The Forbidden Nature of Love Poems

A twitter follower recently reminded me of the law against writing love poems in Old Norse society, and having just recently discussed Odin's Runic Superpowers, in particular those which relate to the seducing of women, I thought it might be worth covering on the blog here, briefly.

First, the Viking Answer Lady provides us with some background:

One reason why love poetry was so ill-regarded by the Vikings may have been due to the fear in pagan times of magical ensnarement of the woman so immortalized by the power of the verses (Foote and Wilson, p. 112).

If you believe that Odin has the ability to seduce a woman with a song/runes/poetry (see Runic Superpowers of Odin Part II), and the gods have been known to pass the magic of the runes on to mortals (Heimdall as Rig teaches Rune magic to his son Jarl), it makes absolute sense that other mortals might be concerned about magical ensnarement of their daughters in every day life. How can you be sure that a poem is just a poem, and not a spell meant to seduce your daughter and ultimately dishonor her? How can you even be sure that the person writing the poem isn't Odin, for that matter, or worse, Loki, who is also known for shape shifting, come to take advantage of your daughter/sister.


And I have to say, it makes absolute sense for love poetry to have been a much, much more serious concern to a culture with a god like Odin, and in particular, a god like Odin to whom poetry is pretty much the source of a lot of his wisdom and superpower via the runes. When Poetry is that powerful, it only makes sense that its use would be governed by law, and as defensive as Norsemen can be about their women, the law is there to protect more than just the female party.


It might seem kind of absurd to us, but poetry was magic according to Norse society -- we see that clearly in the Havamal when Odin talks about his magical powers:

152.
An eighth I know: which all can sing
for their weal if they learn it well;
where hate shall wax 'mid the warrior sons,
I can calm it soon with that song.

WORDS have power over the minds of men. And it isn't just the gods who can wield them in persuasion. I think that's a lesson we, in all our practicality, seem to have forgotten.

Aesir Legal (II)

(When last we left our repeat offenders, Bragi, god of poetry had just arrived to spring Amalia from her hand-cuffed chair, and Z still had no idea what he was really getting himself into.)

“Thorskona!” Bragi smiled and clasped my newly freed hand in both of his as the police officer tucked the handcuffs back into his belt. “Safe mayst thou go, safe come again, and safe be the way thou wendest!”

“Ah, thank you, Bragi.” Gods of poetry never said one word when they could confuse you with five or ten instead. For Bragi, this was a positively forthright way of telling me I was free to go, finally and at last. I’d only been sitting around waiting for the last nine hours. “And it’s Amalia. My name, I mean.”

He beamed beneath his long, neatly braided beard. “The Allfather himself has five hundred forty names, if you only provide me with one, I must improvise where I may, but believe me, my dear, when I say, as surely as Skinfaxi brings daylight with him across the sky, you are Thorskona, Thorsvíf, Thorskván, Thors–”

“You can stop right there and back it up. I’m no one’s víf, and I’m absolutely not his kván.”

Bragi gave a dismissive flick of his fingers. “Better than being known as Thorsthrall or Thorsambátt, is it not?”

“No,” I said, all but grinding my teeth on the word. My knowledge of Old Norse and modern Icelandic was pretty basic and mostly curses I picked up from Thor, but one thing I did know, being considered Thor’s servant was a lot better for my health than being considered his wife. “It isn’t better. And if you’re saying these things in Asgard –”

“My brother Bragi is not foolish enough to risk the wrath of Sif, even for the perfect kennings,” Thor said, though how long he’d been listening, I wasn’t sure. He’d been talking to one of the other officers still when Bragi had greeted me. Thor placed one overlarge hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. “You needn’t worry on that account.”

But I did worry. Thunder gods were fun to have around, and even better to have at your back in a fight, but relationships with any kind of god were a different kettle of fish. I rubbed my wrist. If Bragi had numbered my days with his kennings, I definitely didn’t want to spend any more time in the police station.

“Um,” Z said from where he still sat handcuffed. “What exactly does kvown mean?”

