Comments on: Star Wars as an Icelandic saga

Star Wars as an Icelandic saga

Kattullus — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:10:53 -0800

Tattúínárdælasaga (The Saga of the People of the Tattooine River Valley) is the Icelandic saga Star Wars was based on. So far five chapters have been transcribed.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:11:52 -0800

This is the geekiest thing I have ever posted. Actually, come to think of it, the Claude Degler post may still be geekier than this.

By: LSK

LSK — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:15:48 -0800

Transcribed, but not translated...

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:21:49 -0800

I'm covering my eyes with one hand, I don't know if I'm prepared for this level of nerdy.

By: Madamina

Madamina — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:24:33 -0800

Of COURSE he's one of ours. Ten bucks says he's in a bitter rivalry with the Elvish guy.

By: qvantamon

qvantamon — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:26:42 -0800

With Bjork as Princess Leia.

By: valkyryn

valkyryn — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:27:02 -0800

This would be cooler if I could read Icelandic.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:32:05 -0800

It was better in the original Klingon.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:32:06 -0800

After a long series of close battles, Lúkr and a team of Hebridean Vikings (who, we learn in a long prelude to this encounter, have long quarreled with Falfaðinn over a taxation matter) *long hysterical laughter* The best part about this is, you don't need to be able to read Icelandic at all. Just have a little experience in archaic writing forms and a willingness to flow over all the foreign terms, which are JUST close enough to be utterly hilarious. Great find. Thanks for posting!

By: valkyryn

valkyryn — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:36:22 -0800

you don't need to be able to read Icelandic at all The second link is entirely in Icelandic, and, one imagines, where most of the humor is to be found.

By: splice

splice — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:37:07 -0800

Tattúínárdælasaga (The Saga of the People of the Tattooine River Valley) is the Icelandic saga Star Wars was based on. Er, no. Like, not even close. From http://tattuinardoelasaga.wordpress.com/about/:

I felt like reading and studying Old Norse was not going to sharpen my skills up to "prelim" level on its own, and I wanted to find some kind of fun creative outlet that would give me a way to enjoy myself while composing (even to a very limited degree) in Old Norse (and not just in Modern Icelandic). When a colleague pointed out to me how well Star Wars would work as an Icelandic saga, I saw my chance.

By: DecemberBoy

DecemberBoy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:37:57 -0800

My favorite part: Tattúínárdœla saga tells of the youth of Anakinn himingangari, beginning with his childhood as a slave in Tattúínárdalr, notably lacking the prolonged racing scene of the MHG version, and referring to the character of "Jarjari inn heimski" only as a local fool slain by Anakinn in a childhood berserker rage (whereas in the MHG version, "Jarjare" is one of "Anacen's" marshals and his constant companion; Cochrane 2010 suggests that this may be because the MHG text is Frankish in origin, and "Jarjare" was identified with a Frankish culture hero with a similar name) Just because I like imagining Jar Jar getting cuisinart-ed by a big-ass Viking.

By: krilli

krilli — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:38:41 -0800

OH MY GOD The sheer rending horror at the nerdiness of it. The blinding white force of its majestic beauty.

By: ricochet biscuit

ricochet biscuit — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:39:13 -0800

splice: Did they have hamburger in ancient Iceland?

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:40:24 -0800

In the future, this will be the only surviving record of Star Wars and it will be conflated with historical fact.

By: XMLicious

XMLicious — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:40:46 -0800

Awesome post. This needs some kind of tie-in to George Lucas In Love. (previously, but no comments and a dead link)

By: d. z. wang

d. z. wang — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:43:54 -0800

I want this to be true.

By: echo target

echo target — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:44:40 -0800

He had me going until he got tot he Jar-Jar part. Then I realized.

