#tryggvi

[oldshittydog]

heres some gay aloth slowburn if anyone wants some food

[themorbidart]

Finally named them and finished their lineup! Very happy with how they turned out and looking forward to doing more! Still working on lore, but i’ll submit a post once that’s more concrete. :)

[hatari-translations]

Matthías and Klemens's Patreon show has a free episode up featuring Einar where they talk about their journey with Hatari! Lots of fun, juicy stuff here, including a snippet of a demo which I'm of course going to transcribe and translate.

[malachimurphys]

[torse]

I used the wrong name in tags MY BAD ty @likeappletrees for pointing that out

[hat-ari]

my favourite mythical creature is the Dansið Eða Deyið EP

[nimblermortal]

Book: ...a former jarl's guard who openly admitted to being responsible for the threatening letter written to Theod and me. His name was Otrygg Otryggson.

Nimbler: *bursts into laughter*

Traitor McTraitorface? Really? That's what you named the fellow? No wonder you're not afraid to throw around names you're unlikely to use again!

(Tryggvi is an actual name - witness King Olaf Tryggvason - and ó- is a negative prefix. The verb involved is trúa, or the adjective tryggva, true/loyal/faithful. So this dude's name is uh. Hilarious.)

[jesdamons]

matthías tryggvi haraldsson, hatari

[notomys-mordax-blog]

Fire Emblem Three Sagas

I've been playing through Banner Saga and wanted to do a study of the art style, so I drew Dimitri using the base of the spear-wielding characters from Banner Saga (I didn't realize until I was studying them that Ludin and Tryggvi. used ... the same base). It was a fun exercise, although I'm not 100% on the colors I picked for the lines! The background is just a screenshot I yoinked + blurred.

[glassmakerstas]

Aapeli, one of our with @badorangebutter Evoker OC's And Tryggvi, our OC too. He was a Vindicator before, but now he turns into a Ravager. The rest of the Ravagers on art were also Illagers before. Their names are Balish and Salanta

-- 2022

[shadowspellchecker]

Thor (incomplete notes, expect edits)

Died seven winters after the Battle of Svolder (1x3)

...while "tracking beasts across the land" (ibid)

Norvegr (2x6)

Really hates "Danes"

Son married a "Danish" woman.

Died at age of 35 (2×14)

3 brothers, kin or fictive, fell in battle (2×16)

That's what we know.

Okay, so from what I'm reading on the Battle of Svolder (1000CE), these were the prominent figures:

Olaf Tryggvason ✝

Son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken (around Oslo) (Vingulmark, and Rånrike). Father was murdered, grew up in Orkney.

Long list of activities.

He took control of Norway in 995 CE.

Active promoter of Christianity in Norway, insisted vassals be baptized.

In 997, Olaf ✝ founded his seat of government in Trondheim, where he had first held a thing with the revolters against Haakon. It was a suitable site because the River Nid twisted itself before going into the fjord, creating a peninsula that could be easily defended against terrestrial attacks by only one short wall.

Olaf ✝ continued to promote Christianity throughout his reign. He baptized the explorer Leif Ericson ✝, who took a priest with him back to Greenland to convert the rest of his kin.[14] Olaf also converted the people and Earl of the Orkney Islands to Christianity.[15] At that time, the Orkney Islands were part of Norway.

It is only when Olaf Tryggvason ✝ sights Eirik Hákonarson's contingent that he realises he is in for a hard battle, because "they are Norwegians like us".

Eirik Hákonarson

Earl of Lade and son of Haakon Jarl.

Hákon Sigurðarson (Haakon Jarl) was a strong believer in the Old Norse gods, and when King Harald Bluetooth attempted to force Christianity upon him, Haakon broke his allegiance to Denmark. A Danish invasion force was defeated at the battle of Hjörungavágr in 986. According to Heimskringla, Eric, apparently reconciled with his father, commanded 60 ships in the battle and emerged victorious. After the battle he gave quarter to many of the Jomsvikings, including Vagn Ákason.

In 995, as Óláfr Tryggvason ✝ seized power as King of Norway, Eric was forced into exile in Sweden. 

