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Anglo-Saxon Skyrim and the Religious Implications of Thus

  • Member
    November 23, 2016
    All along, we've been saying that the basis of the Nord's homeland was the Medieval Danes, commonly referred to as Vikings. We made this assumption because of shield-brothers and maidens, round shields, Viking-ish weapons, Futharkian names and Jarls. But I think we were wrong. The answer lies in two words - Thane and Housecarl. Thane is transliterated from Old English "thagn." If it were the Norse equivalent it would be transliterated as "thegn." Housecarl is transliterated from "housceorl," compared to the Norse version "huskarl." All the other Norse things we see were present in Anglo-Saxon society as well (except for the name Bjorn, which would be Beow in Old English; the name Bjorn was, nonetheless, present in Northumbria) - thus our conclusion: Skyrim and the Nords are not, in fact, based off of the Danelaw and the Norse, but rather of England and the Saxons. This all seems pretty unimportant at first, but after some thought the implications start to show themselves. We've been assuming that the Nordic Pantheon is just some odd variation of the Imperial Cult. This might fit in if we assume that the Norse background has basis in ancient Germanic paganism, itself holding some (if distant) root to the gods of antiquity across the Mediterranean, but something else entirely pops up when we take the previously mentioned evidence into account - the pantheon of the Nords might be a reflection of the religion of the Angles in the Late Low Middle Ages, the religion the Saxons are famous for: a heretical mixture of Scandinavian paganism and Orthodox Christianity. We see constant references to the Medieval Church in the Church of the Nine in Daggerfall and Oblivion, and that might hold true in Skyrim as well. If so, the Atmoran pantheon would be the Norse paganism, some slight reflection of Ancient Mysteries (cf Cult of Talos in Morrowind and old Aldmeri religions), and the Nordic pantheon some odd mixture of the two. The conclusion of this realization is up to the individual, but it certainly holds a lot of ground-shaking implications.
  • Member
    December 6, 2016

     This is really interesting, and very well written, you are a brave man to challange Nordic ancestry, I always understood that the Nords decended from vikings, and not Anglo Saxon Britain, and yes for the same reasons you have outlined, I think you may be right, and heres why, Pagans do not worship any particular god they have loads of festival type celebrations, as do the Nords of Skyrim, the burning of King One Eye for example, as to their Germanic roots I also agree with you on that, if you saw the film gladiator, starring Russell Crowe (shit film) look how the germanic people are dressed and the weapons they carry, short Axes, long swords war hammers, just like the Nords of Skyrim.

    As a decendant of Nordic people myself I found thos article very interesting, I have two middle names Armit Nelson, but 6 generations ago it was Armund Nielson who was a Nordic fisherman who drowned off Harris, his wife and 2 children were survivors, rescued by another  boat, my name has altered over time to what it is now, great job mate.