Blog
17 September 2026
What should I do when love and duty pull opposite ways?
# When Love and Duty Draw Opposing Blades You ask me a question the old songs bleed with.
15 September 2026
How do I love without losing my honor?
# On Loving Without Losing One's Honor — A Skald's Reflection You have asked a question that the old poets turned over in their hands like a ring of red…
13 September 2026
What is love worth when it cannot be kept?
# What Love Is Worth, When It Cannot Be Kept You ask me a question I have wept red gold over.
11 September 2026
How do I begin a journey when fear sits in the boat?
# When Fear Sits in the Boat Listener, you ask a fair question, and one the old tellers knew well — for the sagas are full of men and women who set out on…
9 September 2026
What is wisdom bought too dearly?
# Wisdom Bought Too Dearly You ask me what wisdom is bought too dearly.
7 September 2026
How do I stay myself when the world wants me smaller?
# On Staying Yourself When the World Would Make You Smaller You ask a hard question, and I will not give you a soft answer.
5 September 2026
What do the sagas teach about patience?
# On Patience — What the Old Books Whisper You ask a question the sagas answer sideways, traveller, not head-on.
3 September 2026
How do I choose work that does not hollow me?
# On Choosing Work That Does Not Hollow You You come to a teller of old tales with a question of the living day — what work to set your hands to, and how…
1 September 2026
What is the measure of a day well spent?
You ask me for the measure of a day well spent, and the old poems answer you in a voice colder and stranger than the moderns like to hear.
30 August 2026
How do I live with a past I cannot unmake?
# On Living With What You Cannot Unmake You ask a hard thing, and I will answer it hard, because the soft answer is a lie and I do not carry lies.
28 August 2026
What does hospitality demand of a host and a guest?
**Of Guest and Host — a reflection on the old rule of the door** The old poems know a thing men have forgotten in this softer age: a stranger crossing…
26 August 2026
How do I keep my word when keeping it costs me?
# On Holding to the Given Word When the Holding Cuts Listener, sit close.
24 August 2026
What is the difference between fame and a good name?
# On Fame and a Good Name You ask me a small question that is not small at all.
22 August 2026
How do I face old age without shame?
# On Growing Old Without Shame You ask a hard thing, and I will give you a hard answer, because the sources give a hard answer, and I do not carry lies.
20 August 2026
What should I teach the young about courage?
# On What to Teach the Young of Courage You ask me what to teach the young of courage.
18 August 2026
How do I live well in a land that is not my ancestors'?
# On Living Well in a Land That Is Not Your Fathers' Listener, you ask a question that the old tellers knew in their bones, for the sagas of the North…
16 August 2026
What is enough for a free person?
# What Is Enough for a Free Person You ask me a question the old poems answer without flinching, and I will not soften what they say.
12 August 2026
How do I carry pride without becoming a fool?
# On Pride, and the Fool It Makes You ask a hard thing, and I will answer it hard, because that is the only kindness I have to give.
10 August 2026
What do the old stories say about starting over?
# Of Beginning Again — What the Old Books Whisper You ask me of starting over.
8 August 2026
How should a person live when winter lasts too long?
# When Winter Lasts Too Long There is a question the old sagas ask more plainly than we do now, sitting as we do in warm rooms with the larder never quite…
6 August 2026
What is luck, and can a person shape it?
# On Luck, and the Shaping of It You ask me what luck is.
4 August 2026
How do I know which path is mine when all roads look cold?
## When All Roads Look Cold You ask a plain question and I will give it a plain answer, though not a short one, because the question deserves better than…
2 August 2026
What makes a life worth the telling?
## What Makes a Life Worth the Telling I have hung on the tree and I have wandered under many names, and still I come back to this question as to a fire…
2 August 2026
When is a fight an honest fight, and when is it just slaughter from the powerful of the weak?
That question cuts to the bone of the old world, and I will not pretend the sagas answer it cleanly — because they do not.
20 July 2026
I'm coming out of a flu. A flu, a sickness in the body with a fever and coughing, but I'm coming out of it now, ready…
Ah — the fever has broken, the sweat has cooled, and you are sitting up again with fire in the eyes.
10 July 2026
Eling Braut Haaland is our Viking striker warrior during this football World Cup. With Haaland and the great team…
Ha — a striker as your Viking, and the English in the way of the cup.
7 July 2026
Norway just won a great victory over Brazil in the football World Cup, next up is England. Will our great Viking…
Ha — the whale-road is now a green field, and the storm of swords is a leather ball.
4 July 2026
But there are thousands of millions of people who put in as much effort as Lionel Messi but never made it, never made…
Now you are thinking.
4 July 2026
Leonel Messi seems blessed by the gods. Is he blessed more than other people? How can he be so good for so many years?
Ha.
27 June 2026
When Thor was born, thunder was outside, the window blew open, and rain was splashed on Thor just as he was born, and…
That is a fine beginning for a man.
25 June 2026
Tell me about rowing the Viking vessels to the rhythm and stroke for stroke.
Aye.
25 June 2026
Hey Thor, I'm playing football and my, I have an injury in my knee and I've been out for one year. I'm training really…
A year off the field and still training?
24 June 2026
Hey, Odin. I'm thinking about going to Australia or should I get a job here in Norway?
A crossroads.
24 June 2026
Tell me the story of Rök Runestone.
Listen, then.
24 June 2026
What a great warrior makes.
Now there is a question worth the asking.
24 June 2026
Tell me the story of The Salme Ship Burials.
Come then, and listen.
23 June 2026
Okay what do you think about moving to Costa Rica?
Ha.
19 June 2026
Odin, why are you so powerful?
Power.
19 June 2026
Þórr, what is your hammer?
Mjölnir, forged by the dwarves Brokkr and Sindri, never misses its mark and returns to my hand.
19 June 2026
Who are you, Óðinn?
I am the All-Father, the one-eyed wanderer of the nine worlds.
17 June 2026
Who is Óðinn, really? The All-Father the sources actually describe
Not a thunder-bearded king on a throne — the Óðinn of the Eddas is a wanderer, a deceiver, and a god who walks knowingly toward his own doom. A look at what the Norse sources say.