FROM BEOWULF TO DOVAKIIN: EPIC-HEROIC TRADITIONS IN THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM AND ITS NORSE AND ANGLO-SAXON ORIGINS by MARC R. MUSCHLER Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (English) Acadia University Fall Graduation (2014) © by MARC R. MUSCHLER This thesis by Marc Ryan Muschler was defended successfully in an oral examination on September 19, 2014. The examining committee for this thesis was: _____________________ Dr. Jeff Banks, Chair _____________________ Dr. Cory Rushton, External Reader _____________________ Dr. Herb Wyile on behalf of Dr. Jon Saklofske, Internal Reader _____________________ Dr. Kevin Whetter, Thesis Supervisor _____________________ Dr. Jon Eustace, Head of Department ii I, Marc Ryan Muschler, grant permission to the University Librarian at Acadia University to reproduce, loan, or distribute copies of my thesis in microform, paper or electronic formats on a non-profits basis. I, however, retain the copyright in my thesis. _________________________ Author _________________________ Supervisor _________________________ Date iii Table of Contents List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………. v Abstract………………………………………………………………………….............. vi Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………....... vii Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..... 1 Chapter One……………………………………………………………………………… 9 Chapter Two…………………………………………………………………………….. 35 Chapter Three…………………………………………………………………………… 62 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………… 86 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………. 88 iv List of Figures Figure I: Dragonsreach…………………………………………………………………. 16 Figure II: Urnes Stave Church………………………………………………………….. 21 Figure III: Interior of Dragonsreach……………………………………………………. 23 Figure IV: Cross-sections of Viking-age buildings…………………………………….. 24 Figure V: Sovngarde Hall of Valour……………………………………………………. 47 Figure VI: Interior of Sovngarde, Mead Kegs………………………………………….. 49 Figure VII: Interior of Sovngarde, Roasting Meat……………………………………… 50 v Abstract This thesis provides an examination of the Norse and Anglo-Saxon literary and historical cultural connections that heavily influence gameplay in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. These influences ultimately encourage player participation in epic-heroic traditions reminiscent of those found in Northern European heroic poetry and demonstrate how game developers can utilize literary and historical sources to create an entertaining and engaging game space. The thesis is divided into three chapters which each interpret a different aspect of Skyrim gameplay in the context of their literary and historical antecedents. The first chapter looks at the connection between Anglo-Saxon mead halls and those found in Skyrim, particularly the socio-political role it plays both in literature and gameplay. The second chapter discusses the concept of the afterlife in Norse and Nordic culture, illustrating the similarities between the two religions and how their ideals ultimately impact player behavior throughout major quest lines. The third chapter focuses on dragons within Skyrim and their connection to the northern heroic image, ultimately demonstrating the important role they play both in Anglo-Saxon and Norse literature as well as Skyrim. vi Acknowledgements I would like to thank all of my friends and family for their unwavering support in my academic pursuits over the last several years. My gratitude goes out in particular to the Acadia English Society, who have kept my pretentiousness thoroughly in check during my time as an honours and master’s student and who have encouraged me to immerse myself in all things literary and explore all of my academic passions. I would also like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Kevin Whetter for supporting me throughout both my honour’s and master’s degrees. His passion for mediaeval literature is one of the primary reasons why my interest in the field has developed over the last several years, and I am entirely grateful to have had such a wonderful tutor and friend. I am indebted to a number of other faculty members of both the English and History departments who have been of immense help in nearly every facet of my academic career at Acadia. A particularly warm thanks goes out to the Department Secretary, Christine Kendrick, who has moved mountains to help myself and many other students. Lastly, a very heartfelt thank you goes out to my friend, Matthew Kohlenberg, to whom this thesis is dedicated. Whether you’re in Sovngarde, Valhalla, or elsewhere, you’re certainly missed here. vii Introduction In the last several decades, video games have taken on a significant role in mass media storytelling and culture. While traditional narrative media are still very relevant and popular