Johanne Hildebrandt - Saga från Valhalla

Saga från Valhalla is the third book in Sagan från Valhalla series (All entries can be found here.) and the last one of the books set in the Bronze Age. The title character is Saga, daughter of Idun and Ull and granddaughter of Freja and Tor. She does not have her powers yet, but Freja is sure she will get them in time.

Alfhild, queen of Alfheim, is not as comfortable with the vanírs as she is in earlier books and you can glimpse a theme of xenophobia which is probably more on the agenda today than it was back when the book was published in 2004. There is also the matter of death that has been quite a consistent theme in the books already from the start, but I felt a need to talk about the Norse goddesses, not least Freja.

The goddesses seldom get a good portrayal in books about Norse mythology. Generally they are lumped together into one paragraph with only one sentence describing their character for each one of them. This when each and everyone of the male deities often get whole chapters telling everything about them and their home, animals and relationships to the other deities.

There are a lot of goddesses in Norse mythology and the ones I will talk about here are mainly Freja since Johanne Hildebrandt's books are mostly about her and there is much more information about her than all the rest.

Saga was a present from my mother
for my 20th birthday. Signed by
Johanne Hildebrandt.

Freja is often the exception to the "tradition" of lumping all the together. She mostly gets her own paragraph at least. However, she is still often reduced to "love goddess". She is much more interesting though.

She lives in Folkvang and travels around in a chariot driven by the cats Hogní and Þófnir (Tovner). Like her brother Frej, she is also associated with pigs. She owns one called Hildesvin and one of her many names is Syr which means sow.

Freja belongs to the Vanír family of deities and therefore got the nickname Vanadis. She represents female fertility and female sexuality, which is why the Christians did not look upon her fondly. She however seems to have been a particular favourite of the völvur, best described as Pre-Christian priestesses.

Her husband is called Od, but he disappears and there have been lots of speculations about it being one of the god Odín's many shapes. There are also speculations about her also marrying Frej and the giants always desire her.

Gabriel Hildebrand SHMM 2011-11-08

One of the aspects I enjoy most about Hildebrandt's Freja is how varied she is. Hildebrandt actually explores a lot of the goddess' different roles in her three books about her and her family. As a goddess of death, Freja is generally over-shadowed by Odín in popular culture. Britt-Mari Näsström talks about the problem Freja appeared to the male scholars, authors and artists during the 19th century in her book Nordiska gudinnor. Nytolkningar av den förkristna mytologin (2009). They thought they had been given the task of interpreting the Old Norse Literature for the less educated population. Richard Wagner, Esaias Tegnér and Viktor Rydberg for example either reduce her to a weak character or she is depicted as a fallen woman. This portrayal is more fitting as an example of the ideal woman in the 19th century than as a depiction of what Freja is like in the Old Norse sources.

Freja is so much more than a lovesick fertility goddess. She may be guardian of pregnant women, but she also takes an interest in warfare and death. All three of these subjects are big themes in Johanne Hildebrandt's books. I find it mostly intriguing how Hildebrandt looks upon her with much more interest than Odín in this case, letting her becoming the priestess of Hel (the goddess of the Underworld) in Idun. A role she seems much more comfortable with in Saga. Hildebrandt's books also accentuate how similar Freja is to Odín. Both of them takes care of fallen warriors at the battle field. Odín also has a connection to Saga, however. Odín is the god of poetry and Saga is connected with storytelling.

Because Freja is such a wonderful goddess I find it both strange and sad that Marvel comics wanted to make Thor a woman instead of using Freja as a whole new comic franchise.

Update 2016-09-01: I realised I forgot to include an archaeological find in this post like in the first two. This one is not from the Bronze Age, but from the Viking Age. It is a pendant depicting a woman with a swollen abdomen (due to a pregnancy). She was found in the ancient remain given the name Hagebyhöga 36:1 in Aska in Östergötland, Sweden. It has been interpreted as a portrayal of Freja.

Johanne Hildebrandt - Idun. Sagan om Valhalla

In Norse Mythology, Idun (or Iðunn) is the wife of Brage (who she also marries in the book) and seems to be one of the lesser known deities of the Norse pantheon. She is connected to apples and youth and one myth tells how she is kidnapped by the giant Þjazi (Swedish: Tjatse) after having been tricked to walk outside of Asgard by Loki.

Idun is also the second installment of the Sagan om Valahalla series  by Johanne Hildebrandt. Like with the entry about Freja, I do not intend to do a full review of the book, but rather use this entry to discuss a topic from the book that got me thinking.

