My Guest Today... Erin Riley on Viking Berserkers!

Welcome with me my guest today, Erin Riley, author of Viking historical romances with a heavy dash of adventure and suspense. Her trilogy, Sons of Odin follows Selia, a young Irish woman, as she is forced to marry a Viking warlord and is drawn into a perilous world of obsession, betrayal, and madness. As dark secrets come to light, Selia must make a heartrending choice that might well destroy everything she holds dear.

Erin has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a graduate degree in clinical counseling so she comes to the issues of mental illness with knowledge and experience. Today she tells us what is behind her view of the Viking berserkers.

Be sure and comment as Erin is giving away a copy of the first book in her series, Odin’s Shadow.

The Viking Berserker by Erin Riley

The name Odin has roots in the old Norse words for “rage” and “possession.” The berserkers are well known figures in Norse sagas, the shock troops of old who fought like madmen to the death. Oblivious to cold and pain, these men had legendary strength and could rip an opponent apart with bare hands if need be. It was said they could shape shift into the form of a wolf or a bear, giving rise to notion of a werewolf.

Ancient tafl pieces, a game similar to chess, include a berserker biting his shield. To this day, the term “going berserk” brings an image immediately to mind of a bloodthirsty lunatic.

But what of these men when they weren’t fighting? How were they as sons, as husbands, and as fathers?

Some believe the Berserkers worked themselves into a self-induced hysteria before fighting, others believe they used sorcery, drugs or alcohol, while others believe it was mental illness that accounted for their behavior. Botanists have claimed that berserker behavior could have been caused by the ingestion of the plant known as bog myrtle, one of the main spices in Scandinavian alcoholic beverages.

But as new writers, we are told write what you know. This is the most common advice and with good reason: nothing pulls a reader out of the story faster than an obvious error in the plot. No one writes a realistic legal thriller like an attorney, or a medical mystery like an MD. The ability to draw upon one’s educational background and experience gives a story depth and believability as little else can.

 

I set my Viking trilogy, The Sons of Odin, in 9^th century Norway, Ireland, and Wales because I’ve always had a fascination with that time period, and with the Vikings in particular.  Something about the perilous unpredictability of that world draws me in as nothing else does. But I made one of my main characters, Alrik Ragnarson, mentally ill because that is what I know.

My educational background is in psychology. I worked as a counselor for many years, both inpatient and outpatient, with children and adults. I’ve seen firsthand the devastation caused by mental illness, both for the individual and the families involved. For the family, there is the emotional shock of the “first break” as a young person enters the hospital in an acute psychiatric state. Later comes the exhaustion and defeat as they bring their loved one in again. And again.  Medication and therapy help, of course, but rarely is it a quick or easy solution. There is a sense of walking on eggshells as loved ones wait for the next freefall, feeling helpless to stop it.

Throughout the Sons of Odin series, I’ve woven this family heartbreak into the story. Selia loves Alrik, despite his volatility; because there are indeed good times entangled in with the bad. But like a crooked thread in a line of weaving, Alrik’s mental illness ruins the piece time and again.  I’ve purposely made Selia a talented weaver. Priding herself on her perfect fabric, she combs her fingers over her weaving looking for flaws, ready to start over to fix the imperfect threads. To make it right. Selia is determined to help the man she loves overcome the darkness of his mind.

Egils Saga, written in the 13th century, most likely by Snorri Sturluson, tells of Egil Skallagrimson as he’s interacting with his father, Skallagrim, a berserker. Skallagrim flies into a rage and kills young Egil’s friend, his nursemaid, and nearly kills Egil himself. Elsewhere in the saga it tells of a beserker named Ljot, hated and feared by all, who demanded a woman’s hand in marriage. Her father refused, causing Ljot to challenge the woman’s brother to a fight to the death to win her hand. In 1015 these types of duels were outlawed, due to the berserker’s unfair advantage over lesser men.

It’s clear from the sagas that the berserker rages that led them to victory in battle would not be a desired quality for a happy home life. But in an age bereft of treatment for mental illness, was there any possibility for a different outcome? Could a berserker learn to control himself?  I touch on that topic in book 3 of the Sons of Odin series, as Alrik’s young son struggles with his own volatile nature. Help is found where Selia least expects it, giving her hope that Alrik’s legacy of madness, “the curse of Ragnarr,” might indeed be a curse that can be broken.

Odin's Shadow, book one of the Sons of Odin Series

Obsession. Treachery. Revenge. Redemption. Certain themes resonate across the centuries.

In ninth-century Ireland, Selia is a girl on the verge of womanhood, frustrated by the confines of her gender and resentful of the freedom her brother boasts of. Intelligent and resourceful in a time when neither is valued in a female, she longs for an escape from her sheltered existence. Fascinated by the tales of Viking raids told by her maidservant, Selia’s hunger for independence is fed through the stories of heathen ferocity she hears at the woman’s knee.

A decision to sneak to the city’s harbor to view the Viking longships leads to an encounter with Alrik Ragnarson, a charismatic Viking warlord whose outward beauty masks a dark and tortured mind. With the knowledge that her father is about to announce her betrothal to a man she doesn’t love, Selia marries Alrik and within a day is on the longship bound for Norway and a new life.

While Selia’s relationship with her new husband grows, her friendship with his brother Ulfrik grows as well. And as Alrik’s character flaws come to light and tension mounts between the two brothers, Selia begins to have misgivings about her hasty marriage . . . especially when a secret from the past is revealed, one that threatens to destroy them all.

Buy the book on Amazon. And keep up with Erin via her Website, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon author page.