These persons may actually be historical. But the fictitious element is obvious enough in many places as, for instance, in Hromund's voyage to the west. Thrain himself is vividly presented to us as "black and huge, with talons like bird's claws, all clad in glittering gold, seated on a throne, roaring loudly and blowing a fire!" This chapter is indeed a tale of
Ghaisties and ghoulies,
And lang-leggity beasties,
And things that gae bump in the nicht.
The most curious features of the saga, however, are the blurred and perhaps confused reminiscences of stories and characters which form the subject of some of the Edda poems. The brothers Bild and Voli can hardly be other than corruptions of the god Balder and his avenger Váli. The name of Hromund's sword 'Mistletoe' too may be a reminiscence of the same story, though a sword of the same name is found in Hervarar Saga (ch. 2). Again, the account of Hromund's sojourn with Hagal, disguised as a grinding-maid, and the search made by Blind (ch. 8) are certainly reminiscences of the Edda poem Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II (sometimes called Völsungakvitha), where the same adventures are recorded in connection with the same names, except that Helgi here takes the place Hromund.
But the most interesting case, however, is the story of Hromund's opponent Helgi the Bold and Kara (ch. 7). In this story, Helgi is said to be in the service of two kings called Hadding, and there can be little doubt that Helgi and Kara are identical with Helgi Haddingjaskati and Kara, whose adventures formed the subject of a lost poem called Káruljóth. This poem is referred to in the prose at the end of Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II, where it is stated that they were reincarnations of Helgi Hundingsbani and Sigrún—just as the two latter were themselves reincarnations of Helgi the son of Hjörvarth and Sváva—"but that is now said to be an old wives' tale."
Chapter 4 also has a special interest of its own. Breaking into barrows was a favourite exploit of the Norsemen, no doubt for the sake of the gold which they often contained. References to the practice are very common in the sagas, e.g. Grettissaga, ch. 18; Hartharsaga, ch. 15; cf. also Saxo Grammaticus, Dan. Hist., p. 200 ff., etc. The ruthlessness with which the Norsemen plundered the Irish barrows is mentioned with great indignation in the Irish Chronicles. In the War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, cap. xxv, we read that certain Norsemen plundered in Ireland "until they reached Kerry, and they left not a cave there under ground that they did not explore." In the same work cap. LXIX, we are told that—
Never was there a fortress, or a fastness, or a mound, or a church, or a sacred place, or a sanctuary, when it was taken by that howling, furious, loathsome crew, which was not plundered by the collectors and accumulators of that wealth. Neither was there in concealment under ground in Erin, nor the various solitudes belonging to Fians or to Fairies, anything that was not discovered by these foreign, wonderful Denmarkians, through paganism and idol worship.
Finally in the Annals of Ulster we read (sub anno 862) that
The cave of Achadh-Aldai (i.e. probably New Grange, near Dublin) and [the cave] of Knowth, and the cave of Fert-Boadan over Dowth, and the cave of the smith's wife were searched by the foreigners (i.e. Norsemen, etc.) which had not been done before.