globally, video games afford the developer and the player the ability to create, visualize, and, most importantly, directly interact with narrative universes. For example, while J. R. R. Tolkien’s literary narratives remain popular and influential, his imagined worlds have been significantly extended and revitalized through online role-playing games. Video games such as The Lord of the Rings Online afford players the ability to interact directly with and change the outcome of events in Middle-earth. This type of interaction, in which the reader or player engages with a wholly developed, consistent fantasy narrative, is precisely what Tolkien argues in his essay “On Fairy-Stories” to be the essence of fairy-story and what most modern readers recognize as heroic and fantasy literature. Tolkien was not discussing video game narratives, but the experience of faërie which he advocated for traditional fairy literature is even more possible in such an interactive environment. One of the important elements that Tolkien valued in stories and storytelling is the sense of literary depth, what in “On Fairy-Stories” he refers to as the “Pot of Soup” or “Cauldron of Story” from which new authors or storytellers take their traditional stock 1 (Tolkien 27). As a fantasy narrative, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim clearly illustrates the ways in which a new storyteller or game designer might use the motifs from the Cauldron of Story. Skyrim further illustrates that video games can be artifacts worthy of academic exploration and analysis due to the Anglo-Saxon and Norse historical and literary tropes that are an important part of its gameplay. Initially released in November 2011, Skyrim is one of the most significant roleplaying games of the last decade. While the bare bones of this thesis emerged out of a desire to highlight the knowing echoes of mediaeval Germanic culture in Skyrim, one of the most significant revelations came in the form of an essay produced by prominent mediaevalist and Tolkien scholar T. A. Shippey. At the core of Shippey’s recent essay “The Undeveloped Image: Anglo-Saxon in Popular Consciousness from Turner to Tolkien” is the argument that the literary and historical culture of Anglo-Saxon England is nearly non-existent and therefore irrelevant to modern narrative media. Shippey is a noted scholar, and since the article’s original release in 2000 the Cambridge University Press has reprinted it online in 2009, furthering its impact on contemporary academic impressions of Anglo-Saxon studies and the relevance of Anglo-Saxon ideology within a popular culture context. I contend that this impression of the limited relevance of Anglo-Saxon historical and literary culture is incorrect. Video games such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim show the relevance and persistence of Anglo-Saxon and Norse literary and historical culture in popular media, which results in a more developed image of video games as a powerful story-telling medium. Shippey’s article raises a question about the topic of relevancy: namely, how does one determine what is or is not relevant? He argues that Anglo-Saxon history and 2 literature is no longer relevant within academia and the humanities in general. However, what Shippey fails to recognize is the relationship between academic relevance and popular culture, from which everyone (regardless of profession) derives significant amounts of meaning. That is why the exploration of the Anglo-Saxon and Norse ideas in Skyrim is relevant to academic inquiry: the prominent use of these themes and tropes is indicative of a greater interest in the “relevancy” of material within popular culture. This is demonstrated by the emergence of similar concepts in television shows such as Vikings or Game of Thrones, as well as their popular use within the gaming industry as a whole. Further, the developers’ of Skyrim demonstrate an attention to detail and significant use of primary source material that circumvents a tradition of ignorant inheritance, resulting in a product which resembles current narrative and gaming trends, but which actually features a careful renewal of the mediaeval roots of many of our all- too-familiar narrative tropes. These efforts to create a game space so heavily inundated by Anglo-Saxon and Norse historical and literary culture ultimately directs the player’s behavior towards epic heroic ideals, perpetuating a specific image of heroism reminiscent of Beowulf or Sigurd. In order to demonstrate this learned and source-specific approach to game and character creation, this thesis will provide an in-depth analysis of the parallels that exist between specific aspects of the Skyrim game space and the mediaeval primary sources that the developers used in the creation of Skyrim. In doing so, it will also demonstrate how these Norse and