#Vikings ask

[flysafepapi]

Vikings ask ragnarsson reaction to seeing each other in vallhala

Okay, I haven’t thought as much about this, but here goes. (This is assuming they all made it there, which wouldn’t be the case for a few of them but we’re gonna ignore that for this.) (I apologise in advance for the wall of text. None of this is based in fact, only my opinions.)

Bjorn’s reaction would be mixed, both happy to see them there, probably still irritated about how everything ended up. Definitely still pissed at Hvitserk about Lagertha, but I think they’d both work it out after fighting to the death a few hundred times. I can’t see him and Ivar becoming friendly even in the afterlife, they both represent two different aspects of Ragnar way too strongly to ever get along for more than a few minutes at a time.

Ubbe, I feel, would mostly be happy that his family is back together again, regardless of how everything ended when they were all alive. Maybe a little less enthused to see Bjorn again, because I feel like, as the second oldest/oldest of Ragnar and Aslaug’s children, there’d be a little too much competition between them, even if they’d both never call it that. (We all know they’d be still vying for their father’s attention as they’re both, through different mothers, his oldest)

Hvitserk is the true middle child (I can relate bc me and my brother are both the middle children of all our siblings), so while he’s probably going to be hesitant at first, he’s absolutely the peacemaker of the family, so he’s gonna be doing the Absolute Most™️ to get everyone to either apologise to eachother for all the shit they did to eachother (extremely unlikely when dealing with Ivar) or just to at least pretend it never happened and move past it (much more plausible) Definitely goes towards Ivar first, a little because Ivar is not-so-secretly his favourite, but because a thousand years spent in the afterlife couldn’t make him drop the habit of making sure Ivar wasn’t being an idiot and overexerting himself. (It was supposed to be Ubbe’s job as the oldest but it was always Hvitserk that took over that instead.)

Sigurd is the tricky one, because he wasn’t really developed much in the series, and what little development we did get wasn’t the positive kind, so it’s difficult to say what I think his reaction would be. There’d be a heavy amount of annoyance in there, that “Oh my god, I can’t escape these people even when I’m dead” kind, but I think the more time that goes by, the more he’d mellow out and actually stop being so standoffish all the time. Except when it comes to Ivar. Those two are never making up, ever, being within six feet of eachother either ends in one getting killed until they come back the next day (I don’t know the exact time, I don’t know much Norse mythology), or they’re going to act like the other doesn’t even exist.

Ivar’s secretly going to be happy to see them again, minus Sigurd, but would never, ever admit it. Honestly I’m sure he would rather do literally anything else than tell Bjorn that maybe he doesn’t hate the mere sight of him. Hvitserk gets a pass on that, only when Ivar is sure they’re alone, and only if he promises never to ever tell anyone else. Gotta keep his reputation, of course. (Floki also gets another pass, but no one is surprised by that one, anyone with eyes could see that Floki absolutely has a favourite and it’s Ivar.)

[zu-is-here]

Zu, I can be a little horrible for what I'm saying but in Viking Au, Nightmare could have told Horror that Cross was planning to betray him to get rid of Cross... but also to get revenge on Horror (⁠●⁠´⁠⌓⁠`⁠●⁠)

Like you said he was pretty frail when he was smaller, and now he's got an important role. But he may still have resentments towards people in his village who have always been powerful enough not to be mocked. And Horror was the most powerful, so he was a bit of a scapegoat for his resentment (⁠๑⁠•⁠﹏⁠•⁠)

Oh you've got a point! Σ(-᷅_-᷄๑)

Nightmare was smart enough to turn the situation to his advantage against both of them at once (but miscalculated a bit anyway :')

Although it was advantageous for him to stay an advisor to the strongest monster of the tribe, since he could control Horror through his tips and “the will of the gods” (not always, unlucky, since Horror was a rather stubborn ruler ò_ó)

But after suffering enough, Nightmare finally found a gold mine, and he wasn't gonna leave it so soon.

[littlefreya]

Called OUT

Ooops 👀 that’s definitely us

[gramnel]

Here we go, @papysanzo

Thank you for the idea, although I feel like a cheated a little with flowers hehe👁️ but I like the way it all turned out!

