Introduction
Hreidmar was a powerful farmer with magical ability, father to three sons of very different natures: Fafnir, Regin, and Otr.
Family
The Fatal Ransom
When Loki accidentally killed Otr, who had taken the shape of an otter, Hreidmar and his remaining sons seized the traveling gods and demanded a ransom: enough gold to cover the otter's skin completely, inside and out. Loki obtained this from Andvari, along with the dwarf's curse. Hreidmar kept the cursed gold for himself rather than sharing it with Fafnir and Regin, and was murdered by Fafnir for it — the curse's first victim within his own family.
The Volsunga Saga and the Poetic Edda preserve the Norse-Icelandic form of this legend; the German Nibelungenlied recounts substantially the same events under different names (Sigurd as Siegfried, Brynhild as Brünnhilde, Atli as Etzel/Attila), reflecting a shared Germanic legendary tradition rather than a single fixed text.