Speaker unverified: belief

Transcript context

…Going to Perplexity. Vikings followed the polytheistic, ritual-heavy religion centered on a pantheon of gods and spirits with no single holy book or unified church, and practices varied a lot by region and family. And so the major gods were Odin and Thor and Freya. Odin was—his domain was war, kingship, wisdom, death. Thor was protection, thunder, fertility. Freya was love, magic, battle dead. Typical worshipers for Odin were chieftains and elite warriors and poets. Typical worshipers for Thor were farmers and “ordinary people,” and typical worshipers of Freya were women, magic practitioners, and lovers. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I’ve heard it… I think you can break it down saying like, Odin was the elite. He’s kind of more aristocratic, right? He, he’s the god of poetry; you need to read, et cetera. Only the elite would know how to do that. A farmer wouldn’t really care about that. Wherein Thor is a more earthy god. You know, you want the waves to be less, you know, pray to Thor. I find Odin, I think, most disturbing. He’s the god of madness and the god of poetry, which, I guess those are related. But in battle, I mean, the Berserkers, probably the most famous type of Viking warriors, were considered to be Odin’s chosen warriors. They would show no pain, and they’d just run at the enemy and attack with their nails and their teeth. Even if they could have their arms hacked off, they would still keep going. Like they would just… And they would attack other Vikings. They were berserk. That’s where we get the word from. What do we understand the mindset leads to that? I mean, it wasn’t religious in nature. There’s not this kinda ideology. It’s just the way of life and then the prized honor and intensity in battle.…

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