[xxplastic-cubexx]

bro the feminine wiles aren’t even a joke like. im with that anon who thought hellfire gala charles was a woman when they first saw him bc same, that design is insaaaane (/pos). how could u not think that when u see it lmfao. idk whose choice it was to give him a corset but the hourglass figure + female coded jawline combo do not lie. i saw it on pinterest and i was like ohhh don’t lie to me i know an anime girl when i see one- WAIT PROFESSOR X????

and that’s not even to mention movieverse charles ofc. we’ve all seen james mcavoy and his big sparkly kawaii anime eyes, i shouldn’t have to say it. charles xavier is never beating the allegations, i fear

gonna need this ask hung in the louvre i fear

[ifindus]

Waiter, waiter!! More Viking Scotnor headcanons please! (If you have any ofc :3 )

Oh no!! Not my weakness!! 😳

Their relationship during the viking age was mostly very amicable, apart from a few minor fights and arguments later on. In contrast to England and Denmark, Norway and Scotland mostly co-existed peacefully beside each other and even developed a friendship. Norway has always been a traveller and would rarely stay in one place for long, but he would often spend his summers and occaionally autumns in his territories close to Scotland before moving along on his next adventure. During these months Norway and Scotland would hang out and Norway would tell Scotland stories about all his adventures out on the sea, exploring westward, as a hired soldier for the Byzantine emperor, helping out Denmark with his wars agaisnt England, and joining Sweden on his trips east. Scotland would think these were the coolest stories and always look forward to Norway's occasional visits. And sometimes Norway would even bring him exotic gifts he'd picked up on his travels.

[annawayne]

Hi Anna!! I hope you're having a wonderful day!!! And that you have been well 🩷 I wanted to ask you about what your favorite AOT alternate universe is! And if you were to make your own, how would you write it? Sending you hugs!!

Oh, Stella, hello-hello!

Thank you so much for asking, and I had so much fun while answering and thinking about it, so I might accidentally wrote an outline for a fic...

You know, I really love canon-compliant and canon-divergent scenarios, but I have a very weak spot against the historical AUs or mythology AUs. In general, I really love AUs which take canon and transform into AU, without changing the main topic/character arcs too much, but adapting it into the new scneario. And I really love Medieval AU, Ancient Greece AU, 1900-1920's AU, but now, I want to stop on another AU which was sitting in my head for a while, and with your ask, I gave it more thought and structured all these ideas into something more proper, so here I present you -

Here, I want to make a quick disclaimer that I took as a base the whole period as a whole and in my AU, there's the fictional geography which is based on original AoT, but some events are inspired by real historical events and the whole vibe of the epoch. Plus, I focused on some general points of this plot without too much details and it's written more like the outline, rather than some fic (so sorry if it's not very good...)

Far away from home she never saw, Annie is raised by the man who is in slavery, among others people from the conquered lands - but there, in complete secret, they raise their children as Warriors - someone to give revenge for the King bloodline, who sent them there and who conquered their lands.

They worked from a very young age on the fields, and at night - they train, they are raised to be weapons and with the solo goal - to buy themselves freedom and then, to use for the killing. So when times comes, Bertholdt, Reiner and Annie are sent to Paradis Kingdom.

They know that the King is quite not sane - by age and illness he gained by various sexual connections, and he has three children: the oldest son, Erwin, twins Historia Armin, the youngest son. Erwin is an heir, a talented warrior and promised leader; meanwhile, Armin is much younger and not so strong, but his intelligence, bravery and the desire for knowledge is enormous. However, their father didn't really favor Armin, and always neglects him, sending him to battlefields, which are already meant to be lost. Erwin, on the contrary, recognizes Armin's talent and they are close; he, as an older brother, teaches him a lot and they like spending time together. Historia and Armin are close too, not only as twins but as allies: Historia isn't really loved by their father as she's a daughter and can't heir the throne, and by gossips. she has love affairs with one of her guardians, Ymir, which is also not approved by their father - but Armin always supports his sister and her lover, trying his best to cover Historia's missing for nights.

