Gylfir was born the son of Ulfar Olafson, a noted Ulfen raider. With Gylfir as a lad of about two, Ulfar brought his son to the seasonal launch of his boat. Gylfir sat on an oardeck as the ship was slipped into the fjord. Over the side he saw a smiling face in the water, and when he bent over the side to see it closer, a pair of kelp-coverd arms reached up, grabbed him and pulled him under. Ulfar reached for his son, but Gylfir was quickly disappearing from sight. Ulfar grabbed a weighted fishnet and cast it after his son and his abductor. The net closed tight and a struggle ensued. Several men helped hold the line as the net pulled first one direction, then another. Finally the net seemed to snag on an obstruction. The pulling stopped, and his entire crew hauled on the line. Slowly the line moved until something broke free. Up came the net with Gylfir and an old slime-encrusted anchor, but a large hole was rent in the net allowing th abductor to escape.
Ulfar took his son home and the ancient anchor he placed outside his door as a symbol of luck at saving his son. After this incident, Gylfir often came into the house talking of the garden people, but they never followed him in, and his parents would go outside and never see anything. They were unsure if only Gylfir could see these 'garden-people' or if he was making up tales. That is until the day his mother, Hreddi looked out the door and saw a six-year old Gylfir being pulled toward the heather hedge by a vine wrapped around his ankle. She ran and grabbed Gylfir and ran back for the house. The vine tugged and pulled until she crossed the threshold. At that momnt, the vine dropped off of Gylfir, withered where it had rubbed against the old anchor at the threshold.
Ulfar came to recognize the power in the anchor and although he did not understand why the faege were after his child, he knew the anchor could prevent it. Gilfer remained chained to the anchor throughout his childhood. The 'garden people' would still come and visit him when he was alone, but never was another attempt made to snatch him. Now marked as a strange child, Gilfir cam to growup with the Garden People as his only friends. They taught him of the old ways, of runes and earth magic.
But there came a time that Gilfir wanted to see what was through th gate and behind th hedge. His father on long voyages and his mother afraid for his safety, it fell upon Gilfir to carry the anchor to the places he wanted to see. He grew strong, carrying the cold iron everywhere, to the point now that he carries without even noticing.
He was even going to wield it on his first raid on his father's boat next season. There were some murmuring about bringing the strange young man, but his father's crew fell in line. But when his father fell sick and died over the winter to a strange ailment, his place on a boat did with him. There were strange talk of how Ulfar died and stranger looks Gylfir's way.
So now without a place on a boat, Gylfir looks to prove himself more the the strange circumstances of his childhood.
