personification of the sword Hrunting, which fails Beowulf in his fight
with Grendel's mother. But Hjalti, as Hott is called after he has become
brave and strong, he regards as a personification of the giant-sword
with which Beowulf dispatches Grendel's mother. Sarrazin would also
identify the giant-sword, which is said to have a golden hilt (gylden
hilt), with the sword Gullinhjalti in the _Hrólfssaga_.[24]

Max Deutschbein sees a connection between the Bjarki story and the
_Gesta Herwardi_ that would tend to establish the story in the
_Bjarkarímur_ as earlier than the corresponding story in the
_Hrólfssaga_.[25]

H. Munro Chadwick, basing his opinion on the similarity between the
career of Bjarki and that of Beowulf, thinks there is good reason for
believing that Beowulf was the same person as Bothvar Bjarki.[26]

Alois Brandl does not think that Beowulf and Bjarki were the same
person. He calls attention to the difficulty involved in the fact,
which, he says, Olrik has emphasized, that "Bjarki" is etymologically
unrelated to "Biár"; and of troll fights, he says, there are many in
Scandinavian literature.[27]

William Witherle Lawrence thinks that "we may have to do with late
influence of _Beowulf_ upon the _Hrólfssaga_".[28] He identifies "gylden
hilt" with Gullinhjalti.[29] He regards the stories in the _Bjarkarímur_
of Bjarki's slaying the wolf and Hjalti's slaying the bear as earlier
compositions than the story in the _Hrólfssaga_ of Bjarki's slaying the
winged monster,[30] which, in agreement with Olrik, he regards as "a
special late elaboration peculiar to the _Hrólfssaga_." He regards
Saxo's story as earlier than the stories in the _Bjarkarímur_.[31] He