Throughout both material and textual Viking Age sources, we may observe several instances of combat and fighting between a heroic figure and some sort of nonliving entities. A salient example of the depictions of undead within textual sources of the Viking Age is “The Tale of Thorstein Bull’s-Leg,” in which the male heroic figure Thorstein fights a group of undead entities:
Odd [one of the undead] reached out for it with his hand but Thorstein struck at him. The blow hit him on the arm above the elbow and took it off. Then Odd and everyone in the mound sprang up. Their weapons hung above them. They seized them and then battle was joined. And then Thorstein saw that there was not much difference in prowess between Odd and Thorstein when Odd was one-handed. All the men in black clothing seemed to him to be tougher. He observed that though they cut off one another’s arms or legs or dealt each other severe wounds, the next moment they were whole again. But the blows that Thorstein inflicted had their natural effect. (trans. Clark 1997)
From this account, it is apparent that the undead are present textual sources for the Viking Age. Within the next several subsections, you will be able to see the ways in which Viking Age females are related to funerary practices, the undead, and states of non-living.
« Previous | Home | Next »
