Was Norway's first unitarian preacher assassinated because he knew too much about mankind's (Norwegian) origins? Are trolls actually just other human races (from different parts of West Norway)? Are the movements of celestial bodies troubling and unpredictable? Was the church of St. Thomas on Filefjell built by the Norse god Týr? N. O. Foss certain…

In this rather cultic episode, we handle the Powerwalking Club's discovery of an obscure group of proto-Scandifuturists from the Niger Delta, which led to the establishment of a bona fide research institute to investigate it further. From its humble beginnings as a harmless student fraternity, to a dreaded international crime syndicate dabbling in …

In this episode Eirik takes a deep dive into the ritualized home invasions once part and parcel to the Scandinavian yuletide celebrations, and the trollish mafiosi associated with it. Starting out with ill-advised discussions about unfounded heathen-ish speculations about secretly ancient (but actually modern) elements of the season as an expressio…

In 2021 in Denmark, a metal detectorist chanced upon twenty-something Migration Era gold objects weighing almost a kilogram in total. Several of these were so-called bracteates, medallions bearing runic inscriptions and strange iconography. One of these stated "... he is Odin's man". That makes it the oldest, direct, by-name reference to the deity …

De uopplyste tror at runene vi finner på steiner rundt om i Skandinavia er etterlatenskaper fra våre germanske forfedre. Andre, først og fremst Kjell Aartun, vet at dette et komplott fra jantelåvens lange, skolastiske arm som søker å dekke over at alt egentlig semittisk erotikk som trosser tid og rom. Men vi har også den profilerte mikrobloggeren V…

Three days before the recording of this episode, archaeologists and runologists in Norway unveiled the sensation that is the Svingerud runestone, which is so far the oldest dateable runestone known to exist, and conceivably the oldest runic inscription to date. Onomastic mastermind and BN regular Krister Vasshus is one of the scholars working on it…

Richard Wagner was kind of an asshole. But how much does that really matter? Richard Wagner has been heralded both as the first truly modern composer, as a sappy romantic gazing gaudily into the past, more sinisterly as the musical soundtrack of genocide, and yet also as a catalyst of emancipation. All of the above is true. There is no ideology und…

Mattias Björkas of the musical group Vasas Flora och Fauna join the podcast for a conversation on Finland-Swedish identity, the appreciation and elevation of simple, everyday things, the distinct quirks that ties one to a place and a context, and the Scandinavian Concept Industrial Complex with a side of kilju.Relevant links:https://vasasfloraochfa…

Bog Buddies! A minimally edited, community-driven panel show by and for the Scandifuturist Power Walking Club, dwelling in the muddy margins of the Brute Norse cyber-meadhall. Today we return to air our joys and grievances about Robert Eggers' viking film, The Northman (more joys than grievances, truth be told), and unveil the horrific esoteric lay…

In this ghoulish episode we'll be looking at magic and sorcery in literary transmission while Eirik wrestles with his own personal demons. Focusing on the legend-steeped early modern grimoire tradition in Norway, we start our Faustian adventure with the question of runic magic and its developments towards the peak of runic literacy in the High Midd…

Stefan Lakatos joins Brute Norse to talk about the life and work of his friend and teacher, the blind avant-garde composer, poet, pamphleteer, and hobo philosopher Louis Thomas Hardin, aka. Moondog, "The Viking of 6th Avenue". Among other things, discussing the musicology of Moondog and his fascination with Norse Mythology.Features music composed b…

A fresh concept on the BN podcast: It's the Bog Buddies! Occasional informal, community driven discussions on topical matters. Today we discuss hopes and fears concerning Robert Eggers' upcoming Viking blockbuster: THE NORTHMAN. We pick apart the material culture as best we can based on the trailer, and muse wildly about the strengths and pitfalls …

In this episode we're putting the ass back in Christmas with a seasonably appropriate reading of two Old Norse tales taken from Flateyrjarbók: Þorleifs þáttr jarlaskálds, a sizzling holiday story about vengeance, sorcery, and fake beards. And Þorsteins þáttr skelks, an outhouse-themed ghost story featuring all the hottest gossip on the suffering of…

In this episode we explore the life and times of the pioneering Icelandic saga translator, historian, womanizer, drunkard, witch-defender, and murderer Thormod Torfæus (1636-1719). Following him from the miseries and nerdery of his native Iceland, to the jingoistic opulence of the Danish court, and finally to the shores of Norway. A voyage through …

Join Eirik on a virtual tour spanning years in the thousands, but all in one spot: Avaldsnes on the isle of Karmøy. Norway's birthplace, at least if the local tourist board has anything to say about it. An episode of nostalgia and archaeo-historical hypersaturation in an ancient center of power where myth, legend, and history intersect.Support Brut…

The present is inevitably haunted by the past. A cluttered past. Order and chaos spill over and onto each other. The past onto the present, and the present onto the past. Academically, this causes many potential problems: Will data saturation force us to reinvent the way we deal with the past? Will the fragility of modern tech create gaps in the kn…

