← The 24 runes of the Elder Futhark
Hagalaz
- Literal meaning
- hail
- Associated concepts
- disruption · forced change · clearing
- Ætt
- Hagal's ætt
Hagalaz is hail: the futhark's one truly destructive natural force, the one that falls without warning and doesn't negotiate. The Anglo-Saxon rune poem calls it the whitest of grains — and also the one that wounds. It opens the second ætt as a reminder that some trials aren't chosen.