts.shtml |title=Viking Answer Lady Webpage - The Walking Dead: Draugr and Aptrgangr in Old Norse Literature |publisher=Vikinganswerlady.com |date=2005-12-14 |access-date=2010-07-01}}</ref>

== Behaviour and character ==
Any mean, nasty, or greedy person can become a draugr. As [[Ármann Jakobsson]] notes, "most medieval Icelandic ghosts are evil or marginal people. If not dissatisfied or evil, they are unpopular".{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=295}}

=== Greed ===
The draugr's motivation was primarily envy and greed. Greed causes it to attack any would-be grave robbers viciously, but the draugr also expresses an innate envy of the living stemming from a longing for the things of life which it once had. They also exhibit an immense and nearly insatiable appetite, as shown in the encounter of Aran and Asmund, sword brothers who swore that, if one died, the other would sit vigil with him for three days inside the burial mound. When Aran died, Asmund brought his possessions into the barrow—banners, armor, hawk, hound, and horse—then set himself to wait the three days:
{{Blockquote|text=During the first night, Aran got up from his chair and killed the hawk and hound and ate them. On the second night he got up again from his chair, and killed the horse and tore it into pieces; then he took great bites at the horse-flesh with his teeth, the blood streaming down from his mouth all the while he was eating…. The third night Asmund became very drowsy, and the first thing he knew, Aran had got him by the ears and torn them off.<ref name="GSOMT99-101">''Gautrek's Saga and Other Medieval Tales'', pp. 99-101.</ref>}}

=== Bloodthirst ===
The draugr's victims were not limited to trespassers in its home. The roaming undead devastated livestock by running the animals to death either by riding them or pursuing them in some hideous, half-flayed form. Shepherds' duties kept them outdoors at night, and they were particular targets for the hunger and hatred of the undead:

{{blockquote|text=The oxen which had been used to haul Thorolf's body were ridden to death by demons, and every single beast that came near his grave went raving mad and howled itself to death. The shepherd at Hvamm often came racing home with Thorolf after him. One day that Fall neither sheep nor shepherd came back to the farm.<ref>{{SfnRef|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}. ''Eyrbyggja Saga'', p. 115.</ref>}}

Animals feeding near the grave of a draugr might be driven mad by the creature's influence.<ref name="Curran-pp81-93">{{harvp|Curran|2005|pp=81–93}}</ref> They may also die from being driven mad. Thorolf, for example, caused birds to drop dead when they flew over his [[bowl barrow]].

=== Sitting posture and evil eye ===
The main indication that a deceased person will become a draugr is that the corpse is not horizontal. It is found standing upright (as with Víga-Hrappr), or in a sitting position (Þórólfr), indicating that the dead might return.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=296}} Ármann Jakobsson suggests further that breaking the draugr's posture is a necessary or helpful step in destroying the draugr, but this is fraught with the risk of being inflicted with the [[evil eye]], whether this is explicitly told in the case of Grettir who receives the curse from Glámr, or only implied in the case of Þórólfr, whose son warns the others to beware while they unbend Þórólfr's seated posture.{{sfnp|Ármann Jakobsson|2011|p=296}}

=== Annihilating ===
The draugr needing to be decapitated to hinder them from further hauntings is a common theme in the [[sagas of Icelanders|family sagas]].<ref name=sayers/>

=== Means of prevention ===
{{more citations needed|section|date=October 2018}}
[[File:Norre naeraa 600px.jpg|thumb|upright|right|The Nørre Nærå Runestone is interpreted as having a "grave binding inscription" used to keep the deceased in its grave.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Stephen A. |title=Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2011 |pages=22–23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=shCXJLB6mDAC |isbn=978-0-8122-4290-4}}</ref>]]

Traditionally in Iceland, a pair of open iron scissors was placed on the chest of the recently deceased, and straws or twigs might be hidden among their clothes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bane |first=Theresa |title=Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers |year=2010 |isbn=9780786444526 |location=North Carolina |publication-date=2010 |pages=55 |language=English}}</ref> The big toes were tied together or needles were driven through the soles of the feet to keep the dead from being able to walk. Tradition also held that the coffin should be lifted and lowered in three directions as it was carried from the house to confuse a possible draugr's sense of direction.

The most effective means of preventing the return of the dead was believed to be a corpse door, a special door through which the corpse was carried feet-first with people surrounding it so that the corpse couldn't see where it was going. The door was then bricked up to prevent a return. It is speculated{{by whom|date=October 2018}} that this belief began in [[Denmark]] and spread throughout the Norse culture, founded on the idea that the dead could only leave through the way they entered.