“Nothing,” I said, glaring at Bragi. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Ah!” Bragi said, smiling at Z. “Wise shall he seem who well can question, and also answer well. It is a word for a woman of hearth and home, hand-fasted and brought to bed, but Thorskona might better be considered Thor’s kvánarefni, his future wife, for they have not yet wed.” Thunder was beginning to rumble, but Bragi was ignoring it, along with his brother’s glower, and my furious blush. “The happy day will come as sure as Hrimfaxi brings night. Who is the man who speaks to me in this drafty hall, and wouldst he know more?”

Z just stared. It was a common problem when dealing with Bragi, really. By the time a god of poetry finished speaking, most people didn’t remember where they’d started. Hopefully Z was one of those people, because the last thing I needed was word getting around that I was Thor’s bride-to-be. When it comes to gods and monsters, the best solution is ALWAYS to draw the line at friendship, and it is never more important to stand firm than when the god or monster’s ex-wife happens to be a goddess of beauty, known for her affairs with a Trickster.

“Well, I guess we’d better get going then,” I said. Thor’s fist closed in the material of Bragi’s jacket. “Great to see you again, Z.”

“But –” Bragi began, and Thor clamped a hand over his mouth, muscling him toward the door.

“I think he’s had enough of your wisdom for one day, brother.”

“Good luck with the Satyr business.” I forced a smile and all but shoved Bragi and Thor both out the door.

Of course it was raining outside. I sighed. Thunder gods tend to forget that not everyone is immune to precipitation, and I’d left my coat at home.

“That could have gone better,” Thor said, striking out into the downpour without the slightest hesitation.

To think I used to worry about running into zombies and frost giants on the bus. Taking Bragi out in public was so, so much worse.

Thor vs. Odin in the Hárbarðsljóð (II)

Okay, first of all, the Hárbarðsljóð might be the greatest poem ever written in the entirety of all poetry. Second of all, did this exchange really just happen?* (And you wonder why I say Odin doesn't ever use his Rune Magic Superpowers!)

Harbarth spake:
30. "Eastward I was, | and spake with a certain one,
I played with the linen-white maid, | and met her by stealth;
I gladdened the gold-decked one, | and she granted me joy."
Thor spake:
31. "Full fair was thy woman-finding."
Harbarth spake:
32. "Thy help did I need then, Thor, | to hold the white maid fast."
Thor spake:
33. "Gladly, had I been there, | my help to thee had been given."

Really Odin? Really, you just said you could have used Thor's help to hold the woman down? My friend, do you not remember Superpower numbers 16 and 17?! You can win the affection of any woman with runic magic! You don't need force! The fact that Thor is ALL OVER THAT makes me laugh, too. This is an exchange where you really feel like these are just two guys shouting about their conquests across a body of water talking about their conquests in a bar.

Odin: Yeah, I went out to Easttown and hooked up with this chick -- she was really wild in bed, man. It was crazy.

Thor: You let me know next time you hook up, I'll totally pick up the slack if she's too much for you to handle. Har Har.

But of course the camaraderie can't last. This is a flyting poem! And now things start getting downright mean:

  Harbarth spake:
48. "Sif has a lover at home, | and him shouldst thou meet;
More fitting it were | on him to put forth thy strength."

If Odin is testing Thor's character (he's already accused him of taking bribes to look the other way against the Aesir, told him his mother is dead, accused him of cowardice in the face of his enemies, and now this suggestion of his wife's infidelity**), he's hitting all the major notes. And in Thor's response we can see his loyalty to those he loves. But he does sound kind of distressed, if you ask me:

49. "Thy tongue still makes thee say | what seems most ill to me,
Thou witless man! Thou liest, I ween."

In the end, Odin refuses Thor passage across the water and Thor has to find the long way home with only Odin's insults and accusations for company. I have to wonder though -- if Thor had held his temper and given back as good as he got, would Odin have revealed himself and given Thor a lift?

