Ragnar Lodbrok - LAUGHING SHALL I DIE

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Introduction
Ragnar Lodbrok ("Ragnar hairy-breeches") according to legends was a Viking hero and a Swedish and Danish king. He is known from Old Norse poetry of the Viking Age, Icelandic sagas, and near-contemporary chronicles. According to traditional literature, Ragnar distinguished himself by conducting many raids against the British Isles and the Carolingian Empire during the 9th century. He also appears in Norse legends, and according to the legendary sagas Tale of Ragnar's Sons and a Saga about Certain Ancient Kings, Ragnar Lodbrok's father has been given as the legendary king of the Swedes, Sigurd Ring.

BlueMoon's Thoughts
I would argue that the best book ever written on the Vikings is The Children of Ash and Elm by Neil Price. In this book, Price takes the reader on a deep dive into Viking history, how they came about and what they did based only on archaeological, geological and written evidence.

I think there are two key take home messages:
1. The first is this idea of Ragnarok or the end of the world. According to Price (pg. 75-82), this idea was developed out of a series of natural disasters. He explains that in the years 536 and 539/540, there occurred at least two major volcanic eruptions which resulted in catastrophic consequences in the northern hemisphere and in-particular Scandinavia. This caused severe weather change and the inability to produce a harvest. Estimated population loss in Scandinavia at that time are as high as 50%, with most attributed to starvation. It is Ragnarok that appears to describe these events in some detail. The key point to make is that these natural disasters completely changed society to be one of major civil strife (“perpetual long nights,” “brothers killing brothers,” “defiling bonds of kinship”) and eventually mass migration. Out of this emerged a “new” world, Midgard and a ruling military elite that were born out of brutality and violence.

2. The Second take home message from Prices’ work is that while there is a current surge of admiration and idolisation for the Vikings, these peoples were some of the most murderous, barbaric and brutal people the world has ever seen. It is clear to me, that humans admire “winners” and no matter how evil a historic person or peoples were, if they are “winner/s,” they will be lauded by people for hundreds of years to come. For further information on the brutality of the Vikings, please see pg. 248-250 as it would be inappropriate to described the passages here.

A second interesting book on Viking history is called, Laughing Shall I Die by Tom Shippey. The key point behind this book is how Shippey describes the mind-set of the Vikings being absolutely fearless and really one of even welcoming death.

Acknowledgements
Each video requires a substantial team effort to make. We would like to thank our voice over actor, Shane Morris, who tirelessly strives to deliver these words in a manner like no other. A special thanks to our graphic design artist, Cristina Santana for all her effort and helping bring the scene to life through AI generated images.

Copyright

[fafakalanaki]

Such a wise and powerful look at death 👌

[nathangoodfellow]

The Day I close my eyes for the last time is going to be a Good Day. I've lived my whole life for this unknown day and Ive looked forward to it for decades. The 2 Greatest Gifts ever received by Man is Life and Death everything in between is to prepare for it.

[BlueMoonInspiration]

An explanation to this quote can be found in description - you may find this interesting.

[BlackQback]

It's such a shame that the line "laughing shall I die" was excluded from Ragnar's speech over the pit of snakes in "Vikings".