Let's Go A' Viking

In my quest to discover my heritage, I came across some pretty cool ancestors. In previous posts, I've talked about Ragnar, who is now generally regarded to have been a real Viking chieftain. His wives seem to be another matter. On the History Channel version, Ragnar is first married to Lathgertha, the shieldmaiden. However, other accounts say that Ragnar was first married to Aslaug, the daughter of the shieldmaiden Brunhilde, or Brynhildr. She's the one I want to talk about today.

The story of Brynhildr is amazing. There is so much written about her that I wonder if she may also have been a real person. Many of the heroes and heroines portrayed in the Volsunga Saga and other Norse literature are turning out to have a history based in fact, although there's no doubt the writers fictionalized many of their superhuman and fantastical attributes.

The awesome thing about Brynhildr is that she's a Valkyrie, a shieldmaiden who chooses who is to live or die in battle, much like The Morrigan in Irish folklore. Those warriors that the Valkyrie chooses go to Valhalla to feast with Odin in a euphoric afterlife. The name Valkyrie comes from root words that literally mean "chooser of the slain."

According to the Volsunga Saga:

One day, Brynhildr, the Amazon daughter of Odin and Erda (the personification of earth) was ordered to choose the victor of a one on one battle between two strangely named king dudes, Hjalmgunnar and Agnar. Even though Brynhildr knew Odin wanted the older, grumpier Hjalmgunnar to win, Brynhildr was a rebellious thing, and chose Agnar, who must've been very nice to look at, to win the fight.

But, oh man, Odin was ticked. So ticked that he condemned Brynhildr to live the rest of her life as a mortal woman, and imprisoned her in a castle. And not only that, but he made it so she slept a sleep like death inside a ring of fire. Only a man who knew no fear, and surpassed Brynhildr in strength, could rescue her. But, Odin was still devastated by his beloved daughter's betrayal.

It was a seemingly impossible task. Most guys, even though they were Viking superheroes, could not rescue the beautiful maiden.

Until Sigurd Sigmundson, my paternal ancestor, came along. He's the Siegfried in the tale of Siegfried and Brunhilde. Some of you are might be familiar with Howard David Johnson's rendering of the pair:

Now, Sigurd was one bad ass dude. He was the slayer of the poisonous dragon Fafnir. Although Fafnir doesn't look so tough in the illustration, believe me, he was VERY tough. And the blood of Fafnir was magical, allowing Sigurd to understand birdsong. Okay, so how that makes any kind of logical sense is beyond me. Lol.

So, after slaying the dragon with his magic sword, Gram, Sigurd was feeling pretty good and wanted a woman. And the woman he wanted was Brynhildr. So, he goes to the castle, somehow manages to get through the ring of fire, and awakens Brynhildr by taking off her Valkyrie helmet and cutting off her chain mail armor.

The two experienced love at first sight, and Sigurd proposed to her with a magic ring that could make gold named Andvaranaut. I would love a ring like that and if it's real, I should have it because I'm the ancestor. Lol.

But, as always, there was evil afoot in the Viking world. He should've married Brynhildr right away, but instead he promised to return to her after visiting King Gjuki in Burgundy.

But when Gjuki's awful sorceress wife, Grimheld, saw Sigurd, she thought he was such a manly hunk that she wanted him to marry her daughter, Gudrun. So she made a magic potion and it might have gone down like this:

Grimheld: Oh, Sigurd, you are one fine specimen of manhood. Don't you see my lovely daughter over there? The one with rats in her hair and the giant mole on her nose?

Sigurd: Yes, Maam. But you see, I'm a hero, and I'm in love with a beautiful Valkyrie, the loveliest shield-maiden there ever was. I'm going to marry her as soon as I'm done with this ridiculous discussion with your husband.

Grimheld: Here, drink this. (She holds us a golden chalice filled with a red, apple-y smelling concoction.

Sigurd: Yummy. Gulp, gulp, gulp.

Grimheld: So, you're going to marry Brynhildr?

Sigurd: Who?

Grimheld: (smiling and cackling under her breath) You don't remember your beautiful shield-maiden, Brynhildr?

Sigurd: Who's that? Why would I want a beautiful Valkyrie when I can have your rat-infested daughter? I'll marry her!

Oh, poor Sigurd. Big on handsome brawniness, little on brains. The potion made him totally forget Brynhildr, and he married ugly old Gudrun.

But Grimheld wasn't finished. She wanted to keep a close eye on Brynhildr, so she sent her son, Gunnar, to rescue and marry her.

But Gunnar wasn't manly, and wasn't even as smart as Sigurd, so when he tried to ride his horse through a ring of flames surrounding the castle, he failed miserably, probably burning up his poor horse. Then he borrowed Sigurd's magic horse, and still failed to get through the ring of flames. So Sigurd agrees to change bodies with Gunnar, and he then succeeds in rescuing Brynhildr...again.

Then the catfights began. Brynhildr and Gudrun started arguing over whose husband was greater, Sigurd or Gunnar. It might've gone down like this:

Gudrun: My husband is sexier and tougher than your pansy husband.

Brynhildr: Ha! That's a laugh and a half, witch daughter. My husband rode through a wall of flames to save me.

Gudrun: You stupid blonde! Sigurd and Gunnar exchanged shapes. It wasn't Gunnar who made it through the flames, but my husband, Sigurd.

Brynhildr: (snagging Gudrun by the throat) You're lying!

Gudrun: (choking and gagging) No, I'm not! I swear on the rats that live in my hair!

Brynhildr: I see you are telling the truth. WTF! Where's that filthy cheating Sigurd? I'll kill him!

And she does just that by giving another guy a magic potion that causes rage. Still, the enraged guy can only kill Sigurd when he's sleeping. And even then, Sigurd is one tough cookie. As he lay dying, he hurls his sword at his murderer and kills him.

So, where does Aslaug, Ragnar's wife, come into the picture? That part is murky, but apparently in the three days Sigurd spent in the castle with Brynhildr disguised in Gunnar's body, they played around a bit and Aslaug was conceived.

But wow, those Viking women are not to be messed with...

I was watching an episode of the Vikings on the History Channel last night and this "love" scene between Ragnar and Lathgertha was actually pretty dang sexy, I thought:

Anyway, I hope history keeps coming alive, and that many of the old Viking heroes and heroines are found to be based in fact. Awesome ancestry!