The Wanderer

In Wagner's Ring Cycle, when Wotan is on Earth, he is known as the Wanderer: a different context, a different identity. In Poul Anderson's "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth," when Carl Farness is in the fourth century, he is known as the Wanderer. In fact, Carl, tracing the origins of stories about Odin, learns to his cost that he is one of the origins. The stories relate that Odin betrayed his followers.

The Wanderer's activities, 300-372, are narrated in the third person whereas Carl, 1930s with excursions to 1980, 2319, 1858 and 43, narrates in the first person. Thus, the Wanderer remains the legendary figure studied by Carl although the two are identical.

Anderson's two great stories about Northern European gods and time travel are "The Sorrow..." and "Star of the Sea." It is possible to reread these stories while skipping the historical periods and focusing on the twentieth century passages where the Time Patrol agents reflect on their experiences in the past. Thus, on p. 341 of Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), the Wanderer bids, "'Farewell...'" in 372, then Carl describes his return to New York in 1935 - a classic text.