In the "Eyrbyggja saga," draugrs are driven off by holding a "door-doom." One by one, they are summoned to the door-doom, given judgment, and forced out of the home by this legal method. The home is then purified with holy water to ensure that they never come back.

== 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}}

== Use in popular culture ==
The [[exoplanet]] [[PSR B1257+12 A]] has been named "Draugr".

=== Literature ===
The [[Nynorsk]] translation of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' used the term for both [[Nazgûl]] and the dead men of [[Dunharrow]]. Tolkien's barrow-wights bear obvious similarity to, and were inspired by the haugbúi.

=== Video games ===
In video game series such as ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'', draugr are the undead mummified corpses of fallen warriors that inhabit the ancient burial sites of a Nordic-inspired race of man. They first appeared in the Bloodmoon expansion to ''The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind'', and would later go on to appear all throughout ''The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim''. 

Draugrs are a common enemy, the first encountered by the player, in the 2018 video game ''[[God of War (2018)|God of War]]'', with a variety of different powers and abilities.

In 2019, a spaceship named ''Draugur'' was added to the game ''[[Eve Online]]'', as the command destroyer of the Triglavian faction. Draugr appear as an enemies in the 2021 [[early access]] game ''[[Valheim]]'', where they take the more recent, seaweed version of the Draug.

The Draugr is one of the Norse myth units of the ''New Gods Pack: Freyr'' DLC of 2024 video game ''[[Age of Mythology: Retold]]'', associated to the god [[Ullr]], fighting with bows and arrows.

=== Cinema ===
Season two episode two of the 2018 TV-series ''[[Hilda (TV series)|Hilda]]'', entitled "The Draugen", involved draugen as the ghosts of sailors who died at sea. While their form was ghostly, the captain could wear a coat, and had a shock of seaweed for hair.

In the 2018 film ''[[Draug (film)|Draug]]'', a group of Viking warriors encounter the draugr while searching for a missing person inside a vast forest. The draugr are depicted as blue-black animated corpses wielding many magical abilities.

In the 2022 movie ''[[The Northman]]'', Amleth enters a burial mound, in search of a magical sword named "Draugr". Amleth encounters an undead Mound Dweller inside the grave chamber, which he has to fight to obtain the blade.
	
The 2024 Icelandic horror film ''[[The Damned (2024 Palsson film)|The Damned]]'' features a draugr tormenting the inhabitants of an isolated, winter, fishing post after they let the survivors of a shipwreck drown.

== See also ==
* [[Gjenganger]]
* [[Norse funeral]]
* [[Selkolla]]
* [[Spriggan]]
* [[Wiedergänger]]

==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name=burns>{{cite book |last=Burns |first=Marjorie |author-link=Marjorie Burns |title=Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey : Night-wolves, Half-trolls and the Dead Who Won't Stay Down |editor-last1=Houghton |editor1-first=John Wm. |editor2-last=Croft |editor2-first=Janet Brennan |editor2-link=Janet Brennan Croft |editor3-last=Martsch |editor3-first=Nancy |location=Jefferson, NC |publisher=McFarland |year=2014 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A_rsAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 |page=195, endnote 27<!--182–196--> |isbn=<!--1476614865, -->9781476614861}}</ref>

<ref name=davidson1958>{{cite journal|last=Davidson |first=H. R. Ellis |author-link=Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson |title=Weland the Smith Burial Practices as Sites of Cultural Memory in the Íslendingasögur |journal=Folklore |volume=69 |number=3|date=September 1958 |pages=154–155<!--145–159--> |jstor=1258855}}</ref>

<ref name=gilliver>{{cite book|last1=Gilliver |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Gilliver |last2=Marshall |first2=Jeremy |author2-link=Jeremy Marshall |last3=Weiner |first3=Edmund |author3-link=Edmund Weiner |title=The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary |editor-last=Black |editor-first=Ronald |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |orig-year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bszM-uwEQOkC&pg=PA214 |isbn=<!--0199568367, -->9780199568369}}</ref>

<ref name=langeslag>{{cite book|last=Langeslag |first=P. S. |author-link=<!--Paul S. Langeslag --> |title=Seasons in the Literatures of the Medieval North |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJq7CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |page=118 |isbn=<!--1843844257, -->9781843844259}}</ref>

<ref name=sayers>{{cite journal|last=Sayers |first=William |author-link=<!--William Sayers--> |title=The arctic desert (''Helluland'') in ''Bárðar saga'' |journal=Scandinavian-Canadian Studies/Études scandinaves au Canada |year=1994 |volume=7 |url=https://hcmc.uvic.ca/~scancan/pdf/vol07.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005161642/http://hcmc.uvic.ca/~scancan/pdf/vol07.pdf |archive-date=2018-10-05 |url-status=live |pages=11 and notes<!--1–24-->}}</ref>

<ref name=smith_gregg_a>{{cite book|last=Smith |first=Gregg A. |author-link=<!--Gregg A. Smith--> |others=Paul G. Remley (foreword by) |title=The Function of the Living Dead in Medieval Norse and Celtic literature : Death and Desire |date=2007 |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]]|location=[[Lewiston, New York]]|isbn=9780773453531 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ckgiAQAAIAAJ&q=draugar |page=14|quotation=<!--draugar-->}}</ref>

<ref name=williams_howard>{{cite book|last=Williams |first=Howard |author-link=Howard Williams (archaeologist) |title=Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jy_BTRVnwIC&pg=PA172 |page=172|isbn=<!--1139457934, -->9781139457934}}</ref>

}}

=== General and cited references ===
==== Primary sources ====
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Boer (ed.)|1900}}|editor-last=Boer |editor-first=Richard Constant |editor-link=Richard Constant Boer |title=Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar |location=Halle an der Saale |publisher=Max Niemeyer |year=1900 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-UOAAAAQAAJ }}
* {{cite book|last=Kershaw |first=Nora |author-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |author-mask=[Chadwick, N. K.]{{=}}Kershaw, Nora |chapter=The Saga of Hromund Greipsson |title=Stories and Ballads of the Far Past |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1921|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sAEzAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA68 |pages=58–78}}
* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Eiríkur Magnússon|Morris (trr.)|1869}}|author1=Eiríkur Magnússon |author1-link=Eiríkur Magnússon |last2=Morris |first2=William |author2-link=William Morris |author1-mask=Eiríkur Magnússon; |author2-mask=Morris, William (trr.) |title=Grettis Saga. The Story of Grettir the Strong, translated from the Icelandic |location=London |publisher=F. S. Ellis |year=1869 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtdUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA48 }}
* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Fox|Pálsson (trr.)|1974}}|last1=Fox |first1=Denton |author1-link=Denton Fox |author1-mask=Fox, Denton; |last2=Pálsson|first2=Hermann |author2-link=Hermann Pálsson |author2-mask=Pálsson, Hermann (trr.) |title=Grettir's Saga |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1974 }}
* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Pálsson|Edwards (trr.)|1973}}|last1=Pálsson |first1=Hermann |author1-link=Hermann Pálsson |author1-mask=Pálsson, Hermannn; |last2=Edwards |first2=Paul |author2-link=Paul Edwards (literary scholar)|author2-mask=Edwards, Paul (trr.) |title=Eyrbyggja Saga |location=Edinburgh |publisher=Southside Publishers |year=1973 |isbn=9780900025075 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gbXAAAAMAAJ }}
* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Magnusson|Pálsson (trr.)|1969}}|last1=Magnusson |first1=Magnus |author1-link=Magnus Magnusson |author1-mask=Fox, Denton; |last2=Pálsson|first2=Hermann |author2-link=Hermann Pálsson |author2-mask=Pálsson, Hermann (trr.) |title=Laxdaela Saga |publisher=Penguin |year=1969 |isbn=9780140442182 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=um91wPf9c7MC }}
<!--* {{cite book|last=Scudder |first=Bernard |author-mask=Scudder, Bernard (tr.)|year=1997 |title=Egils Saga|publisher=Penguin}}-->
* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Scudder (tr.)|2005}}|last=Scudder |first=Bernard |author-mask=Scudder, Bernard (tr.) |title=The Saga of Grettir the Strong |publisher=Penguin |year=2005 |isbn=9780141937922 |orig-year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0DrV1rWimgwC}}
{{Refend}}

