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#Freydis Saga
maniculum · 1 year
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Thanksgiving Special: Saga of the Greenlanders (Pt. 1 & 2)
I'm giving the idea of cross-posting our blog to Tumblr a second try. (I would have done it earlier, but our latest episode was a two-parter and shares a blog entry, so I wanted to wait until both parts were out.) Now, last time I did this, something weird happened. About 24 hours after I posted, we had a big traffic spike to that episode. Hundreds of listeners, all within the space of about an hour. It's now our most-listened-to episode. Which would be great, except we just started this Tumblr. We have eight followers. The post in question has zero notes. There's no way my Tumblr post could have caused that spike except artificially, like if a bunch of bots followed the link. So this time I'm not going to link to the episode in the post. Instead I'll make a second post where I link to a different recent episode, and thus test my bot theory: if that episode also gets a big spike in listens, I'll assume it's Tumblr bots; if it doesn't, I'll assume the spike was unrelated. (Or, if there are hundreds of people reading somehow, would y'all mind letting me know you're here?)
Anyway, episode blog. I'll put a cut after the teaser & image.
Happy Thanksgiving and Turkey Day! This year, we are revisiting the first European settlement of Greenland -- this time from another perspective. The Saga of the Greenlanders is the other account of the events portrayed in Erik the Red’s Saga, and it has a few… unique differences. Let’s dive in!
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Thorvald and his son, Eric the Red, left Norway due to manslaughter. Eric was shortly after outlawed from part of Iceland and went to Breidafirth and founded Ericsstadir in the west of Iceland. Eric was declared an outlaw again in another district at the local Thing, so he left and decided to find the land Gunnbiorn had seen to the west once.
Thus, he founded two two main settlements in Greenland, one in the east and one in the west. Eric called this land Greenland so that he could attract folk there to settle. Thirty five ships then left and went to Greenland, but only a few successfully landed.
Another man, Bjarni, arrived on Iceland and planned to stay the winter with his father, as he was accustomed. However, his father had moved to Greenland with Eric. Undaunted, Bjarni collected his ships and men and decided to set out to Greenland to stay with his father, as he normally did, location notwithstanding.
Bjarni realized that such a journey was foolhardy, as winter was approaching, but he left anyway. The group sailed until they found land, but Bjarni said it could not be Greenland because it was too green and had forests, and no glaciers. They approached the land but Bjarni would not explore it since it wasn’t his chosen destination.
Finally, they sailed off again and found another land, this time with glaciers, but realized it was another, different island (likely Baffin Island). At long last, they found Greenland and went ashore and found Bjarni’s father. Years later, Bjarni spoke about his travels, but could not give any report of the land, since he did not go ashore.
Leif decided to go find that land, and Eric, his father, decided to go with him. While they rode to the ship, however, Eric’s horse struck a rock and he was thrown from the saddle. He took this as an ill omen and turned back, choosing not to go with Leif.
Leif retraced Bjarni’s steps in reverse and came to that same forested land, where they came ashore and made booths. They decided to winter there, and found many salmon and green grass throughout the winter. The days were longer, and the sun was up from around nine to three.
Leif suggested that half the group explore the land and the other half remain at the settlement. Leif alternated roles, but it was discovered one night that Tyrker, the German, had not returned home. Shortly after he arrived, but when Leif found him, he spoke only in German and his eyes rolled around in his head. Once he spoke in the northern language, Tyrker reported that he found vines and grapes (and likely turned them into wine). Leif and his men gathered these grapes, giving the place the moniker Vinland, and returned back to Iceland.
On the return journey, Leif noticed a shape that he thought was a skerry, though his men thought it was a ship. They found a crew on this skerry, rescued them, and brought them back to Iceland.
Leif’s brother, Thorvald, thought that there was more to explore throughout Greenland and Vinland. Thorvald took Leif’s ship, and took thirty men back to the booths in Vinland. In their exploration, they found a shelter, but nothing else of human life there. In another place, they found more forests, and there they found three skin-ships (canoes) with people sleeping under them. For reasons not provided in the text, Thorvald's men attack, killing several indigenous people. Only one man escaped. Thorvald and his men also found mounds where these peoples lived. More conflict broke out, and Thorvald was mortally wounded by an arrow. Thorvald declared that he wanted to be buried on the land before his men depart. They do so, and the remainder of the men return to Greenland.
In Greenland, Thorstein Erikson married Gudrid and went to see Vinland and his brother’s grave. Thorstein’s trip did not fare well, and instead landed only on the other side of Greenland. While his men were housed in the town, Thorstein and his wife remained on the ship, as there was no more room for them on land. However, Thorstein the Black, a local man and pagan who lived alone with his wife, Grimhild, offered the other couple a place in their home. Thorstein Eriksson accepted.
There was a plague that broke out in that settlement in the winter, and Thorstein Eriksson made coffins for those who had died and placed them in the ship to return them to Eriksfirth at home. However, this caused Grimhild to die. But soon after, Grimhild rose and sought after her shoes, but when her husband entered, she laid back down and the whole house creaked. After this, Thorstein Eriksson took care of her body, but he too soon fell ill and died.
Thorstein the Black sought to console her and held her, and promised that he would help return her husband’s body home. While he spoke, Thorstein Eriksson sat upright and asked for Gudrid, who asked Thorstein the Black what she ought to do.
Thorstein the Black told her not to reply, but instead asked Thorstein Eriksson what he wanted. Thorstein Eriksson then told Gurdrid her future was provided for, and told her she would remarry well. Thorsteinn the Black then fulfilled all his promises to Gudrid, settled in Iceland, and was regarded as an honorable man.
Thorfinn Karlsefni arrived in Greenland and married Gudrid. Then, Karlsefni brought 60 men and 5 women together for another voyage to Vinland. They let loose the cattle there, and he following summer, Skraelings came near the settlement saw the bull. The bull, lowing, terrified the Skraelings.
However, the Vikings traded with the Skraelings afterward, but Thorfinn refused to sell their weapons to the Skraelings. The Vikings then offered milk to them, which they immediately wanted to buy. The Skraelings ate all the milk, while Karlsefni bought furs from them.
That year, Gudrid then had a son whom she named Snorri, and Karlsefni built a wooden fort. The following season, more Skraelings arrived, and Karlsefni then only allowed milk to be sold to them.
One night, an old woman wearing a black kirtle and headband came into the room where Snorri was sleeping. She had large eyes and was very pale, but otherwise looked exactly like Gudrid. She spoke to Gudrid and asked her name, and then introduced herself as Gudrid. Then, there came a sudden crash in the house and when Gudrid turned to look, the woman vanished.
This crash startled the Skraelings, and one in their number tried to grab a weapon, whereupon a skirmish broke out and the Skraelings fled. Shortly after, they had a battle, and many Skraelings died.
In the spring, Karlsefni returned to Vinland and brought many pelts and goods back with him. Upon seeing this, many others wanted to go to Vinland. At this time, two brothers, Finnbogi and Helgi had just arrived from Norway, and intended to go to Vinland as well.
Freydis Erikssdottir also determined to go, and convinced her brother, Leif, to give her the homestead he established in Vinland. Leif said he would lend her the house, but not give it to her. Freydis also snuck several extra men with her on her ship.
When they arrived, the brothers set up in Leif's house, but Freydis kicked them out, stating it was her home to keep and not theirs to share, as they had once agreed. They lived there in peace for some time, until again they had another disagreement. Shortly after this, Freydis crept out of the house in the early morning, and snuck into the brothers’ hut. Finnbogi was awake, and asked her what she wanted. She bade him walk with her a ways and speak with her outside. Once they had gone a ways, Finnbogi spoke to try and heal the disagreement they had between each other. Freydis ignored this and asked to trade ships, so that she could load up the ship and return home to Greenland. Finnbogi agreed, and Freydis went home.
When she returned, however, she declared that the brothers had mocked her and beat her for her request, and demanded vengeance from her husband. The men then stormed the brothers’ house and killed all the men within. However, once the men were killed, they made go home, but Freydis exclaimed, “Hand me an axe.” When one had been brought to her, she fell upon the five women, killed them, and swore her men to silence.
Freydis then returned home to Greenland. However, some rumors about Freydis went around Greenland, and Leif, her brother, determined that no good would come to them from this. The Vinland settlement was soon abandoned.
Thanks for joining us in this week's episode of The Maniculum Podcast. Looking for more? Check out our Master List series for the full collection of segments at the end of our show, and for more gaming and world building ideas, check out The Gaming Table section of our blog, Marginalia!
Searching for our sources? Read the Greenlander's Saga here or here, and check out our Library for more! More references for interested scholars:
Hoidal, Oddvar K. “Norsemen and the North American Forests.” Journal of Forest History, vol. 24, no. 4, 1980, pp. 200–03. Link.
McGhee, Robert. “Contact between Native North Americans and the Medieval Norse: A Review of the Evidence.” American Antiquity, vol. 49, no. 1, 1984, pp. 4–26. Link.
Reeves, Arthur Middleton, and William Dudley Foulke. The Finding of Wineland the Good: the History of the Icelandic Discovery of America. London: H. Frowde, 1895. Link.
Storm, Gustav. Eiríks saga Rauða og Flatøbogens Grænlendingaþáttr samt uddrag fra Ólafssaga Tryggvasonar. Købenjavn: S. L. Møllers bogtrykkeri, 1891. Link.
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harmcityherald · 3 months
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Oh yes, noise makers. Let's talk about those for a minute. Strangely that's something that has been on my mind lately. lets dive below the cut.
First let me frame this correctly. To do that we go to the Viking sagas. In those sagas it tells the story of successive Ventures into Greenland, which the Vikings called Gronland, and into North America, which they called Vinland. The sagas are populated by some wonderful characters. Erik the Red, Leif Erickson, Gudrid the good, and of course the incredible villainous freydis. I read a translation of the sagas some years back and I do not have a copy of it any longer. So please forgive me if my damaged memory is not up to scholarly snuff. I would love for someone to discuss it and correct me where I am wrong. Scholar is not the typical hat I wear and in any other instance like this I would simply provide you some links and pictures and pat myself on the back for my efforts. This time that's not quite good enough and we will get to why it eats at me the way it does in a bit. First lets talk about what I read in what was a translation from the original Viking sagas. before you go running to google let me digress a little on this.
From my memory of my readings of these original translations, I will loosely recall the story as I remember it.
When the colonization attempt reached the shores of North America (Vinland) they built some longhouses and attempted to make themselves at home. They had encountered what we now know is the Inuit civilization. We went on to call them Eskimos. No matter what we have to rename everything don't we? So did the Vikings, as they coined a derogatory name for them. The Skrealings.
The Vikings at first thought that they were all women, because of their long black hair and no facial hair. Of course when they finally got close enough they realized they were dealing with a completely different kind of people they had never encountered before. When they first got together there was a bull that escaped from an enclosure that the Vikings had brought with them. The Inuit had never seen a bull before and when it escaped one of the Inuit killed the bull. Which of course sent the Vikings into a fit of rage. I believe that some of the Inuit were killed and some of them escaped. Three days later the skrealing's reappeared on the river. Many many more of them then the Vikings were expecting. And they were coming up the river on their boats and on each boat one of the Inuits had a noise maker. If you can imagine a can on a string may give you an idea of what it probably was like. Instead of a can it would be a carved piece of wood more than likely. Carved in such a way that the air would cause a loud and obnoxious sound, and then you can imagine hundreds of them all waving these things over their heads and the incredible sound it must have made. Probably an incredibly angry whirring sound. They must have been an incredible sight and sound coming up the river.
Now in most modern Viking movies or books you would expect the Vikings to grab their swords screaming, strip down naked and run right into battle. But that's not what happened. They actually dropped their swords and retreated. In fact, it scared them so badly that they loaded up their ships and hightailed it back to Gronland. Telling stories of the skrealings in the strange new land and how it is a place that maybe Vikings just shouldn't go. In effect, the Inuit bought North America a couple more hundred years of freedom before the next onslaught of colonizers would arrive.
That's my memory of what I read and I, of course, plan to reread and replace this valuable book to my collection. Anybody else would wait for that or search up all the facts and put my ducks in a row before running my face about it. Not me, of course, I need to jump in feet first because in trying to collect some facts and links and maybe a you tube about it I have run into another..... discrepancy.
All the write ups Im running into are different. The facts seem jumbled and contradictory. In one the Inuit have one big noise maker. In another the Vikings don't flee but stoically decide it better to go back as a colony would be too difficult to maintain and so they heroically leave. I am finding the same mumbling of facts in you tube videos and I've come to a conclusion I do not like.
These contradictory versions of this saga are being rewritten to erase the fact that the Inuit "one uped" the Vikings. These writers and "content creators" are more concerned with making the Vikings look good. Preserving the Viking reputation while erasing the fact that they fled the continent in abject fear. These contradictory versions are engineered to erase the brown from the story.
Now, in conclusion, instead of providing a long list of links and sources to make it easy for you, I invite you to go look for this yourself. Read the original translation of these sagas. They are thrilling and very interesting. At one point one of the Viking leader's wife dies during child birth and the baby, having survived, is saved from starvation by him cutting open his own breast and feeding the baby on the blood and man milk. Its all a must read. Freydis and her axe murders and, of course, the Skrealings. Who, we should remember, bought all of the tribes of the Americas and the buffalo somewhere near 800 years of freedom before the next round of European colonists arrived. Would that their collective memory prepared them in advance.
They could have met the pilgrims with their noise makers once again. We would have a different history to read then, hmm?
and that history is being casually replaced. Sure I could just be perceiving it that way. I could be wrong. I always temper my ideas with the fact that Im no expert on anything and Im wrong in a lot of cases. Im always ready to learn.
Go read about the Inuit. Read the sagas. Or come and teach me what I do not know. Go look how many ways its being told.
history is always written by the victors. In this case the Vikings weren't the victors, per say, and if my memory is sound, the sagas themselves preserve this story of indigenous strength. Its the later tellings. The wiki pages. The you tube poop.
Tell me I'm right or change my mind.
also as a side note, that would make a banging movie wouldn't it?
ciao~
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mediaevalmusereads · 5 months
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Civilizations. By Laurent Binet (trans. Sam Taylor). Picador, 2019 (English trans. 2021).
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Genre: alternate history
Series: N/A
Summary: Freydis is a woman warrior and leader of a band of Viking explorers setting out to the south. They meet local tribes, exchange skills, are taken prisoner, and get as far as Panama. But nobody ultimately knows what became of them.
Fast forward five hundred years to 1492 and we're reading the journals of Christopher Columbus, mid-Atlantic on his own famous voyage of exploration to the Americas, dreaming of gold and conquest. But he and his men are taken captive by Incas. Even as their suffering increases, his faith in his superiority, and in his mission, is unshaken.
Thirty years later, Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor, arrives in Europe in the ships stolen from Columbus. He finds a continent divided by religious and dynastic quarrels, the Spanish Inquisition, Luther's Reformation, capitalism, the miracle of the printing press, endless warmongering between the ruling monarchies, and constant threat from the Turks. But most of all he finds downtrodden populations ready for revolution. Fortunately, he has a recent bestseller as a guidebook to acquiring power—Machiavelli's The Prince. The stage is set for a Europe ruled by Incas and Aztecs, and for a great war that will change history forever.
***Full review below.***
Content Warnings: violence, child death, animal death, incest
Overview: My book club picked this novel as our subject for November, so here I am, writing a review. I didn't know what to expect going in, but the premise intrigued me; after the first few pages, however, I was fully immersed and impressed by the author's understanding of history. While I wouldn't recommend this book if you're not a history lover, I would absolutely recommend it to those who are interested in historical thought experiments, such as what would have happened if the European colonization of the Americas was unsuccessful.
Writing: I'm reading the English translation of this novel, and since I don't have the original, I can't comment on whether or not Taylor renders Binet's prose faithfully. But I do think Taylor did a great job of making the text feel like the historical sources it was imitating. The novel is written in a somewhat plain, unadorned style that is common to things like sagas and chronicles, and though there were some modern expressions here and there, I think that on the whole, Taylor and Binet succeeded in infusing the prose with historical flavor.
I also liked the repeating imagery that held the disparate parts of the text together. For example, the color red shows up a lot, as does vultures, condors, and other birds that seem to signal auspicious moments. It made the book as a whole feel more literary, and it created through-lines that helped sell the idea that we were reading a continuous "history."
