A Time Patrolman's Dynasty

Carl's leman, Jorith, died bearing their son, Dagobert.

Dagobert's and Waluburg's oldest son was Tharasmund.

Tharasmund's and Ulrica's sons were Hathawulf and Solbern and their daughter was Swanhild.

Tharasmund's and his leman Erelieva's son was Alawin.

See previous post.

Carl = Odin.
Hathawulf = Hamther.
Solbern = Sorli.
Swanhild = Svanhild.
Alawin = Erp.
Ermanaric = Jormunrek.

In Alawin's case, his mother's name, Erelieva, was elided as Erp and misapplied to him. Despite Ulrica's hostility, Hathawulf and Solbern did not reject or kill Alawin but Carl forebade him to accompany his half-brothers against Ermanaric. Alawin's task is to lead the family to safety while the wounded Ermanaric declines and kills himself.

When Hathawulf is born, Carl accepts that this is Hamther and that Tharasmund's next son, to be called Solbern, will be Sorli. It does not surprise Carl that his great-grandsons are characters in the story that he is researching.

Some passages perfectly combine mythological thinking with historical information:

"Dagobert stayed unrestful...folk said that was the blood of his father in him, and that he heard the wind at the edge of the world forever calling. When he came back from his trip south, he brought news that a Roman lord hight Constantine had finally put down his rivals and become master of the whole Empire." (Time Patrol, pp. 382-383)

We know of Constantine.

"'...against time the gods themselves are powerless. I did what I was doomed to do.'" (p. 457)

Carl's hearers cannot possibly know what he means by "time." I have quoted two powerful phrases about time, gods and doom but this paragraph needs to be read in full.

The Wanderer Fades Away

Carl Farness ensures himself that his descendant, Alawin, is safe:

"'I proceeded cautiously, for the most part indirectly. Different identities on different occasions. The few times he glimpsed me, he recognized nothing.'"
-Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 333-465 AT 43, p. 461.

It is as if Alawin's god is still with him. Later, Alawin is baptized:

"'That by itself was reason for letting the Wanderer fade away, you understand. How could a Christian stay close to a heathen god?'" (ibid.)

After that, Carl relates the history of the Goths. He has become emotionally distanced from individuals. Alawin dies at a ripe old age in a Visigothic kingdom in southern Gaul and some of his descendants lead the founding of the Spanish nation.

"'So you can see how I can let that family go from me, and get on with my work.'" (ibid.)

History passes. The work of the Time Patrol continues.

Pathetic Fallacy Continued

See here.

When the Wanderer tells Ulrica and Alawin that all the Teurings who attacked Ermanaric's hall have been killed:

"Morning brought rain. Driven on a hooting wind, hail-cold, hail-hard, it hid everything but the thorp that huddled beneath it, as if the rest of the world had gone down in wreck." (Time Patrol, p. 456)

Nature weeps for the Teurings and the hard rain is like the end of the world. This pathetic fallacy works on the reader whether or not s/he recognizes it as such. I would not have been as conscious as I now am of literary devices the first time I read this story.

"'Ermanaric lives, but maimed and lamed, and poorer by two sons.'" (ibid.)

- and will fall within three years. He kills himself as both a storm and the Huns approach. Anderson seems to be unable to stop writing pathetic fallacies...

Anderson has to let Ermanaric win the fight but does not let him benefit or profit from it. Alawin must lead the remnant of the family to join the West Goths, burning Heorot behind him. It will not be remembered that that famous name was used here as well - or Carl would not have used it. The West Goths move to south Gaul and Alawin's descendants help to found the Spanish nation. I saw recently on television that the Arian West Goths who moved to Spain found themselves surrounded by Catholics and therefore adapted to Catholicism. I had wondered what became of the Gothic Arianism.

From 300 To 1990

"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth."

Carl Farness withdraws from his Gothic descendants. He bids a final farewell to Alawin who takes the family west and is baptized. Carl assures himself of Alawin's subsequent well-being but in different disguises. He is no longer the Wanderer. Alawin distinguishes himself against the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. He dies in old age in the Visigothic kingdom in southern Gaul and:

"'Descendants of his took a leading part in founding the Spanish nation.'" (43, p. 462)

"The Year of the Ransom."

