I like the stories of the Norse gods but not the idea that they want human sacrifice. I am used to the idea that they protect human beings from the giants. Their stories have been retold by Christians like Roger Lancelyn Green. Poul Anderson does not Christianize the myths. (Nor does he super-hero-ize them: another kind of modern adaptation.)
When Heidhin, Veleda's foremost man, hangs a captured Roman legate, he assures Father Woen, warrior Tiw and thunderer Donar, that:
this offering is the goddess Nerha's gift to them;
although men have recently given her much, she receives everything on behalf of all the gods.
Therefore, he asks the mighty ones to:
"'Stand again at her side...'" (p. 520)
Meanwhile, unknown to Heidhin, other barbarians have slaughtered a captured Roman garrison and destroyed all its wealth as an offering to the gods.
How much should be given to different gods? Christianity solves this problem:
there is only one god;
He is satisfied with one perfect sacrifice;
He has already received it.
If he converts, Heidhin need no longer be concerned about jealousies or conflicts between the Aesir and Nerha.
2 comments:
Actual paganism was a darker and more bloody thing than its 20th-century admirers often want to admit.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And far darker, fiercer, and bloodier than many modern day neo pagans seem willing to accept.
Human sacrifices is actually quite common in many pantheons. Such as the infants sacrificed to Moloch in the near East, which so aroused the fury of the Jewish prophets. Or by the pagan Druids not so long before the time of this story.
Anderson did not glamorize Nordic paganism, which he described in HROLF KRAKI'S SAGA as "heathen rites obscene or bloody" (including human sacrifices).
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment