The Library Annex

I will help you like hand helps hand, or foot helps foot.

In these tales, we witness the evolution of Norse culture and, perhaps, the slow decline of the gods. While both tales follow a lineage legendarily descended from Odin, they have drastically different tones despite both dripping with blood, violence and vengeance.

Through the story of Sigurth, who slayed the dragon Fafnir, characters behave under predetermined Fate; arguably orchestrated by incorruptible and inescapable laws of human nature. As we witness with Sigurth, a noble man can suffer an ignoble fate if laws of human nature remain in tact. The law of greed and envy control the fates of Gunnar and Hogni. For Signy, the law of revenge fuels her undiscerning, murderous rampage. For Brynhild, the law of oath breaking drives her irrational pursuit of vengeance. For Guthrun, the laws of sorrow spark her vengeance. For these characters, none embrace their agency and they become simple vessels for acting out their emotions.

The last episode in Volsunga saga tells of Guthrun’s sons’ vengeance for the death of their half-sister, Svanhild, Guthrun’s daughter with Sigurth. Two of these sons kill the third because they misunderstand his cryptic response about his fighting prowess. At their own death, they realize that by killing their third brother, they kill their chance for victory in their endeavors. They remove all limbs from their victim King Jormunrekk but cannot remove his head, the part which their third brother would have removed. Because of this, the king can hear Odin himself advise him on how to kill his attackers and the brothers understand the folly of their mistake. The head, Wisdom, even without muscular limb to clench mystical swords, can bring down the most brutish warrior.

In Ragnars saga lothbrokar, the story transforms in tone as Wisdom becomes the prominent element driving the fates and actions of men. Odin does not appear as much as he had in Volsunga saga. Ragnar shares many similarities with Sigurth, even in his victory over a dragon, but he does not seek the treasure. He marries Aslaug out of desire rather than matching from social hierarchy. His son Ivar, the boneless, crippled and lacking in the physical prowess boasted of by heroes in Volsunga saga, proves the greatest Norseman of all the heroes because of his wisdom alongside his valor as a warrior. While still violent and honorable in the Norse tradition, Wisdom now thrives rather than beastial barbarism. The name of Ragnarsson ties a string of brotherhood around men down through the ages. In the far reaching corners of the globe stand mighty, speaking statues committed to standing in honor of those men until the end of the world. Odin is gone. His wisdom now lives within men rather than outside of them. Like Odin, men can now embrace their wisdom and break the shackles of law to create their own Fate; or die in the attempt.