Theodore Brun, this is the second of your four books and we’re now in 8th century Sweden after Denmark in A Mighty Dawn. How does this story follow on from the first?
Pretty directly. In its first draft, both novels formed part of the same enormous manuscript. (I think it was well over a thousand pages long!) Happily someone advised me to chop it in two, and this second volume developed and grew in different directions once I turned my attention to it. But in the course of writing what was at first pure fiction, I discovered in my research of the period several references to a particular battle, known by various names but I call it the Battle of Bråvellir which may (or may not) have taken place in the mid-8th century, organised (literally) by a king who went by the colourful name of Harald Wartooth. You couldn’t exactly call the plot historical, but it was a move on from A Mighty Dawn which was more mythic into the realm of legend, certainly. The setting is all mainly what is now Sweden, and the narrative drives towards the epic climax of this battle which, if the sources are to be believed, involved just about every named warrior/hero of the age from places as far-flung as Ireland. It’s kind of like the Norse equivalent of the Iliad. A tale and a time of gods and heroes.
Erlan Aurvandil is a Viking Outlander – how were they viewed by those in the know throughout Europe at the time?
Around the time at which A Sacred Storm is set (c. AD715) “Vikings” hadn’t broken out of Scandinavia in the way they were to by the end of that century. Yet many of the patterns and rhythms of “Viking” society were already in place, probably on a scale where the raiding and rivalry was between the petty kingdoms and jarldoms dotted around the Baltic Sea and up and down the Scandinavian peninsula. But interestingly, again from the fragments of sagas recording the stories of that time, the named men and women involved specifically in the Battle of Bråvellir hail from all over Northern Europe. There was obviously a certain degree of movement between all these different polities, some of which was characterised by trade, some by violence. But in general, folk liked to know where a man was from and what he was doing there. An outlander like Erlan – who is essentially a good man seeking a worthy lord to serve – would have been received with a healthy measure of suspicion (and rightly so). At least until he found his new place in the world. In large part, that is what this novel is about. Except that…. you know, the baddies screw it all up for him, and things get very messy.
What kind of man is Erlan?
Erlan is loner, a thinker, a morose man in a lot of ways because of wounds from the past. He was also crippled (can we say that?) – permanently injured – by his father when he was a child, which left him with a pronounced limp and impediment. The line is, since he couldn’t run, he had to learn to stand and fight. And he has learned to do that better than other men. Erlan has his inner demons, his passions, and his hidden joys which take some coaxing out of him, it has to be said. That is why his sidekick, Kai Askarsson – a young lad of fifteen or so and the comic foil to our rather poe-faced hero – is so key to the story. Together they weave together a pretty epic tale that incorporates all the seriousness and bloody violence of the age, while slightly poking fun at it at the same time. That said, I think their friendship forms the emotional spine of the story, and it certainly left an impact on me as I wrote it. I think it’s what has the biggest impact on most readers of A Sacred Storm as well.
Presumably, with a lack of sources, this is very much history wrapped up with legend?
Absolutely. As I mentioned, there were three different sources that refer to the Battle of Bråvellir – a fragmentary piece of saga called the Sögubrot, then the Saga of Hervör and Heidrek, and the Saga of Bósi and Herraud. There’s a lot of detail in these, and also a later source and larger work called the Gesta Danorum (the Deeds of the Danes) by a 12th century scholar-monk known as Saxo Grammaticus. Tough to call this history, and most scholars wouldn’t accept it as such. But I’ve always taken the view that there must be some basis in reality behind many of the deeds and protagonists of these surviving texts. There is a deliberate intention to linger in the realm of legend in this novel, because the third in the series, A Burning Sea, carries Erlan (and some of his mates) into the glaring light of actual history. (Inevitably perhaps down in Constantinople.)
Does this give you a huge amount of freedom with the story?
Yes. I’m afraid I took all the liberties I wanted or needed. I even (technically) changed the outcome of the battle. Although I explain the fudge in the historical note for any purists out there. That said, I did weave quite a number of the named individuals mentioned in the sagas that more or less cover the period and place into my fictional story. What I discovered though in the course of the research was that, in the universe of Norse story-telling, it’s pretty hard to make something up, however outlandish, gruesome, or emotionally charged, which hasn’t already been told in some obscure saga or other. I found that quite reassuring, that my own story-telling was in very much tune with the mindset of the age.
What role do the gods play in the book?
Gods – or indeed God – play a minimal role in this book. However, the Norse concept of seidr, essentially a kind of shamanism, does play quite a role. There’s some trippy bits, especially involving the more witchy characters, and even a hint of shape-shifting – but mostly that is congruent with what you can read about modern-day shamans and what they get up to. The historian Neil Price has explored this richly in his books, especially The Viking Way, which was a great source for this series.
In The Times your novels were described as the lovechild of Bernard Cornwell and George RR Martin, which sounds very intriguing. How would Erlan perform in a fight against Uhtred of Bebbanburg and (though not combined) Jaime Lannister?
Erlan would win every time. Usually by chucking away his sword, and biting bits off his opponents. Some of the fight scenes get quite graphic. It belies what a gentle soul I really am. (My wife couldn’t finish this one, to give you some idea!)
A Burning Sea and A Savage Moon are the next titles in the series as Erlan travels south. Will there be a fifth?
There will be because these four (and the fifth) together form a cycle of stories, rather of the nature of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, which was an original inspiration for these stories. Alas, I’m not contracted to write the fifth as yet. Perhaps if the series is given a new lease of life, the publisher might be interested to commission the fifth and final volume in Erlan’s story. I’ve always thought it would be great for TV (although inordinately expensive to produce, no doubt). Or even as a graphical novel. Who knows? One day I will write it though, whether on my own dime or someone else’s. I owe Erlan that much. He’s been a good lad to work with.
Theodore Brun is the author of The Wanderer Chronicles. A Sacred Storm is the second novel in the four-part series.
