Volume XXII
International Medievalisms
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ISSN 2043-8230
Series Editors
Karl Fugelso
Chris Jones
Medievalism aims to provide a forum for monographs and collections devoted to the burgeoning and highly dynamic multi-disciplinary field of medievalism studies: that is, work
investigating the influence and appearance of `the medieval’ in the society and culture of later
ages. Titles within the series investigate the post-medieval construction and manifestations
of the Middle Ages – attitudes towards, and uses and meanings of, ‘the medieval’ – in all
fields of culture, from politics and international relations, literature, history, architecture, and
ceremonial ritual to film and the visual arts. It welcomes a wide range of topics, from historiographical subjects to revivalism, with the emphasis always firmly on what the idea of ‘the
medieval’ has variously meant and continues to mean; it is founded on the belief that scholars
interested in the Middle Ages can and should communicate their research both beyond and
within the academic community of medievalists, and on the continuing relevance and presence of ‘the medieval’ in the contemporary world.
New proposals are welcomed. They may be sent directly to the editors or the publishers at
the addresses given below.
Professor Karl Fugelso
Art Department
Towson University
3103 Center for the Arts
8000 York Road
Towson, MD 21252-0001
USA
kfugelso@towson.edu
Professor Chris Jones
Department of English
University of Utah
Languages and Communication
Building
255 S Central Campus Drive,
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Salt Lake City
Utah
chris.s.jones@utah.edu
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International Medievalisms
From Nationalism to Activism
Edited by
Mary Boyle
D. S. BREWER
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11
Nordic Giants: Using Left-Wing Post-Rock
to Deepen Our Understandings of White
Supremacist Interpretations of Vikings1
Eirnin Jefford Franks
T
here has been much scholarship on the way the concept of ‘Vikings’ has
been interpreted in modern music movements, with much of this, necessarily, focusing on the genres of extreme metal, Viking metal, and black metal,
and in turn their links with right-wing extremism and white supremacy. These are,
of course, incredibly important topics: as scholars of the Viking Age, we must be
acutely aware of the uses and abuses of our studies, and how this impacts perceptions beyond the academy. However, studies exploring the political implications of
Viking medievalism do not often explore the imagery beyond these areas.
The band Nordic Giants first came to my attention when I was an undergraduate, when they played a show at my local music-centred pub. I was captured by the
imagery on their poster: I remember seeing two feathered figures surrounded by
dark colours and swirling shapes. The more I delved into their music, the more I was
captured: the theatrical duo had a strong left-wing political focus to much of their
music and focused on a humanitarian message of human kindness and connection
for ourselves and for the planet. As my studies progressed, I became more aware of
the ways in which the band drew on Norse imagery in their stylization and conceptualization. This stood in stark contrast to the other portrayals of Vikings I was so
used to seeing: images of hairy, unkempt men professing violence and bloodlust,
1
Due to the nature of this topic, I will be addressing white supremacy, racism,
antisemitism, anti-Blackness, murder, terrorism, sexism, and homophobia, including
reference to censored slurs.
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174
Eirnin Jefford Franks
often in the name of white supremacy.2 I was fascinated by this contrast, and hence
this chapter has been many years in the making.
By taking a comparative approach between Nordic Giants and a selection of
other musicians who make use of Viking imagery, but with a right-wing stance, it
is possible to delve beyond the discussion of what images are being presented, and
to uncover what makes this distinction so stark. The central point of difference is
ultimately masculinity: while right-wing musicians interpret Vikings as the epitome
of a modern conception of masculinity, Nordic Giants break from this to explore
interpretations of Vikings through an ungendered lens. As such, Nordic Giants
employ a different discursive space that can carry a different political message from
that of right-wing metal bands.
Discursive Spaces
This chapter will explore political alignment along the axis of so-called left-wing to
right-wing politics, following the general conceptualization of these terms, whereby
right-wing politics focuses more on conservativism, while left-wing politics focuses
on libertarianism. This chapter will use these terms to refer loosely to these conceptualizations, with discussions of the right-leaning politics often focusing on a more
extreme alignment than discussions of left-leaning politics. For example, the rightwing politics discussed in this chapter will explore extremist white supremacy and
its components, while the left-wing politics will take a more humanitarian stance,
devoid of active antiracist beliefs.3
An important comparative point that allows for the distinction evident between
Nordic Giants and other Viking-themed bands is the use of different genres. Nordic
Giants’ music falls into the post-rock genre, whereas many other musicians create
music within the genres of extreme, black, and Viking metal.4 The history of each of
these genres impacts the way each band is able to construct their image of ‘Vikingness’.
The term ‘post-rock’ was coined by Simon Reynolds in March 1994 in a review of
Bark Psychosis’ album Hex.5 As it is a term defined by those outside of the genre, rather
than within, there is not a clear community boundary as there is with extreme metal
genres. Similarly, the musical definition is not strict either: post-rock is generally focused
around using classical rock instruments in less conventional ways and ways that focus
on creating intricate soundscapes. For example, bows may be used on electric guitars,
and drumsticks on bass guitars. Vocals are often used as an extra instrument, rather
I will use the term ‘Vikings’ in this chapter to reference the modern construction of
Vikings as seen in popular media, and the terms ‘Norse’ and ‘pre-Christian Scandinavian’ to
refer to the historically studied cultures of the Viking Age and early medieval period.
3
I would like to make a distinction between being ‘not racist’ and active antiracism.
Antiracism refers to the labour of dismantling white supremacy and acknowledging one’s
own position within white supremacy, grounded within actions. Being ‘not racist’ consists of
not endorsing racism, but also not taking any steps to dismantle racism. See Ibram X. Kendi,
How to Be an Antiracist (New York, 2019); Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I’m No Longer Talking to
White People about Race (New York, 2019).
4
For simplicity, I will use ‘extreme metal’ in this chapter to refer to these various genres.
5
Simon Reynolds, ‘Bark Psychosis: Hex’, Mojo (1994), https://www.rocksbackpages.
com/Library/Article/bark-psychosis-ihexi [accessed 30 December 2020].
