Betrayal and Revenge: The Mythology of Volund and similar anti-heroes
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
- The myth of Volund is one of my favorites, and this video goes into detail about this myth and how it is linked to Icarus and the origins of the turtle shell. This is a story of the anti-hero, of kidnap and revenge, and of a legendary figure who was remembered by many Germanic cultures.
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🧡 Please respect other's cultures and beliefs. Racism, discrimination or threatening speech will not be tolerated.
📚 References
Vǫlundarkviða from the Poetic Edda (Larrington or Petit)
Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Bradley)
Which mythological heros would you like to know more about? Heracles? King Arthur? or someone else?
@@Crecganford Heracles and maybe comparisons/connections in other cultures/religions. 🙂
@@Crecganford Moses
Heracles. I heard and read many alternative theories about him. Hopefully you can make it straight which one is right and which one is wrong
King Arthur could be a 10 part series. There are so many stories and speculations.
Aurvandil? Eärendil, as he's known in Middle-Earth.
Very pleased, Jon! Thank you for listening to my plea and making this video.
You're very welcome :)
Really interesting! This myth shares a lot of themes with my favourite german fairytale "Von dem Machandelboom".
In that fairytale the son is killed by his evil stepmother when she tricks him into looking into a chest and then slamms the lid, beheading him. She then cooks a stew from his flesh and the unsuspecting father eats it. But his sister gathers the brothers bones and lays them under the juniper tree where his real mother is buried. Then the bones transform into a bird who sings wonderfully and gathers gifts from different people for his singing. He then returns home and throws down gifts to his father and sister. He throws a millstone on the stepmother, which kills her and then transforms back into a boy.
Excellent video as always!
I think that the main character being a smith with almost mythical abilities shows the roots of this character much older than subsequent layers in the story: from a time when metallurgy was ar its beginnings and working metal was looked upon in awe.
How is this story not an 80's action movie?! Great episode Jon!
Thank you, it is a great story.
I was just thinking that this is basically the beginning of the first Iron Man movie. Guy who's good at building complicated machinery is captured by enemies and forced to build weapons for them, but builds himself a flying suit he uses to escape. Not sure if the original comics had this.
A fun bit of trivia: In Icelandic, a labyrinth (such as the one made for the minotaur) is called völundarhús, which literally means "house of Völund(ur)". Finding out about the connection between the story of Völundur and the story of Icarus/the labyrinth makes me wonder if the person who coined the term was themselves aware of this connection
Sometimes your videos are so brilliant I feel like applauding at the end.
Thank you for your kind words.
very old roots....someone who can work metal has always been magical, probably goes back to the copper age - and flying/birds were always magical as well, in every culture
Grabbing a coffee. Thanks for another talk Jon 💕
Thank you. I like the last video you did with Matt. I am an emotional soul and it gets me down sometimes weeks at a time. Your voice is a God sent for my heart. Keep being you man❤
Thank you so much. I have mixed views on the last video, but I'm glad I spoke to him and hope he takes something positive from it.
Cool. Perfect addition to my weekend. Thanks
Thank you for watching, I hope you enjoy it.
I'm enjoying my morning coffee as I watch and listen!
And on elves to boot!
Sweet.
Thanks, I hope you like it.
@@Crecganford Jon, you are a great storyteller and I've enjoyed learning so many new things about our collective human history and beliefs.
I've been a subscriber and listener since you had around 1500 followers.
Great work!
I love how often mythological figures invent flight, it's clearly one of our oldest goals
Excellent! Thank you for your diligence! Would love to hear variations of the King Arthur story regarding Dame Ragnal, sister of the Black Night, bewitched by him.
I'd love to hear comparisons of Fire myths, who invented it, who tamed it, how people learned to make it. It must be really, really old.
People in Tasmania, forgot how to do it, forgot their myth, and lost the understanding of how to make it.
Tyvm for your time and info 😊
Stellar work Jon!
Would love to know more about elves and their relatives in folklore.
Thank you.
Yes, I have thought about making a video about this, although it would have a large amount of speculation within it, but still I should be able to do something.
@@Crecganford Nevertheless, speculation is also a lot of fun. Attempting to get at their origins of elves might not yield definitive results, but your presentation of myths and their comparisons between cultural variations never fail to bring me a lot of value.
Thanks!
There are also representations of Weiland on a mechanism with wings on Viking artefacts; a very nice one originating from Uppåkra (Sweden) that you can easily find.