More than ever, I think this was a test. And more than ever, I think Thor failed. Not only that, but this whole poem only reinforces my thoughts about Loki and Thor's relationship. I wonder how much Thor lived in Baldur's shadow -- sure he was powerful, and sure the PEOPLE loved him, but I'm not sure we see that love and support for Thor inside the Aesir family dynamic.


*If you're wondering, I am in fact reading this poem for the first time, and these blogposts are essentially my "real time" responses to the text. Most entertaining Norse Myth ever, you guys.


**Loki, in the Lokasenna, claims that Sif took him to bed as her lover, also. Someday I'm going to have to revisit the character of Sif blogpost I wrote a while back to take this additional source into account. There are also two mentions of Thjalfi in this poem, where he's running around with Thor on various adventures for future blogpost fun!

Aesir Legal (I)

[You may remember Thor and Amalia's Adventures from The Wheels on the Bus AKA Thor in Zombie Land (and if you don't, no time like the present!), and you may even remember Amalia making mention of the Aesir Legal Defense in episode V point V. Well, today is your lucky day, because it is time to revisit our friends Thor and Amalia , and it is MORE than time we learned more about the Aesir Legal Defense, charged with making sure Amalia does not end up in jail for Thor's offenses, and taking care of all matters roughly ambassadorial at the Asgardian Embassy. Because it isn't just the Zombies with whom treaties have been signed!]

The trouble with associating with thunder gods is the terrible time they have controlling their tempers. As a result, you are inevitably involved in brawls, being charged with assault, and sitting around hand-cuffed to chairs by the desks of police officers while said thunder god, impossible to mistake for anything but a citizen of Asgard, and granted Diplomatic and Divine Immunity, is released free and clear to go on about his business. Needless to say I've been getting to know the other frequent offenders pretty well, so when one Z. Tringali dropped into the seat next to mine, nursing a bandaged hand and several bruises (as usual), I gave him a friendly nod.

"Satyrs hitting on your girlfriend again?"

"Stupid Satyr treaty never should have been ratified," he grumbled, slouching in his chair. It was just a formality to bring someone in after they punched a Satyr -- no one ever pressed charges for it. Inevitably the Satyr was too drunk to remember and didn’t care, even if he did. Z’d had at least a dozen run ins with them as far as I could tell. "What about you? Waiting for the Aesir Legal Defense to spring you?"

"Yup," I said, glowering as Thor ducked out of the interrogation room. He was too tall and too wide to fit through the doorway without turning just slightly, and when he grinned at me, I didn’t return it. He wasn’t getting off that easily. Not this time.

"Zombies again?" Z asked.

"Vampires,” I sighed. “Apparently he was smelling my hair or something. I didn't even realize the guy wasn't human until Thor knocked out his teeth, and then the other vampires in the bar got involved and it just kind of escalated from there. You know how it goes."

He nodded and flexed his bandaged hand. "Well at least the Aesir have your back, pro-bono. My legal fees are getting ridiculous. Hey!"

He sat up so suddenly the movement caught Thor's eye from across the room, and a growl of thunder rumbled through the police station. Thunder gods are kind of over protective, when they're not the ones getting you into trouble, and even more so when they're feeling guilty for having gotten you into trouble to begin with. Again. And unlike Satyrs, vampires ALWAYS pressed charges. Lucky me.

This was what I got for agreeing to meet a friend of a friend and show them around town without letting the Asgardian Embassy vet them first. But how should I have known said friend might be a vampire? Knowing Mia, I’d figured it would have been some kind of zombie, and I had plenty of practice dealing with them, by now. No sweat.

"Sorry," Z said, sitting back carefully, hands raised in surrender as he eyed Thor warily. The thunder softened to a purr and Thor turned back to the officer with my paperwork. "I forgot how touchy he can be."

"Don't worry about it," I assured him, waving off the semi-regular threat to others of thunder-god-beat-down that came with my daily life. "He's not allowed to start fights in the police station. You were saying?"

"Well,” he cleared his throat. “I was just wondering if you knew how a person could get in.”

“In?”