2
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White Supremacist Interpretations of Vikings
175
than conventional singing: this technique is best demonstrated by Sigur Rós, who refer
to their use of vocals as ‘Hopelandic’, recognizing that these vocals are not producing
language.6 These techniques are certainly true of Nordic Giants: while one band member
plays keys, synth, trumpet, and loops, the other plays cymbals and skins, bowed guitar,
and samples – hardly standard equipment for a classic rock band.7
Nordic Giants are signed to the label Kscope. This label defines themselves as
‘post-progressive’ and highlights their desire to platform artists within this genre.
In particular, they draw attention to ‘the atmospheric offerings of Air, Talk Talk,
and Royskopp [sic], and the cinematic Post-Rock vistas of Sigur Ros [sic], Godspeed You Black Emperor and Tortoise’,8 referencing other bands that are key parts
of the post-rock movement.9 Nordic Giants are therefore placed squarely within this
genre, within which there are no other well-known examples of bands making use
of Viking imagery.
Extreme metal has a very different history. It developed in Scandinavia in the late
1980s and early 1990s and is a subgenre of heavy metal. The musical qualities do
not try to replicate the sounds of the Vikings but instead follow heavy metal’s sonic
qualities of harsh guitars, heavy drumbeats, and ‘overall loudness’.10 The concept of
the Vikingness is drawn through the presentation of the bands, their beliefs, and
their claim of Viking heritage, focusing on an image of Viking warriors. As Simon
Trafford notes: ‘[T]he particular appeal of the Vikings for extreme metal fans and
musicians was very strongly related to existing predilections within heavy metal
culture, namely, a valorization of macho masculinity, a revulsion for genteel social
norms, and a taste for themes of war and chaos.’11 Indeed, Deena Weinstein has
argued that as a genre, metal has outlasted other rock genres due to its hypermasculine culture.12 This hypermasculinity is a key feature of the aesthetic of metal, and is
therefore also critical to the discursive space being created.
Another key feature in the construction of extreme metal is, as Weinstein has
termed it, ‘chauvinistic Paganism’: a subgroup of pagan metal that ‘scapegoats and
demonizes those seen to be, or who have been, a threat to one’s ethnic heritage –
one’s “roots”’.13 This is a core part of much of the extreme metal I will be using as
comparative points. This mindset is innately right-wing and white supremacist.
6
‘Post-rock’, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2016, https://www.britannica.com/art/post-rock
[accessed 30 December 2020].
7
Kevin Thompson, ‘Review – Nordic Giants – Amplify Human Vibration by Kevin
Thompson’, Progradar, 2017, https://www.progradar.org/index.php/tag/roka [accessed 30
December 2020].
8
‘About/Contact’, Kscope, 2020, https://kscopemusic.com/contact [accessed 30
December 2020].
9
Cos Staff, ‘Dreamlab: The Semantics of Post-Rock’, Consequence of Sound, 2012,
https://consequenceofsound.net/aux-out/dreamlab-the-semantics-of-post-rock [accessed 30
December 2020].
10
Simon Trafford, ‘Viking Metal’, in The Oxford Handbook of Music and Medievalism, ed.
Stephen C. Meyer and Kirsten Yri (Oxford, 2020), 564–66.
11
Ibid., 566.
12
Deena Weinstein, Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Culture (Cambridge, MA, 2009).
13
Deena Weinstein, ‘Pagan Metal’, in Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music, ed.
Donna Weston and Andy Bennett (London, 2014), 58. Weinstein uses the term Pagan
Metal to refer to metal subgenres that deal with a range of so-called ‘pagan’ cultures and
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Eirnin Jefford Franks
By existing in different genres with different histories, different discursive spaces
are employed: what it means to ‘be a Viking’ is constructed in specific ways. It is
hard, if not impossible, for someone within extreme metal to be accepted as embodying Vikingness if they do so in a way that differs significantly from the idea of
what it means to be a Viking in that space: it is questionable, and rather unlikely,
that someone within extreme metal would consider Nordic Giants to embody
Vikingness. As has been demonstrated, this construction of a Viking in extreme
metal spaces is focused on hypermasculinity. In comparison, the lack of a defined
discursive space of Vikingness in post-rock allows Nordic Giants to construct an
alternative presentation of Vikingness.
Nordic Giants
Nordic Giants are a post-rock duo from Brighton, England. They describe themselves as ‘claustrophobic cinematic clatter’14 and focus heavily on the way their
music links to short films that are often made in connection to their music.15 They
present themselves as using their music to promote their message: one of positivity
and human kindness. At the time of writing, their latest project is an album titled
Amplify Human Vibration, released in 2017, and accompanied by a documentary
of the same title, released in 2020. In an essay published by the UK newspaper
The Independent, the band states that the purpose of the project is ‘to show that
every person can make a positive impact on the world, no matter how small and to
simply remind everyone the true power each of us have, especially when we all unite
together as one’.16
The band spread their message very explicitly through their music. Neither of the
duo sing on their tracks and instead feature other singers and sample speeches. In
their aforementioned album alone, they make use of:
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech ‘Beyond Vietnam’ on the song ‘Spirit’;
• ‘The Taxonomy of Illusions’ by the ethnobotanist, mystic, and author Terence McKenna on the opening track of the same name;
• ‘The Mystery of Change’ by philosopher Alan Watts on ‘Reawake’;
• and ‘We Are Power’ by Native American activist John Trudell on ‘Immortal
Elements’.
They use yet more notable speeches on other songs:
• ‘Mechanical Minds’ from the 2013 EP Build Seas, Dismantle Suns uses ‘The
Final Speech’ from The Great Dictator by Charlie Chaplin;
spiritualities, including, but not limited to, Celtic and Slavic, alongside Norse.
14
Nordic Giants, ‘About’, Nordic Giants, http://www.nordicgiants.co.uk/about [accessed
18 October 2018].
15
Ibid.
16
Remfry Dedman, ‘Nordic Giants – Amplify Human Vibration: Exclusive Album
Stream’, The Independent, 2017, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/
features/nordic-giants-amplify-human-vibration-exclusive-album-stream-a8005806.html
[accessed 18 October 2018].
