Domalde (Dómaldi)

In the Ynglingatal tradition as rendered by Snorri Sturluson (Ynglinga saga) Domalde is a member of the House of Ynglings. His reign is described as afflicted by ósgæssa ('ill‑luck'), which Snorri states was placed on him by his stepmother. The resulting sequence of failed harvests and ineffective sacrifices at the Uppsala cult culminates in the all‑Swedes Thing deciding to sacrifice the king himself; after his death and the sprinkling of the gods' statues with his blood, good harvests return. Genealogically he is attested between Visbur (predecessor) and Dómar (successor) in the royal list.

The preserved sources supply no detailed physical or iconographic description of Domalde. He is referred to in the sacrificial context (for example as 'the lifeless Dómaldi' in Snorri's quotation), but no attributes of personal appearance are recorded in the provided material.

The sources do not ascribe supernatural powers to Domalde. Rather, his role is ideological: his personal fortune is presented as constitutive of the land's fertility under a sacral‑kingship model. The narrative emphasizes that his reign was marked by bad crops and starvation and that he was the focus of escalating sacrificial measures culminating in his execution; the efficacy attributed to his blood in restoring harvests is a ritual logic applied by the community, not a described individual magical ability.