#viking hervor ship

[atrumvox]

Hervor: The Warrior Heiress of a Cursed Sword

Who was Hervor? A shepherdess turned warrior, ready to challenge the dead for a cursed sword. Discover her incredible story!

Hervor, the daughter of a legendary berserkr, learned that her destiny was tied to Tyrfing, a sword forged by dwarves and steeped in a terrible curse. In this video, we explore her extraordinary transformation from shepherdess to warrior, her journey to the island of Samsø, and her bravery in reclaiming what was rightfully hers. We uncover the ancient legends surrounding the sword Tyrfing, its dark power, and how Hervor faced epic challenges to prove herself worthy of her inheritance. Join us on this journey through Norse mythology, where honor, courage, and mystery intertwine. By the end of the video, you'll understand why Hervor's story is one of the most fascinating in Nordic tradition.

[nimblermortal]

Every paragraph with this woman is a delight

So, I mentioned that she has Penric problems, by which I mean Orphans of Raspay, by which I mean while she was screaming WAKEY WAKEY COUGH UP THE GOODS at liches in their own tombs, her crew was trembling on the deck of a ship off the coast of the relevant island, and they got skeered and scarpered. So she had to live on the island until she could get passage, and wound up at the court of King Gudmund of Glasisvellir.

Now, sagas differ on just where Glasisvellir is, but in this saga it's between the northernmost regions of Norway and, uh, Jotunheim. It's on the border with fairyland. And Hervor obviously becomes the darling of the king's court, and he just haaaappens to have a fully-grown son who's a lawyer.

Now that's boyfriend material.

But! She does not date him! In fact, she just hangs out claiming to be Hervard again, until King Gudmund is losing at board games And How, until he asks the open court if anybody can advise him out of this dilemma, and Hervor wanders over. She's excelling at the task when some rando notices she left her sword (her magic sword! that she worked so hard for!) at the table (Tyrfing! that cannot be drawn without being the death of someone!) and has the bright idea to draw it and marvel at what a good blade it is.

So Hervor steps back, takes Tyrfing from him, whacks off his head, and leaves.

Now King Gudmund's court is trying to egg each other on to go kill this most excellent champion when Gudmund, with the prescience of kings, suggests that maybe killing him would be a bad idea.

An interesting aspect of Gudmund is that he speaks in poetry, by which I mean his syntax is all over the place and I think this is intentional to make him seem more ethereal/foreign, but it's dratted annoying. Here's my current best shot at a translation, because I think it's fascinatingly trans:

"It will seem to y'all a lesser revenge on this man than you intend, because I understand him to be a woman."

so they decide not to kill Hervor/Hervard again, and instead:

Hervor went to be a viking and was raiding a while, and when she tired of being so she went to Jarl Bjarmar (the granddad she grew up with) and sat down with her embroidery. There were then many questions about her peacefulness.

Yeah, I bet there were. The balls on this woman.

[ladyniniane]

I posted 5 847 times in 2021

629 posts created (11%)

5218 posts reblogged (89%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 8.3 posts.

I added 2 657 tags in 2021

#history - 674 posts

#women in history - 642 posts

#cdramas - 419 posts

#art - 306 posts

#warrior women - 181 posts

#about me - 135 posts

#sick sad world - 85 posts

#fire emblem three houses - 78 posts

#rebel princess - 75 posts

#écriture - 62 posts

Longest Tag: 120 characters

#parce que certaines choses peuvent être très traumatiques et c'est jamais plaisant quand elles te bondissent à la gueule

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Favorite women in history: 4/?

Sara de Sancto Aegidio

Sara de Sancto Aegidio (of St. Gilles) was a jewish female doctor who lived in Marseilles during the 14th century. She was the widow of a fellow physician named Avraham. Her existence is known through a contract written in 1326 between her and her student, Salvetus de Burgonoro of Salon de Provence. According to this document, Sara agreed to teach medicine and to “board, lodge and clothe” her student. In exchange, Salvetus had to give her all the fees he would receive from treating the patients during this period.

120 notes • Posted 2021-03-04 17:39:43 GMT

#4

Favorite women in history:  1/?

Empress Theodora

Theodora (497-548) was the daughter of a bear-keeper. An actress and a prostitute, nothing predestinated her to become empress. Theodora left the Hippodrome, went to North Africa as the mistress of a civil servant, parted from him and returned home.

Then, she met the future emperor Justinian and married him. When her husband was crowned in 527, he insisted that Theodora should be made his equal and his co-ruler. Thus, Theodora embarked on the path of reform. 

Theodora worked to improve women’s rights. She made rape punishable by death, improved women’s financial security and suppressed the authority that the brothel owners keepers kept over prostitutes. She also tried to improve the prospects of prostitutes who wanted to start a new life.

She showed great courage during the Nika riots in 532. Theodora persuaded the emperor not to flee, but to fight. She reportedly said:

“I do not care whether or not it is proper for a woman to give brave counsel to frightened men; but in moments of extreme danger, conscience is the only guide. Every man who is born into the light of day must sooner or later die; and how can an Emperor ever allow himself to become a fugitive? If you, my Lord, wish to save your skin, you will have no difficulty in doing so. We are rich, there is the sea, there too are our ships. But consider first whether, when you reach safety, you will not regret that you did not choose death in preference. As for me, I stand by the ancient saying: royalty makes the best shroud.”

Theodora was also involved in a number of political intrigues and mercilessly disposed of her political opponents. She died in 548, probably of cancer.

125 notes • Posted 2021-03-01 09:38:24 GMT

#3

Favorite dramas: first half of 2021

Here are my favorite dramas (all cdramas except one) among those I watched during the first half of 2021!