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White Supremacist Interpretations of Vikings
177
• ‘Together’ from the 2012 EP Shine again makes use of ‘Beyond Vietnam’ by
Martin Luther King Jr;
• ‘Evolve and Perish’ on the 2015 album A Séance of Dark Delusions uses
words from Michael Ruppert in the opening of Vice’s 2014 documentary
Apocalypse, Man;
• ‘Néoténie’ from the 2013 EP Build Seas, Dismantle Suns uses a lecture from
author William S. Burroughs at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied
Poetics on 11 August 1980;
• ‘Dark Clouds Mean War’ from the 2013 EP Build Seas, Dismantle Suns uses
Napoleon’s final speech from the 1970 film Waterloo, directed by Sergei
Bondarchuk.
This selection of speeches, focusing on issues of equality, climate justice, and death,
primarily from activists and campaigners, underlines the political cause of the
band. Of course, this is not true of all the speakers featured: Napoleon’s militarism
is inherently at odds with a left-wing ethos, and in his full lecture, William S. Burroughs uses the racialized ‘n’ slur. However, the words spoken within the songs still
carry strong messages and strong emotions. These speeches therefore create a powerful discography, with the political leanings of the band being unmistakeable to
the listener.
As the name suggests, Nordic Giants have a fascination with the imagery of
Norse mythology within their branding, although they never explicitly refer to this
image or themselves as ‘Vikings’, nor do they discuss a sense of heritage or ancestry.
However, the implication of the ‘giants’ in the name appears to be a reference to the
so-called ‘giants’ (Old Norse: jötnar) of Norse mythology, which, when combined
with the element ‘Nordic’, clearly highlights pre-Christian Scandinavian religion as
the point of reference.
When it comes to the duo behind the act, they are anonymous and are only
ever known as their stage personas, Löki and Rôka Skulld, who hide themselves
behind elaborate costumes.17 The former name, Löki, clearly draws on the figure
of Loki of Norse mythology, using the ö character in a way that appears to be unaware of, or uninterested in, its linguistic value, and possibly also drawing inspiration from the long history of decorative diacritics in rock, such as Mötorhead
and Mötley Crüe. The latter name has two elements. Rôka has a less clear point of
inspiration but seems to follow a similar idea of drawing on names and linguistic
features from what are perceived to be Other cultures. It is possible that it is a misinterpretation of the name Röskva, as seen in the Prose Edda’s telling of Þórr and
17
The names Löki and Rôka are used to sign off on many of their social media posts:
Nordic Giants, ‘Tour Update – July 2020: Sad News – But Due to the Ongoing “Disruptions”
the Decision Has Been Made to Cancel the Tour in September! …’, Facebook, 2020, https://
www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=3291261464229359&id=111865965502274
[accessed 30 December 2020]. The name Skulld only appears on the artist’s individual
Facebook page: Roka Skulld, ‘Rôka Skulld’, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/RokaSkulld
[accessed 30 December 2020].
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178
Eirnin Jefford Franks
Útgarðr Loki, but this is unclear.18 Alongside this, the name Skulld appears to be a
deliberate misspelling of Skuld, one of the three nornir who reside under Yggdrasill and choose the fate of men.19 Notably, Röskva and Skuld in Norse mythology
are both women. Alongside these names, a repeatedly featured vocalist Nordic
Giants make use of is a female singer credited as ‘Freyja’, a clear nod to the goddess
known from Norse mythology.
These images of myth and mystery are further perpetuated by the ‘About’ section
of their website, which describes how ‘two mythical creatures create an experience
with bowed guitar, piano that is both haunting and rousing, and climatic and thunderous drums’.20 It is also said that ‘dressed in feathers and shrouded in a ubiquitous
fog the pair look more like residents of Middle Earth’,21 implicitly acknowledging
the inspiration Norse mythology had for Tolkien’s world-building in The Lord of the
Rings.22 Furthermore, they also say that ‘seeing Nordic Giants has been described
as akin to a religious experience’,23 seemingly acknowledging links to pre-Christian
Scandinavian religion, and to spirituality, as will be demonstrated later.
Further compounding this image is the band’s logo. Featuring a tree with swirling branches, it is referred to by the band as their ‘Nordic tree’.24 While it is not
explicit, it is implied that this is inspired by Yggdrasill, the tree at the centre of the
cosmos, according to Snorri Sturluson.25 Furthermore, the band often refer to their
fans as the ‘Nordic Army’,26 close their Facebook posts with the phrase ‘the Nordic
Army marches on’,27 and when discussing touring, they refer to ‘invading’ countries
or cities.28 These communications have the strongest tones linking their branding
to the martial image of Vikings commonly portrayed by other Viking-themed acts.
The earlier-mentioned costumes of the duo are intriguing. The pair are never
(knowingly) seen outside of these costumes, and they are an integral part of the
Snorri Sturluson, Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning, ed. Anthony Faulkes (London,
1988), 37. References are to this edition.
19
‘Vǫluspa (Konungsbók)’, in Eddukvæði I: Goðakvæði, ed. Jónas Kristjánsson and
Vésteinn Ólason (Reykjavík, 2014), 295–96, 19–20. References are to this edition.
20
Nordic Giants, ‘About’.
21
Ibid.
22
Jane Chance, Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader (Lexington, 2004).
23
Nordic Giants, ‘About’.
24
Nordic Giants, ‘¥¥¥ One of our most loyal fan and friends – has become the first
person to get a tattoo of our Nordic tree – Mr Brice, we thank you!!! Pic’s [sic] coming soon
¥¥¥’, Facebook, 2013, https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=6029823897239
60&id=111865965502274 [accessed 30 December 2020].
25
‘Vǫluspa (Konungsbók)’, 295, 19.
26
Nordic Giants, ‘¥ Calling Nordic Army – tickets are getting very low for some venues
now – Don’t miss your chance to see our brand new show and the amazing support acts’,
Facebook, 2015, https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1022875487734646
&id=111865965502274 [accessed 30 December 2020].
27
Nordic Giants, ‘¥ For those of you that joined us last year for our 7 depths of
Consciousness Tour – you may well remember these remixed tracks’, Facebook, 2016, https://
www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1191281190894074&id=111865965502274
[accessed 30 December 2020].
