Friday 26 January 2024

Thor And Ansa

The People Of The Wind, IV.

The Terran fleet includes:

"...the Planet-class cruisers, Thor and Ansa..." (p. 477)

Thor, of course, is a Norse god, mentioned in Poul Anderson's War Of The Gods. Ansa is a planet forcibly annexed by the Terran Empire in the previous Technic History instalment, "Sargasso of Lost Starships." However, that planet was named after:

"'...warlike, masculine sky-gods, the Anses or Aesir.'"
-Poul Anderson, "Star of the Sea" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, December 2010), pp. 467-640 AT 11, p. 465.

And Thor was an Ansa or As. (Plurals: Anses; Aesir.)

Thus again, names encapsulate much history and, in this case, both refer back to Norse mythology. 

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

So Planet class cruisers might be named after warlike figures from myths and legends. Not necessarily all of them human.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

Yes. I think that Ansa is named after the planet.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And some Imperial warships were named after planets, as we see in Chapter 16 of ENSIGN FLANDRY.

Ad astra! Sean