Fafnir (Marvel Comics) first encountered in the guise of an old man by the warrior Volstagg, who with his companions is currently exploring the ruined realm of Nastrond, an extradimensional realm on the continent of Asgard. Fafnir explains he was the King of Nastrond, and that the King of the Norse Gods Odin destroyed Nastrond due to the evil nature of its people. Fafnir himself was left to die in a ruined wasteland, but survives by drinking from a pool of water with magical properties. The water, however, transforms Fafnir into a massive dragon. Knowing that Volstagg and his allies were sent by
Germanic Heroic Age by several centuries, such as "The Battle of Maldon", composed three centuries after the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons,or the "Hildebrandslied", written at Fulda 300 years after the Christianization of the Franks. The Prose Edda itself originated as a handbook for skaldic poets, compiled by Snorri Sturluson more than 200 years after the Christianisation of Iceland, because poetic tradition at that time was threatened by extinction. Germanic mythology combines purely mythological material with historical events of this period. Identifiable historical characters appearing in Germanic heroic poetry, notably in the Völsung and Tyrfing cycles, include: A number of tribal kings of the