#legendary sigurd

[bananabraiined]

Bears the burdened light, even it meant death.

[favoritenintendocharacterbracket]

Favorite Nintendo Character 2: Losing Bracket Round 2

[silvergarnet12]

Hey what if they put Seliph on the tea banner and also they used some of the Fates Butler class design I think that'd be neat.

[dialo]

i never lose

[synindoodles]

— The Tale of Ragnar Lothbrok — An illustrated, handwritten book project I did for university - it tells the story of Ragnar as a legendary viking figure but also of those that were later associated and mixed with the original myth, such as Reginherus, Ragnall Ua Ímairr and Ragnar's famous sons according to legend aka Ivarr The Boneless, Bjorn Ironside, Halfdan "Hvítserk" Ragnarsson and Sigurd Snake-In-The-Eye. I did, however, mix history and myth with History Vikings' depiction of some of these characters, though what is written in each page is based on several articles I found about these people and not in the show's version of them. I'll be posting the rest of these sections separately in the coming weeks so you can also see each drawing in HQ 🤭

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

Please give Sigurd a Christmas Alt IntSys. Make him ride a reindeer. Maybe have him be a duo unit with Baby Seliph. I know that doesn't make sense timeline wise but Legendary Sigurd is a ghost you can make it work somehow

.

[innumerable-stars]

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun Promo Post

(written by Zdenka)

Summary The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún is a set of two narrative poems by Tolkien based on stories from Norse mythology: Völsungakviða en nýja (The New Lay of the Völsungs) and Guðrúnarkviða en nýja (The New Lay of Gudrún). Despite their Norse titles, these poems are in English, composed in alliterative verse.

Like The Silmarillion, "The New Lay of the Völsungs" begins with the creation of the world. It then follows the descent of the legendary Völsung family, ending with Sigurd the Dragonslayer. The poem recounts Sigurd's heroic deeds and the complicated entanglements of oaths, love, and betrayal that develop between Sigurd, the former Valkyrie Brynhild, the warrior lord Gunnar, and Gunnar's sister Gudrún.

"The New Lay of Gudrún" continues the story of Gudrún after Sigurd's murder: her grief for Sigurd, her second marriage to Atli (a mythologized version of Attila the Hun), the trap Atli lays for Gudrún's brothers, and the terrible fate of Atli and Gudrún's children.

Why Should I Check Out This Canon? It's a dramatic story of heroism, torn loyalties, fate, love, and hatred! If you enjoy those themes in Tolkien's other works, you'll find them here too.

If you've enjoyed Norse myths or other versions of the Sigurd story, you might also like this one.

If you liked Tolkien's poetry in The Lord of the Rings or the Lays of Beleriand, here's another hoard of it. He makes writing alliterative verse look easy.

You also get a look at some of the sources for Tolkien's Middle-earth works. I don't mean only the plot elements that have been noted by many literary critics, such as the similarities of Túrin's dragon-slaying adventure to Sigurd's. Having these legends in Tolkien's own words can help show the connections he made in his own mind between Norse legend and his Legendarium. Taking just one stanza as an example:

The Gods gathered on golden thrones, of doom and death deeply pondered, how fate should be fended, their foes vanquished, their labour healed, light rekindled.

That sounds a lot like the Valar in the Silmarillion, doesn't it? And there are plenty more resemblances to find.

Where Can I Get This? Your local bookstore or library, or the Internet Archive.

What Fanworks Already Exist? There is one work in Russian on AO3, a fic cross-tagged with the Silmarillion; I don't know Russian, but it seems to be a darker take on the Beren and Lúthien story. (The AO3 tag is here.)

One work from b2mem here, a recording of four stanzas from "The New Lay of the Völsungs" set to music and sung. Full Disclosure: This one is by me.

In other words, if you want to create fanworks for this, the field is wide open!

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

I've come to the conclusion that, in my humble opinion, Higashide is the writer in TYPE-MOON who makes the best ships involving Heroic Spirits.

Which might sound really weird. After all, the central couple in Fate/Apocrypha is Sieg/Jeanne d'Arc, and it's a pretty divisive one. No offense to those who like it, but it's always a dynamic I thought made no real sense narratively and didn't have much chemistry. Sieg on his journey of self-affirmation and personhood didn't need a romance (except maybe with Astolfo, with whom the dynamic is much more fun). Jeanne, the historical figure who rejected a marriage proposal, wore male clothing, and whose famous nickname refers to her celibacy, getting into a romance just never vibed with me (especially when it felt like the parallels/relationship between her and Shirou Kotomine were far more relevant). Add to that the ending copying Last Episode without what made LE have a strong impact, and it makes the whole even less appealing.

But despite that, Apo is also the work where there is the surprising ship of Shirou Amakusa and Queen Semiramis of all people: the semi-legendary Assyrian queen credited with making one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world falling in love with the young charismatic Japanese Christian who rebelled against the shogunate and failed. It's a very strange crossover ship between two people who never could have met if not for being brought back and it somehow works in being endearing.

(Achilles and Atalanta kinda count I guess, but it's a one-sided ship with little reasoning, that I care so little about, and is eclipsed by the more compelling foils each get, Chiron for Achilles, Jeanne for a Jackie the Ripper-driven mad Atalante.)

Higaside having grown and improved as a writer by the time of FGO, what followed this growth was him not doing a repeat of Sieg/Jeanne, but writing better ships mostly involving Servants. Asterios the Minotaur and Euryale the Gorgon; last Byzantine emperor Constantine IX and fictional Popess Johanna; heck, you can even see the relationship between Mordred and Dr. Jekyll this way (it also works as simple close friendship). Being characters from usually completely different mythologies and historical cultures, there is care done to make it clear why they fall for each other and as a result these couples are very different from one another instead of being the same formula everytime. In a game where a lot of (female) Servants are made to fall for the last Master of Chaldea for sometimes very little reason, these are a breath of fresh air.

For all my problems with her, Sakurai does something similar, though her ships are usually people who canonically were together in their legends: Sigurd/Brynhild, Aslaug/Ragnar Lodbrok, Julius Caesar/Cleopatra, Ozymandias/Nefertari, Tomoe Gozen/Kiso Yoshinaka, etc. They can be one note and there is a repeated thematic tendency of hers of writing "inhuman woman discovering humanity by falling in love", but they tend to be very cute and I easily understand that these people are in love even beyond death, so I root for them to reunite. Higashide also has "canonical" pairings, but the results are more muddled here: Siegfried and Kriemhild are adorable as a divorced couple where there are clearly still feelings, no matter what the tsundere wife says. But Rama and Sita are just...there. I understand the point of their separation, but it's not very engaging and Rama essentially disappeared after the American Singularity, while Sita was yeeted to Arcade. A mark against Higashide, but not as bad as Sieg/Jeanne and overshadowed by the numbers of better ships he wrote in FGO.

And there's Orion and Artemis, where I'm split. Super Orion and LB Artemis was really good and poignant. Orion the teddy bear and ditzy Artemis are a realy bad joke that overstayed its welcome.

FGO prioritizes Master/Servant relationships, both because the last Master of Chaldea is a blank slate for players to self insert into, and also because human×Servant is the type of ship Nasu specializes in (Shirou/Saber, Rin/Saber, Kuzuki/Caster, Caren/Angra Mainyu, and to a lesser extent Bazett/Cu, Yukika/False Assassin, and Ayako/Medusa in FSN; Fate/Extra as a whole; Ritsuka/Castoria in FGO). But even there Higashide made better choices than when he penned Sieg/Jeanne. Charlotte Corday is a surprisingly well-done choice for her archetype, it seems like it's going to be another Kiyohime but no, he actually makes her a good character you get attached to.

And then there is Kadoc and Anastasia. Words cannot describe how much I love them, how their personalities clash and complement each other in the best way, how aesthetically good they look put next to each other, etc. And it's not even just that we got a MasterxServant relationship outside Ritsuka, though that helped.

