Berserker

In the Old Norse written corpus, berserkers were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word berserk (meaning "furiously violent or out of control"). Berserkers are attested to in numerous Old Norse sources.

For other uses, see Berserker (disambiguation) and Berserk (disambiguation).
Woodcut image of one of the Vendel era Torslunda plates found on Öland, Sweden. It probably depicts the god of frenzy Óðinn followed by a Berserker.[1]

Etymology

The Old Norse form of the word was berserkr (plural berserkir). It likely means "bear-shirt" (compare the Middle English word serk, meaning shirt), "someone who wears a coat made out of a bear's skin".[2] Thirteenth-century historian Snorri Sturluson interpreted the meaning as "bare-shirt", that is to say that the warriors went into battle without armour,[3] but that view has largely been abandoned.[4][2]

Early beginnings

It is proposed by some authors that the northern warrior tradition originated in hunting magic.[5][6] Three main animal cults appeared: the bear, the wolf, and the wild boar.[5]

The bas relief carvings on Trajan's column in Rome depict scenes of Trajan's conquest of Dacia in 101–106 AD. The scenes show his Roman soldiers plus auxiliaries and allies from Rome's border regions, including tribal warriors from both sides of the Rhine. There are warriors depicted as barefoot, bare-chested, bearing weapons and helmets that are associated with the Germani. Scene 36 on the column shows some of these warriors standing together, with some wearing bearhoods and some wearing wolfhoods. Nowhere else in history are Germanic bear-warriors and wolf-warriors fighting together recorded until 872 AD with Thórbiörn Hornklofi's description of the battle of Hafrsfjord when they fought together for King Harald Fairhair of Norway.[7]

In the spring of 1870, four cast-bronze dies, the Torslunda plates, were found by Erik Gustaf Pettersson and Anders Petter Nilsson in a cairn on the lands of the farm No 5 Björnhovda in Torslunda parish, Öland, Sweden.[8][9] Two relevant images are depicted below, along with two associated woodcuts made two years later in 1872.

  • Torslunda helmet: Odin followed by a berserker[9]
  • Torslunda helmet: two warriors with boars upon their helmets[9]
  • Woodcut image from 1872[9]
  • Woodcut image from 1872[9]

Berserkers – bear warriors

It is proposed by some authors that the berserkers drew their power from the bear and were devoted to the bear cult, which was once widespread across the northern hemisphere.[6][10] The berserkers maintained their religious observances despite their fighting prowess, as the Svarfdæla saga tells of a challenge to single-combat that was postponed by a berserker until three days after Yule.[5] The bodies of dead berserkers were laid out in bearskins prior to their funeral rites.[11] The bear-warrior symbolism survives to this day in the form of the bearskin caps worn by the guards of the Danish monarchs.[5]

In battle, the berserkers were subject to fits of frenzy. They would howl like wild beasts, foamed at the mouth, and gnawed the iron rim of their shields. According to belief, during these fits they were immune to steel and fire, and made great havoc in the ranks of the enemy. When the fever abated they were weak and tame. Accounts can be found in the sagas.[12]

To "go berserk" was to "hamask", which translates as "change form", in this case, as with the sense "enter a state of wild fury". Some scholars have interpreted those who could transform as a berserker was typically as "hamrammr" or "shapestrong" – literally able to shapeshift into a bear's form.[13]:126 For example, the band of men who go with Skallagrim in Egil's Saga to see King Harald about his brother Thorolf's murder are described as "the hardest of men, with a touch of the uncanny about a number of them ... they [were] built and shaped more like trolls than human beings." This has sometimes been interpreted as the band of men being "hamrammr", though there is no major consensus.[14][15] Another example of "hamrammr" comes from the Saga of Hrólf Kraki. One tale within tells the story of Bödvar Bjarki, a berserker who is able to shapeshift into a bear and uses this ability to fight for king Hrólfr Kraki. "Men saw that a great bear went before King Hrolf's men, keeping always near the king. He slew more men with his fore paws than any five of the king's champions."[16]

Úlfhéðnar – wolf warriors

Wolf warriors appear among the legends of the Indo-Europeans, Turks, Mongols, and Native American cultures.[17] The Germanic wolf-warriors have left their trace through shields and standards that were captured by the Romans and displayed in the armilustrium in Rome.[18] [19]

