The name of Prince Rurik takes us far into the past - to the era of the emergence of the Old Russian state, founded, according to legend, in the 9th century by three Varangian brothers. Since then, the “Varangian” or “Norman” question has not ceased to excite scientists, causing fierce debate. Why are the chronicle news about Rurik so brief and contradictory? Who was the founder of the grand ducal dynasty - a Dane, a Swede, a Slav, or just a myth invented by medieval scribes? How did Rurik and his successors manage to create a huge power from many disunited tribes with its center in Novgorod, and then in Kyiv? The historian Evgeny Pchelov answers these questions in the first biography of Rurik in the “ZhZL” series. Comparing data from Russian, Byzantine, Western European and Eastern sources, the author examines in detail not only the life of his hero, but also the legend about him, echoes of which have reached our days.