Fjalar and Galar

In the narrative attested in the Skáldskaparmál tradition (as preserved in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and summarized in later retellings), Fjalar (Fjalarr) and Galar (Galarr) kill Kvasir — a being born of the Æsir and Vanir's spittle and famed for his wisdom — and mix his blood with honey to produce the mead of poetry that inspires poets. Afterward they murder a jötunn named Gilling and his wife; when Gilling's son Suttungr threatens the dwarfs for revenge, the brothers offer him the magical mead in exchange for their lives. Suttungr takes the mead and conceals it within a mountain, placing his daughter Gunnlöð to guard it, a chain of events that culminates in Odin's later acquisition of the mead.

The sources recorded here identify Fjalar and Galar by the social/ontological category 'dwarfs' (Old Norse Fjalarr, Galarr). The provided materials do not supply specific physical descriptions (height, clothing, or facial features) for these individuals beyond that classification; more general Norse traditions associate dwarfs with crafting and subterranean settings, but such associations are not detailed in the supplied excerpts for Fjalar and Galar themselves.

The narratives attribute to Fjalar and Galar moral cunning, lethal violence, and crafted transformative action: they murder Kvasir and deliberately convert his blood (mixed with honey in the tale) into the mead of poetry, a magical substance that confers poetic inspiration. They also commit the murder of Gilling and his wife and negotiate (offer the mead) to avoid retaliation, demonstrating bargaining and deceit. The sources do not ascribe wider, systematic magical powers to them beyond these recorded deeds.