Annie, Reiner and Bert, when they arrive to Paradis Kingdom, they join the Warriors who didn't belong to any village, gathered only by desire of fight and war, the legendary order of Viking mercenaries. There, they meet Zeke, Pieck, Porco, Marcel, and many other people, who was informed of their arrival, and so starts the years of the battlefields. Endless, endless battlefields, full of blood to prepare themselves for the King killing.

Until one day they learn the news from their spies: Erwin, the heir, should be on the battlefield not so far away from their location, and they decide to capture him to manipulate the King, that will eventually lead to his death, but... Instead of Erwin, they find Armin and his army. Armin at the age of 17 is already an excellent strategist, however, his subordinates mocked him for being too merciful, kind and coming up with strategies that save lives, so commanders didn't obey his orders that led to almost his own capture. Annie, Reiner and Bert and their order used this situation, and they helped Armin to win, but... They caught him as a hostage. Not Erwin, but Armin is still an heir.

Firstly, there was an obvious tension, but Annie couldn't miss that Armin was different from what she imagined him to be, how... Royal should be. He is kind, smart, very attentive, and yet, he is manipulative and he never choose to opt to violence, only as a last resort when he could save someone important to him or when he realizes that there's no other choice. It's strange, Annie thinks, and she doesn't understand him. He is the first person in this cruel world who is so unconditionally kind - and yet, not without venom in him, and she couldn't just wrap up her mind how to understand him. She always thought she was nice at reading people. But with Armin, she realizes that she never was.

After some time, Armin and Annie start to speak with each other, and Annie hates that she starts craving these conversations. She hats that this boy should paint his hand - beautiful hand, maybe, more suitable for some crafter or painter - with blood. So when she hears Armin speaks with Marcel that he wants to train to become stronger and more capable in fight, Annie bursts in anger. At this moment, she was practicing with her daggers, and so she throws one of the daggers to the tree trunk, just a few inches away from Armin's face, cutting a few strands from his locks. She hopes it would scare him. She hops he would just step away and refuses to train to become a Viking. To become a Warrior.

She hopes.

But Armin looks directly at her, with his hazel eyes, so deep, like the autumn foliage in the sunset, and the determination in his gaze chokes her with the tight grip.

"Teach me.".

"Me? To teach you?" Annie snorts, trying her best to stay indifferent. "You're helpless. Don't even try."

"I know I am now," Armin nods, taking a step to her. "But with your help, I can become stronger."

"And? What benefit is it for me?"

"I'll teach you reading and writing. And I can also pay you. For you being my guard. When we come back to the capital, I can make you my guardian."

Annie looks at him, and she couldn't fight against his gaze. It's beneficial for her mission, isn't it? It is. And so-

She agrees.

Their training starts, they stay together, since she's now his guardian and his teacher. Armin struggles at first,, failing and failing miserable, but after every fall, he gets up with no complaints, the same determined fire in his irises, and... In one year, he really becomes stronger.

And they become closer. Annie learns about his twin-sister, how close they are, about Erwin, about their crazy father, about all the intrigues and horrors happening in the royal court. She learns that Armin loves to read, that his dreams - not to conquer lands but to see them, experience every single land with respect and admiration, that he never really wanted to be a King. She learns that he knows how to braid hair exactly thanks to Historia: she did it to him, and he did it for her, and now, he does it to Annie's hair too. She learns so many things about him, and she learns another thing, that braided hair by his hands looks so beautiful on her. So beautiful and she doesn't deserve this beauty.

One day, Armin cuts his hair, and Annie suddenly realizes that he grew up. And so she is, too.

And so grew up something in her heart she didn't know a name.

Reiner, Bert and other Warrior pressure her that she started losing her head and betraying them, but she always fight back., defending herself and always dismissing their accusations.

Until, one day, both she and Armin train on the cliff, the sea shimmers at the horizon with molten gold, and just at the very end, their bodies suddenly pressed so closed, caught between the daggers and their battle stances. Eye to eye, torso to torso, their jagged breathes wash each other with warm waves.

"Don't be so cocky," Annie says, her dagger stops inches away from his neck, . "If you think that you can win easily in the battlefield, someone will kill you faster that you can even imagine."

