B for Bananas, Z for (you’ll find out!) and V for Volsungs were, to be honest, the reason I started the A-Z of Iceland series. I’ve been looking forward to this one. It’s time to introduce you to the Volsungs Saga!
Icelanders are prolific writers. Always have been. I suspect that’s got something to do with long cold dark winter nights. People across Scandinavia and its assorted territories have believed in the Norse religions of Þórr and Óðinn and co for a long time but the main reason they’re remembered today is that the Icelanders wrote them down. And they wrote sagas. A lot of them are historical. A lot of them are true. Some of them have some truth in them. A few are pure fantasy. I’m not going to far as to say the Volsungs Saga is among the latter but… it’s early fantasy.
One JRR Tolkien came along in the 20th century. He loved myths and legends and folk stories. His works are a tapestry of what he read and loved and the Volsungs Saga comes through loud and clear.
You know the broken sword reforged for the true heir? That happened in this book first. The dragon with the hoard of gold? I’m not going to say Volsungs’ Fafnir was the first but he was certainly among the first. The cursed ring? Yes, that’s from here. There’s an alleged werewolf. I can’t think of one in Tolkien off the top of my head but that’s a fantasy trope and here’s an early one.
Tolkien stopped short at a couple of things. The twincest, for a start (an extremely inefficient form of rescue). And the ending. I don’t use the word “badass” in real life, it doesn’t suit me, but Guðrún’s revenge is the most horrifying tragic badass scene in literature.
What else has this book got? My beloved Sinfjotli flyting with the enemy from the mast of his ship. I’ve obliquely referred to Sinfjotli twice already but for the purposes of spoilers, I won’t give you any more clues. We’ve got Loki and Odin – Odin in particular – stirring up trouble for the Volsungs. We’ve got two warrior sisters. We’ve got arranged marriages. There’s revenge and bloodshed. Picture some of the brutality of George RR Martin with the storytelling of Tolkien. Turn the dial back seven or eight hundred years.
It’s a small book but I find it quite hard work. You have to read with one finger in the references section. I gave up eventually and just started annotating in pencil to save myself the effort of looking up every other sentence. Be prepared to persevere. But if you’re into fantasy books, this one should be an interesting and educational read.