28
Nordic Giants, ‘News on our European invasion later this year, coming tomorrow
…’, Facebook, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=15755615657
99366&id=111865965502274 [accessed 30 December 2020]; Nordic Giants, ‘Tonight we
18
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White Supremacist Interpretations of Vikings
179
image they create. These costumes consist of dark masks over the top half of the
face, with feathers extending from this. Their bodies are partially covered by their
feathered outfits, with their exposed skin covered in tattoos and body paint. They
wear necklaces of animal bones, tusks protruding from the lower halves of their
masks like boars, and the back of one costume is styled to look like exposed ribs
and a spine. These costumes seem to draw heavily on the images of shamanistic
practices that exist within the circumpolar regions, particularly those of the Sámi
who lived throughout Scandinavia alongside pre-Christian Norse Scandinavians. Indeed, it is still debated as to whether these shamanistic practices also took
place within pre-Christian Scandinavian religion, although there is no consensus
on this.29 This is further strengthened by the description of band member Rôka as
playing the cymbals and skins.30 While not explicitly linked, knowledge of Sámi religious culture as historically using reindeer-hide drums allows one to speculate that
a loose knowledge that this existed within Scandinavian religions may have been
part of the inspiration for this choice.31
A further minor way in which Nordic Giants continue to perpetuate their image
of Vikingness is the name of their song ‘Runestones’ from their 2015 release 7 Depths
of Consciousness. While the song itself is instrumental and does not lend itself to any
deeper analysis, the name alone is important: it is a clear nod to the runic writing
system for which the Vikings are so well known, and in popular culture is imagined
to have magical powers within a religious setting. Significantly, however, the use of
actual runes is non-existent within Nordic Giants’ branding, which stands in stark
contrast to many Viking-themed metal bands, who often make use of runes in a
variety of ways.
In combining these various elements, Nordic Giants create a conceptualization
that is both explicitly Viking-themed, and notably different from other images of
Vikings so often presented in various forms of media. This difference is significant:
it allows an alternative portrayal and different discursive space in which Nordic
Giants can shift the political associations of the use of Vikings.
The combination of these elements creates a complex portrayal of Vikings that
is distinct from that of other bands in the extreme metal genre. This distinction is
important: it is what allows Nordic Giants to champion ideas of tolerance and hope,
as opposed to the hatred of right-wing metal bands.
The use of a medieval culture is not an accident. The conceptualization of the
medieval as an uncorrupted time has been noted by multiple scholars: Amy S. Kaufman and Paul B. Sturtevant argue that ‘people who are disenchanted with the innovations of modern society often idealize the Middle Ages as natural and pure, the
“original” condition of humankind. These people see the Middle Ages as a landscape
invade Bristol and It’s the last date of the UK tour! see you all soon’, Facebook, 2017, https://
www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1639112672777588&id=111865965502274
[accessed 30 December 2020].
29
This is in reference to the ritual practice of seiðr. See Clive Tolley, Shamanism in Norse
Myth and Magic (Helsinki, 2009), I; Neil Price, The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron
Age Scandinavia (Oxford, 2019).
30
Thompson, ‘Review – Nordic Giants’.
31
Rolf Kjellström and Håkon Rydving, Den samiska trumman (Stockholm, 1988).
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180
Eirnin Jefford Franks
for heroism, passion, and legendary deeds.’32 In doing so, the Middle Ages are interpreted in ways that suit the interpreter. Where right-wing musicians will interpret
this to mean a time that was exclusively white and devoid of immigration, Nordic
Giants seem to conceptualize this purity in terms of a time before industrialization
and its effects on the climate and on individualism, seeing the Middle Ages as a time
of community-driven culture.33
This use of the medieval has particularly been brought to the fore by Annette
Kreutziger-Herr, who states that ‘the Middle Ages serves as a toy. It is the sum of
small pieces of hidden meaning, a collection of diffuse images and yearnings illustrating that this time has indeed sunk into oblivion, but it has left behind a treasure of legends, ideals, dreams, hopes, and “visions”.’34 The medieval acts as a blank
canvas upon which an artist can paint their ideals and their politics and allow the
cultural understanding of the purity of the medieval to legitimize their ideas, rooting them in a sense of the natural state of humanity.
However, this medievalism is one of the few ways in which Nordic Giants and
Viking metal use the same technique to share their political aims. In order to understand what makes the former stand out, we must briefly look at one of the different,
and overt features of extreme metal: hypermasculinity.
This hypermasculinity has been noticed by many scholars before me: Steven P.
Ashby and John Schofield argue for ‘the stereotypical image of the “Viking warrior”
as a hirsute symbol of masculinity’, as used by metal bands.35 This is also outlined
by Weinstein, who notes that ‘although Norse gods are plentiful, metal bands tend
to select those that embody the heroic masculinity that metal heads have always
valued’,36 and Gry Mørk states that ‘manliness is here linked to the Norse tradition
and its gender ideals. The male Viking represents paradigmatic and traditional masculinity.’37 This idea is clearly at the heart of extreme metal perceptions of Vikings
and forms a core part of the discursive space.
This image is created in a number of ways. One such way is the visual aesthetics
of the musicians: Ashby and Schofield’s comment, a ‘hirsute symbol’, acknowledges
this, with many musicians sporting long hair and beards as a statement of masculinity. An overwhelming sense of aggression accompanies this, in line with models
32
Amy S. Kaufman and Paul B. Sturtevant, The Devil’s Historians: How Modern Extremists
Abuse the Medieval Past (Toronto, 2020), 7.
33
The implications of reading of aspects of the (early) Middle Ages as pure, uncorrupted,
or primitive is also discussed in Chapters 3 and 8.
34
Annette Kreutziger-Herr, ‘Postmodern Middle Ages: Medieval Music at the Dawn of
the Twenty-First Century’, Florilegium 15 (1998), 188.
35
Steven P. Ashby and John Schofield, ‘“Hold the Heathen Hammer High”:
Representation, Re-enactment and the Construction of “Pagan”’ Heritage’, International
Journal of Heritage Studies, 21/5 (2015), 499.
36
Weinstein, ‘Pagan Metal’, 60.
37
Gry Mørk, ‘Why Didn’t the Churches Begin to Burn a Thousand Years Earlier?’, in
Religion and Popular Music in Europe: New Expressions of Sacred and Secular Identity, ed.
Thomas Bossius, Andreas Häger, and Keith Kahn-Harris (London, 2011), 140.