Basically, Higashide has become my go-to source for good ships, especially intra-Servants ones where Ritsuka is not involved and characters are allowed to not orbit around their Master. Sakurai also provides in that last aspect, but Higashide is doing that and also giving that crossover flavor you see in things like that one Cartoon Network ad with Johnny Bravo and Velma, and that works really well for me.

[rrcraft-and-lore]

Armies of the Dead/heaven in myths and epic fantasy - and the magic horns behind them!

One of the most famous armies of dead soldiers? The Men of Dunharrow, the army of the dead from Lord of the Rings who broke their oaths and renewed them finally under Aragorn.

Let's do this!

If you're a younger fantasy reader, or more modern, perhaps your introduction to this idea is in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time with his magical horn that summons an army and legendary heroes to the field.

Some fans have said this is inspired by the Norse horn Gjallarhorn. 

This is the horn trusted to Heimdallr to be blown to announce the beginning of Ragnarok and summon the Norse gods to the "thing" (thing is used in this case legitimately to mean - meeting, assembly, folkmoot) - in a moment like NORSE AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE! 

This includes the Einherjar, the spirits of Norse warriors of honored dead who fell in battle and reside in Valhalla. But was there another possible influence?

Well, we know RJ was a Tolkien fan, and honestly who wouldn't be back in the days of early fantasy? 

So, what of Tolkien's ghostly army of dead warriors? Well, if you haven't read the books, you might not know that Aragorn too summons his army of the dead with a magical horn (cut from the films). That's right. 

You see, Elrohir (one of the sons of Elrond, also cut from the films) entrusts Aragorn with a silver horn to summon the dead with at the Stone of Erech to deal with them. Tolkien was a Norse buff and loved the old epics as well as poems. 

So he was likely familiar with the stories just like with Gjallarhorn as well. But also, quite possibly the Song of Roland (a French epic poem) in where Roland and his forces are ambushed at Roncesvalles and are going to lose. In final desperation, Roland blows the horn, and the emperor hears the call. But the aid will not arrive in time (unlike the films and more modern stories where the heroes do arrive to save the day - this is cuz we like the just in the nick of time trope) so Roland dies blowing it one last time to hard in vengeance his temples burst (and he ascends to heaven), but...Charlemagne's army arrives in the aftermath and scatters the enemy. But, are there other armies of the dead? In fact, yes. 

The Night Marchers of Hawaii who come with a warm wind, & the smell of sulfur, and the call of a conch shell to herald them. If you come upon this procession with torches in the night, and you are an enemy...time to RUN! Because if you watch them your eyes might be incinerated.

Then there is the Wild Hunt - a shared myth motif present through eastern, northern, and western European cultures. A ghostly army of the souls of dead men (and creatures) usually united under a leader (though this figure changes), Herne, Odin/Woden, Gwyn ap Nudd, Sigurd or Siegfried the Dragon Slayer, Theodoric the Great, onward. Now, they're not summoned by a horn, but in some tales their coming is announced by one.

Now, an Indian cognate of the Wild Hunt and warriors in the service of heavens The Maruts.

The number of them vary from 20+ to over 180, to even more (yay conflicting mythological sources and arguments in ancient texts and interpretations).

But who are they? Companions and servants to Lord Indra, Slayer of the First Born of Dragons, and lord of the heavens and storms! So, fittingly, these warriors are very...storm themed. Violent, aggressive, expert combatants armed with lightning weaponary, and golden chariots to fly through the clouds on. Their war crys and battle sounds are like thunder. Their blows would split clouds (sounding thunder) and would hunt the enemies of Lord Indra and slaughter demons/monsters.

Interestingly they are often associated as the sons (children) of Rudra (the Rig Vedic storm and wind god). However, there is another group that often gets that association (obviously so), the Rudras.

The Rudras are similar in (some) regards to the Maruts but not all. They aid Vishnu in his battles against demons and are clad in lion-skins, and wear serpents around their necks. A crescent moon adorns their foreheads, and they wield golden tridents and carry a skull in one hand they wear necklaces of lightning illuminated clouds (how's that for bling bling?), and are monstrously feral in battle. Lord Shiva can call them with a blow of a conch shell/horn. 