"I wouldn't be so sure," he whispers, and it sent shivers down her spine.

Confusion furrows her brows, and Armin nods down, somewhere to her abdomen. When she looks down, she sees Armin's dagger pointed right into her gut.

Something coils right in her abdomen - impression, surprise, pride and something else. Something she is afraid to name our loud.

"Not so bad for a dead man," Annie whispers, and instead, with the effortless maneuver of her hands, perfected by years and years of war, she flips him.

Armin falls on his back, right into the long grass, but instead of groaning or insults, he smiles, starting laughing.

"You're honestly amazing," he says and looks at her with so much joy and tenderness, and it just makes her blush intensely.

That day she realizes that she can't run away any more from her true feelings. She realizes that she really loves him. And it terrifies, and excites her at the same time.

Weeks later, their hands touch for the first time longer than a sudden brush, and decided to stay for a few minutes longer interwined. Months later, their first kiss happens. A few more - their first intimacy.

But time goes on, they're closer to the capital. And once they arrive in the capital, the King is not really happy to see Armin having his own subordinates. He feels that he's not safe anymore - and he plans to kill Armin after the celebration of his return.

Warriors plan to kill the King, some high-ranked vassals and King's advisors plan to kill Erwin because they see that Armin his more powerful army with him now, and King also has his own plans - none of the sides know what the other plan, so during the celebration, the total mess happens. Both the King and Erwin are killed: King when everything happens, he orders to kill Armin right away, and Annie protects him by killing the King; and Erwin - is killed by Zeke.

Armin becomes a King.

But since Annie killed the former King, she should be now executed, and it's Armin who should ordering since she killed the King in front of his vassals and subordinates. If he wouldn't do it - they wouldn't recognize him. She understands that she failed. She put her feelings first, and now, when she sees Armin in blood and with bloody crown, his eyes so terrified and so... Broken, she sees his heart broken in his gaze when she realizes that she was lying all this time, she just realized that she failed something that was more important than her mission.

She succeeded in her mission.

But she failed him.

"Since when... You... Started to look at me with these eyes, Armin?"

She mumbles, as the hands of soldiers dragged her away. Armin is devastated, but to save her life, he orders to sell her to slavery - he couldn't leave her with him, and he couldn't execute her either. He asks only for one condition - to find a farm where she can work with not so grave conditions.

Then, 4 years pass.

Armin was immediately dragged into wars and he won them, by his excellent mind and strategies. But all this time he was utterly depressed and totally alone, the weight of the crown and responsibility killing him bit by bit, and all this time he was searching for Annie - when he asked the farm of the slaves where he ordered to sell her, his vassals lied to him and told him that she died, not wanting to see her near the new King. Armin was devastated, but searched for her for 4 years, not leaving this hope that she was alive.

Until one day, they met again, on the random market place, when Armin was with his guardian Connie, eating a pie.

And so she was. Alive. And so beautiful, even with the stuffed cheeks and startled gaze, but for him, she was the most beautiful and strong woman he ever met.

And so... The new story begins. But, this is completely another story :D

[ottosbigtop]

a humble bob/helmut request for them doin like literally anything hahaha

also for the future au I wanted to say am really charmed by the cameras as ask conduits, and that in turn that means Otto is still fucking at it inventing and building things and handing them to his fav little mentee of his mentee

They are… looking :) ran out of steam to color this but ohhh how I care them

and thank u! Otto is a curse upon the psychonauts and will never die until you venture to the deep caverns beneath the Motherlobe and kill the giant mechanical heart that keeps him alive. All in due time.

[missallanious]

I HAVE to hear your thoughts about Weather Report in your Viking au!!! His ability automatically gives me mental connections to Freyr and Thor.

!!!! Yes great question!

So I’m not sure if I’m gonna bring the gods into my au, per se, I could def make their stands some version of a gods blessing, but right now they’re just (mostly) normal humans :]

But Weather

I picture him as either a human who is like, eerily accurate with knowing the weather way before anything happens, and a borderline obsession with it lmao, OR he could be a Jotunn! Not quite the gods lmao, just a creature, but I thought it would be fun if he got changeling’d (replaced by Pucci) and was given powers by the Jotunn/fae who took him! So he can control the weather and lives in a super cold land.