By: ricochet biscuit

ricochet biscuit — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:44:59 -0800

I'm with hippybear on this one, including the excerpts: The best part about this is, you don't need to be able to read Icelandic at all. Just have a little experience in archaic writing forms and a willingness to flow over all the foreign terms, which are JUST close enough to be utterly hilarious. And once you know that þ is effectively "th," what is to keep you from being able to read this excerpt at sight? Having infiltrated Veiðari's court, Lúkr discovers that his sworn brother Hani has been turned to ice by Veiðari's sorcery, and engages in a memorable holmgang with Veiðari, in which Veiðari reveals to Lúkr that he is his father: Veiðari mælti: "Víga-Óbívan segði aldrigi þér þat, er orðit er af feðr þínum." "Hann sagði mér œrit," segir Lúkr, "Hann sagði mér, at þú hann drapt." "Ekki er þat satt," kvað Veiðari, "Ok em ek þinn faðir."

By: XMLicious

XMLicious — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:47:53 -0800

Someone needs to do a 19th-century opera based on this.

By: Zero Gravitas

Zero Gravitas — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:56:37 -0800

I want to say so much about this, but I just can't find the words... Þakka þér innilega, Kári, fyrir að finna þessa gersemi.

By: Zack_Replica

Zack_Replica — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:07:32 -0800

"Ekki er þat satt," kvað Veiðari, "Ok em ek þinn faðir." "Nøøøøøøøøøø!!!"

By: krilli

krilli — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:08:10 -0800

Zero Gravitas, try this: Mjök er um tregt tungu at hræra, eða loptvætt ljóðpundara. But in a good way.

By: Shepherd

Shepherd — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:22:25 -0800

I've been reading the double-volume set of The Icelandic Sagas from the Folio Society, and they kick ass. This guy seriously knows his stuff.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:56:33 -0800

So when does Jah Jah Binksdottir come into it?

By: spinifex23

spinifex23 — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:00:40 -0800

Just to make the geekiness complete, some Viking Metal band needs to write songs about this. In Icelandic.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:03:28 -0800

...and perform then in JEDI ROBES.

By: TheWhiteSkull

TheWhiteSkull — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:05:13 -0800

Psssh- everyone knows that the Tattúínárdælasaga was really just a re-telling of Greek texts with a bunch of stuff tacked on at the beginning to make it more appealing to Viking audiences. Sing, O Muse, of the War Among the Stars Sing of the Galaxy Far Away and the Time Long Ago When fatherless Vader, face-scarred, driven by Ares and Enyo Chased the ship of flashing-eyed Leia and threw fire upon its decks Burning many men, others struck down as though by arrows or shot Many wounded, yet more dragged down to the houses of the Dead Their bodies left as food for dogs and carrion birds Their halls empty save for the wailing of women Sing of the island Tatooine, shining jewel in the night sky But barren-shored, burning, home to pirates and dragons And of the two men, closer than brothers One gold-formed, the other silver, worked with alabaster and fine lapis Cast down onto the sand by the Fates, to wander With messages from their princess, taken by warlike Vader, his prize Though watched over by bold Athena and Hermes fleet-of-foot

By: krilli

krilli — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:12:51 -0800

Just to make the geekiness complete, some Viking Metal band needs to write songs about this. In Icelandic. — spinifex23 German Viking Metal Band In Extremo would be particularly suited to the task. The link is their masterful rendition of an Icelandic lullaby. (Check out the guy rocking the harp thing!) Words cannot explain how strange their take on the song is to an Icelander.

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:23:44 -0800

In the future, this will be the only surviving record of Star Wars and it will be conflated with historical fact. I bet they thing Vader was a god we worshipped not a movie character. Seriously.

By: Nanukthedog

Nanukthedog — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:41:39 -0800

Ok, but does it answer the question of who shot first?

By: Zero Gravitas

Zero Gravitas — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:49:34 -0800

Krilli: Yes, that. Now someone really should get started on making Star Wars dróttkvæði. Anakinsdrápa has a nice ring to it.

By: krilli

krilli — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:51:37 -0800

Argh! Yes! However ... I think Anakin is not worth the drápa. Hans drápa Sólós, on the other hand ...

By: The Great Big Mulp

The Great Big Mulp — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:35:29 -0800

Vis est omnis divisa in partes duos ...

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:54:48 -0800

Words cannot explain how ~~strange~~ awesome their take on the song is to an [non-]Icelander. FTFTROU [fixed it for the rest of us]

By: poppo

poppo — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:25:45 -0800

I swear, I'm the most gullible person on the internet, I was so believing every word of that

By: nat

nat — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:57:52 -0800

Vis est omnia divisa in partes duos ..quarum unum incolunt Jedi, alium qui ipsorum lingua Sithes, nostra Villani appelantur.. Ok so they don't actually live in the force, but I couldn't come up with a better verb. Hmph.

By: Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey

Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:00:24 -0800

Ok, but does it answer the question of who shot first? I believe in the original text, Hani shot first. Subsequent editions of the saga suffer from sloppy editing and the prejudice of later editors who thought their audiences required a more honorable warrior to be Lúkr's sworn brother. The old-school Hani shot Greeðo with a small crossbow under the table and let him bleed out from a gut wound.

By: jacalata

jacalata — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:48:35 -0800

ohmygod this is the most awesome thing I have seen on the internet today. It will doubtless be very useful in my continued attempts to learn icelandic!

By: dd42

dd42 — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:03:39 -0800

I take TheWhiteSkull's comment as a challenge. It's not in hexameter, but beyond that I don't think there's anything here that's completely un-Homeric. Some of the accents might be wrong. Πόλεμον ἄειδε, Θεά, μετὰ ἄστροις, τῆλε, πάλαι ὅτε ἀπάτωρ Ἄδηρ, προσώπῳ οὔλωτος, ὑπ' Ἄρηος καὶ Ἐνυοῦς θυμὸν ὀρινθεὶς νῆα γλαυκώπιδος Λειῆς ἐδίωκεν καὶ νηυσὶ κορωνίσι θεσπιδαὲς πῦρ ἐμβάλεν ἀκάματον· τοὺς μὲν ἄνδρας ἐκαεν, τοὺς δὲ ὀιστοῖς ὣς βάλεν, πολλὰς ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψας ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι· οἳ δὲ θυμὸν ἀπέφθιθεν τῆλε πατρίδος αἴης, ἔνθα γόον φίλαις ἐνῶρσαν, γυναίξιν τε καὶ ἀμφιπόλοις, ἐν μεγάροισιν ερήμοις. Sing war, Goddess, a war among the stars, far away, long ago when fatherless Vader, scarred in the face, driven in his soul by Ares and Enyo, was chasing glancing-eyed Leia's ship and threw tireless, god-lit fire upon her curved ships. Some of the men he was burning, others he hit as though with arrows, sending many brave souls down to Hades, souls of heroes, and the men themselves he was making booty for the dogs and all the birds. And they perished in their soul far from their fatherland, where they stirred lamentation among their dear women, both their wives and their servants, in the empty halls.

By: TheWhiteSkull

TheWhiteSkull — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:53:32 -0800

Well shit, now we need a Vedic Star Wars.

By: Severian

Severian — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:56:54 -0800

Would it be too much to ask to have a retelling of "A New Hope" where Luke and Leia make a lovers suicide pact and fall into the heart of the death star rather than be forced to marry Mon Mothma (in Luke's case) and Moff Tarkin (in Leia's)? in the style of The Tale of Gengi?

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:28:19 -0800

German Viking Metal Band In Extremo Posers. I only go for authentic Viking metal bands.

By: grubi

grubi — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:36:46 -0800

I just got a nerd-on.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:56:59 -0800

There's another Old Norse version of Star Wars, Loga saga loptgengils, but that's exclusively in Old Norse, no English translation or summary.