Scandinavia
The following is excerpted from The Conversation essay Norse mythology brims with fierce, fabulous women. Here are 5 of my favourites by Lisa Bennett, Flinders University. It is republished under a Creative Commons license.
Aslaug
Fans of television’s Vikings will recognise Aslaug as the second wife of the charming and daring protagonist, Ragnar. In this fantastical mashup of the Tales of Ragnar’s Sons and other medieval Icelandic sagas, Aslaug is utterly overshadowed by her predecessor, the shieldmaiden Lagertha.
While I do love Lagertha’s character in this show, I want to champion the literary Aslaug as the real, bad-arse, warrior woman people should know about.
As the daughter of the famous heroes Sigurd and Brynhild from Völsunga saga (among other sources), Aslaug is hot property; after her parents’ tragic deaths, she is in a vulnerable position.
To keep her safe, her foster father Heimer tucks Aslaug into an oversized harp – along with a trove of jewels, silks and gold – and smuggles her out of the grasp of greedy kings.
After the pair travel incognito all the way to Norway’s far north, the gig is up when a poor couple spy rich ribbons trailing out of the harp case.
They kill Heimer and claim Aslaug (and her wealth) as their own, then treat her as a drudge/daughter for many years – until, as a gorgeous 18-year-old, she outwits them and Ragnar and secures a much greater future for herself.
There is certainly something folkloric about Aslaug’s beginnings, but as a grown woman, she becomes a clever and determined warrior whose character provides the blueprint for other fictional shieldmaidens.
Literary Aslaug is much more impressive than Lagertha or her husband Ragnar in the sagas. She’s the one who wins great battles overseas, she fights for, and alongside, her famous sons (such as Ivar the Boneless) and, indeed, she saves Ragnar’s bacon on more than one occasion. This Aslaug lives up to her mythical, heroic ancestry.
Yet She Lives: Fierce and Fantastical Women of Norse Mythology is published by Thames and Hudson
Lisa Bennett, Associate Professor, Flinders University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.