Pucci finds and captures him (bastard), and tries to use him to control the weather in Pucci’s favor (to help him help Dio take over the world). Weather doesn’t really comply, but he does help Jolyne, FF and Ermes (and Emporio) escape from Pucci and on the way he gets back his memory :) rip to anasui tho, he doesn’t make it 😔

[witchofthesouls]

What’s some behaviours that seeker Lennox do that unnerve the humans or other bots that don’t fly?

The new Seekers/ex-humans sleep a lot compared to the Autobots to the point that mechs were concerned over the newbuilds. It's just the remnants of the human circadian rhythm, Cybertronians function on a far longer time clock, so they'll eventually adjust to it.

The humans think that the lovebirds are too into each other since Will and Sarah are basically wrapped up with each other in spare time. Freaks out some humans when they meld their frames partially together. Meanwhile, the Cybertronians are going, "Yep. That makes sense. Those are newly wedded and bedded newbuild Seekers." It's really intense, somewhat uncomfortable on how aggressive affectionate they are, but still understandable. Some mechs are making secret bets on when and where a poor squishy will see the natural sight of two Seekers going down and dirty.

It took a while for the human personnel to understand why the Seeker pair shower together or have someone else with them. It's a natural extension of their new frame sociality matrix since grooming a wingspan needs an extra pair of hands and it's a pleasant bonding activity. Ironhide is their usual go-to, but they had taken Optimus and Ratchet into their shower sessions.

Some of the Autobots think that Sarah is highly territorial and standoffish since she constantly wraps Will up with her own field and likes a certain degree of space. The Arcee sisters are careful not to stand too close to Will for that reason as they don't want to be seen as issuing a potential Challenge. Will doesn't understand it, but his frame does and likes it since it's a low-key awareness of where his wife and child are. Ironhide is trying to wrangle it back into more neutral feel, but Sarah isn't having it.

Sarah enjoys rising with the sun as she did her early morning yoga routine. It freaked out the Cybertronians how flexible her frame was, especially with her armor density.

None of the Cybertronians are ready to see how blase the Lennoxes are with doing things unarmored, especially when the Autobots caught up with the pair when Sarah managed to locate another vein and she was taking a dip in a geyser. Just her bared legs. Or whenever they shower together since humans take off their clothes, but Cybertronians are able to shower with their armature on.

Oh, and here's a little snippet:

“So besides the wings and chicken legs, what else you got?” Epps asked.

“I can literally smell everything half a mile away,” Lennox took in another deep vent, his mouth parted open similar to an insect’s mandibles, playing it up as his frame shifted to accommodate the air and his tongue flicked out. Epps looked up in wide-eyed, horrified fascination, at the long, segmented appendage coiling in the air.

“Man, you’re just fucking with me at this point.”

“Well, it was chili night.”

“Foyer’s?”

“Yep.” Both mech and human stared at the distant mess hall.

“I can already smell the barracks tonight. Thor will be blowing thunder all night long."

[alexandriaellisart]

Do you have any ideas about raven's dragon personality? Their relationship?

Btw raven is looking drop dead gorgeous in that photo, jason would be STUNNED speechless.

ahhhh thank u so much! ^-^

i think raven and her dragon would be very similar personality wise!! I haven't thought about it a ton but i think that deathsong might be able to sing?? like a horrible sad prophetic dragon song. Also together they might be able to see the future? i'm not sure about any of this lol. also in this au i think Raven is a lot more powerful, having closer connections to druid magic etc, and also she would feel a lot less bad about using her (black) magic than modern day raven does. also they really like each other <3

[flysafepapi]

Vikings ask ragnarsson reaction to ivar dating heahmund

I’ve been waiting to answer this one, me and my sister discussed this at length, because we both love this idea, probably a little too much but we’re mentally ill so.

Bjorn is just relieved that now someone else can finally take over the responsibility of keeping the chaos gremlin from causing too much trouble, until he realises that Heahmund actually doesn’t mind the fact that Ivar must make at least one person angry a day and even encourages it because he thinks it’s weirdly endearing. Then he realises that he didn’t manage to get away from the chaos gremlin, he just gained another.

