My new novel, Sword of the War God, is out in hardback on April 11. It is historical fiction set in the early half of the Fifth Century AD. This was a truly fascinating time: The Saxons began crossing the sea to Britain, the Roman Empire was on its last legs, struggling to survive against waves of barbarian invasions, the Huns came from the East. Legendary figures such as King Arthur or Saint Patrick, if they existed, lived through all this, as well as others like Atilla, Guðrún and Gunnar, Sigurd the dragon slayer and many others. Their adventures inspired Old Norse Sagas like Saga of the Völsungs, the medieval German epic The Nibelungenlied and modern works from the operas of Richard Wagner to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Sword of the War God takes those legends and places them back into the historical context in which they happened.
In the run up to the launch, I am posting short intros to the main characters here, covering their role in the book and their historical or legendary (and sometimes both) inspirations. So far we've covered Hagan,Brunhild and the “Little Daddy” himself, Atilla. Today it is the turn of the larger than life, Sigurd.
Sigurd (Sigurð) is a hero: A giant of a man, a superb warrior with invincible armour. He is also an arrogant, self seeking bully. He wants to marry the world’s most beautiful woman, Gunhild. He wants to be king. He wants more gold than everyone else. A member of the Volsung clan of the Burgundar people, though not born into the upper nobility, Sigurd carries that chip on his shoulder which drives him to achieve so much, yet also is his downfall.
A central figure in Germanic mythology, Sigurd the Dragon Slayer (or Siegfried as he is also known) has a central role in all the ancient myths, legends or artistic creations that have grown up around these historic events. He appears in Old Norse poetry and prose (Volsunga saga, Þiðreks saga and numerous others), medieval works like the Nibelungenlied or more modern works like Richard Wagner's opera Ring of the Nibelung or William Morris’ Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs. My portrayal of him came from me wanting to explore the idea that heroes are heroes because they do things the rest of us are too scared to. However the personality traits that allow them to do those deeds often also make them unpleasant people to be around.
I once played for a rugby club where one of the former members was an Irish international and also a hero of World War Two. The man was literally a legend with books written about him, TV shows and a statue erected to him in town. However none of the old timers in the club who actually knew him had a good word to say about him. The saying that “one side’s hero is the other side’s psychopathic killer” seems apt.
Sigurd’s segmented Byzantine armour in the book is a nod towards the legend that when he killed the dragon Fafnir he bathed in Fafnir’s blood which rendered his skin invulnerable to weapons. However a leaf was stuck to him leaving one patch of his back normal, and it is through that he was eventually killed.
As I write historical fiction not fantasy, having an actual dragon in the tale was not possible. However when research told me the late Roman army had troopers known as dragons, and companies bore dragon banners, the solution was obvious for how Sigurd, a warrior fighting against the Empire, could have got his nickname of dragon slayer.
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