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The lines repeated for most of the lyrics come from the Völuspá (“Profecy of the seeress”), stanza 28, first and most notorious poem from the Poetic Edda. When Odin, who loved to challenge others’ knowledge, tests the seeress’, she answers annoyed that she knows everything about him, including the fact that he took out his eye and offered it as a pledge to the wise giant Mímir to convince him to let him drink from the spring of knowledge he guards.
The lines “And they came before him, (…) There he will lie until Ragnarök” come instead from the Gylfaginning (“Gylfi’s deceit”), first part of the Prose Edda. The “they” it’s talking about are the serpent Jörmungandr, the giantess Hel and the wolf Fenrir. All three are Loki’s children and will play an important role in the fall of the gods during Ragnarök.

The names by which Odin is called are countless. Those listed in the song are only a part of them.

I know a transcription in runes of such a text doesn’t really have any reason to be, if not as a treat, but yeah…that’s just what it is, bear with me.

Any suggestion and/or observation is warmly welcome.

The lyrics are pronounced as modern Icelandic, instead of using Old Norse pronunciation: e.g. they sing “á” as the Icelandic diphthong /au/ instead of the Old Norse /a:/, or “ll” as /tl/.

#FlamSparks #SKALD #VikingsChant #VikingsMemories #SKÁLD #Norse #OldNorse #vikings #nordicmusic #nordicmythology #norsemythology #scandinavia #scandinavianfolklore #nordicfolklore #norsefolklore #norsemusic #odin #odinn

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