This story of kids murdered by using a chest and making food from their bodies reminds me of the fairytale of "The Juniper Tree". It is a different story but these 2 parts are really similar.
Well done again, Jon. I'd never heard the story of Volund/Weland. Who wouldn't want a Valkyrie for a wife? I guess they were often away working though. The comparison with Icarus is interesting. The African story of the turtle was good to hear.
Thank you, I'm pleased you liked the variety.
I love the story of the turtle shell. It sends "Just So Stories" vibes❤
Very good Sir Jon! I loved the explanations of the Franks cask. The turtle story was good too. Skal
The flying version of Weiland is comparatively quite late and could have been inspired by the knowledge of Daedalus, which was also extremely popular in the Middle Ages and his labyrinth was represented on many cathedrals.
Good to see you, sir! Another lovely tale 🥰
Thank you!
"I never knew that." THAT'S THE JOY OF IT YEAH!
I was hoping you'd cover Wayland...maybe a little more on his Elvish roots? Thank you
In the Last Kingdom, Uthred meets a Viking who's name is Weyland, "same as the smith god", it is one of the rare mentions I know of this god in litterature. You can found the "Wayland-Yutani" in ALIEN, and in the Anne Robillard's "Knights of Emerald" book series, the main character is name "Wellan", but I don't know if it is by chance, or on purpose.
David Drake retells this story in the "Northworld Trilogy" #2 Vengeance. Waylund is called Sparrow.
thank you Jon i really enjoyed this episode especially the turtle tale
Thank you, I liked that too, a good diverse range of tales for this motif.
Wait. Great video, of course, but... it's missing the origin and dispersal of these motifs. I've grown used to that by now, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. ;)
Those videos take a huge amount of research and time, and sometimes I just don't have enough data to form probablisitic evidence. But I will be doing more of them soon, they'll certainly be another one in the next month or so.
I always love learning about historical/mythological figures that inspired modern artists. I'd never heard of this myth before - but the name Weyland is well known to anyone who has watched the Alien film franchise; Weyland Yutani Corporation ("Building Better Worlds") is the overarching villainous organization trying to take control of the destructive force of the xenomorphs. Not sure if there's much more than an oblique reference going on here, but still very cool! Thanks for the lovely video, John
Please stay safe and well yourself, Jon, thank you.
There is one thing that is interesting and that is that in Scandinavia, the norse (or south scandinavians) tended to see the saami and finnish (both usually lumped under the designation finns back then) as skilled with the bow, with magic and also with metalwork. They also sometimes tends to mix them up with the alfr.
We know the saamis had access to superb composite bow, a weapon that was highly praised. The finnish may also have used similar bows but I have no info about that. Both finnish and saami were in historical times considered to be great magicians and dangerous at that.
The saami lived as a mix of reindeer herding but back then also as hunter-gatherers. The more sedentary finnish groups, especially in the northern parts of Scandinavia, also would go on extended hunting and fishing trips. Compare this to the story of how the Völund and his brothers went away on a long hunting expedition. And later Volund is away hunting bear. And the bear had a very special role in saami and finnish society.
But the metalwork part seem a bit off, especially in regards to the nomadic saami group. But here things gets really interesting. The oldest iron find in Scandinavia is of two swords found on an island in lake Inari in north Finland. They seem to be trade items but they from about 800BCE!
And in the last decades, archaeologists working for the Norrbotten county museum, first alone and later in collaboration with collegaues from Finland and Norway, have proven beyond any doubt that groups all over north Scandinavia, also above the Polar circle, had their own iron extraction operations going on around 300BCE. Both nomads and sedentary groups. And that is not all. They produced steel! Not as an accidental posivite by-product but intentionally. They would then laminate it into the edges of axes and knives, and selecting different qualities of iron to form the rest of the tools. So it was steel manufactured and advanced smithing techniques. And early on. They may have been ahead of the rest of northern Europe in this regard.
And it all fits uncanningly well with the legend of Volund.
I'm currently translating a book on Scaninavian history which also talks about these things, and how elves and dwarfs probably came as terms for those who made such things.
Thank you ❤
The Amesbury Archer was a lame blacksmith, according to archaeologists. I bet he wished he could have flown from the Alps to Stonehenge.