Lastly, I appreciated the ways in which this book defamiliarized things like religion by presenting Christianity from the Inca's point of view. There were a few moments when Binet would be describing something about religious custom and I wouldn't quite understand what was going on until the Inca overheard a key term (like "inquisitor"). The practice of considering what Christianity might look like to other people was a valuable thought exercise, and I think it did a good job of exposing some of the inherent cruelty of the 15th-16th century religious conflicts (and politics).
Plot: There isn't a plot to this book so much as there is a narration of an alternate history, but I'm also the kind of reader that finds history fascinating, so this narrative was highly entertaining for me. I really appreciated the level of historical knowledge required to write this book; one can see through all the details that Binet has a pretty extensive understanding of 15th-16th century Europe, and I loved seeing how the author imagined all these pieces working differently had colonization not happened.
I'm not sure, however, if the author had an equal understanding of the Indigenous peoples that are featured in this book. On the one hand, I can understand the purpose of wanting to imagine what a history of Europe might have looked like if the Inca had sailed to Spain and created a new empire there; on the other, it seems like the Indigenous peoples are a little less nuanced than their European counterparts. Maybe that's due to the fact that a lot of these peoples and cultures (along with their histories) were wiped out, so I don't know how much I can fault the author.
Characters: There are a lot of characters in this book, so I'm only going to focus on a couple of key players and broad themes.
Part 1 of this novel follows Freydis, daughter of Erik the Red, and imagines what would have happened if she and her followers had reached as far south as Panama. I really enjoyed how Freydis was fashioned to be the leader of the Viking band, rather than a mere instigator as in the sagas. I also liked that her story contained several nods to the literary conventions of Norse-Icelandic sagas, and it imagined interactions with Indigenous peoples that were more complex than just open hostility.
Part 2 follows Christopher Columbus and his failed expedition, imaging him as becoming a captive of the Tainos and living his life as something akin to a court jester. I appreciated the way Binet wrote Columbus as something of a religious fanatic who doesn't quite give up his faith, even when it's clear he lost. Binet also succeeds in presenting the Tainos not as cruel, but as rightfully defending themselves from a group of would-be colonizers who believe in their own superiority.
Part 3 follows Inca ruler Atahualpa as he sails to Spain and establishes a new empire in Europe. This is by far the longest section of the book, and I enjoyed the way Atahualpa was presented as both ambitious and generous. His advisers, too, were varied in their personalities which made them feel like real people (and not stock characters), and the relationship between Atahualpa and Princes Higuénamota was complex and fascinating, portraying a deep level of love and respect that felt different from a romantic or king-adviser relationship.
Part 4 follows Miguel de Cervantes as he navigates Europe after Atahualpa's death. I personally didn't get a much out of this part, and Miguel wasn't as interesting as his companions, but it was a nice snapshot of the empire, so I can't complain.
TL;DR: Civilizations is an impressive reimagining of history and constructs a complex view of what Europe might have looked like if the colonization of the Americas failed. The level of historical knowledge required to write this book is sure to satisfy history lovers, as well as the prose style, which imitates real-life historical texts.
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earthboundvalkyrie · 1 year
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"Vikings", "Vikings Valhalla", History and Faith
New Post has been published on https://www.ebvs.blog/2023/01/15/vikings_valhalla_1/
"Vikings", "Vikings Valhalla", History and Faith
Netflix has released all 8 episodes for the second season of Vikings Valhalla, something I have very much been looking forward to. Before I start writing reviews of the episodes, however, I thought I would offer some thoughts on the show and its predecessor, Vikings, along with comments on the show’s portrayal of the characters’ faith and the clash between the Heathen Norse and the Christian English. There are no spoilers for the new season of Valhalla in this article, though I will write openly about events from the first season and from the original Vikings series.
Leo Suter as Harald Sigurdsson
One thing that’s important to remember when watching shows like this is that they are dramas first and foremost and are not intended to be seen as historically accurate – which is kind of ironic since the first series aired on the History Channel. It’s best to assume that, while some things are based on actual history, most of it is fictional.
Travis Fimmel and Katheryn Winnick as Ragnar and Lagertha
For example, the first series was based on the life and family of Ragnar Lothbrok, yet there is little (if any) evidence that shows he existed. The case for the existence of his supposed sons Bjorn Ironsides, Ubba, Sigurd Snake-In-The-Eye, Hvitsverk, and Ivar the Boneless is stronger, but again there is little to show they were related to each other or to the legendary Ragnar. And there’s no evidence Alfred the Great was the son of anyone other than King Aethelwulf, or that his mother had his brother poisoned.
In regards to Valhalla, the three main characters are actual, historical figures. Harald Sigurdsson, Leif Eriksson and Freydis Eriksdotter did exist. They just wouldn’t have known each other, given that Leif died roughly 3 to 5 years after Harald was born.
This doesn’t mean everything is fictional, however. Many of the characters are historical people whose known lives were similar to what is shown (though perhaps in a slightly different time period) and most of the important battles are based on real ones. Also very real is the struggle between the Heathen faith of the Vikings and the Christianity of the English.
Sam Corlett as Leif Eriksson
One aspect of the show that has been fascinating for me has been their depiction of the Norse faith, though, like the rest of the show, drama takes precedence over reality. In the first series, we see Ragnar going to a Thing (pronounced ting) in Uppsala, where a mass sacrifice of 9 men is going to take place. It’s known that the Vikings did sacrifice humans, but aside from a mention in Adam of Breman’s writings on Germania of a large sacrifice similar to the one on the show, there’s been no evidence I’m aware of showing something like that took place – much less regularly, as the show implies.
Another ritual portrayed on the show – the Blood Eagle – was written of in the Sagas, but to date, no evidence has been found to attest to its existence. This method of execution involved opening the back of the person being killed and cutting the ribs away from the spine. Such damage would be easily recognized on any remains found even today, but so far, none have.
Katheryn Winnick as Lagertha while leading a ritual.
Not everything they depict is fictional, however. On the show, we see very few priests and priestesses for the Norse. Rituals and the celebration of holidays usually took place within the family or community. In Vikings, we see Lagertha as Jarl leading rituals for her people. She is shown presiding over animal sacrifices and then sprinkling the blood of the animal onto those in the gathering. This all matches up to what we know from historical records.
Frida Gustavsson as Freydis Eriksdotter
There were a few temples where people could come to make sacrifices, speak or pray with priests or priestesses (known as gothis and gythias), or seek training in the more esoteric aspects of the Norse faith – the temple at Uppsala where Freydis goes for training during the first season of Vallhalla being one of the most famous. Most cities and towns, however, did not have temples. In the show, for as important a city as Kattegat is, it doesn’t appear to have one. This is because the pre-Christian Norse were more likely to worship outside and because for them, faith wasn’t something you went someplace to do, it was just another part of life like sleeping or eating.
It’s not much different for today’s modern Heathens. One important way in which things have changed is that only a very few modern groups engage in animal sacrifice – most will make symbolic sacrifices or sacrifices of food and drink or meaningful objects, and the ritual leader blesses the gathered worshipers by sprinkling them with mead or ale, not blood.
The shows also place a large focus on the conversion of the Heathens to Christianity. In the first series, we saw the Vikings raiding churches and monasteries. This wasn’t because they were Christian facilities, however. They were chosen because that’s where large amounts of wealth were kept, generally under a light guard. When they began settling in Christian England, some would convert, some, like Ubba, would pretend to convert to try and placate the church authorities, while others would proudly cling to their Heathen faith, even though that might mean death. In general, though, they left Christians living nearby in peace, seeking to live lives of raising families, farming, and building a community. Here, too, the show gives a fairly good view of what we know of the early settlements of the Norse. While the Viking raiders could be terrifying in their aggression, the men and women who came with them to find new homes were typically peaceful.
By the time Valhalla‘s first season starts, a growing number of the Norse have been converted to Christianity – many at the point of a sword. These Christians were determined to convert all of the Heathen northlands, and we see entire communities destroyed and all of the people in them killed. One of the most vivid scenes is when a Christian knight who considers it his mission to eliminate as many Heathens as possible leads a raid on the Uppsala temple. Only Freydis survives the slaughter. We see King Olaf putting together his Christian army to bring the new faith to as many places as he could and to destroy those where he couldn’t. Sadly, these scenes reflect the all-too-real brutality that Christians used to achieve their goal of Christianizing Scandinavia. This is supported not just by the history of the northlands but can be seen in other crusades of the Christians where they have tried to wipe out other faiths by any means necessary.
Echoes from those years of conversion can still be heard today. While Christians no longer kill those who won’t convert, has become the dominant faith in the western world, and many Christians still believe it should be the only one. Those who follow other faiths, including modern Heathens, are still frequently discriminated against. The physical battles may be over, but the war is still underway.
Vikings and Vikings Valhalla offer us a look at life in a time we can only know from ancient records and our imaginations. There’s a lot in the shows that is factually wrong, usually in terms of showing historical people being friends or relatives of people who they most likely couldn’t have known. It also treats some people whose existence is unverified as if they were real. And they use some largely unfounded stories to amp up the drama. But the shows also feature a fair amount of truth in things like the day-to-day lives of the people of the time, their faith, and some of the main historical events of the day.
The extra drama from the fictional elements helps make the shows a great deal of fun but keep your salt shakers handy for the grains you going to need.
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baeddel · 2 years
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the wiki article title Norse colonization of North America is very funny because for some reason they chose to narrate the events of the Vinland saga & other stories as though they are historical fact even though they’re full of stock storytelling devices and obviously extravagant magical stuff, ending with Freydis scaring away her attackers by slapping her boobs with a sword, followed by two citations
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Before the devouring (Daughters Anthology)
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Daughters Masterlist
Pairing: Gen Fic, but as per canon, some Bjorn/Gunnhild and some minor Bjorn/Ingrid, and because it’s me, hints at Ingrid/Gunnhild.
Summary: Gunnhild starts her journey as Queen of Kattegat with the counsel and augury of the women who carried the title before her, finding in their sagas written her own. With Gunnhild as Metis (an Oceanid, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She is one of Zeus’ wives, the one that helped him defeat Kronos, but she was prophecized to give him children that would overpower him and thus she was killed -eaten- by Zeus. She was already pregnant though, and she stayed in Zeus’ head long enough to raise her daughter before dying/fading away. She is Athena’s mother, and she made armor and weapons for her daughter, the helm she is usually depicted in, and her spear and aegis).
Word Count: 4.8k
Warnings: Canon divergence for the outcome of Gunnhild’s pregnancy and her death (and tweaking to the timeline, as the baby is 1) born, and 2) born a few months before the battle for Kattegat). Some injury descriptions, themes of (somewhat graphic) death and allusions to/mentions of domestic violence. The usual Ragnar&co. bashing for this anthology, and my incredibly rusty writing. As always, this might be OOC, especially in this case. And finally, this is the least canon compliant part of this anthology of sorts, because season 6 is a fucking mess and I cannot for the life of me find a plotline that I would enjoy writing about, no matter how much I like the characters/dynamics of it.
A/N: Poem (italicized bits) is Metis, the Forgotten King Maker by Nikita Gill and Gunnhild gif credits to @underragingwaves​, from this set, the Margrethe one is also hers but I can’t find the link to the actual set, the Lagertha one I found on Pinterest and I couldn’t find a source, and the Freydis one is mine. There’s also a line from Nikita Gill’s The Metamorphoses of Zeus spoken by a character, specifically: He destroys. He devastates. He devours.
Is there a word for this?
The waiting before the devouring.
The knowing and unknowing
of what is soon to be the ruins of you.
There is something about Kattegat her husband doesn’t know, his brothers don’t know, and his father never knew.
Ever since they first retook the town, Gunnhild has had to get used to unusual sights plaguing the kingdom she is supposed to rule over.
She sees a shieldmaiden with the weight of years slowing her gait searching frantically for the daughters only she cannot see, and as the mother wails her loss Gunnhild is left looking at four girls still cowering in a corner of the longhouse, holding onto each other as if the Gods were kind enough to make girls able to withstand the aftershocks of a man’s ambition.
On some nights she catches a familiar face looking at them too.
Lagertha’s ghost never lingers next to those girls or any of the others, she turns her back soon enough, and each time she does her back curves further under some invisible weight, some unshakeable guilt.
On the nights Gunnhild spends alone, talking to her pregnant belly trying to offer her baby the certainty she herself lacks, into the room stumbles a ghost of dainty features and sad eyes, and each and every time Gunnhild is frozen when Kattegat’s last queen takes a step towards her, hands stretched as if to feel her swollen belly, before her expression crumbles and the bruises on her neck get darker, and remembering the lie, remembering the end, she instead folds her hands in front of her own empty stomach and bows a goodbye.
Freydis’ ghost never wanders far from the longhouse either, but it isn’t the painful tie to those girls that keeps her tethered there, Gunnhild realized that fairly early. No, she stays where there aren’t burn marks etched on the houses and the streets still, she stays where the grief of countless families isn’t so thick in the air, she stays where her guilt cannot reach her.
And Gunnhild wonders if she also stays there as to not see her. The one that was both always and yet never a slave, the one Gunnhild sees walking the streets of Kattegat fervently, rabidly, tearing at herself and clawing at the edges of the town searching for a way out.
And she wonders if Freydis is afraid of her, of her madness, of her pain.
After all, she has seen the woman that whispers still speak of as the one that single-handedly sealed Kattegat’s Fate, the woman that stood her ground before a tyrant and a murderer without flinching; cover her ears like a child and cower in some corner of the longhouse when Margrethe’s screams threaten to tear the very earth in two as she is once again forced to accept she won’t be able to leave Kattegat.
On some nights, when Gunnhild hears her cries she has to grit her teeth to keep at bay her own, and her ring finger bruises and bleeds as Freydis’ neck did, and Kattegat’s walls grow taller and taller as a reminder that she too is trapped here.
“I built them,” A revered woman tells her in one of those nights, a woman made legend. To Gunnhild, she looks as real and as brittle as the day she realized the thing she wanted most in this world was to see her son one last time. Lagertha doesn’t look at her, and Gunnhild isn’t sure if she even knows she is talking to her, “I built them because I thought…I thought they would keep me safe, keep us safe.”
“From whom?” She asks, forcing strength into her voice to keep it from trembling, lest someone hears her talking to a ghost and thinks her mad and weak. She realizes then, with that thought, with that compulsion, that she already has her answer.
“I thought I was…keeping us safe.” Lagertha’s shadow repeats, suddenly not looking at the walls anymore, but at the horizon behind it, at the sea that carried the boat of a once-queen many times over, at the sea across from which her heart died. “But Kattegat needs its monsters, shieldmaiden. It will make one out of you if you try to keep them out.
She turns to her then, clarity in her wide eyes as she meets her gaze, the unwavering strength of the shieldmaiden she admired, the pain and regret of the woman she came to love.
“It -we- made one out of him. Out of all of them, and…ourselves too.”
She notices her husband’s restlessness again that night, the way his thoughts seem to chase themselves in circles as what was supposed to be the mountaintop offers no change from the very bottom. It isn’t the first time she is a witness to it, she was privy to the way he is pulled between the search for glory and the dread of the chains that come with it, long before they made themselves king and queen.
But tonight it is the first night that it worries her, that she puts a hand over her pregnant belly and she fears.
Her husband reminds her of a caged beast, and Gunnhild has too many scars to think to approach him, instead keeping her distance, keeping her shield close and herself ready for the moment the beast strikes.
Because that is the thing, about an animal in a cage. Even a cage it let itself be lured into with promises of glory, even a cage it was prodded into with the weight of legacy. It will lash out, eventually.
It will kill, if it has to. Once it is backed into a wall, or a step away from freedom, it will strike against both friend and foe for a chance to survive, to win.
If given a chance to, it will sacrifice anything for a chance at glory, or at freedom. He has before.
He is a God-King after all.
And I just his consort.
So what if I was his king maker.
Better women than me
have made gentler kings
and still met their ends.
Her worries do not leave her, just as her husband’s restlessness does not leave him, not with another wife by his side, not with a kingdom at his back, not with a daughter in Gunnhild’s belly. She wonders if it is perhaps because of those things that his restlessness grows, that he seems hungrier with each passing day.
She wonders if it is perhaps the life she is growing inside of her that awakens in him this hunger for glory, this instinct to devour. She wonders if he knows, just as his father did, that it is a child’s burden and privilege to live to become greater than their father.
And so her worries grow, as does her belly.
