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.

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Heroism

"In Viking times, not only did a man fight with courage, travel with enterprise, or die with nobility; the writer of his epitaph thought it worth describing these events in the language and form of heroic verse. To take a couple of examples out of many. At Sjörup, Skâne, is a memorial stone, perhaps of the eleventh century, set up by a man after his félagi (a word which, in this context, I take to mean'comrade-in-arms'). The primary record, set in an outerband of runes, is simple description: 'Saxi put up this stone in memory of his comrade Asbjorn, Tóki's son'. Within this is a second band of runes, comprising two lines of verse which show why Asbjorn needed and deserved commemoration: Sárfló eigi at Upsalumen va meó hann vápn hafdi* 'He did not run at Uppsala, but fought while he could hold weapons.' The significance of this example is that, to recount a heroic deed, its verse uses a form of words that must have been traditional in heroic poetry. The Norse en vámeó hann vápn hafdi gives the parallel to the Old English heroic formula pa hwile pe hi (he) wœpna wealdan moston(moste), 'as long as they (he) could wield weapons', used of the doomed English defiance to the invaders in the poem of As on the Söderby, Uppland, Sweden, rune-stone (L. Musset, Introduction à larunologie (Paris, 1965), p. 392). The stone was a memorial to Helgi whom Sasur killed,'and he did a nióingsverk—betrayed his comrade.'4 L. Jacobsen and E. Moltke, Danmarks runeindskrifier (Kobenhavn, 1941-2), text,cols. 332-4. The last line of verse is variously divided into its separate words, but this does not affect the argument...

....The man who put up this stone in Skâne looked upon his slaughteredfriend in the same way: as one who had perished in valiant resistance, refusing the easy option of flight. We are not surewhat this battle at Uppsala was, and it may have been a sordid little skirmish; but here it has become a great and heroic Viking adventure."

~excerpt from 'A Most Vile People': Early English Historians on the Vikings, by R. I. Page