Star Of The Sea

Poul Anderson's "Star of the Sea" is a time travel story that revisits and rewrites not only history but also mythology. Anderson:

imaginatively reconstructs earlier phases of Northern European mythology;

projects how the myths might have developed if history had taken a different path;

shows how Pagan symbolism has been assimilated into Christianity along the path that history did take.

The mystery of the Goddess is combined with that most mysterious aspect of the Time Patrol universe, a timeline that has not come into existence but that has nevertheless somehow managed to influence the timeline guarded by the Patrol:

"'...think of the countless world lines intermeshed throughout the continuum as a spiderweb...There are occasions when we know only that the web is troubled, not where or when the source of the disturbance lies; for that source perhaps does not exist in our yet, our reality. We can only try to trace it back up the threads -'"
-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), p. 135.

This source is a myth potentially powerful enough to resist Christianity in Northern Europe. The bearer of the myth is the prophetess, Veleda. Everard links the mystery of Veleda's inspirational leadership to time:

"'A gift, a power - real leadership has a touch of mystery, something transhuman....But I wonder if also the time stream isn't bearing her along.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Time Patrol (New York, 1991), p. 347.

Time travel and myth could not have been more seamlessly blended.

Synchronicity: world lines are here compared to a spider's web and the previous post discussed Fritz Leiber's time-traveling Spiders.