After all, she has seen the Norns taking their children from mortals, ripping them from their mother’s arms be it in a sickness that overtakes their body or because of the bravery they blessed them with. And she has seen men call themselves Gods and do the same, ripping children from their mothers’ arms, men of the same blood as her husband.
She thought she wanted glory, for herself and for her children. She thought she would never want anything more than bringing to this world a child that could claim a demigod as their father, but war and strife loom in the horizon as Fate demands the blood of legends be spilled; and Kattegat’s throne is just a piece of wood and so are the walls around it, and she wants, more than anything, for her child to be safe.
Gunnhild knows she is not a gentle woman, nor has she ever had any intention to be. When she was more child than woman, and times after that as well, she has thought of it as a fault on her part, as a flaw to be fixed. That would be fixed, once she grew, except growing only showed her that the world has teeth and it will sink them into supple flesh and left her no choice but to harden herself, once she married, but she married twice over out of ambition and she knows soft things hunger for love not power, once she had children, but life grows inside of her and all she wants is to find a way to arm her daughter with shield and armor before she leaves her womb.
“Neither your love or your shield will keep her safe from everything,” A familiar figure now sitting beside her says, voice sweet but sad. When the woman lifts her head, she bares to Gunnhild’s eyes dried blood caked around deep bruises that circle her neck. At the sight, disgust wages war with anger, Gunnhild’s lips part and her stomach tightens as if a snake had curled around her middle; and without even realizing she has let her hand fall to her side, searching for the sword that no longer lies there. Freydis lowers her gaze for a moment, but her eyes are still clear, she still holds this inhuman serenity as she states, “You needn’t concern yourself with the likes of me.”
“I decide who I concern myself with.” She retorts without hesitation, a furrow between her brows, in her mind the bruises on her neck the same shade, the same curse, as her mother’s blackened eye. She takes a breath, and admits to a failure that has haunted her since she first saw the once-queen lifeless beside the bones of her child, “I’m sorry I couldn’t kill him.”
It seems to take her aback, her harshness, or maybe the softness hidden underneath it. Regardless, Freydis leans back, clear eyes a little wider, expression a little less controlled, considering Gunnhild for a moment before she offers yet another smile.
This one is dimmer, but it feels more honest.
“Death, by your hand no less, would be too merciful,” The admission is quiet, but she hears the iron underneath. “You needn’t worry, he has paid. And when he returns, he will pay again.”
It is then, meeting her clear gaze, that Gunnhild wonders if some remain because they want to, not because they are trapped here. She wonders still if, even though she keeps herself tied here with nothing but her anger, she will be able to let go and rest one day.
But then in her mind echoes Torvi’s wail, a keen more animal than human but still mother, echoing in the quiet of the village as she learned of her son’s death; in her mind Gunnhild feels herself again upon that bed curling in on herself to try desperately to keep the pain from her heart, to keep the dread from her bones as she heard just outside Torvi mourning. And she realizes now, with those memories aching in her chest and guiding her hand to caress where her daughter grows, that she needn’t know if Freydis will one day be able to rest, for she knows Freydis herself does not care as long as her son is avenged, as long as his murderer is forced to pay.
And because anger always pairs itself with regret when it comes to grief, Freydis’ strength wavers, dims, and her voice quietens as she speaks again,
“I thought…I thought not even a God’s hunger could stand a chance against a mother’s love,” Freydis admits, seemingly steeling herself against the pain her words remind her of, head held high, jaw set tight even though her lip trembles. “I was wrong, and it cost me…everything.”
“Are you trying to warn me?”
“He hungers, you know that. They all do.”
She can only swallow thickly at the truth the woman so bluntly offers, at the reality the wisdom of the dead forces her to see.
Gunnhild closes her eyes with a deep breath, and when she opens them, Freydis is gone. Behind where she sat, just in the direction Gunnhild was looking as she uselessly searched for a remnant of the ghost’s presence, Ingrid approaches, smile tentative but kind as she looks at her.
Her stomach churns when she realizes she seemed most likely a mad woman, talking to herself in the quiet of the longhouse, and just as she is to voice an excuse, Freydis speaks again, her dainty voice somewhere in the crackling of fire, in the cadence of Ingrid’s approaching steps,
“They get that from their father.”
Ingrid eyes the empty seat, big eyes returning to Gunnhild after a breath, and where she expects to find doubt, or mockery, instead she finds Ingrid offers warmth, and a secretive smile.
“Don’t worry, she will be back,” Gunnhild notices the way her fingers are intertwined nervously in front of her, a contrast to the warm disposition Ingrid tries portraying. After a moment, she adds in a mumble, “There aren’t many places for her to go, after all.”
But there’s light in her eyes as she says that, there’s fondness in her voice, there’s the ease of companionship in the curve of Ingrid’s smile.
Gunnhild is certain it isn’t only directed at her, that smile, and finds herself smiling back, cautiously, hopefully, at both the ghosts and the woman before her.
People think having the power of prophecy
and cunning means you can avoid your fate.
No, my loves,
you are simply driven mad
by the knowledge of what is coming
and that you cannot stop it.
She cannot help but wonder, as spring and war and death draw nearer and nearer with each passing day, what her husband is willing to sacrifice for victory, for glory.
It isn’t for them that he fights, it isn’t for the future of his children, but for the past of his father, after all. And what a man isn’t fighting to save is what a man is willing to sacrifice, this she has learned, both in the battlefield with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, and in her once-home with both hands clasping tightly at the skirts of her mother’s dress.
At night, when sleep eludes her, Gunnhild takes to sitting in a small balcony in the back of the longhouse, letting her eyes focus on the night sky and hating how her mind reminds her of the passing of time, the dawn of war in the horizon, each night just by the changed positions of the stars and the moon.
Sometimes there is company by her side, the cold presence of a dainty woman of sad smiles or the warm hold of Ingrid’s hand in hers, but still her thoughts do not still, her dread does not leave her. Because Gunnhild knows, she knows like she knew Lagertha wouldn’t be allowed to be anything but what the world wanted her to, she knows like she knew her husband was too prideful to deny himself anything in favor of loyalty, she knows she is amongst that which he and the world around her will sacrifice for glory.
And more than ever she is now filled with the urge to find a way to don her daughter in armor before she is to leave her womb, to find a way to gift her a shield and sword of her own before she is to even open her eyes, to find a way to teach her the ways of the world and the ways of men and protect her from both.
She fears, more than anything perhaps, that she won’t be able to, that her child will be left alone in this world, that her husband’s hunger will consume her before she can raise her daughter. She fears her child will grow, unknowing that the one she must trust the least is her father even if she must strive to be his favorite, unaware of how to guard herself so what happened to her mother does not happen to her, having forgotten who her mother is and what her own name is.
“Are you-…you are afraid of being…devoured too, aren’t you?” A voice startles her, a slight trembling edge to the words. Gunnhild turns to meet Margrethe’s wide gaze, able only to stare back as the other woman nods her head to herself, as if confirming her own words, “You feel it, you felt it before, like…like hands around your neck. Or a ring on your finger. Only this time, this time you know you can’t fight back.”
She has gone mad, she was once told, we couldn’t take her with us to England.
So you left her behind, she wanted to argue back, because she is nothing if not someone willing and able to make others say what they mean to instead of letting them hide behind prettier words, but instead she merely asked, I wonder what became of her.
She asks herself now if then it was that she started down this path, when before the glory of legends she let her own hunger be ignored, and she wonders if she started letting pieces of herself feed them then, when she kept quiet instead of demanding to know what happened to the last woman that dared hunger more than one of them.
Regardless, silence answered her that day, and in her musings, she finds herself answering with the same to Margrethe’s words.
“Fear it all you want,” Margrethe spits with a shrug, evidently slighted by Gunnhild’s lack of response, with a childish cruelty that for some reason manages to tug at the shieldmaiden’s heart. “You can’t escape it. None of us can, not even them.”
“Them?”
“Them. The kings, the legends, the…the sons. Them,” She repeats again, as if Gunnhild had to have known what she meant from the beginning. Margrethe takes a breath, a shaky inhale that makes her stand taller but makes the tremble in her lip more noticeable, the pain in her wide gaze piercing. “He devoured them all, you know. He was hungry, and…and…”
“They were a threat to him.” Gunnhild states, not really sure why she is speaking as if any man was eaten alive. But still, a realization weighs on her chest with the weight of secrets her husband exchanged with her once, admissions of how he worried he could never be greater than his father, of how he feared he could.
