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If you ever looked up Norwegian history, chances are you came across the name of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway. His story is like a mix of legend and real-life Viking drama.

In a time when Norway was a collection of smaller territories, each with its own ruler, Harald had an ambition to unite them all. Some say he actually did it for love.

But first a disclaimer: As usual with Viking history, it鈥檚 pretty hard to parse out fact from fantasy and 鈥渇acts鈥� have to be interpreted with a generous pinch of salt. Anyone claiming to give you the whole, unquestionable truth about Harald Fairhair is either lying or misinformed.

With that out of the way, let鈥檚 dust off the old sagas, check the archeological evidence and delve into the story of this famous Viking Age figure. Who knows, maybe we鈥檒l even find out how he got his nickname.

Harald Fairhair fought his decisive battle in 872

The famous battle credited for the unification of Norway was fought in Hafrsfjord, part of today鈥檚 Stavanger, in or around 872.

The sagas tell us that Harald, after inheriting Vestfold and the Opplands from his father, allied himself with the Earl of H氓logaland (that鈥檚 what they called Northern Norway back then).

Then, Harald is said to have gained influence in Tr酶ndelag before he attacked the sea kings in Southwest Norway. He won the battle and Norway was unified – the end.

But that simple story is not necessarily what happened. Some poems recounting the events have the basic setup of the battle the other way around: they say it was Harald who was attacked by kings coming from the East.

Either way, the reason for the battle was likely not the idea of unifying Norway but the control of the trade route between Western Norway and Kaupang, a Viking settlement near today鈥檚 Larvik. Controlling this trade route thanks to a foothold in Hafrsfjord would have meant lots of income for Harald.

Today, the battle is commemorated by a very cool monument called 鈥淪verd i fjell鈥� (Swords in Rock). You can see it just west of the city of Stavanger, in a nice little park by the water.

Harald Fairhair鈥檚 name is even cooler than you think

As nicknames go, 鈥淔airhair鈥� is not bad at all. But it鈥檚 probably even better than you think.

鈥淔airhair鈥� is a translation of the Norwegian 鈥淗氓rfagre鈥�, which itself comes from the Old Norse 鈥渉谩rfagri鈥�. 鈥淔air鈥� in English can mean many different things, but in this context it means 鈥減leasing to the eye鈥�.

The Norwegian word 鈥渇ager鈥�, though, means something more like 鈥渞eally, very beautiful indeed鈥�. So to be called H氓rfagre is an even nicer thing than to be called Fairhair.

Harald Fairhair got his nickname because of love – or not

Okay so we don鈥檛 really know why he was called Fairhair. A lot of what we know from that time came through oral history which was then written down, sometimes centuries later, and copied over and over.

Some historians think the 鈥渉谩rfagri鈥� nickname might have been a misreading, and its backstory just invented after the fact to explain it. But if we are to believe the tradition, Harald was really into a woman called Gyda Eiriksdatter.

This Gyda girl had high standards, it seems, because she declared that she wouldn鈥檛 have him until he had united Norway into one kingdom. Harald, obviously under the spell, agreed and vowed to not cut his hair until he had united Norway into one kingdom – and that鈥檚 why he was called Fairhair.

It鈥檚 a nice story to tell and repeat, but you don鈥檛 really have to try very hard to poke holes through it. I mean just because you stop cutting your hair doesn鈥檛 make it beautiful – especially in shampooless mediaeval times.

Most likely, Harald wanted to capitalise on the collection of small kingdoms in the Opplands he had inherited from his father, and on the fact that the Danes were weakened at the time. Of course it's possible that Gyda overheard Harald's plans and then said she wouldn't marry him until he had completed his mission.

Harald Fairhair beat Gandalf

You read that right! Harald Fairhair defeated Gandalf in battle.

We鈥檙e not talking about Tolkien鈥檚 wizard, of course, but it鈥檚 a pretty cool story regardless. Harald Fairhair became king at the age of twelve when his father, Halfdan the Black (Halvdan Svarte) died.

Halfdan was powerful but had enemies. One of them was a king ruling over a place called Vingulmark (essentially the Oslo fjord area).

This king鈥檚 name was Gandalf (Gandalv, in Norwegian). Halfdan defeated Gandalv, but then went on to die after falling through the ice on the Randsfjorden after a night of heavy drinking.

That gave Gandalf the opportunity to strike again. Luckily, Harald Fairhair received help from Halfdan's brother Gudtorm, and from a handful of berserkers (fearsome warriors wearing bear skins) and managed to defeat him.

Harald Fairhair: We don鈥檛 know for sure that he actually existed

We warned you at the beginning of this article: sources about Norwegian history in Viking times are pretty fuzzy. Harald Fairhair鈥檚 name is mentioned in many sagas, but these sagas don鈥檛 agree with each other on the details, and more importantly, they were written more than 200 years after the fact.

Through the 1800s and most of the 1900s, his existence as a historical character was accepted as a fact. That all changed when British historian Peter Sawyer started casting doubt on this accepted version of history.

That the sagas are inconsistent is one thing, but an even bigger problem is that there is not a single source from Harald Fairhair鈥檚 time telling us about him.

A view commonly held by historians today is that Harald may have been based on a real king named Harald, but that a lot of the details about him are either invented or a mashup of things that happened to different people.

In that sense, Harald Fairhair is a bit like England鈥檚 King Arthur – a mythical figure which may or may not have been based on a real person. Most likely, the myth of Harald Fairhair was concocted in the 1100s, to give legitimacy to the kings of the time who claimed their lineage went back all the way to this 鈥渇irst king of Norway鈥�.

Harald Fairhair is said to have been buried near Haugesund

Now that we told you he might not even have existed, let鈥檚 tell you about his grave. The most likely date for his death is thought to be the year 932. As was the custom at the time, he would have been interred in a burial mound.

This happened (or not) just north of today鈥檚 Haugesund. In 1872, one thousand years after Fairhair鈥檚 reported unification of Norway, a fundraiser was launched to celebrate the anniversary  by erecting a monument.

The fundraiser didn鈥檛 gather enough money, and Stortinget (the Norwegian parliament) had to pay the balance. But the monument to the kingdom鈥檚 鈥渢housand year existence鈥� can still be viewed there today.