Svanhild was the daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun. The Gothic King Jormunrek had Svanhild trampled to death by horses either because she was his wife and was wrongly accused of infidelity or because she was the wife of someone who plotted against him and was hanged. Gudrun urged her sons, Hamther and Sorli, to kill Jormunrek. En route, they met their half-brother, Erp, who wanted to go with them but they cut him down. Invulnerable to steel, they killed many of the king's men and wounded him but either Hamther let slip that they were vulnerable to stone or Odin appeared and said it. Jormunrek's remaining men stoned them to death.
In Poul Anderson's "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth"
Swanhild was the daughter of Tharasmund and Erlieva. The East Gothic King Ermanaric had her trampled to death by horses and hanged her husband, Randwar, who had plotted against him. Tharasmund's widow, Ulrica, urged her sons, Swanhild's half-brothers, Hathawulf and Solbern, to attack Ermanaric. Swanhild's brother, Alaric, wanted to go with them but the Wanderer forbade it. Hathawulf, Solbern and their followers entered Ermanaric's hall, killing many of his men. The brothers wounded Ermanaric in an arm and a leg. The Wanderer arrived, announcing that the brothers' doom was upon them but that their names would live. He instructed Ermanaric to send his men out the back to attack the Teurings from the rear. For once in his life, Ermanaric heeded the word of Wodan. Some of his men cast cobblestones. Some of his followers staunched Ermanaric's wounds and carried him barely conscious from a hall full of corpses.
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