Their overlap, association with the Maruts is because of some etymology and shared functions as they too are a divine/spiritual/demigod group of heavenly warriors to aid the good and destroy evil - demons/adversaries, and the root word in their name means the roarers, thunderers, or the shouters - and this is also mentioned of the Maruts.

Are these all there are for legendary armies of the dead, of gods/heaven to be summoned to the field or aid? No. But, it's rainy, I'm a little messed up (mental health and meds), and tired. 

So I'm going to bow out and read and study for Tremaine 3 and leave this minor comparative thread here for folks into this stuff.

[lunarblessingart]

My first completely original emblem design belongs to Seliph!

I knew as soon as I'd finished the Rivals ring design (which still hasn't gone up yet as of writing this post) that I'd want to do Emblem Rings for characters that weren't emblems at all eventually; so now that I've done a few, here's Seliph, inspired loosely by a fanfic series that will be linked at the bottom of the post.

Although I do have to confess that I've never actually *played* Genealogy/FE4 or Thracia 776/FE5, so I'm not the most educated on Seliph as a character. Which isn't new, I haven't played Shadow Dragon or enough of Awakening to really know Tiki that well either, but this became a problem with Seliph when I realized that he doesn't really have a lot of easy, distinguishable character design traits to choose from.

I did eventually find that Seliph's legendary alt in Heroes had a good number of four-pointed stars (something he shares with Sigurd's alts) as well as a pattern that curled in a way that loosely resembled vines (which is present in the design of Deirdre's alts, particularly legendary), so I ended up trying my best to incorporate both of those things here.

I might make one for Julia eventually, since she was one of my favorite units when I still played Heroes, but I still want to make more AA visions, so the emblems will probably end up on the backburner for at least a bit, especially as my fire emblem brainrot starts to slowly die down again.

To end this post, here's that fic I promised:

[blakeswritingimagines]

Dating Sigurd would include:

Dating him is a thrilling experience. He is an adventurous and passionate man, who will take you on wild adventures and sweep you off your feet. His confidence and drive are contagious and his charisma can be alluring. He is a true gentleman who will treat you with respect and dignity. However, he is also a fierce warrior who will protect you at all costs.

On one hand, he has the experience and wisdom of over a thousand years to draw upon. He's also confident and bold, which can be very attractive. The downside is, he has a lot of baggage. He's been through a lot, and he can be a bit unpredictable. All in all, it's an adventure to be sure, but one that is worth it!

He is a fair and loyal person, and people know nothing but peace and happiness if you don't cross them. He would be a good husband to you, with many children and with respect towards you. In short, he wouldn't hurt you even if his life depended on it.

He will protect you as his queen and protect you and your kingdom. He will also be a great father to your children, to mold them into honorable and great men. And also, he will also respect your decisions and he will keep your council private at all times.

He brings you flowers just because he thought you'd like them.

He would always make sure that you're happy and safe, that you don't have to worry about anything. You both would live a simple life in the heartland of Norway and spend the winters together, sitting in front of the fireplace and watching the kids play outside in the snow. That's how he would imagine it.

He would be faithful to you, your beauty would only increase his love towards you, and the best part, he would only have eyes for you.

He would never leave you for another, he already knows that no one is more special than you, and every other person would appear dull in comparison, he would not be a jealous person, but if someone started talking and looking to you for too long and made you uncomfortable, he would let them know to keep their distance.

He would write poems and songs for you, with his most cherished memories of you, and your future plans. He would write you songs and poems every day with the most sacred feelings within his heart. He would also always be there for you, no matter how small or big the issue, he would comfort you, and assure you that he is there with you in every step you take. His biggest joy would always be being with you and seeing you smile.

He would be gentle and loving towards you, always having your needs in the first place. He would show his love in many ways, he would hug you when feeling bad, kiss you randomly, hug you from behind while you cook, and caress your hair. He would give you little attention like bringing you snacks and small gifts.

A very exciting and interesting experience. Being with a man such as himself can be quite a privilege. He is strong, capable and he commands respect. However, this is not to say that he is without flaws. He can be stubborn at times and he often finds himself in situations where his decisions leave others frustrated or angry. But, on the whole, being in a relationship with him is an experience you will never forget.

