The Broken Sword, Original And Revised, Part Two, by Nicholas David Rosen

There is something more to be said about the differences between the two versions of THE BROKEN SWORD; saying this does not give away the whole story by any means, but it does hint at what will happen in the course of the tale, so those who have not read THE BROKEN SWORD and hope to do so may wish to refrain from reading further.

In the original version of the book, the witch summons Satan twice.  The first time, he advises her on how she can achieve revenge against her enemies (including the wife and children of the Viking chief who slaughtered her family and took their land).  The second time, a band of elves dispatched by Earl Imric are seeking her life, so she calls upon her master Satan to preserve her.  He refuses, calling himself the lord of evil, which is futility, and leaving her to be killed.  It is nothing to him whether she lives to see her revenge completed, and he tells her that she is not his servant, but his slave.

In the revised version, the first summoning appears to be much the same, with the prose tightened somewhat, but the witch sees Someone departing who appears to match the description of Odin.  It does not matter much to her with whom she deals, provided she can avenge her son and other kindred.  When she summons Satan again, the genuine enemy of souls replies to her, but this time says, in addition to his other icy words, that she did not deal with him, but with another.  He also makes another chilling statement absent from the original version:  “Mortals never sell me their souls.  They throw them away.”

Whether or not one believes literally in the Christian God and the chief fallen angel, there is a warning in that.

As a literary matter, both versions work: Odin is also active and plotting in the novel, and could have helped the chain of events along by appearing to the witch in another’s guise; or the Devil could have given the witch evil counsel to assist her in doing his work.  I prefer the revised version, both because the writing is improved, and because the advice which the witch hears the first time, although directed to an evil purpose, is wise and poetic.  It seems more natural coming from the mouth of Odin, who is Machiavellian but not all bad, than from the mouth of Satan, who is.