The Spanish Conquistador, Don Luis Castelar, becomes a large landowner in South America. His descendants flourish and include:

"'...a woman who marries a sea captain from North America...'" (25 May 1987, p. 734)

- thus becoming an ancestress of Wanda Tamberly whom Manse Everard recruits to the Time Patrol over dinner on 25 May, 1987.

We have followed a historical progression from Winnithat the Wisentslayer in 300, pp. 347-350, to Wanda Tamberly whom we last see in 1990. 

Wodan And The Wind

See Winds Between Worlds.

Carl Farness, Dagobert's father, comes from and returns to the wind. He is identified with Wodan the Wanderer who is the god of the wind and, since the dead ride on the night wind, it is Wodan who conducts them:

"'...to the Afterworld.'"

-Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 333-465 AT 1980, p. 391.

Being the Wanderer makes Wodan:

"'...the patron of travelers and traders.'" (p. 380)

Travellers include time travellers, like Carl himself. Traders include Nicholas van Rijn, "Trader to the Stars," although that Master Merchant offers to St. Dismas.

When Carl enters the hall:

"Wind flapped the edges of his blue cloak..." (372, p. 339)

When he offers to help against a Vandal attack:

"A sound like the wind passed down the shadowy length of the hall." (300-302, p. 368)

When he informs his great-grandson, Alawin, of the deaths of Alawin's half-brothers, Hathawulf and Solbern:

"Morning brought rain. Driven on a hooting wind, hail-cold, hail-hard, it hid everything but the thorp that huddled beneath it, as if the rest of the world had gone down in wreck." (372, p. 456)

The wreck of the world prefigured.

When Carl makes his last farewell to Alawin:

"He strode through the shadows, out the door, into the rain and the wind." (p. 459)

- out of the world.

Jorith

"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth."

In 372, the Wanderer, addressing young Alawin, refers to:

"'...that kindred which sprang from your father's father's mother Jorith...and myself.'" (p. 340)

In 300, when Carl notices a maiden with unbound golden hair and large heaven-blue eyes bearing mead to Winnithar the Wisentslayer, Winnithar's wife, Salvalindis, tells him:

"'You meet our oldest child...our daughter Jorith.'" (p. 350)

We will read about the generations between Jorith and Alawin. "The Sorrow..." is the family saga of the Time Patrol series.

 

348-366

348-366.

Having realized that Hathawulf and Solbern will be remembered as Hamther and Sorli, the Wanderer is surprised that their half-brother is named Alawin, not something more like "Erp," the name in the stories. However, Alawin's mother is Erelieva so maybe it is the first part of her name that will be remembered as that of her son. By remaining so closely involved with this one family, Carl is sailing too close to the wind - or orbiting too close to the black hole as Doctor Kwei-fei Mendoza puts it in 2319.

In the opening 372 section, Liuderis spoke before the Teurings while both Randwar the Red and Sibicho Mannfrithsson were mentioned. All three of these men make their chronologically first appearances in the 348-366 section with only three years now left before the climax. Believing his ancestor, the Wanderer, to be a god, Tharasmund addresses him with the familiar phrase:

"'...your will be done.'" (p. 414)

The Wanderer accompanies Tharasmund, Liuderis and Randwar when they unsuccessfully seek justice from Ermanaric. Twice, the Wanderer invokes whatever moral authority he may have by raising his spear for silence before he speaks. He is interfering too much.

Ermanaric had had his two nephews tortured, then killed, when they had refused to tell him where they had hidden their booty which he claimed belonged to him as king. It is hidden in the River Dnieper. In the Volsungasaga, summarized by Carl to Manse Everard in 1980, Atli (Attila the Hun) had Gudrun's brothers killed when they would not tell him where the Rhinegold was. In both cases, the murdered men were under pledge of safe conduct. We infer that the booty in the Dnieper is the historical original of the fabulous Rhinegold?

Carl Farness And The Death Of Swanhild

"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth."

