Fornaldarsögur: An Attempt Of Interpretation
(Based On Örvar-Odds saga)
Alexey
Eremenko
Fornaldarsögur
Norðurlanda (‘legendary sagas’) belong to the main types of Icelandic sagas. They
were recorded later than the classical types – sagas of Icelanders and Kings’
sagas: the main corpus of these texts dates from 13-15th cent. Fornaldarsögur describe the events
that were supposed to happen before the settlement of
The thesis of this paper is that the Fornaldarsögur are based on
elaborate ethical problems. This thesis will be tested on the material of one
of the biggest and most well-known Fornaldarsaga – Örvar-Odds saga (here quoted after edition: Örvar–Odds saga // Fornaldarsögur
Norðurlanda / Utg. av Guðni Jónsson,
Bjarni Vilhjálmsson.
Reykjavík, 1944. B.1. S. 283–399).
The long tale of Odd’s life
is framed by a story which has an apparent parallel in the old Russian story
about death of Prince Oleg [Tale of
Bygone Years 28 <separate entry after year 912>. Also see Melnikova].
Early in life Odd is foretold death from his horse Faxi
[Ö.O. 289]. Odd kills the horse and buries it [Ö.O. 289], but in the
end dies from the bite of the snake that took abode in the skull of the dead
animal [Ö.O. 390].
When analyzed from the traditional point of view on
the Fornaldarsögur, the story about
the prophecy has no connection with the rest of the text. The main characters
involved here don’t appear in other episodes (except for Odd, of course). About
half of the saga is devoted to Odd’s feud with Ogmund, the rest is given to description of various other
adventures of Odd, not related to each other. But in truth all the events of
the saga are interconnected, and this connection has to do with the ethical
problematic of the saga, which consists in the following. Odd is wrestling with
fate [Van den Toorn
57]. He’s strong both physically and mentally, and doesn’t want to concede
before anything, including fate itself [Van
den Toorn 58]. But during the course of his life
Odd faces situation where he’s helpless, above all death of his kinsmen and foster-brothers.
Odd is given thrice the lifespan of common man [Ö.O. 289], and during that
time he acquires many foster-brothers – however, most of them die [Ö.O.
312, 322, 330, etc.] with Odd unable to do anything about it. Most of those
‘disjointed’ adventures, therefore, describe blows of fate that Odd is
suffering.
The deaths of foster-brothers sometimes play another
role, acting as a payment that Odd has to make for challenging fate. The main
of such challenges (denial of prophecy notwithstanding) is Odd’s
desire to murder his enemy Ogmund. Ogmund was created by sorcerers of the Bjarms
for the purpose of avenging on Odd for his viking raid to Bjarmaland
[Ö.O. 345–346]. But Ogmund, upon attempting to
fulfill this task once [Ö.O. 320], grew weary of it and began trying to
resolve the conflict peacefully [Ö.O. 353]. Odd, however, wanted to avenge
the first foster-brother that Ogmund murdered
[Ö.O. 355] and didn’t stop attempting to kill his enemy, which every time
ended in death of someone dear to Odd. In addition, Odd knew another prophecy,
according to which no human being was able to kill Ogmund
[Ö.O. 347]. But still he didn’t abandon his attempts all through the saga.
Only in the very end of the story Odd admitted that he’s unable to kill Ogmund, and accepted the latter’s apologies as well as
wergild for the dead foster-brother.
Örvar-Odds saga is not simply a life record of one of the ancestors of the first
Icelandic settlers. This is a story of a man who challenged fate. The authors
of the Icelandic sagas (Fornaldarsögur
in particular), who worked long after the acceptance of Christianity, had
an important problem to be dealt with: on one hand, they were writing about
heathens, who are viewed negatively in Christian ethical coordinates. On the other, they were referring to their own ancestors,
and in the society that placed so much value on patrimonial relations it was
almost impossible to view them in a bad light. A solution was found in the
concept of ‘noble heathen’ [Lönnroth]
– a character that wasn’t yet a Christian, but has already broken up with the
pagan religion.
Örvar-Odds saga subjects this conception to critical analysis. Odd is a ‘noble
heathen’, in a sense that he abandoned the false religion. The saga even
describes Odd’s baptism, which, however, doesn’t make
any impact on his world-view: Odd, like other Scandinavians of heathen times [Ólafs saga helga CCXV],
trusts only in his own power and might [Ö.O. 383]. Such beliefs were to be
found in pagan Scandinavia, but for the Christian authors of the saga the
denial of higher powers are unacceptable. Pride and arrogance lead Odd through
a sequence of personal tragedies, and only humility allows him to achieve inner
peace. The Christian idea of humility is thus combined here with the
traditional Germanic concept of fate. Örvar-Odds saga, just as the other fornaldarsögur,
is the product of interaction and intermingling of many cultural layers
belonging to various periods of Scandinavian history. In the case of Odd that
results in a Weltanschauung dilemma
which constitutes the main theme of the saga and provides integrity to the
whole text.
[1] Glazyrina G.V. Èñëàíäñêèå âèêèíãñêèå
ñàãè î Ñåâåðíîé Ðóñè. Ì., 1996.
[2] Tale of Bygone Years (Ïîâåñòü âðåìåííûõ ëåò) / Ïåð. Ëèõà÷åâ Ä.Ñ. ÑÏá., 1997. 2–å èçä.
[3] Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda /
Utg. av Guðni Jónsson,
Bjarni Vilhjálmsson.
Reykjavík, 1944. B.1–3.
[4] Lönnroth, L. The Noble Heathen: A Theme in the Sagas // Scandinavian Studies, 41. 1969. P.1–29.
[5] Melnikova E. The death in the horse’s skull: The interaction
of Old Russian and Old Norse literary traditions // Gudar på jorden: Festskrift till Lars Lönnroth
/ S. Hansson, M. Malm.
Stockholm, 2000. S. 152–168.
[6] Van den Toorn, M.C. Über
die Ethic in den Fornaldarsagas // Acta Philologica Scandinavica. 1963–64. B. 26. S. 19–66.