Ubbe’s immediate and instinctual reaction would be to ask how that works with Ivar’s condition, but he’s not suicidal so he doesn’t actually say that out loud, because as soon as he did Ivar would without a doubt try to strangle him or something. They just skirt around that issue. He’d probably just accept it and try not to think about it.

Hvitserk does ask about it, and gets away without getting maimed and/or murdered, but only because he doesn’t mean it in a malicious way, he’s genuinely curious about how that ended up happening. It’d probably take him a few days to adjust to it because it’s new, but after that he wouldn’t even give it a second thought, like of course Ivar would start up a thing with the bishop, he’s just like father after all.

Sigurd goes the other direction and never stops asking about it. Every single question he can think of, even the ones he should probably never speak aloud, and it just leads to a whole mess. Sigurd is the one that actually asks how that’s supposed to work and Ubbe is the one that has to drag him away before he gets killed for it (he’s not sure which one would do the killing, normally he’d say Ivar but something about Heahmund tells him it’d probably be him)

Of course all of this changes if they didn’t know who Heahmund was at first and only knew that he was a Bishop, because they’d be picturing someone like Athelstan in their heads (ignore that half of them wouldn’t even remember him), probably this skinny little guy who tries for the peaceful option instead of fighting, so they’d be hilariously blindsided when they do finally get to meet this guy and Heahmund walks in. Their brains would sound like the modem dial-up noise.

[zu-is-here]

Your Viking drawings are so cool. I love NM's role.

[bones-n-bookles]

Just watched Viking Wolf (2022) and enjoyed it! It's Norwegian and not over the top gory, but still has a fair amount of gore. I like the werewolf design and concept, it's a one way transformation and retains the uncanny feeling even fully transformed. They use what is definitely a feline claw as a wolf claw early in the movie and that irks me!! But the creature itself is very neat. There's a puppy version at the beginning that I love??

The head shape of the grown werewolf is kinda funky but I like it, it's very Shaped and kinda reminds me of a cat in proportions

Teeth are... alright. Weird shaped for "a biologist said this is just a fucked up wolf" but not bad for a werewolf.

Theres a female werewolf in this, and I loveeee a female werewolf, AND there's a really nice sisterly bond in it that I quite enjoyed.

[fjorn-the-skald]

In one of your recent reblogs you said that "Rings worn on the finger, for example, have often played important roles in Norse legends." Could you please explain more on that?

I’ll have to scold my past self for that one. Not only did I leave the footnote for that statement lacking, but I think I made some assumptions. You see, the Norse usually didn’t distinguish between arm rings and, well, ‘normal’ rings. The same word, hringr, is used for both and only context (which is often lacking) tells us where it was worn.(1) Other words, like baugr, are also used for both bracelets and rings—but with some extra baggage.(2) Some sources use the more specific fingrgull (let. finger-gold), but that really isn’t helpful.(3)

All of that is to say: when my past, less-experienced self said “rings worn on the finger,” I wasn’t looking carefully at the Old Norse in question. As for the legends I referred to in my footnote for that claim, The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki and Otter’s Ransom (contained within The Saga of the Volsungs)—the ‘original’ texts (let’s not even get into manuscript variation, please) both use hringr.(4) With that out of the way, though, I can go a little deeper into the translations (because, let’s face it, my Old Norse isn’t good enough for that level of an in-depth take for this question).

The Ring in Chapter 7 and 8 of The Saga of Hrolf Kraki(5)

This particular passage is a bit too long for me to share it in full. I was tempted, but I don’t want any trouble coming my way from posting too much. That said, I’ll quote the important bits and summarize the rest:

“A ring owned by King Helgi was a widely famed treasure.”

—but his brother, King Hroar, wants it.

“I want the ring, the one that is the best treasure in your possession and that both of us would like to own.”

You’d think trouble would start here, but the brothers settle things amicably—that is, until this guy comes around:

“Next came the news that Jarl Saevil had died and that his son Hrok had then assumed rule. Hrok was a cruel and exceptionally greedy man.”

