Hogni

Hogni is a king of the Niflungs, brother of Gunnar and Gudrun, renowned for blunt honesty and unbending courage. He warns against trusting the invitation of Atli, king of the Huns, yet rides to the feast anyway when his kin will go. Trapped and overpowered, Hogni fights fiercely before he is taken. Atli demands the secret of the Rhine gold, and to break Gunnar his captors first cut the heart from a cowering thrall, then cut out Hogni's living heart; Hogni laughs as it is carved from his chest, dying without a cry. He stands at the heart of the Volsunga Saga and the ancient Atlakvida.