... and the demise of the electric Aryo-Germanic hermaphrodite elites from Atlantis at the hands of wanton Mediterranean excess, and an erotic treatise on Austro-German inferiority complexes at the start of the 20th century, as illustrated by the völkisch movements and feverish Ariosophical nonsense. With a guest performance by Swedish enfant terri…

Few things about Norse paganism are as misunderstood or -represented as the practice of seiðr, and that's saying something. But if there is one single man that stands firm as mountain, jutting forth from the sea of quackery, that man is Eldar Heide. Linguist, Old Norse philologist, maritime conservationist, ski-tree-jumper. Pioneer of retrospective…

A hellish episode for a hellish year. Recorded in tribute to the folkloric forces that terrorized the Norwegian countryside in the sacred season. Respecting the return of the ancestral dead, the mischief of the Hidden Folk, and the hauntings of trolls, ghosts, and goblins who made the yuletide feast the cornucopia of blood-curdling coziness that al…

Beginning as an attempt at a conversation on the enduring memory of ancient tribes in the Norwegian county system, and the erasure of their memory in the face of modern centralization, onomastician Krister Vasshus and archaeologist Laurine Albris joins the podcast for a numinous discussion that soon evolves in the direction of pagan place names and…

In this absolute nonsense episode, a chat bot by the name of AI Dungeon is harnessed to generate a grim saga about a eunuch miner living in a dystopian interstellar civilization ruled by an evil supercomputer sacred king.For anything Brute Norse related:https://linktr.ee/brutenorseCreated via: https://play.aidungeon.io/…

What is religion? Originally, Viking Era Scandinavians had no concept of "religion" as we understand it, and yet it is their supposed religiosity that most profoundly shapes our understanding of who they were. What do we actually mean when we say this word, and which preconceptions are we imposing on the ancient mind by using it? Are there religiou…

When not one, but two 8th century mass graves emerged on the beaches of Salme in Saaremaa, Estonia, it marked a new chapter in scholarly inquiry into the Viking Era. Thoughtfully propped up in two military rowing vessels, sitting side by side, and stacked on top of each other, respectively, these 40 or so Scandinavian raiders received graves as sha…

When the soldiers of the 4th Mechanized Infantry Company of the Telemark Battalion rallied around Major Rune Wenneberg, their battle cry was a rite that solidified a sense of camaraderie between them, and helped them adjust to the reality of putting their bodies at the disposal of the international war machine. But as the words "To Valhalla!" rang …

Brute Norse goes to the movies in this spoiler saturated interlude to the series on Valhalla. What are the gods, and how do they see us? With its unsettling depiction of a simulated reality, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1973 sci-fi masterpiece «World on a Wire» (Welt am Draht) is an oft cited example of a film way ahead of its time. In this episode, …

In the midst of the crumbling and plague ridden Yankee Empire, Eirik plots to evacuate New Jorvik and relive the Migration Era by conquering the Mosel. But if he dies trying, where will he go? What is Valhalla anyway, and what do we know about Norse mythology's most iconic afterlife location? In this episode we brave Odin's storm, and wade through …

Myth speaks of an exclusive community of dead warriors, whose sacrifices in service for their divine monarch granted them access to live in a grand hall, where they would be served and entertained by young maidens, and continue their fight on a cosmic scale from the spectral realm in perpetuity. In this episode we explore the development, consequen…

In this slightly festive Yuletide episode, Eirik retells some of his favorite miracles associated with Iceland's first (and only) Christian holy man: The frail, picky eating, voluntary celibate, 12th century bishop Þorlákr Þórhallsson. Patron saint of Iceland - and autism! Thorlak was a renowned sage who hardly ever touched a drink unless it was al…

In this episode Eirik recounts his Japonic yuletide odyssey of 2018. He takes a comparative, Scandifuturist look at the prehistory of Japan through the Jōmon, Yayoi, and Kofun periods. It's the story of how hunter-gatherer master potters met their demise at the hands of militant, kami-fearing, rice-farming, mound building, Iron Age settlers from th…

Aksel returns to the podcast for banter-filled spitballing on ancient Scandinavia and new old news from European prehistory. Whatever happened to that frickin’ viking ship (?) from episode 14, and what's up with these Viking Era mortuary houses? Some of the subjects tackled: - The Crossroads exhibit at the Art & History Museum, Brussels. - Migratio…

What drives you? In this episode, Eirik sits down for a talk with Kevin from Leornende Eald Englisc, who makes educational youtube videos on Old English informed by his particular spiritual convictions. We talk about linguistics, the problem with translations, old Germanic languages, cosmic law, accepting the passage of history, devotinal service, …

The natural sciences talk avidly about the geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and so on. Less so about the noösphere. The noösphere is the sphere of mind. A term that allows us to conceive of consciousness and information exchange, not just as abstract philosophical notions, but as a massively tangible cosmic force with a concrete, observable influe…

In this episode Eirik takes an eldritch look at Norwegian identity, from the mythology and dreams of Iron Age expansionists to the national mythology of state bureaucracy. He attempts to negotiate between the representation, artifice and organism of Norwegianness itself, drawing on Thure Erik Lund's oddball idea of the "True" versus "Norwegian" Nor…