Margrethe’s eyes focus on her with a glint she saw before, in the eyes of a once-slave too, a fierceness and an instinct to protect there that the world was never kind enough to deserve from her, from either of them.
“They were children,” She hisses, sorrow breaking her voice, perhaps forgetting she was a child once too, or perhaps remembering just that. Then again, perhaps she never was. Ingrid has told her, in secrecy, with the vacancy in her chest of no family to speak of past the one her ring gave her, of how no slave is allowed to be a child. Margrethe does not seem to mind her silence, or her prodding gaze, instead nodding to herself and whispering, “He ate the first two drowning her in the river, and another one when he forgot to come home.”
“I don’t…”
I don’t want to hear this, I don’t want to know.
“He ate the younger one across the sea. His own wrists were shackled, so he gave a shackle to him too, one made of gold, and ate him whole with two words,” She turns them to meet her faze again, suddenly steadier in her madness as she asks, “But the first one, th-the last one, him…him he never could keep down, could he?” The giggle leaving her lips is manic, terrified, and Gunnhild can do nothing but stare back, frozen. “Too alike, I think. Like eating your own heart. But they weren’t alike, once, so maybe it was like eating a…a stone. Unnatural.
She is musing aloud, and Gunnhild is left to wonder if it is her madness that made her so, or her loneliness. When the few ghosts of this town that are still more than remnants hide in the longhouse to keep their eyes from their mistakes, or as they did in life now in death offer to her pain the unwavering strength of a shield-wall, Gunnhild wonders if Margrethe has anyone but herself to hear her thoughts, her words.
“But it doesn’t matter why his father couldn’t devour him too. Still, he destroys, he devastates, and he…he devours instead.”
Gunnhild leans back, suddenly more guarded, suddenly angrier, at the mere idea that the man she has chosen to love, the man she has admired from afar and up close is unworthy of such devotion. At the mere idea that she has made a wrong choice, at the mere idea that this, the devouring, is inevitable.
“My husband is a good man, a good king.”
Margrethe’s answering laugh makes a shiver run down her spine. It is a cackle, mad and broken, that dies in pieces as she shakes her head and says,
“They all are, can’t you see? Because they are the ones to tell the stories. He…he never talks about his father’s absence, does he? Or his selfishness?” She nods to herself, not needing an answer, or perhaps aware she won’t get one from Gunnhild. “Neither did my husband. He didn’t talk about the bruises on his mother’s face either, but I saw them, they were there even after all those years. She had the…the mark, like teeth sunk into her flesh. We all do.”
“You aren’t making any sense.” Oh, but she is, she is, and Gunnhild is too proud to beg her to stop.
The blonde shakes her head again, reaching with a bony hand that impossibly grasps firmly and tightly to Gunnhild’s, that chases off the chill of the night with a warmth unnatural to one so far gone, so long gone.
“They…they get to devour until glory finds them, or they find it, or…or however it is that goes,” She dismisses her own words, her own confusion, with a gesture of her hand, and focuses manic eyes on Gunnhild, leaning closer as she says, voice a plea, “But we…we-…glory devours us, instead. If you just get close, you…you are eaten whole. It doesn’t matter who you are, or how much you want to devour instead,” Her eyes search Gunnhild’s, and after a breath she softens her expression, she offers a sad smile, an apology for the truth she cannot help but reveal. “I hungered, once. She did too.”
It is at her last words that her eyes finally stray from Gunnhild’s, and she follows her gaze only to find Kattegat’s last queen standing by the dim fires, quietly, with lowered eyes and bruises around her neck darker than she has ever seen them.
She hears approaching footsteps, and tonight Lagertha’s gait is marked by the limp of her final years, even though when Gunnhild catches sight of her face by the fire, she looks younger and more alive than she ever knew her.
“As do you. As will she,” She says, eyes on Gunnhild’s stomach and face strained with the nostalgia for a world that never was, for a past life she lost, for a future she will never meet. “She is your daughter, and my granddaughter, after all.”
“Lagertha…”
“I couldn’t win, I couldn’t escape. You can’t either, but she can,” Her eyes meet hers again, with the iron she lost once, after too many mistakes, under too much grief, and Gunnhild knows it is an order before she even tells her, “Raise her to devour.”
Until you learn the way I did,
how to alter a foretelling’s truth,
weaponize sadness and deconstruct it
into a life that works for you.
She awakens from the same dream she has had for so long now she cannot fathom it not being a memory instead, only this time she wakes to the soft coo of her baby’s cries, that the healer tending to her husband’s grave wounds tries shushing before Gunnhild tells her she will take care it.
She holds Signý close to her chest, feeling her little head rest lightly over her beating heart, and lifts her eyes to find Ingrid’s gaze. There is much they don’t say, Gunnhild holds it already as one of her greater regrets, but there is much that they needn’t say at all, not when with their eyes they share their fear, their grief, their pain.
The earth under their feet rumbles with the marching feet of the invading Rus, and when her husband calls for her to, Gunnhild grits her teeth and puts her baby back down in her crib to help him don his armor one last time.
And when the time comes, as he readies himself to fight for the legacy of his father to the last of his strength, she stands by his side, certain she will fight for the future of her daughter to the last of hers.
The world buries a legend they adored and admired that day, Ingrid and Gunnhild a husband they loved despite the pain, Signý a father she barely knew.
But even as they lay the last of the stones that seal the door to his tomb, Gunnhild still feels this dread, this gnawing fear, that even in death her husband’s hunger will reach her. Perhaps only in death it can, for she would fight him to the death were he to try and devour her alive.
The world has long ago decided she is to be the devoted wife of a great man, of a demigod, of a legend. The world has long ago decided her story starts and ends with him, no matter her hunger, her name.
The world has long ago decided there is no place for her, for her as the woman she wants to be, the woman she is, now that he is gone.
The woman they decided she was would endure her husband’s failings and disloyalty, and so she did, and found understanding and love in Ingrid’s soft smile; the woman they decided she was would fight alongside her husband, and so she did, to the very end, and kept on that fight months after his death to hold onto the power she was owed but robbed of; the woman they decided she was would honor his memory by raising his daughter to stories of his glory, and so she did, but told her in whispers of how there was a reason she was Signý before she was Bjornsdottir.
The woman they decided she was would refuse to live in a world that didn’t have her husband in it, this is what she has known and refused to accept, this is what his hunger demanded.
So Gunnhild has no choice but to arm herself one last time, grasp onto her shield and call her shieldmaidens to battle one last time. She strides into the battlefield with a war cry that she knows is a lie, fighting for a cause she has fought for half a year now and still knows is lost.
But that is what the woman they decided she was would do, she would fight with her husband’s name on her lips in the campaign he died for, and so she does, but with the certainty that it is willingly that she ventures into the beast’s stomach, that it is knowingly that she is devoured.
And when they strike the finishing blow, the distant feeling of the cold iron of her enemy’s sword running through her feels exactly like the opposite. It feels like an old knife broken free from a festering wound, it feels like relief, like freedom.
For she knows, as her shieldmaidens carry her to the ship and stall the blood flow with cloth a witch she once loved chose and wove a spell over, that she will live long enough to die in Kattegat. She had made sure of it, long before the Gods showed her so in her dreams.
Ingrid’s bitter and grief-stricken smile welcomes her home, but Gunnhild has no regrets about what keeps her here, and neither do the ghosts that guide her in this world in between worlds, now she understands this much.
Gunnhild had ordered long ago that they lay her sword not to rest by her body, but to be saved in a sheath by her daughter’s bed, for it will serve, before it serves Signý in battle, as the reminder to Gunnhild herself of what she ought to do now, of what she is to be for her daughter.
Her daughter, who cannot understand why they speak of how her mother is long gone when she sees her hand grasping Ingrid’s as the now-queen falters, who refuses to accept her mother sits in Valhalla besides her father when she knows each night she sits by her bed and softly sings her to sleep.
____ ____ ____
I originally didn’t mean to avoid saying the names of the men of Vikings, it just happened and I noticed halfway through and decided to go through with it to the end ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyhow, thank you for reading! I would love to know what you think!
