In Norse mythology, berserkers were crazed warriors who were blessed by Odin with a “battle fury”. The concept of these berserkers can be traced to Shaman practices. The term “berserker” comes from “berserkir” which means bear-shirt. Bears were the Totem Animal of berserkers. This means that these warriors had to spend time in the woods living like bears to gain their powers. They wore no armor in battle, only bear skin headpieces and bear pelts. Berserkers would bite their shields in battle, and could not be harmed by iron or fire.
One myth that berserkers feature prominently in is the poet Snorri Sturluson’s Ynglinga saga, which includes a story about a berserker named Hardbeen. A man named Halfdan was told to attack Hardbeen and his champions. Hardbeen was filled with his battle fury, biting off and eating pieces of his shield along with fiery coals. He ran through fire and then murdered six of his champions. The rest of his champions attacked Halfdan with him, but Halfdan crushed him with a large hammer. Another myth based on berserkers is the epic poem Beowulf. This epic poem describes a warrior named Beowulf who helps the king of the Danes, Hrothgar, protect his hall of Heorot. Beowulf slays a terrifying monster named Grendel in his battle fury. Grendel’s mother murders Hrothgar’s greatest warrior, so he and Beowulf track her to a lake. Beowulf dives in and gets dragged into an underwater cavern by Grendel’s mother. His sword can’t harm her, but he grabs a magical sword from treasure stashed in the cave and beheads her. He then finds Grendel’s dying body and beheads him. Fifty years later, Beowulf is himself a king and one of his slaves steals a golden cup from a dragon’s lair. The dragon angrily flies out of the cave and starts burning everything, so Beowulf goes to do battle with it, telling his men he will kill it alone. The dragon has the upper hand when one of Beowulf’s men, Wiglaf, comes to his aid and they slay the dragon. Beowulf is mortally wounded, though, and dies after the battle. |