He allied himself with King Olof of Sweden and Sweyn ✝, the Christian king of the Danes, whose daughter, Gyða, he married. Using Sweden as his base he launched a series of raiding expeditions into the east.

Also needs to be considered: Haakon Jarl -

Haakon was a strong believer in the old Norse gods, even after Harald Bluetooth ✝ forced him to accept baptism around 975 and assigned him clergymen to take to Norway to spread Christianity. When a favourable wind came for Haakon to leave, he commanded the clergymen to return ashore,[4] and broke his allegiance to Denmark.

In 995, a quarrel broke out between Haakon and the Trønders just as Olaf Tryggvason ✝, a descendant of Harald Fairhair arrived. Haakon quickly lost all support, and was killed by his own slave and friend, Tormod Kark, while hiding in the pig sty in the farm Rimul in Melhus.

A number of (textually related) sources also recount Earl Haakon's predilection for raping women, whether the daughters of nobles or of commoners.

...It is clear that Svein Forkbeard ✝, Olaf the Swede and Eirik had ample reason to oppose Olaf Tryggvason ✝. Olaf had taken control of Viken in south Norway, an area long under Danish overlordship. Olaf and Svein had been in England together, but Olaf had made peace while Svein Forkbeard ✝ kept campaigning. Svein ✝ was on friendly terms with Olaf the Swede and connected to him by marriage, so the two were natural allies.[17] Finally, Jarl Eirik had been driven from his patrimony by Olaf Tryggvason ✝, as arguably had his father, Jarl Hakon, whom he may have wished to avenge.

In the Battle of Svolder in 1000, Eric, Sweyn, and Olof ambushed king Óláfr Tryggvason by the island of Svolder.

After the Battle of Svolder, the victorious leaders split Norway into areas of control. Heimskringla gives the most detailed account of the division, describing it as threefold. Olaf the Swede received four districts in Trondheim as well as Møre, Romsdal and Rånrike. He gave these to Jarl Svein Hákonarson, his son in law, to hold as a vassal. Svein Forkbeard ✝ gained possession of the Viken district, where Danish influence had long been strong. The rest of Norway was ruled by Eirik Hákonarson as Svein's vassal.[52] Fagrskinna, in contrast, says that the Swedish part consisted of Oppland and a part of Trondheim.

The Jarls Eirik and Svein proved strong, competent rulers, and their reign was prosperous. Most sources say that they adopted Christianity but allowed the people religious freedom, leading to a backlash against Christianity which undid much of Olaf Tryggvason's ✝ missionary work.

After Olaf's defeat at the Battle of Svolder in 1000 there was a partial return to paganism in Norway under the rule of the Jarls of Lade.

So. Prejudice against the Danes by Norwegians focuses on weakness in naval combat.

After spotting the enemy, Olaf might have used sail and oar to outrun the ambush and escape, but he refuses to flee and turns to give battle with the eleven ships immediately about him. Seeing the Danish fleet arrayed against him, he comments: "The forest goats will not overcome us, for the Danes have the courage of goats. We will not fear that force because the Danes have never carried off the victory if they fought on ships."

It is only when Olaf Tryggvason sights Eirik Hákonarson's contingent that he realises he is in for a hard battle, because "they are Norwegians like us".

The sagas give all the credit to the Norwegians, praising Eirik Hákonarson for any intelligence and for most of the valour shown by Olaf Tryggvason's opponents. The Danes and Swedes rush at the front of Olaf's line and are repulsed, suffering heavy casualties and loss of ships. Jarl Eirik attacks the flank and forces his vessel, the Iron Ram, up against the last ship of Olaf's line, which he clears with a fierce attack and then proceeds onto the next ship. In this way, Olaf's ships were cleared one by one, till the Long Serpent alone was left.

Thor's views of the Danes seem to jive more with a general prejudice of Danes by Norwegians.

With one exception, all of Norway's rulers since Håkon the Good (c. 920–961) were Christians (however Håkon later reverted to Heathenism as an apostate), as was Olaf's main opponent, Cnut the Great. 