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White Supremacist Interpretations of Vikings
181
of toxic masculinity of the twenty-first century. However, by far the most prominent way in which this masculinity is portrayed is through martial imagery. Indeed,
Simon Trafford and Aleks Pluskowski argue that
38
[m]artial imagery clearly plays an important role in the iconography of many
Metal bands, with eras of inspiration ranging from prehistory through to the Gulf
War. The Viking Age is certainly not short of suitable material, and weapons and
warriors are readily incorporated into the iconography of Viking Metal bands,
ranging from logos, such as that used by Norwegian ‘folkloric black metal’ band
Windir, which substitutes two Viking-Age swords for the ‘i’s, through to band
member personas.39
We can therefore argue that the prominence of this hypermasculinity allows it to
become a key feature in the discursive space of extreme metal’s Vikings. Naturally,
not every extreme metal band making use of this imagery holds right-wing views.
What is important to note here is that right-wing metal bands do make use of this
imagery: extreme metal’s right-wing Vikings are always hypermasculine. For popular audiences, Vikings are seen as the ultimate example of masculinity. This becomes
part of the paradigm of cisheteropatriarchy, a system within which Western culture
functions, and which is rooted in white supremacy.40 Therefore, Vikings are ideal to
be used as a vehicle for right-wing ideologies.
By contrast, hypermasculinity is absent from Nordic Giants’ interpretation of
Norse culture. While there is some martial imagery, this is created solely through
words and focuses on the concept of movement, rather than active violence. Furthermore, the outfits they wear, while somewhat masculine to reflect the gender
of the performers, are not overtly hypermasculine. The masculinity presented is
exclusively in relation to the performers’ own genders, rather than creating a conceptualization with masculinity at the heart of it. In this way, Nordic Giants create a
relatively ungendered interpretation of Vikings, setting them far apart from extreme
metal bands. It is only through this comparison to extreme metal bands that we can
see how distinct an approach to gender and Viking medievalism Nordic Giants take.
One of the key ways in which Nordic Giants achieve this is through the shamanistic interpretation of the Vikings. As noted above, it is unclear if this is a misunderstanding of the shamanism that was present in Sámi culture or an interpretation
of the Norse ritual practice of seiðr. However, it is somewhat unimportant as to
which distinct culture is being interpreted here: although they are both significantly
38
The origin of the term ‘toxic masculinity’ is unclear, but one key definition is provided
by Terry A. Kupers, who states that ‘toxic masculinity involves the need to aggressively
compete and dominate others and encompasses the most problematic proclivities in men’:
Terry A. Kupers, ‘Toxic Masculinity as a Barrier to Mental Health Treatment in Prison’,
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61/6 (2005), 713.
39
Simon Trafford and Aleks Pluskowski, ‘Antichrist Superstars: The Vikings in Hard
Rock and Heavy Metal’, in Mass Market Medieval: Essays on the Middle Ages in Popular
Culture, ed. D.W. Marshall (Jefferson, 2007), 67.
40
Andrea Smith, ‘Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy:
Rethinking Women of Color Organizing’, in Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology, ed.
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence (Durham, NC, 2016), 72.
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182
Eirnin Jefford Franks
different in their historical contexts, the impact of their interpretations in this context does not differ greatly. At the root of this is the question of gender within both
practices. One of the key understandings a popular audience may have about shamanism, as a broad concept, is the role of gender fluidity and non-conformity, with
many people understanding this in terms of a ‘third sex’ or ‘third gender’.41 Similarly, seiðr has been broadly discussed with regard to the ways in which its practice
challenges the gender of the practitioner and pushes them outside of cisnormative
boundaries.42 As such, drawing on either one of these concepts offers the implication of non-normative genders and a challenge to cisheteronormativity, allowing
Nordic Giants to create an ungendered portrayal of Vikings.
Another key implication of drawing on either Sámi shamanism or Norse seiðr
is that both of these practices are linked to religion, and in turn spirituality. This
appears to be important to Nordic Giants and is not limited to the inspiration
for their costumes. In his review of the album Amplify Human Vibration, Kevin
Thompson paints a powerful image of the spiritual touch to the song ‘Autonomous’: ‘[S]at in the church of instrumentation, resting on the pews of chords and
bars, we can embrace the blissful notes from the organ playing sweetly on Autonomous, the final track that will guide us into the light of understanding on a wave
of musical euphoria.’43 While the contrast of Christian imagery against the stylization of non-Christian imagery is stark, it underlines the sense of spirituality that is
central to Nordic Giants. This, combined with the use of names and images from
Norse mythology, acts as a signal that Nordic Giants see themselves as spiritual
ambassadors of the truth, trying to warn and rescue mankind from their own
collapse, in line with their messaging.
This is further reinforced by using a distant culture that appears to be an Other.
This technique is not uncommon. In Kirsten Yri’s study of the art rock band Dead
Can Dance, she notes that the band makes use of elements understood to be medieval by popular audiences, and that they assign ‘“premodern” attributes of spirituality and naturalness’ to the medieval,44 alongside associating this with the ‘Other’
through Orientalism: ‘[T]hey impart a distinctly Othered sound that vaguely references the North African or Arab world.’45 This combination of the medieval and
spirituality in Yri’s analysis is significant, as it draws together existing ideas with
which Nordic Giants work, reinforced by this use of the Other. Underscoring the
importance of these ideas, Susan Fast notes the ‘longing for the Other, in particular
as a source of power alternative to that possessed by the dominant culture’.46 This
Price, The Viking Way, 249. See Eirnin Jefford Franks, ‘Valfǫðr, vǫlur, and valkyrjur:
Óðinn as a Queer Deity Mediating the Warrior Halls of Viking Age Scandinavia’, Scandia:
Journal of Medieval Norse Studies, 2 (2019), 33 for further discussion on why these terms
should not be used.
42
Jefford Franks, ‘Valfǫðr, vǫlur, and valkyrjur’, 38–39; Price, The Viking Way, 172–83.
43
Thompson, ‘Review – Nordic Giants’.
44
Kirsten Yri, ‘Medievalism and Exoticism in the Music of Dead Can Dance’, Current
Musicology, 85 (2008), 54.
45
Ibid., 62.