Yep, again with me and ghosts in the Daughters anthology. There’s a lot of tragedy in Vikings, ok? Especially surrounding women, and the best way my writing manages to try to show that is through remnants of those people lingering by or returning, either because of the grief of the living (My daughter, my girl), the guilt of the living (I often wish), or in this case, the pain of the dead.
And in case you were wondering who the four girls and their mother from the beginning were, it was Queen Gunnhild, King Horik’s wife, and their daughters. Lagertha leaving the men to kill those children in 2x10 always stayed with me, and thus I headcanon that it also stayed with Lagertha, because no one can stop me lol. I love me some guilt for Lagertha, as you know if you’ve read the previous Daughters works.
Also also, the last-ish part of this was most definitely inspired by (again) Nikita Gill’s work, specifically Athena’s Tale, in the book I already mentioned a thousand times already, Great Goddesses. I just really like it man, idk.
Anyhow, idk if anyone reads these, but hey, thank you for making it this far! I promise I’ll come back with some shippy/reader-insert stuff soon, I’m just trying to get my writing motor going again so whatever romance stuff I finally write isn’t total garbage lol
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blush-bambi · 1 month
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Me, while reading the Saga of the Greenlanders: "By Odin, Freydis' husband is such a wet noodle. An egir if you will ".
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spoilertv · 6 months
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mrszoomby · 3 years
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The cover reveal for the first book in Freydis' saga is now here!
The cover reveal for the first book in Freydis’ saga is now here!
I know I should be working hard on book two in Melkorka’s Saga — and I am, mostly. However, sometimes I need a break to look ahead and sort out the other books that I have planned. Last week was one of those times. This means that you all get to check out the gorgeous new cover for the upcoming first book in Freydis Eiriksdottir’s saga. For those who subscribe to my newsletter (and you totally…
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cibolasburn · 3 years
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imagining vikings and more specifically ivar in the hands of steinberg and levine...... can you imagine how good he would have been. like you take the best parts of flint and silver, the nuance of the anger at the world for putting him into the role of the Other, for making HIM the monster because he has no way of following their rules. his anger at someone he loved and who accepted him being torn away from him (if steinberg and levine had been in charge aslaug wouldnt have died that way, as lagertha would be her wife #gayrights so we’re talking only about ragnar’s death bc sadly the only interesting things ragnar does is fight a dragon, and die covered in snakes). and then add silver’s fear that people’s love is conditional on his status of power, on his ruthlessness, on the thing that the only three people who ever cared for him (for he is disabled, and he relies on their love for his survival, because if they revoke it, he will be abandoned and he will die. and he knows this, his own father left him in the woods to die, and it was his mother’s love that saved him) so he must act selfishly (selfishly, even out of love). and god we would have seen him be smart, plotting and undermining and always winning tests of cunning and wisdom. we could have a wisdom contest....
instead we get oooh scary monster, oooh look he’s sexually threatening and he has no emotions and we’re going to show this in a way that is reminiscent of literal eugenics propaganda oooh scary, i hope his brother (the rightful ruler) can save everyone because ivar betrayed them all cause he’s evil and wanted to burn england cause he’s crazy oooh GOD im making myself angry again. the ivar that lives in my brain is flint and silver adjacent, and thats all that i can say
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sifshoney-notactive · 5 years
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Why Ivar's abandonment of Baldur isn't "historical accuracy".
I make this post with an extremely important premise: when we speak about Vikings we are using a term to group medieval Northern European people, but we have to remember that things could change among Danes, Norse, Svear and going on. So a Dane tradition/concept could be non existent among the Norse, and backwards. Keep in mind this.
To have a glimpse of how disabilities and abilities were interpreted, we can make use of the sagas, starting with the saga of Ragnar Lothbrok. Ivar the Boneless is the first son of Aslaug and Ragnar, and was born with no bones from the waist down his feet, replacing the bones there was only cartilage. I've read multiple versions of the sagas, and in none of them Ragnar ever tried to get rid of him, nor his disability was a cause of being less/more loved by one of his parents. Ivar was actually greatly admired for his beauty, skills in battle and intelligence. Not even his enemies underestimated him, and his brothers never mocked him for his inability to walk. This is just a way Ivar's arc could have been changed in the show, following the saga's storyline.
However Ivar isn't the only disabled figure in the sagas, we can least many Gods like Odin and Tyr. Usually, in the sagas, the character's disability is attributed to magic or supernatural causes, but that doesn't happen in a negative light, and we don't see in the sagas as much rejection as we see in the show. The sagas are important to see how disabilities were seen, because the concepts of ability and disability are a social construct, so quoting the sagas is an important part in this discussion.
As for the abandonment of disabled babies, archaelogists found many skeletal remains of disabled people (even elderly women) with genetic disabilities, which means that they were born with them, and these remains were often accompanied with the person's belongings and gifts/offers. This means that they weren't just dumped there, but they were treated with care by whoever was around them. An example were the remains of two women with a deformity in their spine that leaned forward, and forced them to look down all their lives (it's possible these two women were related, since they were both born with the same condition).
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(Picture from The Viking Age: a time with many faces)
Other remains showed people deformed by leprosy, an illness common at the time.
Now, does this mean the abandonment of babies never happened? No. In extremely poor family and among slaves, it was common to leave to their destiny little girls, and disabled babies, because they really couldn't take care of them and they needed a boy, that was much more easier to introduce to work or independence. But Ivar in the show isn't a poor man with a starving family, and taking care of a disabled baby wasn't impossible, if he really wanted to. I understand there are other circumstances, like the baby not being his, but justifying this behaviour or Hirst's writing with "at the time they did that" isn't really backed up by the evidences we have.
(Of course it wasn't heaven to live with a disability at the time, and it's not what I am going after in this post, I am just pointing out that whatever Hirst is trying to portray is NOT historically accurate, and should not be defended as such).
Sources:
The Prose Edda,
The saga of Ragnar Lothbrok,
To Tender Gender,
The Viking Age: a time with many faces.
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maniculum · 1 year
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Apparently Freydis makes an appearance on that Vikings show, so I made this thing.
Haven't seen the show, to be clear-- this is my impression of her character in "The Saga of the Greenlanders". Television!Freydis may be very different.
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loveletter2you · 3 years
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mytholadies is a podcast about women in mythology run by myself and @psychopompian :) you can listen on apple podcasts, google podcasts, spotify, and anywhere else you get podcasts; and you can find transcripts and episode notes on our website! we release new episodes every other monday at 6am EST / 12pm CEST!
our format is: one of the two of us researches a legendary lady and reports our findings to the other who has no idea what to expect! and in the first week of every other month, we do a themed episode exploring multiple ladies under a common theme!
our instagram 
our ko-fi
list of episodes under the cut!
so far our episodes are (as of October 24 2022)
Lady of the Lake (Arthurian Legend) 
Inanna (Sumerian Mythology)
Women of the Underworld (Themed Episode #1)
Hecate (Greek Mythology)
La Xtabay (Yucatec Folklore)
Chang’e 嫦娥 (Chinese Mythology)
Vampiric Women (Themed Episode #2)
Gudrid & Freydis (Greenlanders Sagas)
Erzulie Freda & Erzulie Dantor (Haitian Vodou)
Ọba (Yoruba Mythology)
Oiwa お岩 (Japanese Folklore)
Sun Goddesses (Themed Episode #3)
Scheherazade (One Thousand and One Nights)
Aisha Qandisha (Moroccan Folklore)
Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir (Sagas of Icelanders)
Fortune Goddesses (Themed Episode #4)
Kannaki (Tamil Epics)
Iara (Brazilian Folklore)
Pele (Hawaiian Mythology)
Love Goddesses (Themed Episode #5)
Xiwangmu 西王母 (Chinese Mythology)
Brigid (Irish Mythology)
Hathor (Egyptian Mythology)
The Persecuted Heroine (featuring Hailey Spencer)
Pontianak (Southeast Asian Folklore)
Tlazolteotl (Aztec Mythology)
The Crane Wife (Japanese Folklore)
Sky Woman (Haudenosaunee Mythology)
Celtic Faeries (Themed Episode #6)
Yennenga (Burkinabé Legends)
Whaitiri (Māori Mythology)
La Difunta Correa (Argentinian Folklore)
Mermaids (Themed Episode #7)
Grendel’s Mother (Beowulf)
Tiamat (Babylonian Mythology)
La Llorona (Mexican Folklore)
Durga (Hinduism)
Yōkai (Themed Episode #8)
Maman Brigitte (Haitian Vodou)
Bluebeard’s Bride (World Folklore)
The Bell Witch (Southern US Folklore)
Crones (Themed Episode #9)
Judith (Judaism)
Perchta (Germanic Folklore)
Two Old Women (Gwich’in Folklore)
Princess Bari 바리 공주 (Korean Mythology)
Hearth Goddesses (Themed Episode #10)
Manimekalai (Tamil Epics)
Oshun (Yoruba Mythology)
Medusa (Greek Mythology)
Ériu (Irish Mythology) (feat. Cathy)
Nafanua (Samoan Legend)
La Siguanaba (Central American Folklore)
Mary Magdalene (Biblical)
Moon Goddesses (Themed Episode #11)
Arraweelo (Somali Folklore)
Santa Muerte (Mexican Folklore)
Huang Chonggu (Chinese Folklore)
Women of the Trojan War (Themed Episode #12)
Yemoja (Yoruba Mythology)
Rusalka (Slavic Folklore)
Draupadi (Sanskrit Epics)
Witches (Themed Episode #13)
Yamauba (Japanese Folklore)
Princess Leutogi (Samoan Folklore)
Mae Nak (Thai Folklore)
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paganimagevault · 3 years
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The Landing of the Vikings (in America) by Arthur C. Michael, 1917. Illustration from 'The story of the United States' by Marshall, H. E. (Henrietta Elizabeth), b. 1917.
"During this time much talk took place in Brattahlid about making ready to go to Vinland the Good, and it was asserted that they would there find good choice lands. The discourse came to such conclusion that Karlsefni and Snorri prepared their ship, with the intention of seeking Vinland during the summer. Bjarni and Thorhall ventured on the same expedition, with their ship and the retinue which had accompanied them. There was a man named Thorvard; he married Freydis, natural daughter of Eirik the Red; he set out with them likewise, as also Thorvald, a son of Eirik. There was a man named Thorvald; he was a son-in-law of Eirik the Red. Thorhall was called the Sportsman; he had for a long time been Eirik's companion in hunting and fishing expeditions during the summers, and many things had been committed to his keeping. Thorhall was a big man, dark, and of gaunt appearance; rather advanced in years, overbearing in temper, of melancholy mood, silent at all times, underhand in his dealings, and withal given to abuse, and always inclined towards the worst. He had kept himself aloof from the true faith when it came to Greenland. He was but little encompassed with the love of friends, but yet Eirik had long held conversation with him. He went in the ship with Thorvald and his man, because he was widely acquainted with the unpeopled districts. They had the ship which Thorbjorn had brought to Greenland, and they ventured on the expedition with Karlsefni and the others; and most of them in this ship were Greenlanders. There were one hundred and sixty men in their ships." -The Saga of Erik the Red, Ch. 8
https://paganimagevault.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-landing-of-vikings-by-arthur-c.html
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earthboundvalkyrie · 1 year
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Review of Vikings: Valhalla, Season 2, Episode 2 "Towers of Faith"
New Post has been published on https://www.ebvs.blog/2023/02/01/review-of-vikings-valhalla-season-2-episode-2-towers-of-faith/
Review of Vikings: Valhalla, Season 2, Episode 2 "Towers of Faith"
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This was another strong episode. They’re continuing to set the stage for this season, and we see the characters being moved into position.
For more, including spoilers and speculation, click the “Read More” button!
WARNING: SPOILERS
The title refers to the last two scenes: Freydis standing in the tower at Jomsborg, declaring it a haven for Heathens, and the tower Leif is on as he looks at the cross, which saves him from following the hallucination of Liv over the edge.
This appears to be setting us up for the siblings to find themselves on different spiritual paths. This would be a reflection of actual history, as the sagas record Freydis as a firm supporter of the Old Ways while Leif was Christian.
Mariam seems like an interesting character, and I’m curious to see where things go with her and Leif. I just hope her cough during her introductory scene doesn’t turn out to be an Incurable Cough of Death. I really hate when something like that comes up the very first time we meet a character, seeming to spell out their future right from the start.
So far, there has been little happening in London, and it almost feels like the characters from there are being included more so that we don’t forget about them than because they have anything to add to the plot. I hope things pick up there soon.
I think the funniest moment of the episode for me was when young King Svein floated back into Kattegat with the blood from his killing of the Heathen still splattered on his face. This kid had to have ridden back to his boat, then sailed from wherever they were back to Kattegat, and he never washed or even wiped his face?! I mean, sure, they needed a a means for his mom to know he’d killed a man, but I’m not sure if that was the best way to do it.
Well, that’s it for episode 2, come back in a few days for Episode 3!
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mytholadies · 3 years
Text
mytholadies is a podcast about women in mythology. you can listen on apple podcasts, google podcasts, spotify, and anywhere else you get podcasts; and you can find transcripts and episode notes on our website! we release new episodes every other monday at 6am EST / 12pm CEST!
our format is: one of the two of us researches a legendary lady and reports our findings to the other who has no idea what to expect! and in the first week of every month, we do a themed episode exploring multiple ladies under a common theme!
so far our episodes are (as of August 15, 2021)
Lady of the Lake (Arthurian Legend)
Inanna (Sumerian Mythology)
Women of the Underworld (Themed Episode #1)
Hecate (Greek Mythology)
La Xtabay (Yucatec Folklore)
Chang’e 嫦娥 (Chinese Mythology)
Vampiric Women (Themed Episode #2)
Gudrid & Freydis (Greenlanders Sagas)
Erzulie Freda & Erzulie Dantor (Haitian Vodou)
Ọba (Yoruba Mythology)
Oiwa お岩 (Japanese Folklore)
Sun Goddesses (Themed Episode #3)
Scheherazade (One Thousand and One Nights)
Aisha Qandisha (Moroccan Folklore)
Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir (Sagas of Icelanders)
Fortune Goddesses (Themed Episode #4)
Kannaki (Tamil Epics)
Iara (Brazilian Folklore)
Pele (Hawaiian Mythology)
Love Goddesses (Themed Episode #5)
Xiwangmu 西王母 (Chinese Mythology)
Brigid (Irish Mythology)
Hathor (Egyptian Mythology)
The Persecuted Heroine (featuring Hailey Spencer)
Pontianak (Southeast Asian Folklore)
Tlazolteotl (Aztec Mythology)
The Crane Wife (Japanese Folklore)
Sky Woman (Haudenosaunee Mythology)
Celtic Faeries (Themed Episode #6)
Yennenga (Burkinabé Legends)
Whaitiri (Māori Mythology)
La Difunta Correa (Argentinian Folklore)
Mermaids (Themed Episode #7)
Grendel’s Mother (Beowulf)
Tiamat (Babylonian Mythology)
La Llorona (Mexican Folklore)
Durga (Hindu Mythology)
Yōkai 妖怪 (Themed Episode #8)
Maman Brigitte (Haitian Vodou)
Bluebeard’s Wife (World Folklore)
The Bell Witch (Southern US Folklore)
Crones (Themed Episode #9)
Judith (Jewish Apocrypha)
Perchta (Germanic Folklore)
Two Old Women (Gwich’in Folklore)
Princess Bari 바리 공주 (Korean Mythology)
Hearth Goddesses (Themed Episode #10)
Manimekalai (Tamil Epics)
Oshun (Yoruba Mythology)
Medusa (Greek Mythology)
Ériu (Irish Mythology) (feat. Cathy)
Nafanua (Samoan Legend)
La Siguanaba (Central American Folklore)
Mary Magdalene (Christain Bible)
Moon Goddesses (Themed Episode #11)
Arraweelo (Somali Legend)
Santa Muerte (Mexican Folklore)
Huang Chonggu 黃崇嘏 (Chinese Legend)
Women of the Trojan War (Themed Episode #12)
Yemoja (Yoruba Mythology)
Rusalka (Slavic Folklore)
Draupadi (Sanskrit Epics)
Witches (Themed Episode #13)
Yamauba 山姥 (Japanese Folklore)
Princess Leutogi (Samoan Mythology)
Mae Nak แม่นาก (Thai Folklore)
Winter Goddesses (Themed Episode #14)
Bonus Episodes:
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola
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