Tag: viking
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Norse Mythology: Yggdrasil
For the Norse, Yggdrasil was their world(s) tree. That’s right, world(s)—because they conceived their cosmos as having 9 worlds, not just 1. This raid therefore aims to plunder the heart of their cosmos to better understand Yggdrasil’s role and its symbolism in the Norse world(s)view. We won’t talk about everything (like Odin’s well-known sacrifice upon…
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Raid 14: Norse Mythology – Midgard and Asgard
It’s not a stretch to say that Midgard and Asgard are the two most important worlds of the Norse cosmos, for they are the homes of us humans and our gods. But…have you ever wondered why they’re both conceived of as fortresses? It’s not a coincidence. In this raid, we’ll go through the must-know details…
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Norse Mythology: Midgard and Asgard
It’s not a stretch to say that Midgard and Asgard are the two most important worlds of the Norse cosmos, for they are the homes of us humans and our gods. But…have you ever wondered why they’re both conceived of as fortresses? It’s not a coincidence. In this raid, we’ll go through the must-know details…
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Raid 13: Norse Mythology – Creating the Cosmos
The Norse imagined the creation of the cosmos as a story of ice and fire—but it’s really nothing like the more well-known Song of Ice and Fire that people prefer to talk about now. Well, perhaps they used to until a certain show ended on a less-than-popular note. But I digress. In this raid, we’re…
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Norse Mythology: Creating the Cosmos
The Norse imagined the creation of the cosmos as a story of ice and fire—but it’s really nothing like the more well-known Song of Ice and Fire that people prefer to talk about now. Well, perhaps they used to until a certain show ended on a less-than-popular note. But I digress. In this raid, we’re…
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Special Raid: ‘Viking’ Love Stories
When it comes to love in the medieval North, these are some of the most essential stories to know. We start things off with a fairly detailed discussion about Freyja, the free-spirited goddess of love and war, including her ferocious cats and her experience with magic, aka seiðr. After that, we cringe (and laugh) through…
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Valentine’s Day Special: ‘Viking’ Love Stories
When it comes to love in the medieval North, these are some of the most essential stories to know. We start things off with a fairly detailed discussion about Freyja, the free-spirited goddess of love and war, including her ferocious cats and her experience with magic, aka seiðr. After that, we cringe (and laugh) through…
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Raid 11: Norse Mythology in Snorri and Saxo’s Salty Prose
When it comes to ‘primary’ source material about Norse mythology, few are better than the Prose Edda—but everyone hates on its 13th-century Icelandic author, the infamous Snorri Sturluson. There’s plenty of good reasons for that, but I think people take for granted that he was much less salty than his Danish contemporary, Saxo Grammaticus. This…
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Norse Mythology: Snorri and Saxo’s Salty Prose
When it comes to ‘primary’ source material about Norse mythology, few are better than the Prose Edda—but everyone hates on its 13th-century Icelandic author, the infamous Snorri Sturluson. There’s plenty of good reasons for that, but I think people take for granted that he was much less salty than his Danish contemporary, Saxo Grammaticus. This…
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Fjorn Wanders: Podcast Appearances!
As some of you have already noticed, this past Monday (January 27th) was a busy day of podcasting for me! Not only did I post our 9th raid, but I also appeared as a guest on two additional podcasts. Since so much gets drowned out in the din of war that is social media these…
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Raid 7: What Made a Raid ‘Viking’?
To bake a Viking raid, one needs a few more ingredients than a Norseman with an axe. Naturally, you’ll have to listen to this episode to get the recipe. I will say this, though: we cover the developments in Scandinavia that provided the foundation for the first Viking raids, the main factors used to differentiate…
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Viking History: The Viking Age (c. 750-1050 CE)
The ‘first’ raid of the Viking Age (c. 750-1050 or, more conventionally, 793-1066) isn’t as straightforward as you might think. You might have heard about Lindisfarne before, if you’ve been into Vikings and Norse things for a while—but, spoiler alert, that’s not really the first raid. It’s impactful, but not the ‘original.’ This video will…