46
Susan Fast, ‘Days of Future Passed: Rock, Pop, and the Yearning for the Middle
Ages’, in Mittelalter-Sehnsucht? Texte des interdisziplinären Symposions zur musikalischen
Mittelalterrezeption an der Universität Heidelberg, April 1998, ed. Annette Kreutziger-Herr
41
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White Supremacist Interpretations of Vikings
183
is key: Nordic Giants use this medievalism, an ungendered approach, and an implication of spirituality (specifically non-Abrahamic spirituality, contrasting the cultural norm of England) to create an image of being an Other, which allows them
to place themselves in opposition to, as Fast terms it, ‘the dominant culture’. For
Nordic Giants, this dominant culture appears to be capitalist, industrialized society
at large. This in turn allows them to disseminate their message of tolerance, hope,
and kindness through ideas of community and nature.
Right-Wing Abuses
By analysing Nordic Giants’ different approach and isolating the key factor in this –
gender – we can therefore gain a deeper understanding of how masculine interpretations of Vikings facilitate white supremacy. It is also important for us as scholars
to understand the full extent of this impact by explicitly identifying links between
masculinity and Vikings, white supremacist views, and the death tolls directly
related to this relationship. The exploration of Nordic Giants above allows us to see
the starkness of this comparison, and the role masculinity, particularly hyper- and
toxic masculinity, plays in it.
The development of extreme metal in Scandinavia in the 1980s and 1990s came
hand-in-hand with violence. The early years of the music scene were defined by the
burning of medieval churches throughout Norway. This was directly linked to ideas
surrounding a Viking past: Varg Vikernes saw the burning of Fantoft stave church
on 6 June 1992 as a modern version of the attack on Lindisfarne in 793.47 Vikernes
is one of the most prominent figures of discussion in this area. He is the man behind
the one-man-band Burzum and was incredibly influential in the early days of the
extreme metal movement. In 1993, he murdered fellow musician Øystein Aarseth
(also known as Euronymous), his former bandmate from the band Mayhem, and
was subsequently sentenced to twenty-one years in prison for this murder (of which
he served fifteen), alongside other charges including arson. While there, he wrote
a manifesto entitled Vargsmål, which promoted a so-called nationalist heathen
ideology, arguing that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are invasive religions that
destroyed the native paganism of Europe, and therefore must be eradicated. This
native paganism is that of the Vikings.
Since his release from prison in 2009, Vikernes has been active online, primarily
through his previous YouTube account, ‘Thulean Perspective’. While this account
was active, it garnered tens of thousands of views, with his videos ranging from
music releases to interpretations of Norse mythology and commentary on recent
events. One such video was a commentary on the terrorist attack on two mosques in
Christchurch, New Zealand, on 15 March 2019.48 In this video, he made a number
of racist statements, including blaming the government for allowing mass
and Dorothea Redepenning, (Kiel, 2000), 35.
47
Mørk, ‘Why Didn’t the Churches’, 127.
48
Kristian ‘Varg’ Vikernes, ‘They got what they wanted … (NZ terror attack)’, Thulean
Perspective: BitChute, 2019, https://www.bitchute.com/video/N3ozrpk_eyw [accessed 30
December 2020]. This video was originally uploaded to YouTube and reuploaded on BitChute
following Vikernes being banned from YouTube.
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184
Eirnin Jefford Franks
immigration, with the implication that this refers to people of colour only, and
referring to the government using triple parentheses, for example ‘(((they)))’: within
extremist white supremacist circles, this denotes that the party being referred to is
Jewish.49 Vikernes is part of what is known as ‘National Socialist Black Metal’, or
NSBM, but he is far from alone: it is this group that comprises the most extreme
points of comparison in this study.50
Another example is the German band Absurd. Like Vikernes, the original
members were imprisoned for murder in 1993.51 The lyrics of their music promote
nationalist, pro-heathen revivalist, and anti-Judeo-Christian rhetoric. Their political
leanings cannot be mistaken. Alongside these politics, their use of the Viking Age as
a point of inspiration is unequivocal. One of the original band members is Hendrik
Möbus, who uses the stage name Jarl Flagg Nidhogg. This is a clear reference to
Norse myth: jarl is the Old Norse equivalent of ‘earl’, and Nidhogg (ON: Níðhǫggr)
is the serpent who gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasill.52 Furthermore, their 1999 EP
was titled Asgardsrei, said to be a term that existed for a godly group of Germanic
warriors associated with the Wild Hunt,53 but it should be noted that this term has
no historical attestation before the nineteenth century.54 This EP included a booklet
of images of the Knights Templar, the Teutonic Order, and the Waffen-SS:55 presumably these are seen to be the ‘Asgardsrei’ warriors. This association between Nazi
soldiers and Viking warriors is particularly striking and should not be understated.
Another example of bands making extreme use of this imagery is the Greek
NSBM band Der Stürmer, who are named after the antisemitic Nazi newspaper.
The stage names of the band members are Jarl Von Hagall, Commando Wolf, and
Hjarulv Henker, monikers that are clearly inspired by both Nazi-associated names
and interpretations of Norse names and words. For example, Henker is German for
hangman or executioner, which immediately underlines the violent nature of the
band members. Alongside this, jarl, as previously stated, is Old Norse for ‘earl’, and
Hjarulv appears to be a somewhat fanciful version of the word úlfr in Old Norse,
translating to wolf.56 In particular, hagall refers to a rune from the various Futhark
alphabets, which was later co-opted by Nazis to refer to an ‘unshakeable faith’ in the
Nazi philosophy, according to Heinrich Himmler.57 Furthermore, the band’s website
49
‘Echo’, ADL, 2022, https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/echo
[accessed 27 April 2022].
50
It must be stated that there are no left-wing extremist uses of Viking imagery to make
a direct comparison with on this topic.
51
Disincarnated and Murmur_666, ‘Absurd’, Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives,
2002–2021, https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Absurd/383 [accessed 3 May 2022].
52
Snorri Sturluson, Edda, 17.
53
Kris Kershaw, The One-Eyed God: Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Männerbünde
(Washington, 2000), 29.
54
The earliest attestation appears to be Peter Nicolai Arbo’s 1872 painting by the name
Åsgårdsreien.
55
Discogs, ‘Absurd (3)’, Discogs, 2021, https://www.discogs.com/Absurd-Asgardsrei/
release/369774 [accessed 15 January 2021].
56
I am unable to find any reference to explain the ‘Hjar’ part of this name, and it appears
to be an elaboration with no historical meaning.