In 300:

Hathawulf and Solbern, sons of the late Tharasmund, will lead an attack on Ermanaric in revenge for their sister, Swanhild, whom Ermanaric had trampled to death by horses;

their mother, Ulrica, urges them on;

she scorns Alawin, son of Tharasmund's leman, Erelieva;

Alawin intends to accompany his half-brothers in the attack but their ancestor, the Wanderer, intervenes and forbids this.

In 1935, we learn that the Wanderer is Carl Farness of the Time Patrol.

In 1980, Farness tells Manse Everard that:

he, Farness, will travel to the fourth century to research the Ermanaric story;

the Gothic king called Jormunrek in the Volsungasaga and the Eddas was really Ermanaric;

in the different accounts, Jormunrek had Svanhild, daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun, trampled to death by horses;

Gudrun urged her sons, Hamther and Sorli, to kill Jormunrek in revenge for Svanhild;

their half-brother, Erp, offered to accompany them but they killed him;

Farness guesses that there was bad blood because Erp was the son of a concubine.

Slow down there, Farness. We, the readers, already know that you are going to experience some of what you are describing!

Founders Of Nations

"'You will not be fleeing. You will be off to forge a mighty morrow. Alawin, you now keep the blood of your fathers. Ward it well.'"
-Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2006), pp. 333-465 AT p. 458.

"'Descendants of [Alawin's] took a leading part in founding the Spanish nation.'" (op. cit., p. 462)

"So had Sun Hair promised... 'A new world.' He did not understand, but he believed, and made his people believe."
-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), Part Four, "Beringia," 13,210 B.C., p. 250.

"...David and Coya Conyon/Falkayn...led to this planet humans who would found new homes...they were raising afresh the ancient banner of freedom...they knew - it is in their writings - how rich and strong a world must come from the dwelling together of two races so unlike."
-Poul Anderson, The Earth Book Of Stormgate (New York, 1979), p. 409. (Hloch's commentary between "Lodestar" and "Wingless.")

Time travellers and historians know when nations are founded.

And how many new nations are founded in SM Stirling's Emberverse?

Turning Point

"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth."

In 347, when Tharasmund is about to name his and Ulrica's first son, the Wanderer arrives. Tharasmund asks the Wanderer to bestow the name which is to be Hathawulf. This obviously means something to the Wanderer who:

"...stood altogether still for a while that went on and on. At last he lifted his head. The hat brim shadowed his face. 'Hathawulf,' he said low, as if to himself. 'Oh, yes. I understand now.' A little louder: 'Weard will have it so. Well, then, so be it, I will give him his name.'" (p. 406)

In the myths, Odin will be one-eyed. Here, his face is shadowed... The story grows.

The concept of "Weard" fits with a time traveller's knowledge of what is to be. But what exactly is it in this case? Let us review what we already know.

In 372, the brothers, Hathawulf and Solbern, will set out to attack King Ermanaric who has had their sister, Swanhild, trampled to death by horses. The Wanderer will arrive to prevent their half-brother, Alawin, from accompanying them but will also refuse to foretell the outcome of the attack. 

In 1980, Carl Farness tells Manse Everard that, according to saga and Eddas, the brothers, Hamther and Sorli, set out to attack King Jormunrek who had had their sister, Svanhild, trampled to death by horses. On their way, they killed their half-brother, Erp, who offered to accompany them. Invulnerable to steel, they killed many of the king's men and severely wounded him but either Hamther let slip their invulnerability to stone or one-eyed Odin appeared and divulged this crucial military intelligence. Either way, Jormunrek ordered his surviving men to stone the brothers to death. The End.

Carl, who is the Wanderer, already knows that Jormunrek is Ermanaric. He now realizes that "Hathawulf" will be elided to "Hamther" and also knows that Tharasmund and Ulrica intend to call their second son "Solbern." While investigating a story about Hamther and Sorli, he has suddenly realized that the historical originals of these two literary characters are his own great-grandsons. If he had not time travelled to 300 to begin investigating their story, then they would not have existed. He has unintentionally meddled in the time stream. Surely he should now consult an Unattached agent before proceeding any further?