The frenzy warriors wearing the skins of wolves were called Úlfhéðnar ("wolf coat"; singular Úlfheðinn), another term associated with berserkers, mentioned in the Vatnsdæla saga, the Haraldskvæði and the Völsunga saga. They were said to wear the pelt of a wolf when they entered battle.[19][20] Úlfhéðnar are sometimes described as Odin's special warriors: "[Odin's] men went without their mailcoats and were mad as hounds or wolves, bit their shields...they slew men, but neither fire nor iron had effect upon them. This is called 'going berserk'."[13]:132 In addition, the helm-plate press from Torslunda depicts a scene of Odin with a berserker with a wolf pelt and a spear as distinguishing features: “a wolf skinned warrior with the apparently one-eyed dancer in the bird-horned helm, which is generally interpreted as showing a scene indicative of a relationship between berserkgang ... and the god Odin”.[21][22]

Svinfylking – boar warriors

In Norse mythology, the wild boar was an animal sacred to the Vanir. The powerful god Freyr owned the boar Gullinbursti and the goddess Freyja owned Hildisvíni ("battle swine"), and these boars can be found depicted on Swedish and Anglo-Saxon ceremonial items. The boar-warriors fought at the lead of a battle formation known as Svinfylking ("the boar's head") that was wedge-shaped, and two of their champions formed the rani ("snout"). They have been described as the masters of disguise, and of escape with an intimate knowledge of the landscape.[6] Similar to the berserker and the ulfhednar, the svinfylking boar-warriors used the strength of their animal, the boar, as the foundation of their martial arts.[6][23]

Attestations
Battle of the Storm Hjørungavåg
Illustration for Olav Tryggvasons saga
Gerhard Munthe (1899)

Berserkers appear prominently in a multitude of other sagas and poems. Many earlier sagas portrayed berserkers as bodyguards, elite soldiers, and champions of kings.[24] This image would change as time passed and sagas would begin to describe berserkers as boasters rather than heroes, and as ravenous men who loot, plunder, and kill indiscriminately.[25][24] Within the sagas, Berserkers can be narrowed down to four different types. The King's Berserkr, the Hall-Challenging Berserkr, the Hólmgangumaðr, and the Viking Berserkr.[24] Later, by Christian interpreters, the berserker was viewed as a "heathen devil".[26]

The earliest surviving reference to the term "berserker" is in Haraldskvæði, a skaldic poem composed by Thórbiörn Hornklofi in the late 9th century in honor of King Harald Fairhair, as ulfheðnar ("men clad in wolf skins"). This translation from the Haraldskvæði saga describes Harald's berserkers:[27]

I'll ask of the berserks, you tasters of blood,
Those intrepid heroes, how are they treated,
Those who wade out into battle?
Wolf-skinned they are called. In battle
They bear bloody shields.
Red with blood are their spears when they come to fight.
They form a closed group.
The prince in his wisdom puts trust in such men
Who hack through enemy shields.

The "tasters of blood" in this passage are thought to be ravens, which feasted on the slain.[27]

The Icelandic historian and poet Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) wrote the following description of berserkers in his Ynglinga saga:

His (Odin's) men rushed forwards without armour, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit their shields, and were strong as bears or wild oxen, and killed people at a blow, but neither fire nor iron told upon them. This was called Berserkergang.[28]

King Harald Fairhair's use of berserkers as "shock troops" broadened his sphere of influence. Other Scandinavian kings used berserkers as part of their army of hirdmen and sometimes ranked them as equivalent to a royal bodyguard.[24] It may be that some of those warriors only adopted the organization or rituals of berserk Männerbünde, or used the name as a deterrent or claim of their ferocity.

Emphasis has been placed on the frenzied nature of the berserkers, hence the modern sense of the word "berserk". However, the sources describe several other characteristics that have been ignored or neglected by modern commentators. Snorri's assertion that "neither fire nor iron told upon them" is reiterated time after time. The sources frequently state that neither edged weapons nor fire affected the berserks, although they were not immune to clubs or other blunt instruments. For example:

These men asked Halfdan to attack Hardbeen and his champions man by man; and he not only promised to fight, but assured himself the victory with most confident words. When Hardbeen heard this, a demoniacal frenzy suddenly took him; he furiously bit and devoured the edges of his shield; he kept gulping down fiery coals; he snatched live embers in his mouth and let them pass down into his entrails; he rushed through the perils of crackling fires; and at last, when he had raved through every sort of madness, he turned his sword with raging hand against the hearts of six of his champions. It is doubtful whether this madness came from thirst for battle or natural ferocity. Then with the remaining band of his champions he attacked Halfdan, who crushed him with a hammer of wondrous size, so that he lost both victory and life; paying the penalty both to Halfdan, whom he had challenged, and to the kings whose offspring he had violently ravished...[29]

Similarly, Hrolf Kraki's champions refuse to retreat "from fire or iron". Another frequent motif refers to berserkers blunting their enemy's blades with spells or a glance from their evil eyes. This appears as early as Beowulf where it is a characteristic attributed to Grendel. Both the fire eating and the immunity to edged weapons are reminiscent of tricks popularly ascribed to fakirs.

A rook piece from the Lewis chessmen, depicted as a warrior biting his shield

In 1015, Jarl Eiríkr Hákonarson of Norway outlawed berserkers. Grágás, the medieval Icelandic law code, sentenced berserker warriors to outlawry. By the 12th century, organised berserker war-bands had disappeared.

The Lewis Chessmen, found on the Isle of Lewis (Outer Hebrides, Scotland) but thought to be of Norse manufacture, include berserkers depicted biting their shields.

Theories

Scholar Hilda Ellis-Davidson draws a parallel between berserkers and the mention by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII (AD 905–959) in his book De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae ("Book of Ceremonies of the Byzantine court") of a "Gothic Dance" performed by members of his Varangian Guard (Norse warriors in the service of the Byzantine Empire), who took part wearing animal skins and masks: she believes this may have been connected with berserker rites.[30]

The rage the berserker experienced was referred to as berserkergang (Berserk Fit/Frenzy or The Berserk movement). This condition has been described as follows:

This fury, which was called berserkergang, occurred not only in the heat of battle, but also during laborious work. Men who were thus seized performed things which otherwise seemed impossible for human power. This condition is said to have begun with shivering, chattering of the teeth, and chill in the body, and then the face swelled and changed its colour. With this was connected a great hot-headedness, which at last gave over into a great rage, under which they howled as wild animals, bit the edge of their shields, and cut down everything they met without discriminating between friend or foe. When this condition ceased, a great dulling of the mind and feebleness followed, which could last for one or several days.[31]

When Viking villages went to war in unison, the berserkers often wore special clothing, for instance furs of a wolf or bear, to indicate that this person was a berserker, and would not be able to tell friend from foe when in "bersærkergang". In this way, other allies would know to keep their distance.[32]

Some scholars propose that certain examples of berserker rage had been induced voluntarily by the consumption of drugs such as the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria[31][33][34] or massive amounts of alcohol.[35] However, this is much debated[36] and has been thrown into doubt by the discovery of seeds belonging to the plant henbane Hyoscyamus niger in a Viking grave that was unearthed near Fyrkat, Denmark in 1977.[37] An analysis of the symptoms caused by Hyoscyamus niger have proven to fit the symptoms ascribed to the berserker state much more closely than those caused by Amanita muscaria, which suggest it is more likely to have been what was used to generate their warlike mood.[38] Other explanations for the berserker's madness that have been put forward include self-induced hysteria, epilepsy, mental illness, or genetics.[39]

One theory of the berserkers suggests that the physical manifestations of the berserker alongside their rage was a form of self-induced hysteria. Initiated before battle through a ritualistic process, also known as effektnummer, which included actions such as shield-biting and animalistic howling.[40]

Jonathan Shay makes an explicit connection between the berserker rage of soldiers and the hyperarousal of posttraumatic stress disorder.[41] In Achilles in Vietnam, he writes:

If a soldier survives the berserk state, it imparts emotional deadness and vulnerability to explosive rage to his psychology and permanent hyperarousal to his physiology — hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder in combat veterans. My clinical experience with Vietnam combat veterans prompts me to place the berserk state at the heart of their most severe psychological and psychophysiological injuries.[42]

It has been suggested that the berserkers' behavior inspired the legend of the werewolf.[43]