57
Robin Lumsden, Himmler’s Black Order: A History of the SS, 1923–45 (Stroud, 1997),
147.
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White Supremacist Interpretations of Vikings
185
describes their ideology as a ‘Heathen/National Socialist Weltanschauung [world
view].’58 The backgrounds to these webpages and their albums include images of
Adolf Hitler and the Swastika.59 The connection the band draws between Norse culture and Nazi ideology is inescapable.
A 2009 interview between Henker and the NSBM blog ‘Ulvhedin Grom’ also
demonstrates the extent to which masculinity is central to this ideology. When
asked to describe the subject matter of their latest album, Henker stated:
The inspiration comes from the modern state of Europe as this is compared with
the forgotten and often deliberately ignored past. Only an idiot would disagree
upon the fact that Aryan ethics, way of life and thought and actions are gone from
Europe and the western world, replaced by this anarchist mass of liberal, effeminate [my italics], hedonistic mass-people.60
Henker is then asked ‘your thoughts on non-NS black metal? Or Heathen themed
groups that don’t embrace NS ideology? Personally I think there’s too much harmless, pacifistic and “feminine” sounding Black metal.’ Henker responds:
I totally agree with you. Even the modern ‘Black Metal’ scene reflects the condition of the average European man … useless people always produce something
useless. The spirit that once permeated Black Metal with warlike anger is now
almost gone … the Aryan religion is built upon the ethics and psyche of a warlike,
conquering people, not to some pot-influenced hippie mumblings. In general, all
these f******* are part of modernity.61
Evidently, masculinity is the crux of the matter for Henker. The use of the ‘f ’ slur,
referring to homosexual men, is clearly referencing masculinity, and combining this
with discussions of ‘warlike anger’ highlights that aggressive, toxic hypermasculinity is central to how he conceptualizes Viking culture.
It goes without saying that these ideas are extremely harmful – but they also
come with a death toll. On 22 July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik murdered seventy-seven people in Norway. Breivik identified himself as an Odinist62 and made
use of a range of medievalisms, including Viking, often confusing them with one
another. As Andrew B.R. Elliott has commented: ‘[H]e fused his pseudo-Christian
knighthood with references to Norse mythology, calling his outfit “Loki’s armour”
58
Der Stürmer, ‘Biography’, The Pagan Front, 2007, https://web.archive.org/web/202003
29070400/http://www.thepaganfront.com/dersturmer/bio.html [accessed 3 May 2022].
59
Der Stürmer, ‘News’, The Pagan Front, 2007, https://web.archive.org/web/2019090
4073112/http://www.thepaganfront.com/dersturmer/main.html [accessed 3 May 2022]; Der
Stürmer, ‘Releases’, The Pagan Front, 2007, https://web.archive.org/web/20190820194739/
http://www.thepaganfront.com/dersturmer/release.html [accessed 15 January 2021].
60
I have cut this quote off here, as Henker goes on to use the racialized ‘n’ slur.
61
‘Interview with Hjarulv Henker/Der Sturmer’, Ulvhedin Grom, 2009, https://ulvhedingrom.livejournal.com/200437.html [accessed 30 December 2020]. I have censored the
homophobic ‘f ’ slur here: unlike the slur in the quote above, this plays an important role in
the wider text.
62
A form of neo-pagan belief that centres on Óðinn, and commonly has white
supremacist leanings.
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186
Eirnin Jefford Franks
and carving the name Mjolnir, after Thor’s hammer, in runic letters onto his Glock.
Likewise, his motorbike was called Sleipnir after Odin’s eight-legged horse, and his
Ruger rifle Gungnir, after Odin’s spear.’63
Breivik wrote a manifesto – a theme among these terrorists – titled 2083: A European Declaration of Independence. This manifesto was sent to Vikernes,64 among
others, which reinforces the fact that Breivik felt somewhat inspired by Vikernes. In
2019, the New York Times undertook a study of the links between white extremists.65
From this, we can further see that Brenton Tarrant, the perpetrator of the 15 March
2019 shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, was inspired by Breivik. Tarrant murdered fifty-one people and injured a further forty-nine. Simultaneously, he released his own manifesto, The Great Replacement,66 which closes with the
phrase, ‘I will see you in Valhalla.’67 The link between white supremacist terrorism
and ideas around a Viking past are undeniable.
This interpretation of the past continues to have ramifications, including during
the writing of this chapter. On 6 January 2021, a group of Donald Trump supporters
stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election, resulting in five deaths.68 One of the figures that drew the most
press attention during this was Jake Angeli, who refers to himself as the ‘Q Shaman’.69
Angeli is a subscriber to the ‘Q Anon’ conspiracy theory, which has strong right-wing
white supremacist leanings surrounding beliefs in a ‘deep state’ controlling the US
government, full of corruption and criminal acts such as paedophilia, and the belief
that Donald Trump is the only person who can defeat this group.70 Angeli attended
the riot in an outfit he is now well known for: a Native American headdress, a bare
chest, and a flag attached to a spear. A number of elements of this outfit drew the
attention of medievalists, including myself: on his chest, he sports three tattoos, one
of the so-called valknut, one of the ‘tree of life’, and one of Thor’s hammer.71 These
63
Andrew B.R. Elliott, Medievalism, Politics and Mass Media: Appropriating the Middle
Ages in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge, 2017), 140.
64
John Lichfield, ‘Musician and “Anders Breivik Sympathiser” Kristian Vikernes Arrested
in France for “Plotting Massacre”’, Independent, 2013, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/
world/europe/musician-and-anders-breivik-sympathiser-kristian-vikernes-arrested-franceplotting-massacre-8711653.html [accessed 30 December 2020].
65
Weiyi Cai and Simone Landon, ‘Attacks by White Extremists Are Growing; So Are
Their Connections’, New York Times, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/03/
world/white-extremist-terrorism-christchurch.html [accessed 30 December 2020].
66
Kaufman and Sturtevant, The Devil’s Historians, 53.
67
Brenton Tarrant, The Great Replacement, https://img-prod.ilfoglio.it/userUpload/
The_Great_Replacementconvertito.pdf [accessed 8 January 2021], 86.