==== Secondary sources ====
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal|last=Andrews |first=A. LeRoy |author-link=<!--Albert LeRoy Andrews, 1878-1961--> |title=Fornaldarsǫgur Norðrlanda (cont.) |journal=Modern Philology |volume=10 |issue= 3 |date=1912–1913 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fSE_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA604 |pages=601–630|doi=10.1086/386906 |s2cid=224836243 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite journal|author=Ármann Jakobsson |author-link=Ármann Jakobsson |title=The Fearless Vampire Killers: A Note about the Icelandic ''Draugr'' and Demonic Contamination in ''Grettis Saga'' |journal=Folklore |volume=120 |issue= 3 |year=2009 |pages=307–316 |doi=10.1080/00155870903219771|s2cid=162338244 |jstor=40646533}}
* {{cite journal|author=Ármann Jakobsson |author-link=Ármann Jakobsson |author-mask=2|title=Vampires and watchmen: Categorizing the mediaeval Icelandic undead |journal=Journal of English and Germanic Philology |year=2011 |volume=110 |issue=3 |pages=281–300 |doi=10.5406/jenglgermphil.110.3.0281 |s2cid=162278413 |jstor=10.5406/jenglgermphil.110.3.0281}}
* {{cite journal|author-last=Bennett |first=Lisa |author-link=<!--Lisa Bennett--> |title=Burial Practices as Sites of Cultural Memory in the Íslendingasögur |journal=Viking and Medieval Scandinavia |volume=10 |date=2014|pages=27–2 |doi=10.1484/J.VMS.5.105211 |jstor=48501879}}
* {{Cite journal|editor-last=Boer |editor-first=Richard Constant |editor-link=Richard Constant Boer |title=Zur Grettissaga |journal=Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie |volume=30 |year=1898 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbVDAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 |pages=1–72}}
* {{cite journal|author-last=Caciola |first=Nancy |author-link=<!--Nancy Caciola--> |title=Wraiths, Revenants and Ritual in Medieval Culture |journal=Past & Present |number=152 |date=August 1996|pages=3–45 |jstor=651055}}
* {{cite journal|last=Chadwick |first=N. K. |author-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |title=Norse ghosts: A study in the ''Draugr'' and the ''Haugbúi'' |journal=Folklore |year=1946 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=50–65 |doi=10.1080/0015587x.1946.9717812 |jstor=1256952}}
* {{cite journal|last=Chadwick |first=Nora Kershaw |author-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |author-mask=2 |title=Norse ghosts II|journal=Folklore|year=1946b|volume=57|issue=3|pages=106–127|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1946.9717823}}
* {{cite book |last1=Clemoes |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Clemoes |last2=Dickins |first2=Bruce |author2-link=Bruce Dickins |title=The Anglo-Saxons |publisher=Bowes & Bowes |year=1959 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TGo0AAAAIAAJ&q=draugr }}
* {{cite book |last=Curran |first=Bob |author-link=<!--Bob Curran --> |chapter=Chapter 7. The Devil of Hjlata-stad, Iceland |title=Vampires: A Field Guide to the Creatures that Stalk the Night |publisher=Career Press |year=2005 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1d1EDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |pages=81–93 |isbn=978-1-56414-807-0}}
* {{cite journal|author=Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson |author-link=Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson |title=Wrestling with ghosts in Icelandic popular belief |journal=Arv: Nordic Yearbook of Folklore|volume=43 |year=1987 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JqwSAQAAIAAJ&q=%C3%81svi%C3%B0r |pages=7–20|isbn=9789122012436 }}
* {{cite journal|author-last=Keyworth |first=G. David |author-link=<!--G. David Keyworth--> |title=Was the Vampire of the Eighteenth Century a Unique Type of Undead-Corpse? |journal=Folklore |volume=117 |number=3 |date=December 2006 |pages=241–260 |doi=10.1080/00155870600928872 |jstor=30035373|s2cid=162921894 }}
* {{cite book |author-last=Keyworth |first=G. David |author-link=<!--G. David Keyworth--> |author-mask=2|title=Troublesome Corpses: Vampires & Revenants, from Antiquity to the Present |publisher=Desert Island Books |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cq4qAAAAYAAJ |pages=29–35 |isbn=<!--1905328303, -->9781905328307}}
* {{cite book|last=Lindow |first=John |author-link=John Lindow |title=Comitatus, Individual and Honor: Studies in North Germanic Institutional Vocabulary |publisher=University of California Press |year=1976 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHAbAQAAIAAJ&q=draugr |series=University of California Publications in Linguistics 83|isbn=9780520095496 }}
{{refend}}
<!-- 
== External links ==
DELETED FROM COMMONS (copyright viol) {{Commons|File:TheFishermanAndTheDraug.pdf|''The Fisherman and the Draug'', by Jonas Lie}}
-->

{{Death in Germanic mythology}}
{{Scandinavian folklore}}

[[Category:Creatures in Norse mythology]]
[[Category:Corporeal undead]]
[[Category:Circumpolar mythology]]
[[Category:Icelandic folklore]]
[[Category:Scandinavian folklore]]
[[Category:Scandinavian legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Undead]]
[[Category:Vampires]]
[[Category:Ghosts]]
<!--[[Category:Mythological hematophages]]-->