Iron-head in Hlinik and Thora

Overview

The cave’s elder troll names Iron-head as her brother while explaining the enchanted sword: no other steel can wound either of them. He is not present in the earlier rescue scene. His appearance comes later, after she has entered Hlinik’s father’s court as a beautiful prospective bride. When Hlinik and the disguised Thora secretly watch, the bride shows her monstrous form and repeatedly calls her brother for food.

A three-headed giant comes up through the floor carrying one of the king’s courtiers. His sister tears up and eats the victim, accounting for the otherwise unexplained disappearance of courtiers. At the false wedding Hlinik strikes the troll with the special sword; the palace floor then bursts and Iron-head emerges, overturning tables and bounding through the hall. The prince kills him with the same weapon. His three heads and sibling relation are explicit, but no separate head personalities, parentage or underground kingdom are supplied.

Origins & earliest records

Icelandic Legends, second series (1866), The Story of Hlinik, the King’s Son, and Thora, the Carl’s Daughter, pp. 459–473.

Records & interpretation

Complete Hlinik/Thora account. The adjacent Hlini/Signy and stone-craft texts contain omissions in this copy’s OCR and are not treated as completely inspected here.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Icelandic Legends, second series: Hlinik and Thora, pp. 459–473

   Collected by Jón Árnason; translated by George E. J. Powell and Eiríkr Magnússon · 1866

   Complete narrative; cave revelations pp. 464–467, court imposture and final encounter pp. 469–473.

Family, evolution & connections

Troll siblings in Hlinik and Thora

The explicit sibling relationships in the complete English telling, with brother statements on pp. 466, 470 and 472.

The diagram is a sibling group, not a parent-to-child pedigree. The group heading is not an ancestor. Parents and any wider troll genealogy are unstated; the younger sister remains unnamed. Hlinik’s final wife is Thora, so the coerced and deceptive troll wedding arrangements are not recast as completed marriage.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary textIcelandic Legends, surviving 1866 alternate copyResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.