Instead, he considers only two possibilities. First, since his job is only to record whatever songs and stories emerge from the fight with Ermanaric, he could return from 1934 to the fourth century only after the death of Hathawulf, thus ending any further personal involvement with his own descendants. Secondly - and this is what he does do -, he can remain involved, even intervening to prevent Alawin from accompanying his half-brothers on their foredoomed attack. He should have consulted Everard. If Carl had not begun that line of descent that led to Hathawulf and Solbern, would two other brothers have come forward to play the same roles and to be given the same names in Germanic literature? Maybe.

In any case, Carl has now involved himself so much that he will have to involve himself further in order to extricate himself from this situation and also to save the day. A further tragic role, implicit from the beginning, now awaits: Odin the traitor.

Carl Intervenes

Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, December 2010), pp. 333-465.

In 372, the brothers, Hathawulf and Solbern, announce their intention to lead their tribe, the Teurings, to attack their king, Ermanaric, and to kill him in revenge for his killing of their sister, Swanhild. Hathawulf's and Solbern's young half-brother, Alawin, proposes to accompany them in the attack on Ermanaric but the Wanderer arrives and forbids this.

In 1935, we learn that Carl Farness had used a "...little gadget..." (p. 341) to eavesdrop on the Teurings' deliberations and then had intervened and had done what (he says) he "'...needed to do...'":

"'A few hours of observation from concealment, a few minutes of action, and fini.'" (p. 346)

Carl's next job will be to record the stories and songs that will result from the attack on Ermanaric. But why is he not just observing and recording as a Time Patrol scholar should? Why instead did he intervene and restrain Alawin? We must read on to find out. But we have already been told that those Goths are his descendants. Carl has been not only observing the past but also participating in it. Time Patrol regulations...

300

"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth," 300, pp. 347-350.

When Carl approaches:

"At first, spying him at a mile's reach, they took him for a mere gangrel, since he fared alone and afoot." (p. 348)

A gangrel - or Gangleri?

In 372, the Wanderer, addressing Alawin, referred to:

"'...that kindred which sprang from your father's father's mother Jorith...and myself.'" (p. 340)

At the end of the chapter headed 300, Carl, the Wanderer, first meets the maiden, Jorith. (p. 350)

Seventy two years of family chronicle link these chapters. In 372, Alawin's father, Hathawulf, is present and we are told that, five years previously, he had inherited tribal leadership from his father, Tharasmund. Thus, we already know the line of descent from Carl, believed to be Wodan.

In 1980, pp. 351-362, Carl Farness, newly graduated from the Time Patrol Academy, is interviewed about his proposed first assignment by Unattached agent, Manse Everard. A family saga among the Goths was a routine work assignment for a Time Patrolman.

Palpable Pathetic Fallacy

Poul Anderson's "The Sorrow Of Odin The Goth" is an inexhaustibly rich text. As the narrative approaches its climax, Anderson deploys almost palpable pathetic fallacy. Carl Farness, Time Patrolman, partly observes and partly lives events that were the source of a tragic story. Thus, he foreknows what must happen although the details may differ.

As the year 372 nears its end, so do the happy lives of the Teurings:

"On a dark day before solstice, when a few snowflakes drifted down onto frozen earth, hounds barked outside the hall." (Time Patrol, p. 439)

Randwar and two farmhands, all armed, must go to see who approaches. Randwar's wife, Swanhild, comes only when she has heard that there is no danger. She and her white gown are the only brightness - and soon will be no more. The Wanderer, Carl, visits but is unhappy and soon must leave.

Later, when Carl leaves the house of his great-grandson, Hathawulf:

"Soon he was walking off, he and his spear-staff, down a road where lately fallen leaves flew on a chill blast.
"And soon after that, the terrible news came to Heorot." (p. 443)

Lately fallen leaves parallel a soon-to-be-fallen house. Carl goes "...down a road...," down Hell-road? Previously, when young Alawin had accompanied the Wanderer on a journey, those who watched the young man riding away beside the blue-cloaked gray-beard:

"...did not utter the thought that was in them: how yonder sight recalled that Wodan was the god who led away the souls of the dead." (p. 436)

What terrible news comes to Heorot? On "...a bleak evening, where wind shrilled..." (p. 444), Ermanaric the king has Alawin hanged and Swanhild trampled to death. History is following the script of the Volsungasaga. Now Hathawulf and his brother must go to their deaths...

