In this episode, Shawn and David wrap up the series on Ragnar Lobrok (cue dozens of solo episodes where Shawn and David have not in fact wrapped up their series on Ragnar Lodbrok), discussing chapters 18 - 20. In tandem with "The Tale of Ragnars Sons", you find out about the fates of the sons of Ragnar, including their deaths. There are then a couple of chapters of some nameless characters (well one is named), who in later years begin discussing the the heroic brothers either in their cups while...
Apr 28, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 5Ep. 18
S5E17 Volsung Poems: The Children of Giuki and Budli (Part 5) David continues his series of not so short solo episodes, deep diving into the Poems of the Poetic Edda which inspired the Saga of the Volsungs. In this episode: The Second Poem of Gudrun. The Death of the Niflungs. Oddrun's Lament. These relatively late poems bridge The First Poem of Gudrun to the poems about Atli and the early poem Lay of Hamdir (coming soon). The children of Giuki are Gunnar, Hogni, and Gudrun. And as we saw previo...
Mar 31, 2025•34 min•Season 5Ep. 17
In this episode, Shawn and David explore the aftermath of Ragnar Lodbrok’s death at the hands of King Aela of Northumbria, which initially causes a rift between his sons. While most are consumed by raw fury and seek immediate vengeance, Ivar takes a more calculating approach.Yet, despite their differences, the brothers share a common purpose—King Ælla must pay for their father’s death. As events unfold, Ivar receives the finest gift he could ask for and ensures that Ælla meets a gruesome fate th...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 5Ep. 16
In this episode, Shawn and David discuss chapter 15 of "The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok". Despite his absence in the previous episode, Ragnar knows full well about the successful military campaigns of his sons. Despite his past of slaying a dragon/serpent and being a great king among men, Ragnar sees his son's exploits beginning to exceed his own. In what seems to be a dark age mid life crisis, Ragnar decides to go to England with only 2 ships in an effort to take the land (with the justified lack of...
Feb 10, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 5Ep. 15
In this episode, the sons of Ragnar— Ivar, Bjorn, Hvitserk, and Sigurd—along with Ragnar's wife Aslaug, invade King Eystein’s land to avenge their fallen brothers, Eirik and Agnar. Facing yet another magical cow on the battlefield, Ivar the Boneless (if his ability to live without bones didn’t make it obvious) reveals his own magical abilities in taking on the cow. After the invasion, the sons (this time without their mother) turn their ambitions south, raiding every land in their path with drea...
Jan 29, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 5Ep. 14
S5E13 Volsung Poems: The Poems of Brynhild and Gudrun (Part 4) David continues his series of not so short solo episodes, deep diving into the Poems of the Poetic Edda which inspired the Saga of the Volsungs. This is the story of the meeting of the hero with the beloved. The Valkyrie. I had to analyze the tragedy of Tristan and Iseult to find the archetypes which may be at play with the meeting of the hero with the beloved, and the meaning of the love triangle where the hero betrays his first lov...
Jan 13, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Season 5Ep. 13
Shawn apologizes for his audio quality. He needed to switch to a headset last minute after already marking himself as using a speaker when he entered the recording room. He is an idiot. - Shawn In this episode, Shawn and David discuss chapters 9-11 of the "Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok". The duo discuss Ragnar playing politics with his vassals, specifically with a King Eystein, a man Ragnar gave much land in Sweden to run to thwart the aggression of his own sons. King Eystein's daughter, Inginbjorg, ba...
Nov 11, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 5Ep. 12
This is a short episode where David talks about why a person might want to study Norse Mythology, Poetry, and Archetypes. My hope is that this episode would be a good introduction for anyone who is not already following Shawn and I on our 2 year journey of exploring the myths of the Norse Gods and the hero Sagas of the Volsung family and Ragnar Lothbrook. My takeaway is that archetypes help us find meaning in life. Accept fate and things in life that are difficult to accept. These are things whi...
Nov 03, 2024•12 min•Season 5Ep. 11
In this episode, Shawn and David discuss chapters 5-8 of "The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok", which details a now adult Aslaug (still disguised as "Kraka", the daughter of a farmer) distracting the eyes of the men of Ragnar, then Ragnar himself. They further go into their marriage and the birth of a few of their sons, including Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn, Hvitserk, and Rognvald. The sons, ever aspiring to live up to their father's name, decide to go on a daring military campaign to generate weath and fam...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 5Ep. 10
S5E9 - Tristant and Iseult: The Myth of Romantic Love. David presents a story that is a long time in the works. It is the story of Tristan and Iseult. The first European Romance story. It is a story I needed to explain to connect the Saga of Sigurd and the Dragon, with the love triangle drama of Sigurd, Brunhilde, and Gudrun. This episode combines interpretations from Jungian authors Robert Johnson, Robert Moore, Jean Shinoda Bolen, and my original thoughts on what we can learn from the meeting ...
Oct 01, 2024•52 min•Season 5Ep. 9
Finally, Between Two Ravens starts their series on "The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok" after only saying they were going to start it 8,000 times. In this episode, Shawn and David discuss chapters 1-4 of the saga, which details the journey of Heimir and a 3 year old Aslaug, escaping the the chaos that resulted in the death of her parents (Sigurd the Dragon Slayer and Brynhild the Valkyrie) into a farm in Norway where they find a "lovely" and totally not ugly older couple. They also talk about Ragnar's f...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 5Ep. 8
S5E7 Volsung Poems: Sigurd the Dragon Slayer (Solo Short Part 3 of 5) David continues his series of shorts, deep diving into the Poems of the Poetic Edda which inspired the Saga of the Volsungs. Sigurd is the primary "hero's journey" story of Saga of the Volsungs. He is the dragon slayer, the man without fear, and he is destined to be the greatest of kings. But Sigurd's story is a tragedy, he never becomes the greatest of all kings. He becomes ensnared in a love triangle with witches curses and ...
Jun 04, 2024•27 min•Season 5Ep. 7
S5E6 Volsung Poems: Sinfjotli and Helgi (Solo Short Part 2 of 4)David continues his series of shorts, deep diving into the Poems of the Poetic Edda which inspired the Saga of the Volsungs. Sinfjotli and Helgi were the older half brothers of Sigurd the dragon slayer. They were Sigmund's first sons and set the stage for the fate which led Sigurd to become a hero. Helgi has three poems, The first Poem of Helgi Hundingsbani, The Poem of Helgi Hiorvardsson, and A second Poem of Helgi Hundingsbani.The...
Apr 15, 2024•25 min•Season 5Ep. 6
In this episode, Shawn discusses the kingdom of Kent, the first of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England post-Roman Britain as told by Bede's "Ecclesiastical History of the English People" and the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle". Shawn delves into the legendary figures of Kent's inception, focusing on the brothers Hengest and Horsa, whose lineage traces back to the All-Father, Odin. He discusses King Aethelberht of Kent, the pioneering Anglo-Saxon monarch to embrace Christianity, setting a precedent for f...
Apr 08, 2024•29 min•Season 5Ep. 5
In this episode, Shawn and David delve deep into the immersive world of the Vikingverse with its creator and our special guest, Ian Sharpe. In this discussion, we uncover the alternate history where the norse religion and culture thrives, not succumbing to the influence of Christianity in the Dark Ages. Ian shares insights into his creation, spanning two books, a comic book series, and most recently, a role playing game called "When the Wolf Comes". Check out the Vikingverse --> https://vikin...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 4
S5E3 Volsung Poems: Ottar/Otter (Solo Short Part 1) David isn't quite ready to put the Saga of the Volsungs to rest. This is the first of a series of shorts on the Poems of the Poetic Edda which inspired the Saga of the Volsungs. As Shawn and I found in Season 4, Saga of the Volsungs has a few inconsistent parts, where the author appears to have tried to reconcile multiple sources into a coherent story. So David is back to interpret the original sources to see what meaning can be found in the or...
Mar 11, 2024•23 min•Season 5Ep. 3
For our 100th episode (shit!!), Shawn discusses the origin of the sun and the moon, along with the origins of night and day in Norse Mythology, as told by Gylfaginning in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. (Also with some stanzas from the Poetic Edda poems, Völuspá and Vafþrúðnismál. In it Shawn also explores the idea of looking to the divine when humans cannot currently explain something, and compares humans of 10,000 looking with a sense of wonder when looking at the sun and the moon, with humans ...
Mar 04, 2024•19 min•Season 5Ep. 2
In this episode, Shawn and David finally put the Volsung series behind them with and episode on,,,, the Volsungs. A recap of the series where we discuss the overall themes of the tragedy, and where we discuss what may seem to be the evilness of women, which seems to REALLY be the easy manipulation of men (gods we are stupid sometimes).... They also give a recap of the main players of the series. Also, Odin seems to play a part in the death of many of his descedents. The pair discuss his involvem...
Feb 20, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Shawn and David finally wrap up the "The Saga of the Volsungs". Where Gudrun, fresh off of losing her 2 brothers, plots revenge on her husband Atli. After she takes care of him (and ugh her 2 sons with him), she then finds herself married for a 3rd time to a King Jonakr. Svanhild, daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun, also plays a part and does her fucked up duty as a princess in the dark ages and becomes bethrothed to a king way above her age. This leads to many more problems for the family. Including...
Jan 08, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 4Ep. 22
In this episode, Shawn and David discuss the aftermath of Sigurd's death, and the life of Gudrun as a recent widow. Though she has a goodbye moment with the corpse of her husband, she then travels the world to start fresh and finds herself at a kingdom in Denmark where she befriends a Princess Thora there. After 3.5 years, she slowly regains some happiness and everything is turning up for Gudrun. That is until Grimhild her witch of a mother finds her location and pulls her back into the arms of ...
Dec 29, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 4Ep. 21
David and Shawn discuss chapters 30 and 31 of the Saga, which features in back to back chapters the deaths of 2 major characters, in this case Sigurd the Dragon Slayer of the House of Volsung, and Brynhild the Valkyrie. Brynhild at this point is still depressed over her inability to affect her fate in life, specifically with her inability to be with Sigurd. As she has found out that Sigurd himself played a part in her downfall, she gives her husband Gunnar (and Sigurd's Blood-Brother) an ultimat...
Dec 21, 2023•54 min•Season 4Ep. 20
In this episode, Shawn and David discuss Chapters 28 & 29 of the Saga of the Volsungs. Gudrun taunts Brynhild on having won the better man (Sigurd) while also trying to convince Brynhild that her true love, Sigurd, isn't that great and Brynhild's husband, Gudrun's brother, is actually quite a catch. Brynhild's anger and resentment grow until she becomes defeated and depressed. When her husband is not able to cheer her up she ends up trying to kill him, so they send in Sigurd who unsuccessful...
Dec 14, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 4Ep. 19
In this episode, Shawn and David discuss Chapters 25-27 of the Saga, which sees a budding friendship between Sigurd and the sons of King Gjuki, Gunnar and Hogni. Those brothers also have a sister, Princess Gudrun. The very woman Brynhild told Sigurd he would be fated to marry as oppose to her. King Gjuki also has a wife who happens to be a witch, Queen Grimhild. The Queen sees that Sigurd has a fondness for Brynhild the Valkyrie, so she hatches a plan to orchestrate the foretold marriage with he...
Dec 11, 2023•48 min•Season 4Ep. 18
David presents part 4 of 4 short episodes on the Ring of Power. A Jungian interpretation of Wagner's 4 part Opera inspired by the high German version of Saga of the Volsungs (Nibelungenlied - Song of the Nibelung).This episode has been a long one in the making and it is a long short. It begins with a summary of the final portion of Siegfried's journey, which parallel's Sigurd's journey at the end of Saga of the Volsungs. David includes his interpretations on the archetypes in the story and the u...
Nov 30, 2023•28 min•Season 4Ep. 17
In this episode, Shawn and David discuss Chapters 20-24 of the Volsung Saga, where Sigurd has 2 completely different meetings with the Valkyrie, Brynhild. There is also a chapter dedicated solely to how beautiful Sigurd himself is. Shawn says the word, "inconsistency" 40,384 times. Also, the pair discuss Brynhild's words to Sigurd and how she may actually be warning him of his lust for her as opposed to her accepting his advances. Apologies at the beginning of the episode David is still waking u...
Nov 27, 2023•58 min•Season 4Ep. 16
In this episode, Shawn and David discuss Chapter 19 of the Saga of the Volsungs, with additional content from the poem, Fáfnismál. Sigurd, fresh off of killing the feared dragon Fafnir, receives some interesting information from new friends of the avian variety. What Sigurd does with this information and his future in general, is up to fate. Ways to support us: If you have been enjoying our show, please write a 5 star review on itunes to help spread our podcast to a wider audience: https://podca...
Nov 20, 2023•46 min•Season 4Ep. 15
In this episode, Shawn and David discuss the rise of Sigurd of the House of Volsung in chapter 17 and 18 of the saga. Firstly, with him raising an army to battle the rival family of the Volsungs (the sons of Hunding) and his father's killer, King Lyngvy. We then discuss the very anti-climatic "fight" between Sigurd and Fafnir, along with the much cooler conversation between the two after Sigurd mortally wounds the dragon. Fafnir has some advice of his own for Sigurd on his brother Regin's true c...
Nov 13, 2023•49 min•Season 4Ep. 14
In this episode, Shawn and David discuss the son of Sigmund and Hjordis, Sigurd (The main character of the entire saga). Though Sigmund died before his son was born, Sigurd was raised with many father figures, The Kings Alf and Hjordis, our friend (and Sigurd's great-great-great grandfather) Odin, and his foster-father, a figure named Regin. Regin sees the potential of Sigurd, and sees the potential to use him to satisfy an old family fued of his with his brother Fafnir, who happens to now be a ...
Nov 06, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 13
In this episode, Shawn and David discuss chapters 11 and 12 of "The Saga of the Volsungs", where Sigmund (who recently banished his first wife Borghild for killing his first son, Sinfjotli) desires to remarry. He eventually marries a Princess Hjordis, who was the daughter of a King Eylimi. However, Hjordis had other potental suitors as well, one being a King Lyngvi, who waged war on Sigmund as a result. The result, Sigmund goes out a badass, but not before his new bride becomes pregnant with a c...
Oct 30, 2023•47 min•Season 4Ep. 12
In this episode, Shawn discusses Bifrost (The Rainbow Bridge) as told in the sources. Primarily found in various chapters of Gylfaginning from Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the bridge plays a pivitol role in the protection of Asgard,,, well until it doesnt. Shawn also briefly discusses Heimdal's role outside of causing controversy about him being the next James Bond, while also discussing Bifrost's potential location, its shape and its firey feature. Ways to support us: If you have been enjoyin...
Oct 26, 2023•15 min•Season 4Ep. 11
