I am reading the Völsunga saga currently and I've had this mental image of Regin as a dark haired, grimy smith with wild eyes, barrel chested and tree trunk like arms. Turns out he's actually a dwarf. Dödöt. As Völuspá and Reginsmál relate him to the dvergar, I suppose its a given fact and I can scratch my beautifully constructed design and start anew. Baaaah.
Then again, I had been wondering, how Regin could have such a strange family without displaying any of the genetic peculiarities himself. I even wondered, with whom his father had lain to beget an otter and a dragon as sons respectively. But Hreiðmarr is the King of the Dwarves himself, sooooo there you go. These dwarves, I tell you. Crazy shape shifters, the lot of them...

Talking about dwarves: Andvari who loses his gold and the ring Andvarinaut (which he both curses) to Loki, is also a shape shifter, living beneath the waterfall Andvarafors as a luce. For some reason, he reminds me of Gollum.... Oh yeah, he's apparently the equivalent to Alberich, another King* of the Dwarves (or Elves?), as well, who can turn invisible and guards the Nibelungen hoard. BUT! And that's the interesting part: apparently, some scholars see him as the original Oberon, which is the French translation of his name. The more you know *rainbow*.

I still cannot believe Regin is a midget. :(

*sobsobsob*

Anyways, here an illustration from the Ramsund rune carving to cheer me up and to mark a worthy ending to a silly post (I cannot even begin to explain how funny I find Sigurd down there, stabbing Fafnir and all. And that face of the dragon OHGOD WHAT IS AIR):
*I swear, they call anyone rich and important enough to be mentioned in these sagas a king...