He's kind and strong, but also passionate and intense. He's always ready to take on new challenges and he never backs down from a fight. Being with him means never knowing what adventure might come next.

Dating him is like dating any other person. You go on dates (walks, picnics, etc.), you cuddle, you laugh, you have intellectual conversations, you cook, you make love. It's just that when dating him, you're dating a legendary Viking warrior, and that changes the dynamics a bit.

He is a gentleman in every way, he treats you with respect and compassion. He will never be unfaithful to the loved one he is with. He is strong and courageous, but also sensitive and vulnerable. His heart is true to the one he is with. He is honest and faithful, loyal and devoted. He is strong enough to protect his loved one, but also kind and protective. He can be fun and lighthearted, but also serious and thoughtful. He is a real treasure.

He has a thing for teasing and loves it when you take over and tease him in the bedroom, making sure he begs and pleads for it until you let him finally release the tension.

He also has a thing for exhibitionism and loves the idea of being watched or having sex in front of a mirror.

He likes to switch it up and be the submissive one sometimes, letting you take control and lead the way.

He also enjoys having you perform for him and put on a sexy show, including showing off your body for him and seducing him with your moves.

He likes you to be a little possessive and jealous, wanting him all to yourself, like a cat marking their territory with a soft bite or a gentle scratch.

Most of all, he likes knowing his partner is enjoying themselves and that he's making you feel good.

[aladaylessecondblog]

list of places my OCs/fic characters jerk it

Sigurd - uhh....his chamber at the College of Winterhold. No doubt assisted by his mental ridealong who assures him this is fine. He doesn't have to worry about this. At all. (He avoided it at first but is falling further every day)

Torovan/Voryn: Absolutely does not jerk it. He has legendary self control and refuses to let go of it. (this will last until he sees his first pair of naked tits in thousands of years) the hot springs in Skyrim

Sadrith: usually in bedroll to help her go to sleep

Sadara: didn't really do it before, and definitely doesn't now

[etymology-of-the-emblem]

Naoise / ノイッシュ, Arden / アーダン, and Alec / アレク

Naoise (JP: ノイッシュ; rōmaji: noisshu; romanization: Noish) is a knight of the Grünritter who joins Sigurd in his journey in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. He is named after the character of Naisi, called Naoise in modern Irish, from the Tragic Tale of the Sons of Uisnech, a section of the Táin Bó Cúailnge. He became the lover of Deirdre, a woman who already promised to wed Conchobar mac Nessa—the king of Ulster. They fled to Alba, that is, Scotland, to escape Conchobar's wrath, and later hid on an adjacent isle upon the Alban king learned of Deirdre's beauty. The people of Ulster dearly missed Naoise, and Conchobar gave into the populace's desires, sending Fergus mac Róich as an envoy to bring the couple back. This plan was sowed with evil from the start; soon after Naoise and Deirdre meet Conchobar, battle breaks out. By the conclusion, Naoise is dead, and Conchobar takes Deirdre to be his wife.

The character of Sigurd, being the husband of Genealogy's Deirdre, has a handful of parallels with Naoise, from his exile from Grannvale to his wife being taken by the one who plots against him. This connection is made even more direct by naming his knights after the sons of Uisnech.

That's right: Naoise had two brothers with minor roles in the story, serving as the namesakes of Sigurd's two other knights. Arden (JP: アーダン; rōmaji: Ādan) is named after the youngest of the three brothers, Ardan. That leaves Alec (JP: アレク; rōmaji: areku) to be the middle child, Ainle. Even if you don't understand Japanese, you probably can tell something is off here. And you're right: Ainle is supposed to be rendered as アンリ (rōmaji: anri)—the same name as the legendary wielder of Falchion, Anri. Likely to avoid stepping on the toes of another continent's lore, the name was changed. I do wonder why such a drastic change was made; I don't think something like アンレ (rōmaji: anre) would have been problematic.

The sons of Uisnech all fell in that conflict against Conchobar; some tellings claim they were killed simultaneously, decapitated with Naoise's sword, granted to him by the god Manannán mac Lir, or run through by a single pike. Of course, all three of these Grünritter were slain in the Battle of Belhalla.

[synintheraven]

Research Rabbit-hole Tag Game!

Rules: As writers, we all end up researching random things for our writing. Share the latest thing you've researched for your fic and tell us something you learned!

Haven't been into these tag games lately but I actually have something to say about this one so I'll jump in :p Thanks for the tag @lord-aldhelm <3

What I Researched:

Ragnar Lothbrok and his story

Sigurd Hringr (Ragnar's father)

King Arthur's sword and its legend

What I Found Out:

Half of what is said about Ragnar (as in, that he's done) has been historically proven it was done by someone else (King Horik among them), however there was a relatively popular Lord and raider named Ragnall which is believed was at some point mixed with the legendary Ragnar - Ragnall certainly didn't die in a pit of snakes (nor was it a common practice anyway) but most likely raiding the shores of England or Ireland. - Also I made myself a tumblr page so I could easily keep track of what I find about him so if you're curious >here< is a bit more about this legendary dude :p (wildly different to Vikings' version, I must add)

Not the one I'm the most interested in, but I was curious to learn about Ragnar's background and the fact that his father was king of Sweden and, eventually, of Denmark. Funnily enough, his father died (or presumably sailed to his own death by being on a pyre boat) after one of his younger lovers died/was killed.

I had no idea there was an alternative story as to how Arthur got the sword; the one I knew about all my life was that he got the sword from that rock, but apparently there's another version (or the same but later on the story?) where he finds the sword at the bottom of some pond/lake and had to prove himself worthy of it to a sort of protector/witch/nymph that was guarding the sword.

No pressure tags: @sihtricfedaraaahvicius @thenameswinter99 @foxyanon and uhm whoever else sees this and feels like doing it :p

[haljathefangirlcat]

In the academic articles you've read, have you found anything that talks about how the Nibelungs are associated with eagle imagery? Kriemhild/Gudrun's dream has them represented by eagles, and in the Lay of Atli, it says many times the Nibelung brothers wear "eagle-gripped helmets". Is it just because the eagle is a noble animal? Or is there some sort of historical significance where the Nibelung Dynasty of the Kingdom of the Burgundians was associated with eagles?

Hey! Sorry it took me a while to answer this! Real life... *eyeroll*

I've searched a bit through my files and my bookmarks, but unfortunately, I couldn't find anything on eagles in the Nibelung/Volsung Cycle or on any specific associations between them and the Burgundians. As it is, I get the impression (even if, obviously, I might be missing something, especially if either of those topics has been covered in German...) that it simply goes back to the representation of birds of prey in Medieval literature.

To start with, eagles are about as likely to be fed or slake their thirst on battlefields as ravens and hawks in Norse poetry, so that's already an association between them and war/warriors/brave men with a chance to meet a gorey end. And if we look at the Eddas, Suttung and Odin both take the shape of eagles in the story of the creation and theft(s) of the Mead of Poetry, Thjazi does the same when bothering Odin, Loki, and Hoenir and then again when kidnapping Idun, and there's also the eagle sitting on Yggdrasil having beef with Nidhogg as well as Hraesvelg, the giant eagle or jotun-in-eagle-form that creates the winds by flapping its winds... all images that don't exactly paint a unified picture (then again, when do we ever get anything like that in Norse mythology? lol) but imo still add up to a general idea of "eagles are important/strong/majestic when you're on their good side and menacing when you aren't/just kind of badass."

However, in the case of the Nibelungenlied and specifically of Kriemhild's dream... now, please take this with a grain, or rather a bucket, of salt, because it's just my idea and it's not backed up by any kind of academic research. But I do feel that there the eagles might function as a stark, purposeful contrast with the falcon representing Siegfried, and not just in a "I'm gonna go out a limb and say domesticating eagles is probably harder/more time-consuming and expensive than falcons or the trained eagles of Mongolia's hunters probably wouldn't sound so special and exotic to us" way.

