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In this episode, Shawn returns back to Midgard, where the influence of the All-Father shifts from mythic creation to shaping the destinies of men. As seen in Grímnismál, Odin shows he meddles in royal succession, punishing cruel kings and rewarding their kinder sons. That same divine interference sets the stage for Odin’s legacy to flow through human bloodlines, shaping the earliest monarchies of the North.
We then explore how the legendary couple Ragnar Lodbrok and Aslaug became the supposed ancestors of the first kings of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden through their sons Bjorn Ironside and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye. From Harald Fairhair to Gorm the Old and Erik the Victorious, we try to piece together how these myth-wrapped families became historical institutions. Of course, nothing lines up: kings are born decades after their reigns supposedly begin, timelines stretch, and somehow everyone is related to everyone. But if the sagas can make it work, so can we.
Next episode, we cross the North Sea into Anglo-Saxon England... where Odin’s legacy gets even stranger.

Sources Used:

• The Poetic Edda (Hackett Publishing) - Translations by Jackson Crawford
• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics) - translations by Jesse Byock
• Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings (Dover Publications)
• The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok (Hackett Classics)
• The Saga of Hervor and Heidrik (Hackett Publishing) - Translations by Jackson Crawford
• The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok and his Sons - (Translated by Chris Van Dyke)

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