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Old January 27th, 2011 #95
Metal Warrior
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Originally Posted by procopius View Post
The Vikings peacefully converted over time as well. There was no military expedition into Scandinavia from the Christians. The Christians of Europe barely had a standing military in their lands (during the time of Vikings), and of course, this made them easy prey to Viking raids.
The Kristjan leaders absolutely used force to convert Scandinavian heathens (who didn't fully capitulate until the 15th Century), as exemplified by the actions of the pompous "St." Olaf Tryggvason:
Quote:
Olaf routinely used violence, torture or death to attempt to force conversions. Several instances of Olaf's attempts lead to days of remembrance amongst modern heathens similar manner to feast days of martyred Christian saints. Raud the Strong (remembered January 9) refused to convert and, after a failed attempt using a wooden pin to pry open his mouth to insert a snake, was killed by a snake goaded by a hot poker through a drinking horn into Raud's mouth and down his throat. Eyvind Kinnrifi (February 9) likewise refused and was killed by a brazier of hot coals resting on his belly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by procopius View Post
The Norse people were also taught that their Gods would be eventually defeated by evil (the Giants). The Norse knew that Asgard would fall and Valhalla would be no more. Although the Norse Gods were heroic and would certainly go down fighting (as a Norse warrior should), they were just too weak to defeat their enemies.
Wrong, all their enemies, including the Giants (Jotunn) die with them. The conflict is larger than any individual being. Ulysses Crane had it right.

Asa-Thorr's sons are among those who survive Ragnarok (the final conflict between Order, as represented by Thorr and Odhinn; and Chaos, represented by Loki, the Jotunn and Fenris-wolf), along with the daughter of the Sun and the humans Lif and Lifthrasir to repopulate a world of order and enlightenment. A wholesome, respectable White world which many of us would feel quite comfortable in.

It's all symbolic to us anyway, just an ancient European way of explaining human behaviors and physical phenomena they didn't quite have a handle on.
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Last edited by Metal Warrior; January 27th, 2011 at 10:28 AM.