302-330

"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth."

Jorith dies giving birth to Dagobert whose first child is Tharasmund. Thus, the line of descent from Carl, the Wanderer, is:

Dagobert

Tharasmund

Hathawulf, Solbern and Alawin

In the opening chapter, 372, the Wanderer had described Jorith as Alawin's "'...father's father's mother...'" (p. 340)

Dagobert's father visits him briefly every few years. Dagobert himself leads the Teurings south from the Vistula to the Dnieper. His grandparents stay behind:

"When the wagons had creaked away, the Wanderer sought those two out, one last time; and was kind to them, for the sake of what had been and of her who slept by the River Vistula." (p. 384)

"...one last time...," "...what had been..." This is the passage of time measured in lifetimes. p. 384 is a poignant ending but the main drama is still to come, two generations later.

Investments And Influence

"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth," 366-372.

For a whole year, the Wanderer takes Alawin to visit the Visigoths, then a Christian Gothic settlement within the Empire, then Constantinople, then the Visigoths again. Does Carl devote an entire year of his own lifespan to this? And how much of this time is spent on Time Patrol business?

Among the East Goths themselves, he spends much time, and with some eventual success, persuading them to make preparations to move west. Some invest over there by sending gold, goods and men. Others become ready to depart quickly if necessary. In these matters, Carl is acting in the long term interests of his descendants but surely not serving the aims of the Patrol? If anything, he contradicts those aims by trying to influence the course of events.

We know that versions of a story differ. Carl summarizes the Volsungasaga and the Nibelungenlied to Everard and now we ourselves read the later "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" by Poul Anderson! It is with a sense of irony - or even of humour - that we read a passage in which Carl anxiously asks Hathawulf how well he and his brother get along with their half-brother. Do they ever quarrel? We know that Carl has read a version of the story in which the brothers kill the half-brother. Whatever is really going to happen still lies ahead...

Pathetic Fallacy III

Carl, having "'...ridden no earthly horse...'" (Time Patrol, p. 456) since the previous night, must tell Ulrica and Alawin that all who went against Ermanaric are dead, with the bleak consolation that many on Ermanaric's side, including two of his sons, are also dead while he himself is "'...maimed and lamed...'" (ibid.) Poul Anderson did not invent this ending but inherited it from Volsungasaga.

Needless to say, nature matches the characters' feelings:

"Morning brought rain. Driven on a hooting wind..." (ibid.)

"Darkness within seemed deepened by emptiness." (ibid.)

And, when Carl leaves for the last time:

"He strode through the shadows, out the door, into the rain and the wind." (p. 459)

Thus end seventy two years and four generations of one time traveler's interactions with that Gothic family.

Continuing Comparisons

Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2006), pp. 333-465.

SM Stirling, The High King Of Montival (New York, 2009).

Anderson's Alawin wants to join the attack on Ermanaric but the Wanderer tells him both that he is too young and that he has another, harder, stranger task. Stirling's Mark Vogeler wants to enlist in the war against the Church Universal and Triumphant but Rudi Mackenzie shows him that he is too young and makes him his uncle's aide/military apprentice. In both of these stories, an older man teaches and prepares a younger one.

Stirling

"...some had scale-mail shirts rather than chain-mail ones..."
High King, Chapter Sixteen, p. 338.

"...they'd seen the elephant..." (op. cit., p. 341)

A phrase that I had not encountered before.

"'...emptying the honey-bucket.'" (op. cit., p. 346)

Another.

Anderson

When we first see the Wanderer, he is tall, holding a spear, wearing a face-shading broad-brimmed hat, has "...wolf-gray hair and beard..." and there is a gleam in his gaze.
-"Sorrow," 372, p. 339.

Carl Farness, Time Patrolman, is in the process of becoming one manifestation of the mythical Odin. By referring to "...gaze...," Anderson avoids acknowledging that, at this stage, the Wanderer still has two eyes.

