The Saga of Arrow-Odd (Viking Legendary Sagas)

If Norse saga has an equivalent of the Odyssey, then it must be this, the Saga of Arrow-Odd, a lengthy tale of a man blessed or cursed (much like Norna-Gest) with an unusually long life, in which he wanders, at times aimlessly, across the world of Viking mythology. Although in that respect it resembles the Odyssey, the story of Odd also has parallels with that classical poem’s prequel, the Iliad, in that its doomed protagonist also participates in the greatest conflict to trouble the legendary, prehistoric Scandinavian world, the Bravic War. However, for reasons unknown, possibly artistic, the author of the longer saga that has come down to us misses out Odd’s involvement in this terrible war, although it appears in Saxo Grammaticus’ Gest Danorum and the Fragment Of A Saga Of The Kings Of The North (still to be published). Presumably, the author thought it a little bit too much, what with three hundred years of adventuring across the northern world; the curse (or blessing) of an inevitable death (reminiscent of Oedipus’ fate in Greek myth, although Odd does a far better job, though still tragically inevitable, of avoiding it); not to mention a long-running feud with an even more invulnerable enemy: Ogmund Tussock, half-man, half-wraith, created by the powers of evil to avenge Odd’s early raid on the mysterious world of Bjarmaland. It is a long and terrible voyage that intersects with several other sagas, some of them previously translated, such as The Saga of Hervor and Heidrek, others still to be produced. Along the way, Arrow-Odd, son of Grim Shaggy-Cheek, son of Ketil Trout, encounters many foes in the worlds of men – Ireland, Russia, Greece, and Syria – and elsewhere. He meets the giants of Norse myth and the monsters of the St Brendan saga, scorns the sorcery of his Scandinavian homeland, converts to Christianity in Aquitania (without agreeing to do more than pay lip service), and outlives his friends and foes (other than Ogmund) until he has little left to do other than meet his inevitable fate.