Starkad, Starkotter, Starkodder, Starkadhr (ice.), Störkudhr (ice.) or Starcatherus (Gesta Danorum) was a Scandinavian legendary hero and skald whose adventures are retold in Gesta Danorum and in Icelandic sagas.
According to Saxo, he was the son of Storwerk. He was said to have been born east of the Baltic sea, in Jotunheim by a Jotun with many hands which Thor removed until only two remained.
He managed to survive a shipwreck after which he was received by the Danish king Fródi. Fródi gave him a longship and the task of patrolling the shores. No mortal man was his equal as he was endowed with superhuman strength and a noble disposition.
He was not only remarkable by his size and courage but also by his skaldic skills. Odin bestowed upon him the life of three men so that he would be able to commit as many atrocities.
Starkad then asked her if she had children; and when he was told that she had a female child, he told her to go home and give the breast to her squalling daughter; for he thought it most uncomely that he should borrow help from a woman of the lowest degree.
Starkad praised his origin, and pronounced that his calling was also most worthy of honour; for, he said, such men sought a livelihood by honourable traffic in their labour, inasmuch as they knew not of any gain, save what they had earned by the sweat of their brow.
Starkad, when he had been driven to the palace, heedless of the pain of his wounds, leaped swiftly out of the cart, and just like a man who was well from top to toe, burst into the bridal-chamber, shattering the doors with his fist.
Starkad Thurid’s son was as tall as the captain of the Companions in the center of the arena; he looked twice as broad.
Starkad’s hands and the carnage his axe left behind had earned him the nickname Cruncher; alone of the men in the amphitheatre, he would have said his Irish friend was the more deadly of the two of them.
Mael and Starkad were outlawed in Tollund for that, but they had made it to the coast before the posse was raised.
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