See, the eagle and the falcon/hawk are both associated with war and warriors, as I was saying above. They both appear in mythological and legendary contexts, too. But falcons/hawks also seems have a bit of a different symbolic value. In the Volsunga Saga, Sigurd has his second meeting with Brynhild, the more "courtly romance" one, while out hunting with his hawk, and, many years and misfortunes later, Randver, the son of Jormunrek who is executed for hooking up with Svanhild despite her being his dad's new bride, sends Jormunrek his own hawk, with its feathers plucked and unable to fly, to point out to him that all he's really doing is depriving their kingdom of a young, brave heir. Back to Middle High German literature, then, you have the Falkenlied, a poem where love and passion are represented by the flight of a falcon the poet has tamed and cared for himself. And if we move just a bit farther away geographically, yet stay roughly in the same time period as the Falkenlied, you also have Marie de France composing Yonec, a lai where an unhappy noblewoman gets entangled in a tragic romance with a falcon who turns out to be actually a handsome knight, and loses him before his time because of a jealous, tyrannical husband...

Ofc, my "theory," if you can even call it that, about hawks/falcons being strapping young lads with a penchant for passionate romances and a tendency to die bloody deaths before their time, as well as eagles being more martial, morally amiguous, and less "romantic hero" types, only applies to the later sources of the Sigurd/Siegfried tale. Atlakvida might actually date all the way back to the early 9th century, so that's obviously not included into these musings. My stance on that one's still "eagle badass," essentially.

[princesssarisa]

Sleeping Beauty is yet another fairy tale where the princess has no agency whatsoever. She's a damsel in distress, sometimes twice over in French and Italian versions where a cannibalistic mother-in-law or love rival tries to eat her and her children. However, in older, more legendary versions, Sleeping Beauty does have agency -- a lot of it, in fact. In Germanic legends, she's the Valkyrie Brynhild. At 12, her swan coat is stolen by a prince who adopts her as his little sister and mascot. so she can grant him victory in a war against an older and more powerful king. Her boss and mentor Odin gets angry at her for killing his favored warrior, the old king, and sentences her to sleep for decades in a castle on a mountain surrounded by flames, and to marry the man who wakes her. However, because she's his favorite Valkyrie, he promises that only the greatest warrior in all of history will wake her, and even sets on a generations-long hero breeding project to create said man, Sigurd Fafnirsbane. Like a fairy tale, Sigurd wakes Brynhild. They spend a short, happy while together, during which Brynhild teaches him the secret of runes. However, Sigurd leaves to seek out more adventures and is brainwashed by the witch Oda (or Grimhild, in Scandinavian versions), marries her daughter, and swears brotherhood with her sons. He is then persuaded to disguise himself as his new blood-brother Gunther (Gunnar in Scandinavia) and pass Brynhild's trials a second time so he can retrieve Brynhild and marry her to Gunther. Brynhild finds out about the deception and sets up a plan to kill Sigurd and humiliate Gunther. Though Sigurd's brainwashing wears off and he tries to persuade Brynhild to elope with him instead following through with her plan, she cries a single tear of blood and tells him the die is cast, he must die and she must die, because her honor demands no less. True to her word, Gunther and his brothers murder Sigurd according to Brynhild's plan, and Brynhild proceeds to stab herself and be burned on the same pyre and Sigurd. In Hindu mythology, her name is Urmila. Her husband, the prince Lakshman, decides to go protect his older brother Rama, who has been exiled for fourteen years, but agonizes over the possibility that they might face danger at night and he wouldn't wake up in time. Urmila then decides that she will sleep in place of her husband so he can remain constantly awake and vigilant. In this case, Sleeping Beauty's curse is something she voluntarily takes on to protect her husband and his brother, and it's treated as a great and noble sacrifice. She goes into a deep sleep for fourteen years and nobody can wake her until her husband returns to her.

The next book I'm planning to read is Heidi Ann Heiner's Sleeping Beauties: it's just like her Cinderella book, with various cross-cultural Sleeping Beauty and Snow White tales. I'm sure it includes these two.