The Saga of the Volsungs With The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok

An oldie but a goodie

Mythology and epics in general are well known, yet few people actually read them, sticking exclusively to retellings or modern fiction that borrows characters from them instead. This is a shame, because the original myths and epics are more fun and interesting than people give them credit for. Thankfully, people like Jackson Crawford have made attempts to liberate these stories from the ivory towers, producing editions like The Saga of the Volsungs with The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok.

Together the two sagas combine into a duology about one family line and its many struggles. Although the total number of generations featured is seven, the first three are sped through rather quickly. There’s a good chance you already know of a dragon slayer named Sigurd from Norse mythology, who is featured in the Saga of the Volsungs and Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

The style of these Sagas is more approachable than you might think, presumably thanks in part to Crawford’s translation. The prose is straightforward and to the point, you won’t get excessively long paragraphs of description or subtlety, and the typical chapter is rather short. All together it’s an easier read than most expect from such an old text.

Notably, the sagas aren’t strictly prose, often featuring bits of poetry. In the Saga of the Volsungs the included poems are older sources being cited by the saga with no attempt to disguise that fact, often an event will occur and the narration will then recite a poem about that exact event, effectively replaying it for the reader. Meanwhile in the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok the poems are spoken by the characters and thus more integrated with the narrative, moving the story forward rather than backward.

This usage of poetry in a primarily prose text might remind you of a certain author, J.R.R Tolkien. Because the sagas were one of his inspirations, and he has his own retelling of one part of the Saga of the Volsungs, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún. Considering the influence that Tolkien’s own writing has had, that makes these sagas ancestors to the modern fantasy story.

What I enjoy about the sagas is that they offer a more human focused perspective of a mythological world. The main drivers of the plot in both sagas are humans and their grudges, but they are shaped by divine, magical, or monstrous influences, like a cow that can make people crazy by mooing.

How the sagas make use of Odin is entirely unlike how modern fiction uses him. Odin’s appearances in the story are mainly concerned with death, he is more of a grim reaper than a ruler. When Odin appears the narrative rarely addresses him by name, instead describing his appearance as an old wanderer. The power his presence has in the narrative fascinates me, even with him being more of a plot device than character.

Additionally there are moments of dry, dark, or darkly dry humor. Sinfjotli in particular is an oddly comedic character, mainly through how absurdly screwed up the circumstances around him are. Though he does deserve some credit for how he talks to kings.

My favorite character in the duology as a whole is Ivar the Boneless. It’s fascinating to me how much he contrasts with the earlier generations, being a more pragmatic character in an honor bound bloodline. On the other hand I despise Grimhild in the ways a villain should be hated.

To better understand the characters, I advise at least reading the section of Crawford’s introduction to the sagas on morality. As ancient stories, the sagas naturally have an ancient sense of morality. Therefore you’ll understand the actions of the characters better if you stop to consider what moral framework they have, because it is not twenty-first century morality.

The world of the sagas is a brutal one where revenge is as omnipresent as the laws of nature. The Saga of the Volsungs is an especially violent tragedy, not even children are spared from the carnage. If you can’t stand violence it might not be a story for you.

While it’s still a violent story, The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok ends about as happily as a saga like it can end, and it feels all the more earned after The Saga of the Volsungs and its morbid finale.

If you want to try something distinct from modern fiction, learn more about mythology, and/or gain a deeper appreciation for the history of the fantasy genre, then I highly recommend The Saga of the Volsungs with The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok.