THE BROKEN SWORD

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

Poul Anderson's fantasy novel The Broken Sword, which is heavily influenced by Norse and Celtic mythology, was originally published on November 5, 1954, just one week before J.R.R. Tolkien published The Two Towers, the second volume of his own Norse and Celtic influenced fantasy. Both works feature elves, trolls, and magic swords, although they demonstrate how different the same source material can be handled by different authors. Anderson's story focuses on the fate of the world of the faerie as brought about by an act of vengeance.

When Orm, a Norseman from Jutland attacks England, he kills and pillages everything in his path until he meets and decides to marry Aelfrida, the daughter of a local ealdorman. Aelfrida insists that Orm adopt the ways of the new God her family has adopted, the White Christ. Although Orm agrees, he does not turn his back on the Norse Gods he was raised with. Furthermore, the mother of one of his English victims is a witch who has determined that she will avenge her son's death and destroy Orm and his family.

The witch's vengeance begins when Orm and Aelfrida have their first son and the witch shares the news with Imric, an Elf earl. In a matter-of-fact scene which reinforces for the reader that this is a rougher and more amoral period, Imric rapes a troll hostage to beget a changeling which he swaps out with Orm's son. Orm and Aelfrida will go on to raise the changeling, who they call Valgard, while Imric raises Orm's son, now called Skafloc, as his own. Both Skafloc and Valgard prosper in their new environments and it would appear that both are destined for greatness.

Once the two men come into contact with each other, conflict is not only inevitable, but it escalates, beginning with families and growing to incorporate the worlds of elves, men, trolls, and eventually the Tuatha De Danann of Ireland and the Norse gods. Even as Anderson increases the stakes and scale of the battle, he still manages to focus on the tragedy of Orm's family, with Skafloc falling in love with one of Valgard's hostages, Freda, who is unbeknownst to Skafloc, his own biological sister. While the coming of the White Christ announces a change in the world, the witch's curse and its results appear to be leading to the actual end of the world that had existed, opening a vacuum for the new religion to take hold.

Anderson intentionally uses archaic language through the story to strengthen the feel that The Broken Sword is a retelling of a medieval Edda. He also attempts, and succeeds, in adopting an unapologetic medieval mindset, creating a world with a different morality than our own, causing his heroes to adopt policies and perform actions which are not only foreign to modern sensibilities, but also anathema. Nevertheless, they fit in the world which Anderson has created and he presents them so matter-of-factly (and leaves out the worst details), that the reader is able to accept the world and actions.

The Broken Sword's influence on Michael Moorcock can easily be seen as Skafloc's weapon, which must be bloodied when unsheathed and seem to have a mind of its own, is clearly an predecessor of Elric's Stormbringer, although perhaps not quite so malevolent. Moorcock's Elric series also focuses on the end of one world, the world ruled by the Melniboneans, and on the emergence of the Young Kingdoms and their replacement gods, and while the Melnibonean morality is described as amoral compared to the concerns of humans, it is never depicted as well as Anderson depicts the different ethical culture in The Broken Sword. Despite being seventy years old and Anderson’s use of sometimes archaic language, there is a freshness to The Broken Sword due to Anderson’s ability to create a society which is so different in morality, without offering judgment of or condoning the culture about which he is writing.

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