"...had learned how untrustworthy spellcraft was, how easily it could miscarry or turn on the one who wielded it."
-Poul Anderson, Mother Of Kings (New York, 2003), Book One, Chapter XV, p. 66.
Indeed. Conjured, uncontrolled demons are powerful images of economic crises, ecological catastrophes, military escalations or nuclear meltdowns. In James Blish's Black Easter, the most powerful black magician releases many major demons for a whole night to find out what they will do. He finds out. They wage and win Armageddon. The Frankenstein monster is the corresponding scientific myth.
Gunnhild's thought continues:
"Not for nothing did most Norsemen call rather on Thor than on uncanny Odin." (ibid.)
A skull-cracking hammer is powerful and also comprehensible whereas magic brought back from the other side of death is eerie and untrustworthy.
When Eirik's men approach Gunnhild:
"'We are in Finnmork, and a ghost has led us,' said Brand harshly.
"Halldor made the sign of the Cross. He had been baptized in England, together with fellow vikings who, cut off by a shire-levy, had thus saved their lives. Arni lowered at him and said, 'That god is a long way off.'
"You know I offer to Thor,' answered Halldor, 'but in this witch-land, what harm in calling on Christ as well?'
"Thorolf touched the sword hilt at his left shoulder. His voice clanged. 'I trust this the most. Trollcraft and priestcraft alike have never helped much against it.'" (pp. 73-74)
In Thorolf's experience, a man's sword is more reliable than either a distant god or a divine hammer.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Halldor's regrettably superficial Christianity reminded me of how Orm the Strong, whom we see in THE BROKEN SWORD was nearly as "thin" a Christian.
And it was all very well for Thorolf to trust only to his strong arm and sword--but what good would that do if he met a yet stronger man wielding a mightier sword?
Sean
Sean:
Though your point is good, I feel the need to point out that Thorolf doesn't say the sword will overcome EVERYTHING -- just that it's always been good against witchcraft (and clergy).
Fantasy author Steven Brust has a proverb some of his characters use: "No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style."
Hi, David!
True, I was focusing on the GENERAL point instead of the narrower point Thorolf had in mind.
And I recall, in I think A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS, Poul Anderson making a similar point as that of Steven Brust. Dominic Flandry had been admiring the complexity and subtlety of Aycharaych's plots against the Terran Empire--and then remembered that a blaster bolt was the ultimate simplicity destroying such spider webs.
Sean
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