Just like with Freja, I was still a teenager when Idun was first published back in 2003 and also like with Freja, my maturity and archaeological training afterwards have made me see the book in a different light.

In the entry about Freja, I talked a little about how Swedes in general lack knowledge and understanding of Scandinavian prehistory. As an archaeologist I feel strongly for this topic and there are much more that I feel to be said about it. However, I refrain from doing so here because there is another aspect of Idun that I want to discuss because it got me thinking even more. But lets start at the beginning!

Idun is the daughter of Freja and Tor and not really anything like her mother. Freja is independent, confident, outspoken and quite fearless. She also has the ability to see and talk to gods and spirits and is a highly ranked priestess. Idun, on the other hand, is scared, timid, shy and introvert. She has not inherit Freja's supernatural powers and is not at all popular among the men during the fertility rituals. Freja sees her as a disappointment and therefore treats her poorly. With this background it might not be so hard to guess why she falls a little too fast and hard for the beautiful youngling Brage when he shows up with Tor and a dying Frej.

Contrary to her mother and aunt Gefjyn, Idun has many traits traditionally ascribed to women. She is caring and nurturing of all living things. Like the goddess, she cares for the apple trees, which makes the fruits taste better according to Freja. She also adores children. She cared for her little sister Hnoss who died before the book started and she is also a favourite to the queen of Alheim, Alfhild's daughters Ingvild and Svea. Her greatest dream seems to be a wish to give birth to daughters so she can show her mother that she is capable of something.

I find the contrast between Freja's and Idun's characters to be really interesting. Not so much because they are mother and daughter and seem to be so different in character, but because it puts a finger on depiction of female characters in popular culture and who's considered "strong" or "weak".

In general, there are two "criteras" for who are considered "good female role models" in popular cultures of today. One is that she is like Freja. She breaks away from the traditional role of the woman, being limited to the home. She is a priestess and does not have time or interest in housework like cooking and cleaning. The other criteria is not so much a trait of Freja, but traits that her sister Gefjyn exhibits. Gefjyn is trained to be a warrior and therefore kind of a female version of the "macho man". Neither of the sisters are especially motherly or loving even though they show empathy towards others from time to time. Idun, on the other hand, shows a lot of the traits traditionally ascribed to females being both of them. She is not the strong, independent priestess Freja has been waiting for and she therefore sees Idun as a shame to the family, something that I also see as common in feminism in general today.

I did touch upon this subject a little in my Heroines entry about my most recent heroine Phryne Fisher from the TV series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Of course women should not be limited to the home, but I do not think it is wise to patronize women who wants to take care of their family either. In fact I would like to broaden that role so it can be a man who stays home caring for his family. The same goes to the question of characteristics. I cannot see any problems with Idun being motherly and caring. In fact we need more role models to be kind. There is no good that can come to female's situation by forcing traditionally male traits of violence and ignorance upon them. That will not change any patriarchal structures. Quite the contrary! It will only enforce masculinity and crush femininty. Besides, it will also only encourage violent behaviour while at the same time afflict traits like for example kindness. We do need more kind, caring and loving people of all gender, not violent, aloof ones!

Actually Hildebrandt deals with this problem in the book, weaving it into the plot. A dangerous decease is spreading at an alarming speed among both the Æsirs and the Vanírs. Tor seeks Freja's help to fight against the witch who has caused it. Freja refuses and Tor, realising that Idun is his daughter, brings Idun home to Idunvallen. There is a Swedish expression saying that one does not miss the cow until the stall is empty (Man saknar inte kon förrän båset är tomt.) and it is kind of fitting for Freja. Not until Idun has left with Tor does she realise that she has been unfair. Her own daughter therefore forces her to face her prejudices towards women who show traditional female traits and what is considered to be "strong women". This turn of event actually had me liking Freja even more. Hildebrandt lets her be flawed. She makes mistakes, but she also tries to change when she realises this. However it is not as easy to make amends with Idun as Freja thinks...

Egtvedpigen

For the Freja entry, I used a picture of a rock carving as a symbol of the Scandinavian Bronze Age and for Idun, I have chosen a picture of the probably most famous of the Danish oak coffin burials dating to the Bronze Age, Egtvedpigen (The Egtved Girl). I thought she fitted well into the context of Idun, but to not spoil anyone, I will leave the reason a secret. You can read more about the find on the National Museum of Denmark's webpage here.