The Odinic Faith of Ragnar Lodbrok

The historical existence of Ragnar Lodbrok is disputed by some historians who claim that he is merely a legendary character or a conflation of more than one historical personage and yet there is far more historical evidence for his existence than for that of 'Jesus Christ'. Ragnar is referred to in Icelandic sources (The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, The Tale of Ragnar's Sons, Heimskringla, Hervarar Saga and Sogubrot), Danish sources (The Roskilde Chronicle, The Chronicle of Sven Aggesen and Gesta Danorum), Frankish sources (The Annals of St. Bertin), continental sources (History of the Dukes of Normandy), English sources (The Annals of St Neots) and Irish sources (The War of the Irish with the Foreigners and Fragmentary Annals of Ireland). Strangely though these same historians do not doubt the existence of Ragnar's sons; Ivar 'the Boneless', Halfdan, Bjorn 'Ironside', Ubba and Sigurd 'Snake-in-the-Eye' although there is some doubt about Hvitserk.

In this particular article I wish to focus upon the religious faith of Ragnar, something which appeared to be questioned in the recent television series The Vikings. Ragnar Lodbrok is said to be the same Ragner who led the Siege of Paris in the year 845 and this was depicted in the television series although some historians doubt the identity of this Ragnar with Lodbrok. Ragnar is said to have offered 111 prisoners of war as a sacrifice to Odin by hanging them on an island on the river Seine. This act if correctly reported and attributed to Ragnar would certainly testify to the fact that he was a follower of Odin.

Ragnar met his end when he was thrown into a snake pit by Aella, king of Northumbria. According to the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok these are his last words:

"It gladdens me to know that Baldr's father makes ready the benches for a banquet. Soon we shall be drinking ale from the curved horns. The champion who comes into Odin's dwelling does not lament his death. I shall not enter his hall with words of fear on my lips. The Aesir will welcome me. Death comes without lamenting. Eager am I to depart. The Disir summon me home, those whom Odin sends for me from the halls of the Lord of Hosts. Gladly shall I drink ale in the high-seat with the Aesir. The days of my life are ended. I laugh as I die."

The Krakumal (translation by Thomas Percy) has a different and much longer version of Ragnar's last words but in my opinion they are far less moving and poignant. These are the last three verses:

"We fought with swords. O that the sons of Aslauga knew; O that my children knew the sufferings of their father! that numerous serpents filled with poison tear me to pieces! Soon would they be here: soon would they wage bitter war with their swords. I gave a mother to my children from whom they inherit a valiant heart.

" We fought with swords. Now I touch on my last moments. I receive a deadly hurt from the viper. A serpent inhabits the hall of my heart. Soon mall my sons black their swords in the blood of Ella. They wax red with fury: they burn with rage. Those gallant youths will not rest till they have avenged their father.

" We fought with swords. Battles fifty and one have been fought under my banners. From my early youth I learnt to dye my sword in crimson: I never yet could find a king more valiant than myself. The gods now invite me to them. Death is not to be lamented.

" ‘Tis with joy I cease. The goddesses of destiny are come to fetch me. Odin hath sent them from the habitation of the gods. I mail be joyfully received into the highest seat; I mall quaff full goblets among the gods. The hours of my life are past away. I die laughing."

The faith of Ragnar is clearest in his last moments of life. He faces his death with courage. He does not lament it but indeed looks forward to entering the hall of Odin and being welcomed by the Gods. This indeed should be our attitude towards death. That does not mean to say that we should do anything to hasten it on but when it does come for us we should meet it with fortitude and renew our praise of the Gods.

We should take the courage and faith of Ragnar as an example and I feel that it would be fitting to include his reported words in our sacred rites.