The saga continues with an exploration of the vocabulary, material culture, and social status of beer in Iron Age and Medieval Scandinavia. We look at different terms for beer in the Old Norse language and discern their differences, from Old Norse ǫl, mungát, and bjórr to modern ale and beer, with an intimate look at the "Nordic grog" of Scandinavi…

Join Eirik for an invigorating dip into the crooked creek that is the history of beer and brewing in Iron Age and Medieval Scandinavia, with some serious side-eye to the later Nordic farmhouse brewing tradition. In this episode we will cover what exactly beer is, and what separates the global industrial brewery from its historical household counter…

Join Eirik for a counter-cultural walk on the wild side as he looks at some of his favorite pieces of bogus and fringe literature on the subject of pre-Christian Scandinavia, from Kjell Aartun's runic sex cults to the seedy, folk-etymological mysteries of the so-called Bock Saga, before finally landing on the forgotten, acid drenched sci-fi works o…

In this episode Eirik shares what the holidays mean to him as a homesick barbarian/contrarian, and covers some of the many yuletide horrors past folks had to put up with. And concerning the paganism of Christmas: Norse religious festivals were determined according to a lunisolar calendar, so when exactly did the vikings celebrate jól, what exactly …

In this episode, Eirik and Aksel catch up after several months of disconnect and get up to speed with some of their favorite archaeological news of 2018. They speculate on the contents of prehistoric alcoholic beverages, muse on recent incidents on North Sentinel Island, analyze Danish gang wars in light of warlike honor-shame societies and Norse s…

Vineyards and wheat fields forever! In this episode Eirik takes a long, hard look at the belief in supernatural isles in Northern Europe. Our fantastic odyssey begins with the Norse discovery of America and its peculiar ties to scholarly hearsay in the Middle Ages, before we go on to address the rampant abundance of vanishing isles along the Scandi…

In the conclusion to our wetland venture, Aksel and Eirik take an up close and personal look at some of our favorite bog bodies. We go knee deep Roman and Migration Era weapon sacrifices, and dive into bog butter, bog milk, and bog cheese, exploring the wonders of ancient refrigeration and self-tanning (turning your face into shoe-leather).…

Eirik and Aksel begin their journey into the bogs of Northern Europe. They look at water symbolism in Norse mythology and burial rites, the emergence of water depositions in the Mesolithic though the Bronze Age, and mentally prepare for the gim reality of Iron Age human sacrifice.Par Eirik Storesund

In this episode we are joined by Wulfheodenas founding member, archaeologist/cage fighter Dieter Huggins. Beyond him spouting wisdom from his life on the forefront of living history, here are some of the things you'll find in this veritable smörgåsbord of an interview:- The current state of Dark Age living history.- Funerary pageantry among early S…

In the final segment of the Chronologies of Ancient Scandinavia, Eirik and Aksel tackle the slippery slope of commodification of viking heritage, its uses and abuses. Can our admiration for our thieving, hyperviolent ancestors be morally justified? Let's find out!Par Eirik Storesund

In this part, Aksel and Eirik get into the actual timeline of Scandinavian prehistory with an emphasis on the Bronze and Iron Ages, including the Viking Age. We talk about the materiality of these periods, the language, and regional variation, before we segway drunkenly into our own snobbery.Par Eirik Storesund

Aksel joins the podcast once again to help unravel the dense issue of Scandinavian chronology. We start off softly with a primer on the origin and development of the ages themselves, from the Greek concept of the Golden Age, to the timeline of modern archaeology, before we get into how the Norsemen developed their own system of ages based on surpri…

The giants called: They want their primeval chaos back! This episode features a cosmic horror reimagining of the Norse myth of creation, adapted from my essay "The Trollish Theory of Art: a scandifuturist art creation myth", published in the recent darkness-edition of Scandinavian Kunstforum. Afterwards, I give a quick overview of Norse poetic morb…

In this surprise Halloween special, we take a look at the strange and trippy story of the Oseberg ship, and of how a Brooklyn clairvoyant may have caused the discovery of the world's most extravagant Viking Age burial.Par Eirik Storesund

In this episode, archaeologist Aksel Klausen takes us deeper into the dark woods of Germania Libera. We take a look at Germanic, Hunnic, and Roman identity, and see how some kingdoms looked to the Romans - or the gods - to legitimize their power. On the way, we also find the time to consider Germanic animal ornament as an expression of surrealist a…

Prehistorian Aksel Klausen joins the Brute Norse Podcast to swill wine and chat about ring symbolism, weapon sacrifice, kingship, and the emergence of the ancient Germanic warrior elites. This is the first part of a two-part interview.Par Eirik Storesund

The Germanic tribes are often credited with the destruction of the Western Roman Empire. There are no Roman roads in Scandinavia, still the empire resonated in the cultural memory of the Vikings. From Teutoburger Wald to the Taliban, Brute Norse joins forces with Krister Vasshus, PhD student in onomastic sciences at the University of Bergen, to dis…