-Beyond the realm of conscience

A good vintage palace drama. The plot was fast-paced and I enjoyed the schemes and the rivalries of the different women working in the palace. The main characters and the antagonists are a bit too one-dimensional, but I found the story enjoyable nonetheless.

-Schemes of a beauty

See the full post

149 notes • Posted 2021-07-03 19:18:04 GMT

#2

Aaaah ! J’avais hâte qu’il sorte ! Le résumé donne tellement envie :

“In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden was actually a woman. The Real Valkyrie weaves together archaeology, history, and literature to imagine her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined. Nancy Marie Brown uses science to link the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines her life intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as The Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. 

Hervor's short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data, but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, law, saga, poetry, and myth carry weapons. These women brag, "As heroes we were widely known--with keen spears we cut blood from bone." In this compelling narrative Brown brings the world of those valkyries and shield-maids to vivid life.”

Date de sortie : Le 31 août. ça va, je n’aurais pas trop à attendre ;)

208 notes • Posted 2021-07-18 12:50:05 GMT

#1

Favorite Chinese dramas 2020 edition

I’m a bit late, but here are my favorite Chinese dramas among those I watched in 2020, in no particular order.

-The Story of Yanxi Palace

My favorite cdrama so far and one of my favorite shows as well. This drama is fast-paced and has a perfect balance between emotion and light-hearted moments. It’s a bittersweet story, yes, but never too dark. There’s always a glimmer of hope. The protagonist is awesome, she’s clever, angry, vengeful and yet fallible. Watching her overcome the obstacles in the palace is delightful. I also liked the emphasis put on female friendship and sisterhood. 

-Legend of Lu Zhen/Female prime minister

See the full post

400 notes • Posted 2021-01-17 15:56:33 GMT

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[nimblermortal]

The Saga of Hervor Getting What She Wants

in verse

(preliminary, I haven't reviewed any of these translations yet)

for the modern-style retelling, click here

Hervor: Wake up, Angantyr!* Hervor wakes you, only daughter of your Svafa. Surrender from your (burial) mound the sharp sword, the one that dwarves forged for Sigrlami.

*Angantyr is her dad

Hervor, Hjorvard, Hrani, Angantyr!* I wake all of you under the tree's roots with helm and armor and sharp sword, shield and harness, and orderly spear.

*these are Angantyr and his brothers

Much they are becoming, Angantyr's sons - mighty harm-willing ones - to mold-reek that none of the sons of Eyfura will speak with me in Munarveg.

Hervor, Hjorvard, Hrani, Angantyr! Let it be for you all as if you mourn with an ant's mound inside your ribs unless you give up the sword which Dwalin forged. It is always/not fitting for ghosts to carry a costly weapon.

Angantyr: Hervor, daughter, what are you saying? You go toward evils full of your own ills. You are becoming frantic and hysterical willfully you wake up dead men.

My father did not dig for me, nor did any of my kinsmen - Those two* have Tyrfing** who lived though only one became its possessor in the end.

*two men fought Angantyr and his eleven brothers; one died, and so did all twelve brothers. Don't feel bad for them, they were berserks and vikings. **magic sword

Hervor: You do not tell the truth - so let the god make you whole in your mound, as you do not have Tyrfing with you. You are loth to grant an inheritance to your only child!

Then the mound opened, and it was as if fires and wildfires were all over the mound.

Angantyr: Hither to the gate to Hel the mound opens all the flowering island trees you see are in the fire. It is savage outside, that you see around you. Go, girl, if you are able, to your ship.

Hervor: Y'all do not burn such balefires at night that I would be afraid of others' fires. The breast in the maid is untrembling at the thought, though she see a ghost standing at the door.

Angantyr: I tell you, Hervor, listen a while longer to be shown, daughter, what will happen. Tyrfing will, if you can believe it, ruin everything for your family, girl!

You will beget a son. He will later have Tyrfing and trust in his strength. Then Heidrek will lead people; he alone will be the most powerful under the sun's tent.

Hervor: I thought myself a manly man until I came to your hall seeking no counsel; give me from your mound that which hates armor, what is dangerous to defense, doom of Hjalmar.*

*of the two who killed Angantyr and his brothers - the one who died

Angantyr: Hjalmar's bane lies under my back everything around him wrapped in fire. I know no girl on the earth overhead who would dare carry that sword in her hand.*

*this may actually be 'who would touch it, since it's covered in fire'. Or not; note that in the Ring cycle, Brunhilde is wrapped in fire using the same terms as here describe the sword

Hervor: I can care for and take in hand that sharp sword; if I could not I do not fear the burning fire. Suddenly I see wildfire overhead.

Angantyr: You are foolish, Hervor, possessing courage, eyes bigger than your stomach you tumble into the fire. I would rather give you the sword from the mound. Young maid, I cannot deny you.

Hervor: You do well, son of vikings, now you give me the sword from the mound; hero, I think it better to have now than if I had all of Norway.

Angantyr: You don't get it - you are wretched of speech, most wicked woman - what you celebrate - you will see, Tyrfing will, if you trust in strength, entirely ruin all of your family, girl!

Hervor: I will go to the gull of the swelling waves (ship). Now the helmsman's maid (me) is in a good mood! I couldn't care less, friend of princes, what my sons deal with later.

Angantyr: You shall own/not* and long enjoy having in hiding Hjalmar's bane. Do not grasp the edges; poison is on both of them, that which is a man's bane, worse than maiming.

*another case where the opposite is the same word :(

Farewell, daughter - in a heartbeat I would give you the life of twelve men if you trust in strength, might, and endurance - all that is good that the sons of Arngrim leave to you.

Hervor: You all stay - I wish to be abroad. Whole in your mound - I want to go from here swiftly. I seemed now to be between worlds; fires burned all around me.