All Comments on 'A Viking, a Valkyrie, and a LW'

Thank you for the imaginative and skilled writing.

The depiction of what happens to the Loving Wife is historically accurate. There are, of course, exceptions, but potential husbands would always wonder if she would wander again, and wives in the village would want no part of her since she could steal their husbands.

Two parts of this story concerning Valkyries are not well documented in Viking lore. It is true that they fly and carry the brave dead from the battlefields to Valhalla. So I assume they have some magical powers to raise the dead and heal the wounds that killed the warrior on the battlefield - before they enter Valhalla. Otherwise, Valhalla would be rather gruesome. The other thing is that the warriors in Valhalla seem to have some type of immortality as they train and party waiting for Ragnarök. This implies to me that the Valkyries also have some type of extended life (or immortality) until Ragnarök since they assist in the training and serving of the warriors. Thus, thousand year wait becomes plausible.

I like the references to the animated movie at the end.

Inscrutable are the ways of the celestials! Anna retrieves Gudmund after a thousand years so that he may join All-Father at Ragnarok, yet she won't give the hapless grad student a flash of boob so he can put the final details to the tale that will become his thesis. Capricious? Maybe she knows already that the grad student will not die with sword in hand and therefore is only to be ignored. The warrior deserves a demi-goddess. The scholar must seek elsewhere. 5 stars.

THANK YOU for a fun tale! I appreciate that you didn't make Gundmund have a foot long cock with the head the size of a fist. The Valkyrie liked him just fine.

Despite being trained as an agricultural economist - Western Australia and Reading - I went back to UWA a few years ago to study the subjects which interested me rather than those you need for a qualification. The first I chose was Viking Archaeology. Ended up taking another two ‘units’ in this area plus a history unit as well. Fascinating area of study. Realized the Vikings are not just ‘warriors’ but also great explorers, astronomers, navigators, successful farmers, merchants and traders, wonderful story tellers and sophisticated artists!!!

Cheers

Alan

Perth

Western Australia

Thank you for sharing an awesome tale!

Excellent comments - thanks to all of you. I do like the idea that Anna might use seduction in the future, perhaps directed by Odin to retrieve another brave Viking warrior. The story bunnies are stirring, and Alan of Perth, I like the idea of adding some more of the cultural and scientific and trading background. Ireland comes to mind. Hmmmm.

Hi, Jorunn, lovely and well-written period story with an excellent way of tying it to the Halloween theme near the end. Having the narrator as a third party to the action and the LW was a great choice in this case, allowing the reader a broader view and better understanding of events. Got a kick out of the reference at the end, too. Great work and best wishes in the contest.

Thanks SouthernCrossfire. Your comments and posts on the bulletin board/forum are always well thought out and worth reading! Anna the Valkyrie will be flying to Ireland next. I have the prequel pretty much written and it should go out in a few weeks.

Another nice story - as an Irish guy who likes to study the Celts these Viking stories sit nicely alongside - I look forward to reading the rest of your stories

Magnificent account of Halloween through the ages. Brilliant. Five stars without a doubt.

"It is one of many things Valkyries do to prepare warriors for Ragnarök.", deserves to be printed on T-shirts and sold in gift shops; also, taught in schools to students over 18.

We all fervently hope that this tale will be like a pearl in a long necklace!

5! Tutto perfetto tranne i nomi.

Anna? Elsa? Sven? Mancano solo Olaf e Kristoff, e avremo il cast completo di “Frozen”

Dove sono i bei nomi della tradizione, Knut, Snorre, Erik, Leif? Sigfrid and Brunhilde?

Io avrei apprezzato nomi meno colloquiali, come in tv tropes Aerith and Bob.

Scherzo. Bella narrazione.

5! Everything perfect, except the names.

Anna? Elsa? Sven? All that's missing is Olaf and Kristoff, and we'll have the full cast of "Frozen"

Where are the nice traditional names, Knut, Snorre, Erik, Leif? Sigfrid and Brunhilde?... Gudmund.

I would have appreciated less colloquial names, like in TV tropes Aerith and Bob.

Just kidding. Nice narration.

Thank you, Norway_1705. You comments are as fun to read as your stories!

There were some incredibly funny lines in this story:

"Nice breastplate by the way! Are your boobs really pointed like that?” was just one of them.

I love your sense of humor!!!

Thanks!!

A great story! Plus I learned something. I would have thought with the numerous Viking raids and resulting combat, that finding Viking burials along the coastal areas would be, if not numerous, at least not uncommon.

5*.

Unfortunately we can't hive bonus points for clever things like; "Elsa's Fate to be Frozen" Have to love a good Disney reference.

Thank you @hindsight2020 and @cyendrey. It was a fun story to write, and I am playing with ideas for a sequel. Maybe a prequel of 'how Anna became a Valkyrie' or finding another Viking grave with some interesting ideas. Viking graves are still showing up near the Viking cities in Ireland (where Vikings lived for almost 200 years). Plus northern England too, around York. What was their story. It awaits to be told.

The story itself was amusing and well written and a good BTB given the ending. My only problem was that I had zero empathy for the supposed "protagonist" - as a viking raider, he was basically a murderer, rapist and robber, so being cheated on wasn't exactly an undeserved fate. I mean everyone's ancestors probably were one of those, but it doesn't make that specific individual like that any less of an asshole not deserving of any empathy whatsoever. HE obviously saw nothing wrong with raping other men's wives.

inka2222 - I haven't checked comments for a while. And yours is interesting. In this story, there is only a mention of Gudmund having silver from a raid. Any assumption of his other actions would be up to the reader, but your ideas are certainly plausible. In this story, Gudmund in betrayed by his wife, takes revenge, and goes on the late season raid because he could not remain in Norway. He likely realizes that he can never return, hence his decision to be something like a Berserker and help the rest of his party escape. The part of history I enjoy the most with Vikings is the era when the Irish/English united and drove the Vikings out - not unlike my story. Why? Because this led to the dawn of a (slightly?) more civilized Europe and a flourishing of the arts. And in defense of Gudmund, since the English/Irish were able to mount an effective defense in my story, it is possible that the only thing Gudmund got from prior raids was a small purse of silver coins.