Toward Gunvara Erik observes the same chaste and chivalrous conduct as Otharus toward Syritha (_intacta illi pudicitia manet_--p. 216). As to birth, he occupies the same subordinate position to her as _Ódr_ to Freyja, Otharus to Syritha, Svipdag to Menglad.
The adventures related in the mythology from Svipdag's journey, when he went in search of Freyja-Menglad, are by Saxo so divided between Ericus Disertus and Otharus that of the former is told the most of what happened to Svipdag during his visit in the giant abode, of the latter the most of what happened to him on his way thence to his home.
Concerning Erik's family relations, Saxo gives some facts which, from a mythological point of view, are of great value. It has already been stated that Erik's mother, like Svipdag's, is dead, and that his father, like Svipdag's, is married a second time where his saga begins. The father begets with his second wife a son, whom Saxo calls Rollerus. When Erik's father also is dead, Roller's mother, according to Saxo, marries again, and this time a powerful champion called Brac (_Hist._, 217), who in the continuation of the story (p. 217, &c.) proves himself to be _Asa-Brage_, the god Thor (cp. No. 105), to whom she brings her son Roller. In our mythological records we learn that Thor's wife was Sif, the goddess of vegetation, and that Sif had been married and had had a son, by name _Ullr_, before she became the wife of the Asa-god, and that she brought with her to Asgard this son, who became adopted among the gods. Thus the mythic records and Saxo correspond in these points, and it follows that Rollerus is the same as Uller, whom Saxo elsewhere (_Hist._, 130, 131; cp. No. 36) mentions as Ollerus. The forms Ollerus and Rollerus are to each other as _Olfr_ to _Hrólfr_. _Hrólfr_ is a contraction of _Hród-úlfr_; Rollerus indicates a contraction of _Hród-Ullr_, _Hríd-Ullr_. The latter form occurs in the paraphrase _Hrídullr hrotta_, "the sword's storm-Ull," a designation of a warrior (Grett., 20, 1). It has already been pointed out that in the great war between Odin's clan and the Vans, Ull, although Thor's stepson, takes the side of the Vans and identifies his cause with that of Frey and Svipdag. Saxo also describes the half-brothers as faithfully united, and, in regard to Roller's reliable fraternity, makes Erik utter a sentence which very nearly corresponds to the Danish: