December 30th - Sweet relief?

So, the final season of Vikings is due to air on December 30th 2020. Bringing the saga of Ragnar Lothbrok's offspring to a close. While I've enjoyed Vikings, the story could have concluded a good few seasons ago to my mind. The last season and a half, at least, has been a bit of a grind to watch. Lagertha and Floki were the last remaining character that I really had any interest in and precious little has been seen of them for ages.

The dispute between Ragnar's sons went on way too long. I'm not sure it ever really should have been the focus of the narrative. It could have made an entertaining little sub-plot, but I really didn't like any of the characters enough to feel invested in their squabbles. Don't get me wrong, Ivar was entertaining at times. But he hogged way too much of the limelight for too long. Equally, most of the other brothers seem to have very little character development at all during the show.

So, watching the series has been more of a chore than a treat of late. I think for this final series, I will hang fire until I hear what other people have to say about it. No spoilers, obviously, but I don't want to invest any more time in the franchise if it is only going to be more of the same. Or, worse still, if they decide to pull a Game of Thrones on us.

Review: Helrunar by Jan Fries

Jan Fries' book 'Helrunar' is in my estimation one of the better books on the subject. The author lays the foundation for the futhark by examining the history of the runes. This is split into the early history of runic markings and annotated language, as well as more recent history relating to the Third Reich's misuse of the futhark and how that might affect those who wish to utilise the runes today.

What I especially like about this book is that Fries mostly keeps himself to the more factual and referenced information about each rune - relating each to the various rune poems - rather than listing the runes and connecting them to a list of rather arbitrary associations (such as "Fehu is linked to the cow as its animal, the colour yellow, the smell of ammonia and the taste of garlic and the I-Phone 4S...") as some other authors have done. Instead, he encourages the reader to research each rune and meditate upon it for themselves for insights.

Despite the depth of information within, I found the book surprisingly easy to read and by the end of the book I was wanting to purchase more of the authors works so that I could enjoy his writing style some more. Additionally, there is no attempt by the author to tie in a myriad of unnecessary viking references to help secure a stronger market.

Some readers might like to note, however, that the author approaches the subject viewed from his own grounding in chaos magic - some might prefer the author to be a follower of one of the northern traditions. Myself, I did not find this a problem, however, actually appreciating minimal references to the gods, goddesses and heroes of the norse/anglo saxon pantheon.

All in all, an excellent text on the runes. Definitely worth buying for any serious runeworker.

Buy 'Helrunar' by Jan Fries from Amazon