Beasts from the East and Magical Monarchs: The connection between Sweden, Swedes, and the Supernatural in the Saga corpus

• Main Author: Foltz, Jonathan Scott
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Berserkir; Draugr; Sweden; Sagas; Berserks; Literary Criticism; Supernatural; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10852/70122; http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-73236

The saga corpus contains numerous accounts of supernatural humans, be they monstrous beings like berserkir and draugr, or wielding inhuman powers and communing directly with the supernatural as an innate part of their character. An oft-overlooked aspect of the saga narratives is the tendency for these characters to be explicitly Swedish, or to have some other direct connection to Sweden as a locale. Indeed, Sweden itself is often portrayed as an inherently supernatural locale, as well as a place of immense temporal power being the domain of strong kings and cult leaders. This paper examines this trend throughout the saga genres, focusing upon well-known sources where this trend is visible, and critically analyzes literary and sociohistorical evidence in order to determine just why this trend exists, and how it changes between the sagas and the genres.