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The Broken Sword: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|"''I will succeed to your throne — but what good is that? What good is anything?''"|'''Valgard'''}}
A fantasy novel written by [[
The book tells the story of Skafloc Half Elf (actually a human stolen by the Elves), son of Orm the Strong. The story begins with the marriage of Orm the Strong and Aelfrida of the English. Orm kills a witch's family on the land, and later half-converts to a Christian, but quarrels with the local priest and sends him off the land. Meanwhile, an elf, Imric, seeks out the witch to capture the son of Orm, Valgard. In his place he leaves a changeling called Valgard. The real Valgard is taken away to elven lands and named Skafloc by the elves. He grows up among the fairies there. Later, he has a significant part in a war against the trolls.
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The eponymous weapon was given to Skafloc as his naming-gift by the Aesir, and he later travels to the ends of the earth to have it reforged by Bolverk, the Ice Giant.
The novel is set during the Viking Age and the story contain many references to the Norse mythology. It was influenced by the 1891 novel ''The Saga of Eric Brighteyes'', by [[H. Rider Haggard]].
A partial adaptation of the novel, done as a serialized black-and-white graphic novel, was adapted by fantasy writer Tom Reamy and illustrated by professional fantasy artist George Barr. This was published during the mid-to-late 1960s over several issues of Reamy's twice Hugo Award-nominated science fiction fanzine Trumpet; the adaptation was never completed, though there were revived plans underway to do so at the time of Reamy's untimely death in late 1977.
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* [[Changeling Tale]]
* [[The Chessmaster]]: Imric... but even he's an amateur compared to Odin.
* [[Deal
* [[Death of the Old Gods]]: This has yet to happen to the Norse Gods, but the young hero met up with a satyr who recounts the fall of Olympus.
* [[Downer Ending]].
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* [[Norse Mythology]]: Lots of references!
** There's also references to other mythologies, such as that of China, Ireland and Ancient Greece.
* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]: The Dwarves here are similar to the ones in Norse myths. Notably, they are the only race able to handle iron, and as such are [[Blessed
* [[Our Elves Are Better]]: Subverted. The elves in this story are indeed superior to humans in many ways: faster, nimbler, practically immortal - and very cunning. However, they also have glaring weaknesses: they are vain, unable to form strong emotional bonds, cannot touch iron and are helpless against the power of gods (especially the christian God).
* [[Our Goblins Are Different]]: While lacking the trolls' strength, the Goblins in The Broken Sword can still be capable warriors if they have the motivation. They are also smarter thanthey look. At one point, Imric warns the scorn-filled Skafloc not to underestimate them, and later in the story a successful Goblin rebellion (against their Troll masters) is briefly mentioned.
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