Ragnar Lodbrok, an Odinic Hero-Some Initial Thoughts

This brief article was inspired by a reading of Wulf Ingessunu's interesting essay The ALU-ULA Runic Mystery, published in Odin's Lore The Magick & Symbolism of the Runes, edited by Troy Southgate (Black Front Press, 2017). I only wish to comment on one small aspect of his essay. Wulf makes reference to my ancestor and my daughter's mother's ancestor Ragnar Lodbrok and how in the excellent Television series The Vikings Ragnar is guided by the Will of Odin to go westward towards England, ostensibly to plunder and pillage but Odin is guiding him to embark upon a holy crusade against the Christianised Anglo-Saxons who have abandoned the Gods of their fathers. It is most clear from just a cursory study of the Viking raids that plunder and pillage were not the only factors that drew them but a desire for revenge against the militant alien desert religion which had already invaded the Germanic lands and was making advances towards Scandinavia.

This era should be considered as a noble attempt by our Scandinavian brothers in waging a holy war against the semitic demiurge who in the guise of another alien religion is threatening our continent today. Indeed one should also view WW II in the same way, a holy war of Wotan against the desert demiurge. The Wehrmacht and indeed the Waffen SS should be considered as latter day 'Vikings', taking their vengeance on the forces of involution and the spiritual and racial decay caused by the triumph of Christianity in the 'west'.The very first record of a Viking raid recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles is for the year 793 CE:

"Here were dreadful forewarnings come over the land of Northumbria, and woefully terrified the people: these were amazing sheets of lightning and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky. A great famine soon followed these signs, and shortly after in the same year, on the sixth day before the ides of January, the woeful inroads of heathen men destroyed god’s church in Lindisfarne island by fierce robbery and slaughter."

It should be noted here that the target of these Vikings' wrath was the priory on Lindisfarne off the coast of Northumberland. Interestingly the Christian scribes who wrote the Chronicles also seem to place this raid in the context of a divine judgement being visited upon the Christianised English and certainly the prelude to this very first raid were great signs in the heavens, signs which are more relevant to the Gods Odin and Thor than the Christian god. The Christian church had robbed the heathen English of their Gods, the same Gods worshiped by the Vikings but with different names: Woden, Thunor, Tiw, Frige, Baeldag, etc. This vengeance therefore was aimed primarily at the church and the leaders of the English folk who had betrayed the people that they were divinely appointed to protect, and sold them out to an alien religion: not too dissimilar to the processes at work today in England which has been betrayed by its political class and an impotent monarchy.

Wulf also in his essay makes reference to the Einheriar being led out of Valhalla by both Woden and Ragnar Lodbrok. I am not sure why but this comment resonates with me on a deeper instinctive level and I feel that Wulf has hit upon something very important here which may be developed further. We certainly know from The Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok that he is now in Valhalla and undoubtedly as one of our greatest heroes he will take his place with Woden at Ragnarok:

“It gladdens me to know that Baldr’s father (Odin) makes ready the benches for a banquet. Soon we shall be drinking ale from the curved horns. The champion who comes into Odin’s dwelling (Valhalla) does not lament his death. I shall not enter his hall with words of fear upon my lips. The Æsir will welcome me. Death comes without lamenting. Eager am I to depart. The Dísir summon me home, those whom Odin sends for me (Valkyries) from the halls of the Lord of Hosts. Gladly shall I drink ale in the high-seat with the Æsir. The days of my life are ended. I laugh as I die.”

I have spent some time reflecting on the name of Ragnar and it is interesting to observe how his name is part of Ragnarok. Its meaning is 'strong counselor'. The reflection of Ragnar is Rangar. If we separate the two syllables we get ran and gar. I feel that this is significant. Gar as we know is Germanic for 'spear' and is closely associated with Woden. The term ran in Germanic has the same modern meaning and indeed the Spearhead of Kovel has the runic inscription ranja, meaning the 'runner'. Thus Rangar is the runner of the spear, or the one who wields it, representing Woden in the world of men. He thus represents both the God and His divine authority. Spears were wielded by pre-Christian Germanic kings and chieftains as symbols of their Wodenic authority and this symbolism continued after the forced conversion of the Germanic peoples. See Chapter Five Spears of Destiny in The Mysteries of the Goths by Edred Thorsson (Limited Edition, 2007, Runa-Raven Press).

I am sure that there is much more to meditate on regarding Ragnar Lodbrok but these are just some initial thoughts I had on the subject.