HOWEVER, his religion jives more with that of Haakon Jarl.

From the Norwegian wiki:

"Sigurd Ladejarl was hard to expose, and so was Håkon, his father. Sigurd held all the feasts on the king's behalf there in Trøndelag." [36] With this quotation, Snorri places the main seat of the old hill tribe precisely at Lade. Christianity was already well known in Norway at the time of Harald Hårfagre, and in the 9th century the new faith gained traction in parts of the population, but not in Trøndelag.

The Danish king, under strong pressure from the German-Roman emperor Otto II, had forced the earl to be baptized and sent priests with him to Norway. But as soon as Håkon was out of reach of the Danish king, he put the priests on shore and stood out as a complete heathen in the tradition of the Ladejarls. In the tribute quatrain Vellekla by the Icelandic bard Einar Skålaglam , earl Håkon is referred to as an advocate of the old religion, and he is considered among the last rulers in Norway to profess the Norse religion. According to Snorre, the earl is said to have declared himself a "Sæming" - that is, one of the sons of the warrior god Odin . "He should never seek out the fight, but also never shy away from the fight."

In Vellekla , Håkon is hailed as the one who brought åsatrua back to the Norwegians after the Christian kings Håkon the Good and Eirikssønnene: [37]

Wise Lord of the Army

let them ravage hofland

which Tor owned, again

regarded as temples of gods.

Even a Thor behind the shield

he led over the sea

to jotner's way of fighting

wolf. Him gods rule. [38]

Archaeologist Frans-Arne Stylegar nuances the image of the pagan Håkon by showing that during his raid in Gøtaland Håkon tore down and robbed a hoof that was dedicated to the god Thor . Odd Snorresson (Odd Munk) writes that Gautland earl Ottar had Håkon declared "varg i veum" (wolf in the sanctuary) at the court after the crime. [39]He also mentions that Harald of Denmark is said to have sent German missionaries to Norway. Håkon's role in this connection is unclear, but there are clear archaeological traces that indicate that Christianity gained a foothold in the country at this time. Stylegar claims that "the trend at this time was to fill political alliances and subordination relationships with Christian, ideological content. Such was the relationship between Emperor Otto and King Harald, and this may well have been the case between Harald and earl Håkon as well." [40] In other words, it is conceivable that earl Håkon became a Christian in his older days for purely political and opportune reasons.

A distinctive feature of earl Håkon's worship of the gods is the relationship with the goddess, the guardian spirit or the valkyrie Torgerd Holgebrud . Especially during the Battle of Hjørungavåg, she has a central role. Things went badly for Håkon at the beginning of the battle and he invoked his patron saint. She demanded a large sacrifice, and Håkon had his seven-year-old son Erling killed. The battle then turned and Håkon won with the help of Torgerd and her sister Irpa. Torgerd also has an important role in connection with Håkon's revenge on Torleiv Jarleskald. [41] [42] The cult around Torgerd is also known from Icelandic sources.

Thor, he's... probably early 30s???

Seven years after the Battle of Svolder, that would mean he'd have been in his early twenties then.

Usually, by the time you have a wife and child, you'd not be going off on that kind of long-range expedition. And seriously, that's long range. Norvegr to Iceland is about a week under ideal conditions, but using the easier island hopping route could take weeks, and 3 to 4 weeks from Norway to Greenland if they had a sunstone.

See:

It all depends on where they left from of course. Traditionally it was said that a journey from the west coast of Norway to Iceland would take about 7 days, while the journey from the west coast of Norway and over to Ireland would be about 3 days of sailing.

Despite the distance being almost the same as from Norway, the journey to Iceland was also said to be just 3 days journey from Dublin in Ireland, which was one of the major viking trading cities in Europe at the time. This was probably due to the favourable wind and currents along the gulf stream.

There was therefore much contact between Iceland and Dublin, especially for trade in valuable goods such as walrus ropes and walrus oils, both uniquely suited for ship-building and maintenance, which were difficult to acquire anywhere else than Iceland and far Siberia. On the return voyage the most valuable commodity brought was slaves, since the hunting and extraction of oil, skin and meat from walrusses were a tiresome job, but various farm animals, foodstuffs such as grains, as well as weapons and fine linens were also in high demand.