“You know, to immigrate? I hear they have good health care. There." He jerked his chin up just slightly, as if to indicate somewhere above.

Technically speaking, Asgard wasn’t “above” anything, but I caught his meaning. Asgardian citizenship. Thor had been pressing me to start the process for myself for years, but I didn’t really want to encourage his tendency to rise to my defense, even if it would have made all these trips downtown go a lot faster. Z wouldn't have that problem at least, and he was a fighter, too. The Aesir loved fighters. But there were other reasons the embassy wasn’t overrun with applicants. The forms were impossible, for starters.

"It depends, really. But since you’re obviously not planning to marry a Valkyrie –”

“How do you know?”

I raised both eyebrows. “Valkyries don’t exactly let anyone throw punches for them. The Satyr would be pulp before you realized he’d said anything offensive to begin with.”

“Oh.” He frowned. “Point taken.”

“Exactly,” I said. “So, can you swing a sword?"

"Sure, why not?"

I tried not to look skeptical. "What about holding your liquor?"

He shrugged. "No problem there."

"There's just one more thing, then," I said.

"Yeah?"

Bragi had just walked in the door, and Thor hailed him, grinning. One thing you could say for thunder gods, they were never less than enthusiastic to see their family and friends, but Bragi wasn't exactly the Aesir's best lawyer, by any stretch. Sure, he was smooth, well-dressed in his business suit, and even mesmerizing when he spoke. Except he did this thing where everything he said was riddles and rhyming verse and used metaphors that were four steps removed from whatever the point really was, and the officer in charge was already getting that glazed look on his face that meant I was going to be here all night. At least I had company, and Z might as well experience the truth before he got involved.

"Poetry," I told him. "Not this modern stuff either. Skaldic verse or bust."

He laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

I smiled.

Whether he believed me or not, he couldn’t say I didn’t warn him.

(An extra thanks to special guest star Z. Tringali, and special guest Mia-from-whom-all-calamitous-ideas-involving-zombies-originate.)

Thor vs. Odin in the Hárbarðsljóð

Thor is so cute when he shakes his hammer.

In this poem, Odin has disguised himself as a ferryman on the opposite shore from Thor, freshly returned from slaying yon Jotuns in the mysterious East. Thor just wants a lift to the other side of the sound, but Odin is determined to put Thor through his paces in a battle of um. well. insult and wit, I guess. (No one should really be surprised by this.)

But my question is this: if, as is a common conception, Thor is so "simple" and "dimwitted" why is Odin bothering to challenge him at all? It seems like it would be too easy a mark. And really, some of Thor's replies are pretty great. Some of them typically Hammer-smash, too, but you have to give credit where credit is due!

An example:

Harbarth spake:
24. [...];
The noble who fall | in the fight hath Othin,
And Thor hath the race of the thralls."

Thor spake:
25. "Unequal gifts | of men wouldst thou give to the gods,
If might too much thou shouldst have."

Harbarth spake:
26. "Thor has might enough, | but never a heart;
For cowardly fear | in a glove wast thou fain to crawl,
And there forgot thou wast Thor;
Afraid there thou wast, | thy fear was such,
To fart or sneeze | lest Fjalar should hear."

Thor spake:
27. "Thou womanish Harbarth, | to hell would I smite thee straight,
Could mine arm reach over the sound."

In this back and forth, Harbarth (Odin in disguise) is saying that Thor only receives the souls of Thralls and Peasants into his hall-of-the-dead* and Odin is better because he gets all the REAL, NOBLE warriors to fight for him. Thor replies easily, implying Harbarth knows not of what he speaks, but either way it isn't up to Harbarth who goes where, so NYAH.** And Harbarth responds in turn by calling Thor a big fat coward (a natural progression, I guess) which of course provokes Thor (short-tempered at the best of times) to reply with the Hammer-Smash argument.

Odin gets serious points for saying that Thor was too terrified even to fart in stanza 26, I'm not going to lie. But Thor's "Womanish" response is pretty weak, even before we reach the Hammer-Smash. I feel like this is some kind of test by Odin -- to see if his son has the CHOPS for flyting. I don't think Thor is going to be taking home an A+ on this exam, but he proves he can think on his feet at least a little bit.