The first time the Goths of 300 AD saw Carl:

"...they took him for a mere gangrel..." (op. cit., 300, p. 348)

Indeed: Gangleri.

Recruited to the Time Patrol in 1980, Carl settles with his wife in 1930's New York, believing as he does that US society does not begin to disintegrate quickly and obviously until "...after the 1964 election." (op. cit., 1935, p. 343) We may infer that this is also the author's opinion.

Pre-Patrol, Carl had written papers on Deor and Widsith. (op. cit., 1980, p. 354) and had admired Herbert Ganz's 1853 paper on the Gothic Bible. Ganz recruits Carl to the Patrol. In 1858, Carl reports to Ganz that, in the fourth century, he has recorded poems that may be ancestral to Widsith and Walthere. (op. cit., 1858, p. 404) I can't find Walthere. These are details that we usually rush past when reading but all this historical knowledge is present in the background of Anderson's fiction.

Continuity

"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth," 372, 43, 374.

Following the Wanderer's advice - Carl is still interfering -, Alawin burns Hathawulf's hall so that Ermanaric will not possess it, then leads a group including his mother and Hathawulf''s widow and son west where he is baptized. He lives a long life in the Gothic kingdom in southern Gaul and his descendants are among the founders of Spain. Carl must have done a lot of temporal snooping to learn all of that. Weakened by Ermanaric's civil strife, the East Goths can no longer withstand the Huns although they will eventually take over in Italy.

Carl will continue to record stories and songs but will no longer become personally involved. And there this story ends at last. Is it the most substantial of the Time Patrol instalments?

Points Of View In Time Travel Fiction II

In "The Sorrow Of Odin The Goth," the opening section, headed 372, begins:

"Wind gusted out of twilight as the door opened." (Time Patrol, p. 333)

This is as seen by everyone in the hall. There is no individual point of view. Carved images of gods seem to move in the shadows. The chief's mother claims that the family is descended from Wodan. So far, the narrative is historical fiction unless the divine descent is literally true in which case it is historical fantasy. The Wanderer himself enters the hall and reminds young Alawin that he is his great-grandfather. This seems to bear out the claim of divine descent.

The second section, headed 1935, begins:

"I didn't change clothes until my vehicle had brought me across space-time." (p. 341)

Here we have not only a point of view but even a first person narrator. The Wanderer has left the hall, mounted a timecycle and traveled to a Patrol base. He is not divine and the narrative is science fiction - as we already know because we are reading it in a Time Patrol collection. Nevertheless, Poul Anderson has immersed us in the fourth century before he has revealed how a Time Patrolman impacts on this particular narrative. This is time travel fiction that really does transport both its central character and the reader to an earlier period. And, as yet, Manse Everard and the guardian branch of the Patrol are nowhere to be seen.

From Spain

When I walk along a lower deck and into the restaurant in a ferry across the British Channel, I imagine that I am inside an interstellar liner. How many sf readers think similarly?

In Tarragona, we saw a ruined Visigothic church inside a ruined Roman amphitheater (see image) and were interviewed by Spanish TV about why we were there.

The juvenile hero of Poul Anderson's "The Little Monster" (1974) travels from 1995 to the Pliocene Period in Spain.

Earlier but in a different timeline, the Time Patrol has a base at the southern end of Iberia during the hundred years of the inflow from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, an event that ends the Miocene and initiates the Pliocene epoch.

Much later, Hannibal Barca leads men and elephants up through Spain, the Pyrenees and Gaul and across the Alps into Italy. In the Alps, he is joined and helped by two Neldorian time bandits and later burns Rome.

Later again, Time Patrolman Carl Farness' great grandson, Alawin:

"'...died, at a ripe old age, in the kingdom which by then the Visigoths had carved out for themselves in southern Gaul. Descendants of his took a leading part in founding the Spanish nation.'"
-Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 333-465 AT p. 462.

An Anderson fan brings this perspective to a holiday in Spain.

Past Times, which includes "The Little Monster," and Time Patrol are an amazing contrast as two time travel collections by a single author.