Wodnas

My new novel, Sword of the War God, is out in hardback today (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.

Over 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 covered Sigurd, Hagan, Brunhild. First was the “Little Daddy”, Atilla. Today it is the turn of the All Father, Wodnas.

Wodnas in Sword of the War God was once king of Asaland, Wodnas used his guile, wisdom and inspirational spirit to hold off the Huns for many years. Finally their superior numbers overcame his kingdom. He became a landless wanderer, leading the remnants of his folk in search of a new home, always keen to help enemies of the Huns.

Tall, thin and one-eyed, Wodnas walks barefoot, using a spear as a walking stick. His deep knowledge and strange manners make many think he is a wizard.

“Wodnas” is the oldest form we have written evidence for of the name of the Norse God better known today as Odin. It was stamped in runes on a bracteate (a sort of medallion) dating to the fifth century, co-incidentally the same time Sword of the War God is set. This makes sense when you consider the day of the week the Anglo-Saxons named after him around that time: Wednesday. 

See here for more on the Neil Gaiman character of Mr Wednesday and his links to Odin.

The character of Odin is a compelling one: A wise wanderer, a  trickster and liar yet guardian of order against chaos, a worker of magic, a god of storm and frenzy who inspires both poetry and the homicidal rage of the berserker. Carl Jung in his infamous essay on Wotan (the German name for Odin) identified Odin as an archetypal figure who resides in the heart of people at the primordial level, and when a politician manages to tap into that the results can be devastating.  

It was 13th Century Icelandic poet, politician and historian Snorri Sturlusson who wrote that Odin was in fact a king who ruled a kingdom near the river Don in what is now southern Ukraine Extremely wise, inspirational in battle and skilled in warfare, when he died he was such a great ruler remembrance of him turned to worship as a god.    

  So is he a god, a wizard or just wiser and more learned that those around him? As Arthur C Clarke wrote: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”, but I will leave the reader to decide.