...until he loses his temper.

*This supposed hall of the dead belonging to Thor, strictly for the spirits of Thralls and Peasants, isn't referenced anywhere else, according to the note attached -- but I'll tell you what, if Thor DID have such a hall, it just makes him that much AWESOMER in my book.

**I think  he's also implying that he doesn't care or need to care about getting warriors, personally, because he's so powerful already, and this is a pretty good comeback! I mean -- it is kind of true. The Aesir are always calling Thor up to do their dirty work when it comes to defeating giants. Odin has all this power -- can see the future and turn peoples minds and blah blah blah rune magic, but does he USE it to save the gods some trouble? Case in point: that whole wall-building episode, with the builder who wanted Freyja, the sun, and the moon for payment, and the gods setting him up to fail and then uh -- well, he is clearly going to not fail, so they make Loki stack the deck even further, not that they ever had any intention of keeping their word to begin with, but to add insult to injury after totally jerking the builder around, they just go ahead and call Thor in to kill him so they don't have to arrange for any alternate compensation. Guys, I would not advise making any DEALS with the Aesir if Loki is around. Just a word to the wise.

Affairs of the Gods: Heimdall as Rig

Heimdall chatting up Freyja

Falling loosely under the category of AFFAIRS OF THE GODS, in the Rigsthula, Heimdall masquerades in the guise of Rig, visiting three different families on his journey along the shore, and fathers three sons, one by each family: Thræll, the first of all the thralls; Karl, the ancestor of all the peasants or yeomen; and finally Jarl, who is the ancestor of all kings, as you can imagine, but also the only son Heimdall claims as his own, and the only son Heimdall teaches about the runes.*

Reading the myth put me in mind of the Old Testament and the book of Genesis, where it says:

Lamech took two wives; the name of one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah bore Jabal; he was the ancestor of those who live in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the ancestor of all those who play the lyre and pipe (4:19-21).**

Of course the Rigsthula is a much less dry accounting of this kind of ancestry-assignment (say what you will about the myths, but the Norsemen know how to tell a story of who begat whom with a lot more zest). Heimdall essentially sweet talks his way into bed with his hosts (married couples in each instance, of better and better means as the story unfolds) and then, not just into bed, but into the middle of the bed, so he has the husband on one side of him and the wife on the other. Heimdall sure didn't lack gumption to impregnate these ladies while they were in bed with their husbands. Of course, he's a god -- and gods have a reputation for letting nothing stand in the way of a little bit of boot-knocking -- but after accepting their hospitality, it does seem a little bit... questionable, on Heimdall's part.

Then again, hospitality wasn't nearly the binding contract among the Norse that it was for the Greeks. We see in the Sagas how often the guise of offering hospitality is used to betray someone utterly. The Volsung family, for example, suffers this kind of deception and betrayal, resulting in the deaths of everyone but Sigmund and Sigyn, who are then left to take revenge upon Sigyn's husband (who invited the entire family to visit and then slaughtered them). However, we also see, by the behavior of the Volsungs, that betraying one's guests is absolutely dishonorable and deviant behavior.*** I'm not certain if that holds true the other way around -- if the guests themselves are bound by some rule in their treatment of the host, I haven't yet come across an example of it (and there is plenty of stuff out there I haven't read, for the record).

All that said, each son finds a wife, and they all are said to have lived happily ever after, making plenty of babies with specialized skill-sets for their particular roles as Thralls, Peasants, or Kings. How much Heimdall had to do with that, I don't know, but I'd LIKE to believe that he at least went so far as ensuring a semi-prosperous future for the other two sons he fathered and abandoned. I find myself wondering if the cuckolded husbands realized who fathered their strapping boys, but how do you miss someone having sex in the bed right next to you?

I think these affairs of Heimdall's give Zeus a run for the money in the BRASH department, personally.

