In this episode, Shawn covers the ring-bearers of the cursed ring of fate, Andvaranaut. From dwarfs to gods to dragons to princesses to kings, this ring, influenced by the true power in the Norse world, the Norns, guides the fates of those who wield it. And it never turns out well for those who do.

The ring is what Tolkien drew inspiration from when crafting the one true ring from his works in "The Hobbit", and "The Lord of the Rings". Though it does not make its wearer invisible, it does instill a lust to own it, spawning greed and kinslaying for those who are influenced by it.

Shawn also has fun at the end when he discusses whether or not the ring (And Fafnir's treasure), have been found, and who its current wielder may be. What do the Norns have in store for it?

Sources Used:

• The Poetic Edda (Hackett Publishing) - translations by Jackson Crawford
• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics) - translations by Jesse Byock
• The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok (Hackett Classics)
• "The Fellowship of the Ring" - JRR Tolkien

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In this episode, Shawn discusses the mythic origins of the Merovingians, in one part using their very loose parallels to the Volsungs (Sigeberht/Sigurd and Brunhilda/Brynhild), in an effort to link them to Odin. Whether the Merovingians or Volsungs, their habits of killing their in-laws would make for a hilarious 90s sitcom

Shawn also discusses another figure with Merovingian Blood, that descends from the All-Father, namely Eadbald of Kent, so adding the early kingdoms of Frankia totally holds true to this series on Odin's descendants ;).

In an effort to remain relevant, Shawn dives in to a more recent story in pop-culture when he discusses the book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", which highlights very fuzzy evidence that the Merovingians are descended from a certain man born in Bethlehem, because one god in the family isn't enough for them apparently.

Sources Used:

• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics)
• The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok (Hackett Classics)
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Pantianos Classics)
• The Ecclesiastical History of the English People - Bede (Oxford University Press)
• The History of the Franks - Gregory or Tours (Project Gutenberg)
• Holy Blood, Holy Grail - Henry Lincoln, Michael Baigent, and Richard Leigh

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Before Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons set out to conquer the Viking world, there was Ivar the Wide Fathom, Ragnar's great-great-grandfather who decided that one kingdom simply was not enough. In this episode, Shawn explores how Ivar toppled (well, sort of) two of the most powerful dynasties in Norse legend, the Ynglings of Sweden and the Skjoldungs of Denmark, drawing from the Ynglinga Saga, Saga of Hervor and Heidrik, Hversu Noregr Byggdist, and Sögubrot af fornkonungum. Through these overlapping and often contradictory sources, Shawn traces how Ivar’s ambition laid the foundations for the royal lines that would lead to Ragnar Lodbrok and the historical kingdoms of Scandinavia.

Between family feuds, long-lived foster fathers, and the occasional dragon dream, Ivar’s story walks the line between myth and history. Compared to the Midgard Serpent itself, his ambition grew so vast it may have swallowed its own tail, and Shawn reflects on how, like Ivar, we often chase our goals until we forget why we started in the first place.

Sources Used:

• Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings (Dover Publications)- Translated with the assistance of A.H. Smith
• The Poetic Edda (Hackett Publishing) - Translations by Jackson Crawford
• Hversu Noregr Byggdist (How Norway Was Settled) - Translated by George Hardman
• Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum

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In this episode, Shawn looks at yet another son of Odin, who supposedly served as the ancestor of the legendary kings of Norway. This time it’s Saeming, born from Odin’s affair with the goddess Skadi. Since the sources don’t give us much on Saeming himself, we detour (as usual) into chaos: Thjazi the giant steals the apples of youth, the gods start to age and get pissed off, Thjazi dies, and his daughter Skadi demands compensation, somehow ending up in the horrible marriage with the Vanir sea god, Njord, a marriage supposedly meant as an apology for her father's death.

From there we move into the Aesir and Vanir war, its shaky aftermath, and a treaty that, for obvious reasons to everyone except me, required everyone to spit into a vat to mark the truce and exchange of hostages. That didn’t go very well, leading to a hostage uncle getting his head cut off, another hostage born from the spit to be brutally killed by dwarves, resulting in a potential rivalry between Odin and Njord, which results in Odin sleeping with Njord's wife and Saeming being born. We then discuss Saeming and trace his supposed descendants through the Earls of Lade, where one conveniently marries Harald Fairhair, linking Odin’s family tree directly to Norway’s first historical king through another family line.

Sources Used:

• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics) - translations by Jesse Byock
• Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings (Dover Publications)
• The Poetic Edda (Hackett Publishing) - Translations by Jackson Crawford
• Haleygjatal - Russell Poole 2012

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The Legacy of the All-Father (Part 4): The House of Skjoldung

In this episode, Shawn heads back to Denmark to discuss the legendary Kings of Denmark all the way back to its supposed founding, with the House of Skjoldung. Since the completed Skjoldung Saga isn't available, we need to look at 7 different sources to track its family line, with roughly half of them showing Skjold, the family's namesake, as being the son of Odin.

We focus a bit on the last king of the Skjoldungs, Hrolf Kraki, his supposed timeline on this world, and use expert level math to show when the Norse gods themselves walked among us on Midgard. We also discuss Beowulf and how he and Bodvar (the son of an actual bear) need to keep bailing out the Skjoldungs from fighting with monsters. 

Sources Used:

• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics) - translations by Jesse Byock
• Beowulf - Translated by Seamus Heaney
• The Saga of Hrolf Kraki - (Hacket Publishing) - Translations by Jackson Craword
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Pantianos Classics) - Translated by Rev. James Ingram and Dr. J.A. Giles
• Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings (Dover Publications)
• Gesta Danorum - Translated by Oliver Elton

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The Legacy of the All-Father (Part 3): The Anglo-Saxon Kings of England

In this episode, Shawn sails west across the North Sea to follow Odin’s bloodline into the early kingdoms of England. Here the stories shift from distant myth to accounts recorded only a few generations after the events they describe, where royal genealogies boldly claim descent from Woden, the Anglo-Saxon name for the All-Father.

