Saga Thing

Episode 37b - The Saga of Havard of Isafjord (chapters 6-11)

[Quick Note: This episode appears to be over 8 hours long. It's a cruel joke by the podbean upload. The actual length is just over 90 minutes. It will end where it's supposed to.]

We’re back with another installment of Hávarðar saga Ísfirðings, The Saga of Havard of Isafjord. This one is quickly becoming a new Saga Thing favorite. In this episode, Havard lays around, Bjargey gets busy, Thorbjorn takes a nasty fall, and Vak meets one of the more surprisingly stupid but realistic demises we’ve seen on this podcast. Along the way, Havard cracks the door open to let a new God into his heart, but only if said new God can provide him with the bloody revenge he's been praying for.

We also dig into the runesack and discuss the wonders of whale rib rollers and what exactly Thorbjorn is doing with Sigrid and the other young women he takes into his household.

Thanks to Will Bilson for the beautiful painting of Havard and Bjargey's touching goodbye as Havard leaves to seek vengeance against Thorbjorn. You can find more of Will's work at https://www.instagram.com/willjah_art.thing

If you’d like to send us a message, a question, a comment, or compliment for our 10^th Anniversary Special, you’ve got lots of options:

Sagathingpodcast on Facebook

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Sagathingpod on X (Twitter)

Saga Thing’s unofficial official Discord

Music Credits

Intro Music - "Prelude and Action" by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

First and Second Verse Music - "Despair and Triumph" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Third and Fourth Verse Music - “Valravn” by Danheim

Outro Music - "Stormfront" by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode 37a - The Saga of Havard of Isafjord (chapters 1-5)

Saga Thing returns with a brand-new episode for a brand new saga from late medieval Iceland. In this episode, we dip our toes into the first five chapters of Hávarðar saga Ísfirðings, The Saga of Havard of Isafjord. It’s a story of good guys vs. bad guys in this surprisingly fun but little-known classic.

The heroes of this episode are Olaf and his parents, Havard and Bjargey. The villains are Thorbjorn and his despicable nephew Vak. Needless to say, things don’t go very well for Olaf and his family when they come up against Thorbjorn’s ruthless brand of authoritarianism.

We’d also like to welcome our new guest illustrator, William Bilson. In his first illustration for Havard’s Saga, we see Thorbjorn gently guiding the local lawspeaker to the right decision when he’s asked to settle a dispute over a whale carcass. You can check out more of William’s work at www.instagram.com/willjah_art.thing

Music Credits

Intro Music - "Prelude and Action" by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4236-prelude-and-action
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Outro Music - "Stormfront" by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4421-stormfront
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Saga Short 11 - The Tale of Bolli Bollason

With Laxdaela Saga behind us, we turn to the Tale of Bolli Bollason to bring the journey to a proper end. In this fun little story, Bolli Bollason finds himself swept into more than one conflict up in northern Iceland. Does he have the social and political (and warrior) savvy to go there and back again without a scratch? Listen and find out!

Warning: Andy goes a bit crazy with the maps and topography in this one.

Music Credits:

Intro: from “Death Awaits” by Billy Malmstrom

Outro: From “Óðinn” by Krauka

Episode 36o - Laxdaela Saga (Judgments)

After a very close inspection and lengthy investigation, we are finally ready to put Laxdaela Saga on trial. As it's been over a year since we started, John and I take our time reviewing the candidates for our usual Saga Thing categories:

• Best Bloodshed
• Body Count
• Nicknames
• Notable Witticisms
• Outlawry
• Thingmen
• Final Ratings

Our thanks to all of you out there who have listened, commented, and engaged with us as we worked our way through this massive and entertaining saga. We're especially grateful to all of you who've been interacting over on our Official Unofficial Saga Thing Discord page. If you're not involved over there, at least sign up and lurk. It's pretty interesting stuff.

A very special thanks to Jacob for sticking with us through a whole year of illustrating for Saga Thing. It was a monumental effort and a pleasure to see his art evolve across the saga. Many thanks, Jacob! Check out more of his work on Instagram where he's @skarphedin_illustrator.

Music Credits

Intro Music - "Prelude and Action" by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4236-prelude-and-action
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Outro Music - "Stormfront" by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4421-stormfront
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Episode 36n - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 72-78)

We began our journey through Laxdaela Saga in April of 2022. A year and many many episodes later, we finally come to the end. Please join us as we discuss the final few chapters of the saga. It may be a little difficult to find the narrative thread if you're expecting to follow Bolli or Gudrun through these last pages of the text. They're certainly there, but the saga's ending is designed to wrap up the story of Gudrun's husbands and to look forward toward the genealogical connections to future generations.

Of course, Bolli and Gudrun get their moments in this conclusion, including Gudrun's brief but riddling confession of who she loved most.

We wrap it all up with a lengthy summons of Gudrun and a detailed discussion of her character, something we've been waiting for a long time to do. I argued that we should devote a whole episode to Gudrun, but John reminded me that we've spent half a year commenting on her. Think of our summons as an invitation for further discussion, which you can do on our various social media platforms:

The Unofficial Official Saga Thing Discord

SagaThingPod on Twitter

Sagathingpodcast on Facebook and Instagram

We appreciate your patience as we worked through this amazing saga across the last year. We'll be back soon with the Bolli Bollason's Tale and the Judgments.

Music Credits

Intro Music - "Prelude and Action" by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4236-prelude-and-action
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Review Music - "The Royal Vagabond Medley" by Jocker's Dance Orchestra

Outro Music - "Stormfront" by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4421-stormfront
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license