68
Kenya Evelyn, ‘Capitol Attack: The Five People Who Died’, The Guardian, 2021, https://
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/08/capitol-attack-police-officer-five-deaths
[accessed 10 January 2021].
69
Matt Binder, ‘“QAnon Shaman” Is Seen Leading the Charge as Pro-Trump Mob Breaks
into U.S. Capitol’, Mashable, 2021, https://mashable.com/article/qanon-capitol-trump-jakeangeli/?europe=true [accessed 10 January 2021].
70
Mike Wendling, ‘QAnon: What Is It and Where Did It Come From?’, BBC News, 2021
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/53498434 [accessed 10 January 2021].
71
Eirnin (@queertyyr), ‘I’m currently writing about hypermasculinity and Viking
Medievalisms in white supremacy … the horns, valknut, and the “tree of life” (Yggdrasil)
on this guy underline this terrifyingly perfectly’, Twitter, 2021, https://web.archive.org/
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White Supremacist Interpretations of Vikings
187
are all clear references to Norse myth. The valknut appears as a symbol in Viking
Age art, although its meaning, or possible lack thereof, is unknown. The ‘tree of life’
is likely to be that of Yggdrasill, and Thor’s hammer is a reference to Mjölnir. Furthermore, his use of a spear may also be a nod to Óðinn’s spear Gungnir, recalling
Breivik’s use of this same imagery.
It is clear that white supremacists are empowered by ideas of Viking masculinity,
and this is core to their politics: it is by contrasting this against Nordic Giants that
we can see how stark and fundamental this is.
‘A time comes when silence is betrayal’
It is imperative that students and scholars of Viking Age Scandinavia understand
the ways in which images of Vikings are being used within popular culture.72 As this
chapter has demonstrated, these uses vary greatly, and they create different impacts:
medievalism can be used for positive and negative causes.
Nordic Giants’ interpretation of Norse culture is unique. By focusing on elements
of mythology and spirituality within a medieval, and specifically Norse, setting, they
are able to legitimize their left-wing politics as being based in the natural state of
humanity, using techniques that are not inherently dissimilar to other groups using
medievalism for political aims. Due to the shared use of medievalism as a vehicle for
disseminating political ideas, understanding the differences between Nordic Giants
and extreme metal bands allows us to isolate the core differences in the interpretations of the past. As I have demonstrated, this core difference is the role of masculinity, particularly in its toxic and hypermasculine forms.
I have also demonstrated the extent of the damage caused by these hypermasculine interpretations of a Viking past. I have noted the deaths of 133 people as a direct
result of white supremacist ideology that is in part motivated by an interpretation
of this hypermasculine Viking past. It can be easy for work on the Viking Age and
medieval Scandinavia to be seen to exist in a vacuum, but the role of our scholarship
is more far-reaching than we often give it credit for.
I have felt this work touch my life on a personal level in a multitude of ways. An
important part of my approach to my work surrounding gender and queerness in
the Viking Age involves public outreach. In August of 2020, The Sunday Times ran
an article about Neil Price’s recently released book, The Children of Ash and Elm: A
History of the Vikings, and his speculation that the individual buried in the grave
Bj.581 may have been a transgender man, in modern terms. I was quoted alongside
Price, giving my support for this idea, based on my academic and public-facing
web/20221115101636/https://twitter.com/queertyyr/status/1346915269470466049 [accessed
10 January 2021]. It is worth noting that in this tweet, I mistakenly identified the headdress’
horns as being a reference to the cultural misunderstanding of Norse warriors wearing
horned helmets. This was later pointed out to me and I rectified the mistake.
72
The title of this section is taken from a quote from Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘Beyond
Vietnam’ speech, as heard on Nordic Giants’ track ‘Spirit’.
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Eirnin Jefford Franks
188
work. I faced a backlash from this, which included images of myself and my partner
being shared on the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish sites for the Nordic Resistance
Movement. My partner is Black: an image of us together was chosen, rather than
one of me alone, to try to discredit my work by framing me as a white race traitor,
highlighted by two of the websites describing me as ‘self-hating’ in the photo captions.74 More importantly, this was an act of anti-Black racism and raised significant
concerns for the safety of my partner and his family. Alongside this, people have
shared tweets of mine and tagged Vikernes in them, to draw attention to the fact
that my work directly challenges his ideas about a Viking past. I have received a
hateful email with the subject line ‘Odin’ in which the author stated multiple times
that he wanted me dead, through a variety of means, while also making references to
his homophobic and antisemitic views. My work surrounding queerness challenges
the fragility of masculinity deeply, hence why I have faced such a huge backlash to it.
The perception of Vikings as being the ultimate example of masculine ideals is at
the root of white supremacists’ obsession with this subject. The impact of interpretations of the past can vary, but it is clear that the impact of this particular interpretation is huge and has played a role in a number of deaths within the last decade. As
Nordic Giants demonstrate, this is not the only interpretation available. It is therefore vital that scholars make efforts to disrupt this narrative within their work, not
only for the sake of historical accuracy, but to limit the damage these interpretations
can play in the modern world.
73
Rosamund Urwin, ‘Odin’s Beard! Transgender Vikings May Have Played a Key Role
in Pillage Life’, The Sunday Times, 2020, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/odins-beardtransgender-vikings-may-have-played-a-key-role-in-pillage-life-h2pp82k98 [accessed 30
December 2020].
74
Nordfront, ‘Historien omskrives af forskere med en politisk agenda: “Kvindelig
vikingekriger var transperson”’, Nordfront, 2020, https://www.nordfront.dk/historienomskrives-af-forskere-med-en-politisk-agenda-kvindelig-vikingekriger-var-transperson
[accessed 30 December 2020]; ‘Historien skrivs om av PK-forskare: “Kvinnlig vikingakrigare
var transperson”’, Nordfront.se, 2020, https://www.nordfront.se/historien-skrivs-omav-pk-forskare-kvinnlig-vikingakrigare-var-transperson.smr [accessed 30 December
2020]; Frihetskamp, ‘Historien omskrives av forskere med en politisk agenda: “Kvinnelig
vikingkriger var transperson”’, Frihetskamp, 2020, https://www.frihetskamp.net/historienskrives-om-av-forskere-med-politisk-agenda-kvinnelig-vikingkriger-var-transperson
[accessed 30 December 2020].
73
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