Brute Norse Podcast

In this episode we explore the preposterous physical legacy of Norwegian archaeologist Anders Lorange (1847-1888), primarily known for digging up as many graves as humanly possible, lighting viking ships on fire, leaving shit everywhere, and publishing next to no research in his lifetime. In this episode we hold him indirectly accountable for the 1992 burning of Fantoft stave church, carving graff...

An episode? Nay, a call to arms! Now you can ask your questions directly for the potential to be featured on the pod, simply call +1 (609) 483-6502‬! No joke! Support Brute Norse on: https://linktr.ee/brutenorse

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 certainly thought so. In this episode we delve into the m...

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 blood oaths, juju, prostitution and drug trafficki...

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 expression of a sort of independent and nebulous "ur-pagan"...

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 ever recorded. What the hell did they mean by this...

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 Varg Vikernes, som jevnlig har sitt å si om litt av...

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, and he's returning to the podcast to give us the...

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 under the sun that has not claimed Wagner as theirs....

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://vasasfloraochfauna.com/ https://vasasfloraochfauna.bandcamp.com...

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 layers of the movie that neither of us were prepared...

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 Middle Ages. Before we go on to discuss the influence...

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 by Moondog and performed by Stefan Lakatos and And...

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 of so-called historical cinema.

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 ancient heroes. Support Brute Norse: https://link...

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 the utter insanity of Early Modern scholarship. A...

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 Brute Norse: https://linktr.ee/brutenorse Some refere...

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 knowledge our descendants will have about us? Is lin...

... 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 terrible Johnny Bode." Deliver us oh lord from the wrat...

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 methods, and one of the main minds behind the pre...

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 all Scandinavians dreaded and cherished. Bake no bre...

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 some of the stranger cult sites the North can off...

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 religious aspects to our own culture that we don't even ac...

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 shallow as they were ritualistic. The finds brought r...

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 out between the hills of northern Afghanistan, the...