his sword Gramr that ripped two teeth off Starkad's mouth. Sigurd then asked Starkad to go home. When Starkad had left the battle, the sons of Gandalf retired as well, and so Sigurd had won the battle against the Swedes. Gesta Danorum It is in Gesta Danorum that the most comprehensive treatment of Starkad is found. The Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus wrote that Starkad was the son of Stórvirkr (Storwerk/Storuerkus) and saved himself from a shipwreck. He entered the service of the Danish king Frotho and was given a ship so that he could patrol the shores. No man was Starkad's equal as he was endowed with a superhuman size and a noble disposition. Saxo Grammaticus gives two accounts of Starkad's origin. According to one, he was born in the land of Estonians east of the Baltic sea. According to the second, which the chronicler considers fantastic and unlikely, Starkad was born of jotuns, and he had formerly many arms until Thor cut off all arms but two. Odin had bestowed on Starkad the curse and the blessing that he would live the lives of three men, and commit three evil deeds. His first evil deed was the murder of the Norwegian petty king Vikar (Wicarus). Starkad had joined a Viking expedition with Vikar, but they found themselves stopped by a strong wind. They then had the idea that they could appease the gods by performing a blót with human blood, and decided to cast lots as to whom was to be sacrificed. Starkad made a noose of willow and put it around the king's neck in the pretense that it was only for show and not for killing. However, the knot was so strong that the king was dying, and Starkad gave him the coup de grace with his sword. Others say that the noose of willow suddenly became so strong that the king was strangled. Starkad joined the Danish Viking Bemon (Bemonus) and they had a tough discipline on their crew, forbidding them alcoholic beverages. During an attack in Russia, they discovered that the Russians had riddled the terrain with caltrops to stop the Vikings. However, Starkad and his men donned clogs and so won the battle. When Bemon was dead, Starkad entered the service of the Bjarmians and did many heroic deeds among them. Later, Starkad stayed for seven years in Sweden at Uppsala, with the sons