We begin with the saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, bridging the legendary vengeance of his sons with the historical Great Heathen Army in the peak of the Viking Age. From there the timeline rewinds several centuries to the arrival of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes in Britain, when shifting alliances, opportunistic conquests, and cultural upheavals reshaped the island’s future. Founders like Hengest and Horsa, Cerdic of Wessex, and the first kings of Mercia and Northumbria emerge as both historical figures and mythic symbols, their family trees winding back through Odin to the dawn of humankind.

By the end, the royal houses of Kent, Wessex, Mercia, and Northumbria stand alongside the monarchies of Scandinavia as part of the All-Father’s enduring legacy, a legacy that still threads through the British crown today.

Sources Used:

• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics) - translations by Jesse Byock
• The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok (Hackett Classics)
• The Saga of Hervor and Heidrik (Hacket Publishing) - Translations by Jackson Craword
• The Saga of Ragnar and His Sons - (Translated be Chris Van Dyke)
• The Ecclesiastical History of the English People - Bede (Oxford University Press)
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Pantianos Classics) - Translated by Rev. James Ingram and Dr. J.A. Giles
• On the Ruin of Britain - Gildas (Classical Prints)
• Life of King Alfread - Asser (Translated by Alber Cook)

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 In this episode, Shawn returns back to Midgard, where the influence of the All-Father shifts from mythic creation to shaping the destinies of men. As seen in Grímnismál, Odin shows he meddles in royal succession, punishing cruel kings and rewarding their kinder sons. That same divine interference sets the stage for Odin’s legacy to flow through human bloodlines, shaping the earliest monarchies of the North. 

We then explore how the legendary couple Ragnar Lodbrok and Aslaug became the supposed ancestors of the first kings of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden through their sons Bjorn Ironside and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye. From Harald Fairhair to Gorm the Old and Erik the Victorious, we try to piece together how these myth-wrapped families became historical institutions. Of course, nothing lines up: kings are born decades after their reigns supposedly begin, timelines stretch, and somehow everyone is related to everyone. But if the sagas can make it work, so can we. 

Next episode, we cross the North Sea into Anglo-Saxon England... where Odin’s legacy gets even stranger.

Sources Used:

• The Poetic Edda (Hackett Publishing) - Translations by Jackson Crawford
• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics) - translations by Jesse Byock
• Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings (Dover Publications)
• The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok (Hackett Classics)
• The Saga of Hervor and Heidrik (Hackett Publishing) - Translations by Jackson Crawford
• The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok and his Sons - (Translated by Chris Van Dyke)

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 The Legacy of the All-Father (Part 1): The Mythical Sons of Odin 

In this episode, Shawn ventures deeper into Norse Mythology to explore the sons of the god nearly at the top of the family tree, Odin, as told in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. Using the first 3 parts of the edda, you have a list of 10 gods mentioned as being the son of the All-Father (one also being his grandson funny enough)..... And also a daughter/wife who is also a celestial body we may know of...

Per Gylfaginning, Thor, Balder, Hod, Vali, Hermod, and Vidar not only are simply described, but they each play a role in the events surrounding the twilight of the gods, Ragnarok. And that is where the children of Loki (possibly Odin's brother) come in. The children of Odin and Loki serve as opposing forces in either preventing or spearheading the "battle of the Vigrid Fields" and many play a part in the battle itself. Interesting because you could argue the universe that Odin (and  Loki?) created, was always fated to burn due to the actions of its creators.

Shawn also discusses Odin's role in understanding his own fate to die, but also laying the groundwork for his descendants, both mythical and "historical" (the latter of which we will discuss in part 2).

Sources used:

• The Poetic Edda (Hackett Publishing) - translations by Jackson Crawford
• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics) - translations by Jesse Byock

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The Divine Ancestry of Harald Fairhair.

In the first episode of "Sagas w/Shawn - Gods and Kings" Shawn dives into the ancestry of Harald Fairhair, the first King of a Unified Norway (872 ce). Was Harald truly descended from the Norse gods Freyr, Niord, and even the All-Father Odin himself? Or did later authors fabricate these supposed connections to elevate the status of their own culture and history?

Using the sources "Heimskringla", "The Saga of the Volsungs", and "The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok" (with some others as well), Shawn explore the House of Yngling and the House of Volsung in varying detail to bridge the gap between mythological gods and this historical figure.

Sources used:

• The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok (Hackett Classics)
• The Poetic Edda (Hackett Publishing)
• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics)
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Pantianos Classics)
• Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings (Dover Publications)

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Send us a text

Welcome to Sagas w/Shawn – Gods and Kings, a podcast that explores the epic intersection of mythology, legend, and real-world history. In this short intro episode, Shawn shares what this project is all about, from Norse gods like Odin and Thor, to legendary warriors like Ragnar Lodbrok, and all the way to historical rulers like Harald Fairhair and Alfred the Great.

You’ll hear how myth and history overlap, intertwine, or conflict through ancient sources like the Poetic Edda, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Icelandic sagas, and more. Plus, a sneak peek at what’s to come, including future episodes exploring other ancient mythologies... and even the legends of fictional universes like A Song of Ice and Fire, The Elder Scrolls, The Legend of Zelda, and The Lord of the Rings.

Thanks for joining, and please be gentle on your reviews :/

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