Remember the “exceptionally greedy” part for the end of my answer. It’s important. But anyway, he ends up being goaded by his mother (another large topic in Norse discourse) to demand a reward from King Helgi for helping him and his brother get vengeance for their father. The only problem? He’s ridiculous.

“He demanded a third of the Danish kingdom or the great ring.”

King Helgi tells him to f*** off. Of course he won’t give such a large slice of his hard-earned kingdom to this loser, but he also shrugs off the whole ring thing with a simple “my bro has it now.” So Hrok goes to Hroar next, obviously. Here’s how that one goes:

“The king responded, ‘I have given so much to get this ring that I will by no means part with it.’

Naturally.

Hrok said, ‘Then you must allow me to look at it, as I am very curious to know whether the ring is as much of a treasure as is claimed.’

Suspicious?

‘That is a small thing to do for you,’ said Hroar, ‘and I will certainly let you look at it.’ He then produced the ring for Hrok to see.

Bad move.

“For a while Hrok studied the ring, declaring finally that there was no possibility of exaggeration when describing it. ‘I have never seen a comparable treasure, and the reason you esteem the ring so highly is obvious. The best solution, it seems to me, is that neither of us, or, for that matter, anyone else should enjoy it.’ He then threw the ring as far out as he could into the sea.”

A bunch of violence, death, and vengeance follows. You know, the good stuff.

The Ring in Chapter 14 of The Saga of the Volsungs(6)

“Loki saw all the gold that Andvari owned. And after he had taken all of it, Andvari still had one single ring, and Loki took that from him as well. The dwarf then hid inside a stone and said that this ring and the gold would cause the death of everyone who owned it.”

In both cases, the ring in question is never explicitly said to be “worn on the finger.” That’s my (past) bad. But, to be honest, it doesn’t really matter here? If we put ourselves in a Norse mindset, a ring is a ring no matter where it is worn. Unless a specific placement is mentioned, I don’t think we’re supposed to care about that. What mattered more, I deem, was the material (gold vs silver), design (size and intricacy probably mattered), and source (i.e. former owner) of the ring.

As for the “important roles” they played in Norse legends, it kind of depends. Norse rings typically embody one’s status (wealth, resources, position) or social relationships (connections to other powerful people, places, etc.). In the case of the legends recounted above, however, they both act as symbols of greed (at the surface level); but there’s an important commentary being made when you put those two things together (aka look a bit deeper): the authors of these later medieval sagas used stories with old roots and objects everyone would be familiar with to show that these rings (and social structures) destroy bonds as much, if not more than, they create them.

But that’s just my personal take.

I hope that clears things up a little, though, my anonymous friend! If not, feel free to send another ask. There’s a lot to say about Norse rings, but I’d rather not write a giant essay all at once (anymore).

— fjörn

Footnotes

To be clear, this word is used for literally anything ring-shaped.

This term, baugr, is usually used in the context of money, kings, and the ‘gift-giving’ economy. The function of a ring described with this particular word, then, is even more transactional. To share a quote from an article: “The term baugr proves the existence of a special type of fee or wage for particular persons who were retainers (and maybe poets?) of the king or ruler. The baugr itself was only awarded by the ruler himself.” See Antje Wendt, “Viking Age Gold Rings and the Question of ‘Gefolgschaft’,” Lund Archaeological Review 13-14 (2008): 75-90.

I say “not helpful” because this term, while interesting, is used far less often than the more common hringr or baugr.

For the ring in The Saga of Hrolf Kraki (chapters 7-8): “Helgi konungr átti hring…” and The Saga of the Volsungs (chapter 14) : “…er hann hafði fram reitt gullið þá hafði hann eftir einn hring…” Although I obtained these versions from an Icelandic site (snerpa.is), I think it still satisfies our needs for this discussion.

Jesse Byock trans., The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (Penguin, 1998), 109-113 (chapters 7-8).

Jackson Crawford trans., The Saga of the Volsungs with The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok (Hackett Publishing, 2017), 26 (chapter 14).

If I’m wrong about something, please call me out. Nicely, if possible—but always with sources.

Send Fjorn a tip for his toils?

[ivarthebadbitch]

You did not hesitate today.