I wonder if there is some ancient connection between these stories and the wonder-smith of the Kalevala, Ilmarinen, and the stories told about him in Finland. Perhaps they are both broken fragments of a larger epic long lost to time.
_Now the crowd breaks and a young boy appears_
_Looks the old man in the eye_
_As he spreads his wings and shouts at the crowd_
_In the name of God, my father I'll fly_
_His eyes seem so glazed_
_As he flies on the wings of a dream_
_Now he knows his father betrayed_
_Now his wings turn to ashes to ashes his grave_
Fly on your wings like an eagle , fly, touch the sky .....
How many of these mythological stories, within the database, can be tied to origin stories about the stars and constellations in the sky? It seems like the ancient cultures of the worls shared lots of stories that were based on their views of the night sky. Even the cave paintings of prehistoric times are strikingly similar to the Milky Way and the stars. So, how many stories that are shared across sweeping swaths of space and time originate from the night sky?
Surprised you didn't mention the connection to the Volsung (Volundsson) saga. Or that the inscription you say reads Weyland looks more like Rwland to my Tauran Chiron's eyes
Momma said never stare into the sun, but momma that is where the fun is.
Your videos are great and your voice is great by your thumbnails need some work. Change them up and you will see a lot more traffic
Yes, I must do that, but never seem to find the time.
Thanks!
Thank you so much for your support.
Is Quetzlcoatl (sp?) Within your domain of knowledge or is that too remote?
It is as a dragon motif, but my knowledge of South American mythology as a whole is probably my weakest area.
Love me some turtle tales lol
I'm drinking iced PG Tips tea today!:)❤❤
Iced PG is very unusual, I hope it was nice.
Careful Icarus.
Oh buddy, there's a lot to this. 😊
Would you mind covering the folktale type Animal as Bridegroom/Search for the Lost Husband (ATU 425 - Cupid and Psyche, Beauty and the Beast, East of the Sun and West of the Moon) and its possible origins?
East of the Sun and West of the Moon is a fantastic tale, and so yes, I can add that to my To Do list.
very interesting stories. can you also please tell us more tales and myths from africa?
Yes, I will with time.
Hi Jon! I have a request. I was reading something just now that mentioned the “Celtic” Goddess Corchen. It said she was an ancient snake creator Goddess?
I’m confused! I assume she must be very ancient because aren’t there physically no snakes in Ireland? (I know the snake symbolism, that St. Patrick supposedly chased them out - them being earlier animistic people,druids or pagan wisdom etc. )
BUT if there aren’t actual, physical snakes in Ireland, would it stand to reason that Corchen came from mainland Celtic traditions or even Doggerland dwelling Celts mixing in?
Do you know anything about this goddess and her connection to snakes?
Thanks. It sounds like it would be an interesting creation story. I’m not sure how to access your myth database so didnt check. Sorry ❤❤❤
Could it be from the Minoans?
What we refer to as the Celtic people of Ireland had a significant influence from Spain, and so these stories possibly originated from there, and may well have been more Neolithic Near East influenced than Indo-European. And so that is where an origin of the goddess may have come from, there maybe influence from the snake goddess of the Minoans, but without further research I think this is difficult to evidence. As an aside the St Patrick alagory is an incorrect interpretation of what he meant, for one, pagans were in Ireland for centuries after St Patrick, and it was the 12th century Jocelyn of Furness who started writing about the connection between snakes and pagans, and even then it is only in the last hundred years or so people have been trying to create this St Patrick and Pagans/Snake connection.
I hope that helps.
In before the Record of Ragnarok spoilers, maybe.
Weyland’s tendons are cut, “crippling” him and forcing him to smith in his prison, and Hephaestus is the Greek god of smithing is lame. Is that a coincidence? Or is that part of a deeper connection between physical disability and crafting/smithing? Are there more or similar examples in the mythological record?
Yes, there are enough lame smiths out there to think that this was more than coincedence.
King Arthur
Man, you could probably crank the gain on your mic about double what you currently use. =(
I'm always looking to improve my audio, and so I'll see what I can do.
@@Crecganford It's all good, it's not your fault. There is a literal volume arms race in the ads, so nearly everything on youtube is loud. So I usually have my volume turned down to compensate.
Wasn’t Volund a mythical hammer?
Why did you change the title?
Because not many people are watching it, and so doing this may make the video appeal to more people.
Oi
Hero = hr/heru
🤧
HaHA! People's wing envy go way, way back!
That's a terrible story.