Berserker - Berserkers in popular culture

Berserkers (or Berserks) were Norse warriors who had sworn allegiance to the sky god Odin and worked themselves into a frenzy before a battle. Berserker - Etymology. The term berserker comes from Norse "berserkr", meaning literally "bear shirt" or "bare shirt", alluding either to wearing the "clothes" of a bear, i.e. to be bear-like in rage and strength, usually in battle, or to the habit of berserkers going into battle unarmored, or often, completely naked. Some berserks also took names with bjö ...

Including:

• Berserker - Etymology
• Berserker - Literary references
• Berserker - Theories regarding the causes of berserker behavior
• Berserker - Berserkers in popular culture

Read more here: » Berserker: Encyclopedia - Berserker

The earliest surviving reference to the term berserker is in Haraldskvæði, a skaldic poem written by Thórbiôrn Hornklofi in the late ninth century in honour of King Haraldr Fair-Hair, the infamous ruler of Norway. The poem was preserved by Snorri Sturluson. In this poem, Harald's army includes a warrior gang of berserkers fighting under his name at the battle of Hafrsfiord. In it, they are described as Ulfheðnar = "men clad in wolf skins". This grounds a connection between bears and wolves in Norse warrior culture and the common assumpt ...

See also:

Berserker, Berserker - Etymology, Berserker - Literary references, Berserker - Theories regarding the causes of berserker behavior, Berserker - Berserkers in popular culture

Read more here: » Berserker: Encyclopedia II - Berserker - Literary references

The term berserker comes from Norse "berserkr", meaning literally "bear shirt" or "bare shirt", alluding either to wearing the "clothes" of a bear, i.e. to be bear-like in rage and strength, usually in battle, or to the habit of berserkers going into battle unarmored, or often, completely naked. Some berserks also took names with björn or biôrn in them in reference to a bear. This is likely to be the source of na ...

See also:

Berserker, Berserker - Etymology, Berserker - Literary references, Berserker - Theories regarding the causes of berserker behavior, Berserker - Berserkers in popular culture

Read more here: » Berserker: Encyclopedia II - Berserker - Etymology

Theories about what causes berserker behavior include spiritual possession, ingestion of materials with psychoactive properties, psychological processes, and medical conditions. According to a theory of spirit possession, the berserk rage was achieved through possession by the animal spirit of either a bear or a wolf. Berserkers would cultivate an ability to allow the animal spirit to take over their body du ...

See also:

Berserker, Berserker - Etymology, Berserker - Literary references, Berserker - Theories regarding the causes of berserker behavior, Berserker - Berserkers in popular culture

Read more here: » Berserker: Encyclopedia II - Berserker - Theories regarding the causes of berserker behavior