BERSERKER WEEK Part 4

This is going to be a short one, because I really don't know very much about this next berserker, but there's a fucking awesome video at the end.

If you were to take Cú Chulainn's riastradh, mix in heavy amounts of Conan and Celtic mythology, and put it in comic book form, you'd get 2000 AD's fantasy comic, Sláine.  Though Sláine Mac Roth is very popular in his native Great Britain, he's relatively unknown in the US, which is why I really don't know much about the character, but, goddamn, I wish I did.

This grizzled warrior, who sometimes looks like he's affecting some punk influence, depending on the artist, has gone from savage berserker to outcast, High King of Ireland, demon slayer, incarnation of the Horned God, and, yes, time traveller.  Always at his side is his powerful battle axe, "Brainbiter," but he's also used other legendary weapons, such as Cú Chulainn's Gáe Bolg.

I don't really have much else to say about this comic, other than if anyone knows where I can get the graphic novel collections, let me know.

Before I go, here's this fan created trailer for a Sláine film that doesn't exist, but it should.  Fellow CROM! readers, take notice.  This thing kicks all kinds of ass.

BERSERKER WEEK Part 3

We have seen tales of bloodthirsty berserkers laying waste to hordes of men, but we have yet to speak of what may be the greatest berserker hero of legend.  His story is one of the most epic and tragic in all of Ireland.  In battle, he was fierce.  Women all over Ireland wanted to be with him.  He was a man of honor as well as unbridled fury.  Today, the Shrine of the Battlemasters honors the great hero of Ireland, Cú Chulainn.

His name (pronounced koo-hulin) meant "Hound of Culain," after killing the vicious guard dog of Culain the blacksmith when his uncle, Conchobar, king of Ulster, invited the boy over to the blacksmith's house, but forgot to mention it to Culain.  To make up for the death of Culain's dog, the boy promised to guard his house until he can raise another dog for Culain.  Before he adopted his famous name, he was born Sétanta, son of King Conchobar's sister, Deichtine, and Lugh, god of the sun.  It is this divine lineage that made Cú Chulainn the powerful hero he was.

Of his many epic tales, he becomes champion of Ulster by offering his head on the chopping block after cutting off the head of a giant beast of a man (this story would evolve into the Arthurian legend of Gawain and the Green Knight), and made famous the Cattle Raid of Cooley, where he, single-handed, fought both the army of Connacht and Morrigan, the goddess of battle.  It was only through a treacherous exploitation of a gaesa (Cú Chulainn could not eat dog meat, or he would be severely weakened) that he was killed.  In his final battle, though he was near death, he tied himself to a standing stone so that he would not fall.  It wasn't until a raven landed on his shoulder that the enemy realized that he died, for no one would approach him while he still lived.

The reason why Cú Chulainn was so feared in battle was because of his ability to enter riastradh or "warp spasm."  This riastradh was practically identical to the berserkergang of Norse legend.  Cú Chulainn's body was known to contort in inhuman ways, his muscles bulged horrifically, and he would wield death with such ease that no warrior could stand against him and live.  Even when he did not succumb to the riastradh, Cú Chulainn was a swift and capable warrior, wielding the barbed spear Gáe Bolg, otherwise known as the "spear of mortal pain."

He was also a very voracious lover, much to the delight of many women.  Even though he found a bride in Emer, daughter of a powerful druid, he took to bed many lovers in his short lifetime.  The only lover that Emer was jealous of was Fand, a sea goddess.  Her husband, sea god Manannán mac Lir, intervenes when this love threatens to destroy not only Cú Chulainn's marriage, but the world of the fae, as well.  He makes it so that Fand and Cú Chulainn will never see each other again and that Cú Chulainn and Emer remember nothing of the affair.

With his savagery on the battlefield, his prowess with the ladies, and his epic heroism, there is no reason why Cú Chulainn should not be enshrined with the rest of the great battlemasters of yore.  The Hound of Culain remains a mighty figure and his legend shall ensure his immortality as a great warrior.

BERSERKER WEEK Part 2

In the previous post, there was one attribute I, intentionally, neglected to mention about the berserkir.  Legends tell of some berserkers having the ability to shapeshift into the animal they were invoking.  Accounts have claimed that berserkers have appeared as massive bears, drenching their fur in the blood of their enemies.  The Ulfhednar were said to be able to transform into wolf-like creatures, as is indicative of their name.  This animal form has become known as hamingja - the soul of the berserker.

This, along with hearing Metallica's "Of Wolf and Man" recently reminded me of another being that succumbs to an inhuman rage with gory results...

Werewolves

Legends of men transforming into mountains of fur, fangs, and fury are all over the world, and none are more famous than the legend of lycanthropy: the werewolf.  Numerous movies, games, songs, and comic books (including a certain mutant who shall not be mentioned any further - I told you guys, already, he's overrated) feature the "Wolf Man" in some shape or form.   But where does the werewolf come from.

Well, we already looked at one of the sources, Norse legend, but the Ancient Greeks also mentioned werewolves in their mythology.  In fact, the word "lycanthrope" is Greek in origin and loosely translates to "wolf man," which is the same translation for the Old English term werwulf, by way of Old Norse and other Germanic languages.

"No, I'm not here for the Furry Convention.  Now, go away before

I bite your fucking head off."

While the legends of werewolves may have originated from epic tales of mighty warriors and foolhardy people cursed by their gods, the popularity of werewolves arose when they were whispered as bloodthirsty servants of Satan.  Tales of people being ruthlessly murdered in the woods, their entrails strewn about the forest floor, proliferated certain European countries.  Other continents have been known to share stories of shapechangers, such as many of the North American tribes, who may have borrowed them from Vikings that came across the sea centuries ago.

If medieval Europe turned the werewolf into a feared, abhorred monster, then the modern world turned it into a staple of horror storytelling.  I can't even think of the shitloads of books and movies portraying the change from man to savage beast.  Some are pretty good.  Then there's the Twilight Saga, which sucks ass... zombie donkey ass.

Of all the modern sources of werewolf mythology, probably the most influential is, actually, a role-playing game.  Werewolf: The Apocalypse brought the monsters into a new light - that is, to say, they brought back the old image of the werewolf as a fierce, sometimes noble warrior to the ignorant masses.  Not only did the game change how people saw shapeshifters, but also incorporated legends and myths from numerous cultures, including those I've already mentioned.  Some people say the game is a more violent, furry version of Captain Planet.  Fuck those people.  Sure, the werewolves are trying to save Gaia from the corruption of man and there is some spirituality and mysticism involved, but what epic does not have these things?  It can be said that most recent fiction about werewolves was influenced by the game, that means they're ripping off their ideas.

If you're wondering, "How exactly are werewolves berserkers?"  Have you ever pissed off a werewolf?  If you're alive, then the answer's "no."  Werewolves are the fantasy/horror embodiment of the berserker rage.  During the day, they are mild mannered men and women, sometimes timid, sometimes not.  But, when the full moon emerges, they unleash their bestial carnage upon the world.  They are uncontrollable killers.  That, in my book, is the definition of berserker.