Brynhild - chooser of the slain

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. Yesterday was the turn of the “Little Daddy” himself, Atilla. Today it is the turn of Brynhild.

In Sword of the War God, Brynhild was one of the four Burgundar friends who grew up around Vorbetomagus (along with Hagan, Gunhild and Gunderic) until the Romans and Huns came. She was once one of the Swan Maidens, a secretive religious order. With the destruction of the Burgundars, and rape and murder of most of her sister Swan Maidens, Brunhild escapes to create her own new order of women, this time a military one, the Valkyrjur. Strong and independent though mentally wounded by the violence she has suffered, after being tricked into marrying Gunderic then terribly assaulted, Brynhild wrecks a bloody vengence.

 

Brynhild is of course inspired by the legendary figure of Brunhild the valkyrie who appears in everything from norse myths to Wagnerian opera to being the inspiration for the name of an asteroid. The tragic love triangle between Brynhild/Brunhild, Gunhild and Sigurd sits at the heart of the saga of the Volsungs, the Nibelungenlied and many of the other myths and legends associated with these events. In these myths Brunhild is described as a valkyrie, a kind of supernatural woman in old norse tradition associated with Odin. Valkyries/valkyrur means “Choosers of the slain”. Brunhild is a problematic character who in the lore brings about the death of Sigurd, then unable to live with the deed commits suicide. An old norse poem - Helreið Brynhildar, Brunhild’s Hell Ride - recounts her subsequent journey to the otherworld. 

The charge of Thorismund and his visigoth cavalry down the ridge to turn the tide of battle at the Catelaunian Fields described in the novel was a real historical event. The Osprey non-fiction book about the battle identifies the location of the fields and the ridge as just outside Troyes in modern France. To this day the area at the foot of the ridge there is called “l’Enfer”, or “Hell”. Therefore it seemed appropriate to add in my novel the ride of the valkyries alongside the Visigoth troopers, led by Brynhild into Hell.

Here is Jackson Crawford's take on "Hild" names: https://youtube.com/shorts/VBBBodKWxSE?si=ik-pG8YUbnUg2oyF