In video games
  • The berserker is often used in many different forms of media as an archetype, such as in video games; with some notable examples being Path of Exile,[44] TERA,[45] and MapleStory 2.[46] Games such as these often feature the berserker in a class-based system, where the berserker is just one of many possible choices.
  • Characters featured in video games can also be attributed to sharing qualities related to berserkers. One of the most well-known examples being the infamous Kratos from the God of War franchise, who is often seen as ruthless and wrathful. Though Kratos begins to change somewhat and becomes wiser and more tolerant, he can still use his rage and anger to an innately powerful degree, not hesitating to destroy any or all opponents in his way if need be in order to achieve his goals. Interestingly enough, Kratos in Greek mythology actually represents the physical manifestation and personification of strength itself, a key characteristic of berserkers and Kratos himself.
  • Doomguy, the main character of the DOOM franchise, shows extreme hostility and anger towards any and all demons and manifestations from hell, often shown to tear demons apart limb from limb and showing zero hesitation in slaughtering the creatures of hell. In the game, a special power-up can be found, appropriately titled as the "Berserk Powerup", allows users to deal massively increased melee damage. In the rebooted series DOOM 2016, The berserk power-up forces Doomguy (then referred to as "The Slayer" from then on) to use melee only but also allows The Slayer to kill any enemy with one attack.
  • Gears of War features an enemy known as the Locust. Within the Locust caste are drones, with the females aptly named berserkers.[47] They have extremely tough skin allowing for a seemingly endless resistance to bullets, all while making use of their immense strength to indiscriminately kill anything in their path, both human and Locust alike.
  • In cases such as video games, berserkers may also be a form of ascension; an advanced form of continuation from one class to the next, such as fighters advancing into warriors, and warriors advancing into berserkers. Other games even feature berserkers as a form of specialization, but not limited to berserkers themselves. This may often require a certain level of mastery in a related class in order to use berserker-related abilities and talents. This is a notable mechanic in games that feature a skill treelike progression system.
  • Often berserkers are also called barbarians due to similar themes of strength, rage, and general aesthetic. Though some would disagree, and point out certain differences and distinctions between the two.

In televised media
  • In the anime, Bleach the main character, Ichigo harbors a sinister spirit, an inner hollow; being the personification of his aggression and bloodlust, it fights relentlessly and mercilessly, and mocks Ichigo for not doing the same. Whenever it takes over his body it grants him great power, fights far more brutally than Ichigo is willing to and obviously doesn't care about Ichigo's goals.
  • In Hellsing Ultimate, characters Alucard and Father Alexander Anderson both fall squarely into this definition, although the latter tends to be just a little bit worse sometimes. Despite being fairly calm around regular humans and especially children, Anderson transforms into a full-on berserker whenever he encounters vampires or any kind of monstrous heathen, as he likes to call them.

In written media
  • Other examples of berserkers can also be found in written media, with perhaps one of the most well-known examples being the eponymous Berserk franchise. The series follows the story of the protagonist, Guts, a mercenary born into a life of fighting and battle. The series was received with a large amount of praise and did well enough for a serialized anime adaptation.
  • In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings: In the Battle of Pelennor fields, King Theoden of Rohan gets the narrative description: "Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins" In The Hobbit, the character Beorn is described as a large, hairy man who can turn into a bear, and who fights goblins with unbridled rage.
  • With her grizzly bear morph, Rachel from Animorphs is a particularly apt example of this trope. She's been known to use her own severed arm as a weapon in the heat of battle.
  • In Rick Riordan’s book series, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, the character Halfborn is a berserker who has been in Valhalla for 1200 years, and is described as a very large Viking who tends to go into battle armorless and shirtless.
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See also

References
  1. Kershaw 1997, p. 13.
  2. Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989). "Icelandic Etymological Dictionary" (in Icelandic).
  3. Blaney, Benjamin (1972). The Berserker: His Origin and Development in Old Norse Literature. Ph.D. Diss. University of Colorado. p. 20.
  4. Simek 1995, p. 47.
  5. Prudence Jones & Nigel Pennick (1997). "Late Germanic Religion". A History of Pagan Europe. Routledge; Revised edition. pp. 154–56. ISBN 978-0415158046.
  6. A. Irving Hallowell (1925). "Bear Ceremonialism in the Northern Hemisphere". American Anthropologist. 28: 2. doi:10.1525/aa.1926.28.1.02a00020.
  7. Speidel 2004, pp. 3–7.
  8. MedievHistories (12 June 2014). "Odin from Levide". Medieval Histories. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  9. "Helmets and swords in Beowulf" by Knut Stjerna out of a Festschrift to Oscar Monteliusvägen published in 1903
  10. Nioradze, Georg. "Der Schamanismus bei den sibirischen Völkern", Strecker und Schröder, 1925.
  11. Danielli, M, "Initiation Ceremonial from Norse Literature", Folk-Lore, v56, 1945 pp. 229–45.
  12. An Icelandic-English Dictionary by Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson (1874) p. 61
  13. Davidson, Hilda R.E. (1978). Shape Changing in Old Norse Sagas. Cambridge: Brewer; Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield.
  14. Sturluson, Snorri (1976). Egil's Saga. Harmondsworth (Penguin). p. 66.
  15. Jakobsson, Ármann (2011). "Beast and man: Realism and the occult in Egils saga". Scandinavian Studies. 83 (1): 34. doi:10.1353/scd.2011.0013.
  16. Jones, Gwyn (1961). Eirik the Red, and other Icelandic sagas. London: Oxford University Press. p. 313. ISBN 978-0192505828. OCLC 184742664.
  17. Speidel 2004, p. 10.
  18. Speidel 2004, p. 15.
  19. Speidel 2002, p. 15.
  20. Simek 1995, p. 435.
  21. Grundy, Stephan (1998). Shapeshifting and Berserkgang. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. p. 18.
  22. Simek 1995, p. 48.
  23. Beck, H. 1965 Das Ebersignum im Germanischen. Ein Beitrag zur germanischen TierSymbolik. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
  24. Duncan, Dale, Roderick Thomas (2014-12-10). "Berserkir: a re-examination of the phenomenon in literature and life". eprints.nottingham.ac.uk.
  25. Kershaw 1997, p. 70.
  26. Blaney, Benjamin (1972). The Berserkr: His Origin and Development in Old Norse Literature. Ph.D. Diss. University of Colorado. p. iii.
  27. Page, R. I. (1995). Chronicles of the Vikings. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press. p. 109. ISBN 9780802071651.
  28. Laing, Samuel (1889). The Heimskringla or the Sagas of the Norse Kings. London: John. C. Nimo. p. 276
  29. Elton, Oliver (1905) The Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus. New York: Norroena Society. See Medieval and Classical Literature Library Release #28a for full text.
  30. Ellis-Davidson, Hilda R. (1967) Pagan Scandinavia, p. 100. Frederick A. Praeger Publishers ASIN B0000CNQ6I
  31. Fabing, Howard D. (1956). "On Going Berserk: A Neurochemical Inquiry". Scientific Monthly. 83 (5): 232–37. Bibcode:1956SciMo..83..232F. JSTOR 21684.
  32. Vikingernes Verden. Else Roesdahl. Gyldendal 2001
  33. Hoffer, A. (1967). The Hallucinogens. Academic Press. pp. 443–54. ISBN 978-1483256214.
  34. Howard, Fabing (Nov 1956). "On Going Berserk: A Neurochemical Inquiry". Scientific Monthly. 113 (5): 232. Bibcode:1956SciMo..83..232F.
  35. Wernick, Robert (1979) The Vikings. Alexandria VA: Time-Life Books. p. 285
  36. Fatur, Karsten (2019-11-15). "Sagas of the Solanaceae: Speculative ethnobotanical perspectives on the Norse berserkers". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 244: 112151. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2019.112151. PMID 31404578.
  37. S., Price, Neil (2002). The Viking way : religion and war in late Iron Age Scandinavia. Uppsala universitet. Uppsala: Dept. of Archaeology and Ancient History. ISBN 978-9150616262. OCLC 52987118.
  38. Fatur, Karsten (2019-11-15). "Sagas of the Solanaceae: Speculative ethnobotanical perspectives on the Norse berserkers". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 244: 112151. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2019.112151. ISSN 0378-8741. PMID 31404578.
  39. Foote, Peter G. and Wilson, David M. (1970) The Viking Achievement. London: Sidgewick & Jackson. p. 285.
  40. Liberman, Anatoly (2005-01-01). "Berserks in History and Legend". Russian History. 32 (1): 401–411. doi:10.1163/187633105x00213. ISSN 0094-288X.
  41. Shay, J. (2000). "Killing rage: physis or nomos—or both" pp. 31–56 in War and Violence in Ancient Greece. Duckworth and the Classical Press of Wales. ISBN 0715630466
  42. Shay, Jonathan (1994). Achilles in Vietnam. New York: Scribner. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-689-12182-1.
  43. "Berserker". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  44. "Path of Exile". Path of Exile. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
  45. "TERA". TERA. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
  46. "Classes and Jobs | Official MapleStory 2 Website". MapleStory 2 - Official Website. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
  47. "berserker". Gears Of War. Retrieved 2020-02-04.

Bibliography
  • Kershaw, Priscilla K. (1997). The One-eyed God : Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Männerbünde. Monograph Series. 36. Journal of Indo-European Studies. ISBN 978-0941694742.
  • Speidel, Michael P. (2002). "Berserks: A History of Indo-European Mad Warriors". Journal of World History. 13 (2): 253–290. ISSN 1045-6007. JSTOR 20078974.
  • Speidel, Michael P (2004), Ancient Germanic Warriors: Warrior Styles from Trajan's Column to Icelandic Sagas, London: Routledge, ISBN 978-0415486828
  • Simek, Rudolf (1995), Lexikon der germanischen Mythologie, Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner, ISBN 978-3-520-36802-7
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