*To me, this looks like Jarl is the only child who is given the TOOLS to rule (it is not possible to overvalue literacy.. or um, magic). He comes from the most well off of the families Heimdall stays with (judging by the food offered to their guest and what the husband is busying himself with in the evening hours), and is described as the most beautiful of the three boys born, too. Basically, Jarl is given every advantage. The American in me is saying "but! BUT! Wouldn't the line of kings be even more impressive if they had come from a situation of adversity from birth, rather than getting the silver-spoon treatment?!" I suppose this is proof positive that not all sons of gods are created equal. Or something.


**I always found this passage interesting, because it comes before the flood, wherein everyone but Noah's family is wiped out, which makes it kind of impossible for Jabal and Jubal to be the ancestors of anyone TODAY, as Noah was a descendant of one of Adam's other sons, and Jubal and Jabal are descended from Cain.


***Sigyn's father refuses to believe her husband would do such a thing, but even if he didn't refuse to believe it, he wouldn't dishonor of his family name himself by turning tail and running, anyway. Such was the importance of honor and reputation, it was better to die fighting -- as we all remember from that post about Hel.

The Runic Superpowers of Odin: Part II

Odin using his SUPERFLIRT powers

When last we left our hero-king-Allfather, he had learned the first 9 of 18 runic spells of power and magic while hanging himself from the world-tree, Yggdrasil. In this post, I present you with the back nine, pulled from the Hávamál:

     10. Odin has the power to ward off witches and send them back home confused -- and it's kind of interesting to note, also, that most of those who use magic in the sagas are women. Males, as a rule, did not engage in such things, with the exception of Odin the Allfather, of course.

     11. Odin can protect his people if he leads them to war. By singing beneath his shield, he can bring them safely through the battle and home again.

     12. With runes and spells, Odin can speak to a hanged man. More precisely, he can bring them down to speak to HIM. I bet the dead have some interesting stories to tell. Gruesome, too.

     13. If Odin sprinkles a new baby with water, they'll never fall in battle. (Kind of sounds like a baptism to me.)

     14. I'm not sure how to interpret this one, exactly, so I'll feed you the quote: "I know all the nature of gods and of elves" (stanza 158).*

     15. With a song, Odin can give extra strength to the gods (I am envisioning little +1s or +5s floating over their heads), bonus SKILL to the elves, and uh -- well, more wisdom to himself, I guess. I wonder if this is temporary or continual. Either way, I wonder why he doesn't bonus-wisdom himself constantly. Maybe he does. WHO CAN SAY.

     16. Odin can win the affection and love of any woman he wants. Ladies man SUPREME, to say the least. No question at all in my mind that Odin got plenty of use out of this one.

     17. Even the SHYEST of ladies will be charmed and reluctant to leave him.**

     18. I'm tempted to believe this one is something to do with professing his own feelings, but it's kind of another riddle -- I guess it could just be that he is withholding the final spell, but I don't know. Odin gets with a lot of ladies, so if he's telling all of them what this one is, he's kind of contradicting himself. I'll give you the quote, here, too (stanza 163):

An eighteenth I know: which I ne'er shall tell
to maiden or wife of man
save alone to my sister, or haply to her
who folds me fast in her arms;
most safe are secrets known to but one-
the songs are sung to an end.

As you can see, Odin is a pretty talented god. And this is just the tip of the iceberg -- he also won a LOT of wisdom and information from Mimir's well, at the cost of his eye. I'm betting Odin has no regrets about that trade, especially since his spear is magicked to hit whatever he aims for, anyway. And I guess you don't really need depth perception when you have two ravens to see everything in the world for you in advance.


*The Norse Myths by Crossley-Holland interprets this as being able to name all the gods and elves, but that seems pretty weak to me. And also, not really something to do with the runes, so much as just being some extra knowledge picked up along the way. I'd be much more impressed if he saw into the hearts of said elves and gods, and KNEW them with a glance instead. 


**I kind of feel like this is a cheat. This is totally just 16 part two, but whatever, Odin, I will give you the pass.