The third act of Robert Zemeckis’s underrated Beowulf adaptation begins with a dour meditation. “We men are the monsters now,” the aging hero rumbles. “The time of heroes is dead, Wiglaf—the Christ God has killed it, leaving humankind with nothing but weeping martyrs, fear, and shame.”
Some version of Beowulf’s sentiments here—penned by screenwriter and acclaimed novelist Neil Gaiman, author of the legendary-America fantasy novel American Gods—often pervades contemporary stories about the old Norse culture. And indeed, as far as pagan traditions go, there is something uniquely arresting about the old Norse faith, depicting as it does a world of blood and sex and fire and ice, haunted by terrifying monsters. The tradition’s metaphysics were defined by conflict—with the valiant destined for a Valhalla of perpetual warring, and the universe itself hurtling inexorably towards a final, fateful Ragnarök. Such a Steel Age Mindset offers not merely the thrill of…
