Announcer

Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from howstuffworks.com.

Candace Gibson

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I’m editor, Candace Gibson, joined by staff writer Jane McGrath.

Jane McGrath

Hey, Candace.

Candace Gibson

I think that Vikings are some of the coolest people in all of history.

Jane McGrath

They really are. They’re like pirates times ten. They’re so awesome.

Candace Gibson

And I think one of the best things about Vikings is their religion. They were pagan, so they had a pantheon of gods. And so their foes in the universe were evil giants, dwarves, and dark elves. And it’s like a storybook come to life. I think it’s so fascinating.

Jane McGrath

Their religion is very fascinating. I guess everybody’s heard of Thor.

Candace Gibson

God of thunder.

Jane McGrath

Yeah, the god of thunder with the hammer. He was actually very strong, but was also known as being kind of stupid. But what I found interesting is that he wasn’t their ultimate god. They had a different ultimate god. Zeus, so to speak, was named Odin and he was the main god. And they had this whole drawn-out mythology about the giants and this battle that happened – I think it’s called Ragnarok. They had this whole idea that this battle would happen between their gods and the enemy giants, and that the world would be consumed in this fire. And there would be enough members of both races to just barely survive a new world after that. And they had this all mapped out for the future.

Candace Gibson

Yeah, and it was strange in the context that it was a very self-defeatist religion because they thought evil would triumph over good. So Vikings and warriors would continue to fight alongside Odin, even in their afterlives. But evil would ultimately overcome the good and the universe would be plunged into darkness and chaos.

Jane McGrath

Who wants to make up a story like that?

Candace Gibson

Well, it got me thinking, Jane. Because we know that Vikings have this reputation of being pillagers and raiders. And I thought, "Maybe they were living for the here and now. Steal from all the good people and enjoy the money and resources while you have them."

Jane McGrath

That’s true. That’s an interesting insight.

Candace Gibson

But we may be getting a little bit ahead of ourselves, so let’s start back at square one. Viking itself is a term that the origins of which are pretty nebulous. It’s sort of lost in the annals of history. And Viking history itself is also pretty nebulous because most of the written records about Vikings come from Christians because they were literate at the time. And when Vikings came, monasteries and churches were hot spots for them to raid because there were so many riches contained within. So of course, the monks and other religious authorities there wouldn’t have written very complimentary things about the Vikings. So that’s why they have such a predominantly negative reputation.

On the other hand, the Viking side of the story has been handed down through epic poems and sagas. It’s all oral history. And you know very well that oral history changes as it goes through the years. So we don’t know a lot about them.