Sources and more details on the economics of viking age Iceland and Ireland can be found in "Den svarte vikingen" by Bergsveinn Birgisson.

However:

The journey from Greenland to the settlement in Vinland is more than 3000 km long and would likely have taken the Vikings a minimum of two weeks (and possibly even six weeks or longer) to complete, one-way.

Norway to Iceland: Half the sailing season (May to September). Iceland to Greenland: ???.

Traveling to Vinland would likely have taken at least two years. Thor had to have a reason to be absent for so long, and reason to think he was coming back.

My thought? Politics or religion. But maybe it was, simply, economics. Perhaps he was even trying to pave the way for his family.

Timeline

c. 982 - Erik the Red discovers Greenland for the Norse knowledge base.

c. 985 - Norse settlement of Greenland

986 - summer - Bjarni Herjólfsson relays sighting of hospitable lands to west of Greenland

995 - Haakon Jarl killed. In the chaos Olaf Tryggvasson ✝ takes over.

1000 - Leif Eriksson ✝ explores the land Bjarni described and overwinters.

999/1000 - September - Battle of Svolder. Olaf Tryggvasson ✝ killed. Christianizaion of Norway slowed due to Eirik Hákonarson and Svein Forkbeard permitting greater religious freedom.

999/1000 - First winter hence

1000/1001 - Second winter hence

1001/1002 - third winter hence

1002/1003 - fourth winter hence

1003/1004 - fifth winter hence

1004/1005 - sixth winter hence

1005/1006 - seventh winter hence.

1006/1007 - At this point Thor is killed by lightning. Light or lack of snow in scene suggests spring.

Key

To ease remembering who is allied with who, I'm going to mark Christianized Norse with this symbol ✝ following their names. 🔨 is for those who favored the Norse pantheon, and both are for those who are unidentified. Notation will be completed later.

[dragons-ire]

Yvain -

It's good to hear from you. Seems like a constant of both of our days - too many things to say, never enough time to catch up.

I do have a story for you.

It doesn't come up so often anymore, but I earned my spurs out of the Convictory. I'll spare you the retelling of the banalities of daily existence there. It's enough to know that our visitors were few.

Michault de Vitroix was one such visitor. A dragoon in full kit was naturally the talk of the day he arrived. Just to winter over a day or so and catch up with some familiar faces - he was known to a few of the longer-term residents, even had a word with Ser Jantellot himself. He kept his conversations and company to that select circle, but the implications didn't escape anyone else: one of our own who had made it.

Until then, I'd never heard of anyone from that place actually making it anywhere.

The second day, Ser Michault entertained himself by challenging a few hopefuls, as we often challenged each other when things were slow. I can't quite forget the skill that he wielded his lance. Quicker than me then as is now. Though, to my credit, the living man got me more soundly than the dead one did. I'd relish the opportunity to repay the favor.

And after that, he went away, bound for some destination in the field none of us were quite privy to, no matter how much anyone tried to overhear or wheedle it out of him. Just the rumor that he was tracking a specific quarry - the elder wyvern Tryggvi - and was not of a mind to share bounty or glory with any aspirant there. He did not come back.

If you were to ask me where I thought such a creatures 'lair' may be now, I'd first think of somewhere in the direction of that last destination. Perhaps somewhere in the Slate Mountains, where Tryggvi is believed to have roosted - and may still.

I hope this is helpful to your investigations.

Regards,

Breandan Ducaille.

[hatari-translations]

By the way, if you haven't seen, Matthías and Klemens have a new English-language podcast/show together on Patreon called "Seasons of Friendship", which is ultimately sort of a nice excuse for them to get together and hang out and create something now that Hatari can no longer serve that purpose in their lives.

In the first episode, released yesterday, they discuss Matthías's departure from the band, some stories of their time in the band and musings on the overall experience, and more. There is unfortunately no free tier (the lowest tier to gain access to the episodes is $7 a month), but I at least enjoyed the show and do recommend it if you can spare the money and miss hearing the two of them be dorks together.

