Andvari

Andvari is attested in Old Norse sources (12th-century attestations) as a member of the dwarf class within Norse mythic narrative. He functions in the cycle of heroic legend as the keeper of a hoard of gold and a magical ring; when the god Loki captures him and seizes his treasure, Andvari pronounces a curse on the stolen wealth that later precipitates the deaths of major heroic figures, integrating his episode into the broader causal sequence of Norse heroic-mythic events.

Sources describe Andvari as a dwarf who dwells beneath a waterfall, reflecting the common Norse portrayal of dwarves as subterranean or hidden craftsmen and treasure-keepers. He is also said to possess the ability to transform into a pike (Old Norse gedda), and attestations report him appearing both in dwarf form and in pike form in the narrative.

Narrative sources attribute to Andvari: the keeping of a hoard of gold and ownership of a magical ring (Andvaranaut) that aided his wealth; the power of shape-change into a pike at will; and the capacity to pronounce a binding curse on the gold after it is stolen. The story records that Loki, using a net provided by the sea-figure Rán, caught Andvari in pike form and compelled him to surrender his gold and ring; after they were taken and passed among gods and heroes the cursed treasure brought about fatal consequences. Sources also relate a later narrative episode in which Andvari discovered the cave where his gold had been left, though his ring remained lost.