Taking Stock

Eirik Blood-ax and Gunnhild had eight sons and one daughter. By the end of Poul Anderson's Mother Of Kings, of these eleven family members, only three survive: sons, Ragnford and Gudrod, and daughter, Ragnhild. Eirik and six sons have died in fruitless violence. Gunnhild has expended all her energy trying to help Eirik, then their sons, to conquer and keep a kingdom.

Ragnhild has murdered two husbands and outlived a third and is shunned. According to the author's Afterword, Ragnford is not heard of again after a battle described in the book and Gudrod was later killed trying to reconquer Norway.

"'Now they were all dead, the sons of Eirik and Gunnhild,' wrote Snorri."
-Poul Anderson, Mother Of Kings (New York, 2003), Afterword, pp. 593-597 AT p. 597.

They not only set out to kill, conquer and rule but also did it in a way that made them few friends and many enemies, almost guaranteeing their failure, and also failed to learn anything from this experience - an object lesson in futility.

Death

Gunnhild is dying:

"She was bound she knew not where, to a meeting with she knew not what.
"Folk believed they did. But why then were their beliefs not the same?"
-Poul Anderson, Mother Of Kings (New York, 2003), Book Six, Chapter XXXII, p. 590.

An excellent question and one that makes me very skeptical about any claimed certainty even that there is a hereafter.

She sees:

"The Man on the Gallows, the Man on the Cross, the Man with the Drum. All had she known, but never altogether." (ibid.)

Odinism, Christianity, shamanism. She had tried to understand Christianity but failed because it did not support her dynastic ambition.

She hears waves:

"...their rushing rose to a roar. That song would go on till the ending of the world." (ibid.)

Earth abides.

"She had lost everything, she thought; yet in a way she had won everything, she who wrought mightily and never yielded. Men would remember her and her man." (pp. 590-591)

Merely to be remembered? That has to be the most immature goal imaginable. See here.

"Her strength ebbed into the wind." (p. 591)

- returning to the elements from which we arise.

Strong Central Characters

Poul Anderson wrote strong central characters who make a difference in their respective historical milieus:

Manse Everard defends the Danellian timeline;
Dominic Flandry defends the Terran Empire and makes what provision he can for the Long Night;
Gunnhild defends her and Eirik Blood-ax's bloodline.

In this sequence, there is a progressive narrowing of focus from an entire history to a single Empire to a single family. Constrained by Viking views and values, Gunnhild learns what she can of shamanism and Christendom but, of course, lacks the scientific knowledge of either the Danellian future or the Terran Empire.

Let us consider three other strong central characters:

Gratillonius defends the Roman Empire and tries to preserve civilization after Imperial withdrawal;
Nicholas van Rijn founds Solar Spice & Liquor and enriches himself;
David Falkayn makes a career in Solar Spice & Liquor but also founds both Supermetals and Avalon.

Thus, Falkayn builds something for others instead of merely defending a status quo.

The six characters represent three timelines:

the Danellians;
Technic Civilization;
a fantasy history of Europe.

Gunnhild

Poul Anderson, Mother Of Kings (New York, 2003).

In Book One, Poul Anderson shows us a girl becoming the woman who will be the title character of the novel.

The northern lights are caused by ghosts, gods or trolls. After watching them:

"Gunnhild lingered...She wanted to show the Beings who raved abroad that she was not afraid. She would not let herself be afraid." (p. 5)

Having seen that her father is inferior in power and status to the King's son, she thinks:

"No...she would not become anyone's underling, nor would she forever be a nobody." (p. 12)

Unlike her father and brothers, she takes the trouble to learn Finnish because it might be useful. She also learns some witchcraft:

"What further witchcraft she could learn ought to give strength - strength of her own, which she might or might not choose to add to the strength of some good man. Over and above that, though, she would seek strength wherever it was to be had..." (p. 24)

(A Dianic friend told me that "witch" means "woman in total control of herself.")

"She, Gunnhild, had today been among the weak. She would never again let that come about.
'I will never yield,' said Gunnhild into the wind. 'Through me, Mother, if none else, our blood shall flow greatly.'" (p. 28)

Her father says:

"'You are a girl yet, but a she-wolf's heart is in you.'" (p. 38)

"'...we'll see whether we can kill them,' said Gunnhild." (p. 76)