[listenermage]

               estrid & tryggvi 🤝 morgana & aithusa 🤝 merlin & kilgharrah 🤝 the last dragonborn & durnehviir & odahviing

i am living in a dragon squad loving world right now and ur all invited.

[skakhuginn]

Ný skákstig 1. apríl

Ný Fide skákstig tóku gildi þann 1. apríl sl. Hilmar Freyr Birgisson hækkar mest eða um 29 stig. Lárus Sólberg Guðjónsson hækkar um 26 og Oleksandr Matlak hækkar um 22. Tryggvi Þórhallsson og Ingi Hafliði Guðjónsson hækka einnig þó nokkuð. Bergmann Óli Aðalsteinsson er eini nýliðinn á listanum með 1739 stig og er þar með 7 stigahæsti félagsmaður Goðans. Oleksandr Matlak og Tómas Veigar…

[saucerfulofsins]

Three more options:

Epithets (Phineas the Great, Phineas the Younger, Phineas the Unready, Phineas the Short-Sighted). These are excellent if you want to include their proper name, and you can use them to either describe family relation or character attribute. Some of them are only practical, others are funny!

In the Icelandic (family) sagas, the books often have many people with either the same or similar names (long lists of Olafs who are all different and occasionally family). They tend to be identified through family relations the first time around (i.e. Olaf Tryggvason - Olaf son of Tryggvi) but not so much after. It's really more a matter of "what is this person's circle of family and friends like, and what is his position in society." Including family trees can help with this!

Sometimes there are two minor Thorolfs and you don't have to keep them apart to understand the story. That is still an option you have, although a modern audience might struggle with it more because our conventions are different.

So I'm writing historical fiction, set in Medieval Eastern Rome. My problem is that most characters share the same few names. Even family names and titles lack diversity. I can't really change them, since they are historical, so it gets very confusing when you have 5 characters named Alexios, 2 of which share a family name and title. How do I deal with this?

Characters with Same Name in Historical Fiction

So, here's where a few things are going to come in handy...

1 - The "Fiction" part of "historical fiction." - Since you're not writing non-fiction, you have the abilities to take liberties for the sake of the story you're trying to tell, which includes the purpose of clarity.

2 - Understanding naming conventions - Every language and culture have their own conventions surrounding given names, nicknames, clan names, diminutives, and patronymics... so it's important to understand how these worked in the time and setting of your historical fiction. Because even if we know a historical person as Phineas Smythe, that doesn't mean he was known that way back in the day. He might instead have been known as Phineas Smythson.

3 - Understanding Anglicization - This is another one that can play a big role, because (for example) Phineas is the Anglicized version of Phinehas, so maybe back in the day, he was known not as Phineas Smythe as we know him, but as Phinehas Smythson.

All of this is important to know because it can help you come up with ways of differentiating same-named characters without completely renaming them. So, let's say for example your story spans a century, and you have two Phineas Smythes... a grandfather and his grandson. If you dig into the naming conventions and find that the older Phineas Smythe actually went by Phinehas Smythson, that immediately differentiates the two characters. Alternatively, you might learn that a common diminutive in the older Phineas's time and place was to add the affix "-ian" to a male name. So he could have gone by Phinian Smythe while his grandson just goes by Phineas Smythe.

Nicknames in general can be a handy way of differentiating two same-named historical characters, even if you have to take liberties to get there. Maybe the older Phineas Smythe went by Finny. Or maybe he was called "Bear" because of his bear-like size. Or, maybe he didn't but you say he was for the sake of clarity.

When you're not dealing with different generations, another option is to combine people. For example, maybe you have two Phineas Smythes who are minor courtiers of the king, but one Phineas has a bigger role in the story. Can you just combine them into one person instead of having two? Again, because this is historical fiction, it doesn't have to be 100% accurate... it's not non-fiction. You want to be as accurate as possible, and make sure your changes don't change things too much or completely garble someone's understanding of an historical event. But, ultimately, you're writing fiction based on history so you need to prioritize clarity over fact.

I hope something here will help you clarify between these same named characters. ♥

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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