A thing for escapism - More thoughts on the film "Mara und der Feuerbringer" and a resolve

Okay, so you all know it. We all are faced with a world full of war and greed and hate, and there seems to be not much hope at all left. Every day in the media, in the web, we are faced with new catastrophes and new forces of Evil trying to take the oh-so-superior Western civilisation to hell. If you read the newspaper, you have to hold it straight up to keep the blood from dropping out of the lines. Once the communist regimes of Russia (and the Russian people) were the personification of Satan, and we were told to hate them, now it´s the Muslims. Good jobs are scarce, and if you don´t have one, you are subject to exploit and abuse or even worse. Kids should not play, but learn in order to get a good career going in order to "survive". Survival is estimated by income. The middle class is practically non - existent. You are either upper class or antisocial (a quote from a head of corporation I had the doubtful pleasure to meet). Bad news pepper your mind every day, every minute, every second. It is not a place for dreams, this world, isn´t it? Is it really?

A very strange thought occurred to me, and a very strange observation I have made. I meet many people from the "upper class". In fact, many of my former mountainbike team are actually members of the upper class. At work, I work with upper and middle management people in business promotion. I noticed something very strange. Many of them get dumb.

What I mean is, those people should be well educated and sharp - witted, and they actually were once. But many of them seem to degenerate, to a degree that some of them are not even able to fulfil  the least requirements of social structures. They are still able to maintain their life, because they live in a structure that degenerates with them, but, judging from an outside point of view, their intellectual capacity is deteriorating fast. This observation is not even exclusive to myself. I would be glad to pass it off as a hallucination of a guy that encounters a bit of a hardship sometimes and has many things in his mind to work on, to be diplomatic;-). But this observation has a strong backing in scientific research, so much in fact that it is a commonplace. It is a well-used theory that our intensive use of computer aids and comfort add to this degeneration of our mind. Now this could be just another kind of bad news, and many might get into bed, draw the blanket over their eyes and not get up again, and I´d be lying if I said I could not understand them.

But I also made another observation. For I met other people also. Different people. Often people who have to work extremely hard to just so make a living for themselves and their families. They don´t have a good career, or maybe some of them actually do, for this observation is not exclusive to people without a decent job. But they have something in common. They are sharp of wits, socially and intellectually competent, and many of them are what many so - called heads of society would call a hazy-eyed dreamer.

 Reenactors, artists - mostly deviant artists - bushcrafters, preppers, Pagans, Christians, Muslims. People who call themselves druids or heroes. Musicians living just so from the extraordinary music they make with a guitar consisting mainly of holes, duct tape and splintered wood. I think of Rhobynn Byrdd, a ranger and druid and musician the magic troll and I met once in Marburg. He sat there, all clad in green, barefoot with the aforementioned guitar and his clothes and the shoes standing near his battered backpack held together with twine. Everything he had was beaten, used and battered, he took a swig from abottle of cheap beer, and yet he did not look like a bum. On his guitar case there was a silver badge of the tree of life, and when he sang, he transformed the hallway into a concert hall, or better yet, the Golden Halls of Lothlórien or the halls of Rivendell. We bought a CD from him, and he traded in some dreams and weird tales and we talked a huge pile of shit. But that wasn´t all of it. When I first read the "Lord Of The Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien, I had the same impression getting to know him when  the author described the first encounter of the wayfaring hobbits with Aragorn, Arathorn´s son. I am well aware that Rhobynn´s life is not at all romantic. And this is the dimension of truth behind it all: For if you really try to FEEL the figure of Aragorn, Arathorn´s son, you notice that he isn´t romantic, either. And Rhobynn is not a figure in a book. He is not a fantasy novel. But he refuses to give up his hope and dream. He stubbornly clings to being a "ranger". He stubbornly clings to his dream, even in a damp tent in a November rain with little to eat and no warmth at all. And this makes him a real - world hero. He fights enemies of mankind we cannot even agnize and that would "make our hearts freeze" could we take them for real. Rhobynn´s art and prowess are extraordinary. He is a story become true.

He lives in a dream.

I have met many people like him in the last few years. Many of these experiences I made with the love of my life by my side, and I cannot tell how grateful I am for that. And, talking of which, I have realized that we are like them. We are dreamers, yap. We care about all those people suffering in Nepal now, but then we know that the elders of the Inuit tell the hunting grounds become strange. The North pole has shifted, so they say. Shamans and dreamers report that something is changing, and many of them tell of something very grey and dark on the rise. Sounds like a fantasy novel? They also say the earth will shift. Nepali Bön priests tell of the serpent that is preparing either for war or shifting in its sleep. Maya and Aztec astronomers announced the rise of the winged serpent. Myth. Magic. Hazy-eyed dreams. But we ask, why has the earth trembled? In what direction has it risen or fallen? We ask the signs, and many call us cold - hearted to ask these questions. But we ask because we want to know how to give hope the way Rhobynn gave us. We are druids and tellers of stories.

There are many like us, and please forgive me if I cannot be too objective. It is just a feeling I have. I see the children of reenactors, and I work with the  children of the middle management. The  middle management kids often are to be called as bad an attribute as retarded.

One 9 - year -old I worked with and who was absolutely normal according to the interview I did with the parents was not only far too small for the age (I first mistook him for a 4-year-old), but severely motorically challenged, so far in fact that he was not able to distinguish his hammer from his arms, had difficulties of hitting the anvil in front of him and could not tell left from right. I had to "anchor" him by touching the body part he had to move just in order to make him step up the step ladder in order to achieve the proper working height over the anvil. He visited a private school, a gymnasium of a very good reputation. But also his abstraction capabilities and intellectual capability was not "adequate" (I hope you know that I do not mean a disqualification by this, but refer to the system valid in the society of five years ago.) in a degree that terrified me. And the examples are legion. There is two kids of thirty maybe coming to the smithy not acting severely socially inadequate, and I mean it, when I say. I am not talking swear words or a bit of testing borders, but trying to swing a hammer full -tilt at the face of their fellows just to see what happens.

Now enter the encampment area of a re-enactment fair. Escapists and dreamers are gathered there, not being able to stand reality and dressing up like characters from a fantasy film. Some of them can be respected by the so-called normal and socially relevant people by doing actual living history and re-enacting the Viking age in a human zoo, but most of them actually do not put a mask on, but a mask off on the weekend. There are some middle management types, good people, bad people, and people in general. People from many social classes. But take a look at the kids. Often sooty, dirty, barefoot, and some even wear sharpened seaxes. They treat each other a bit rough often. But they act responsibly around the fire and the weapons and gladly accept responsibilities such as chopping wood and fetching water. And I have never in the roundabout 25 years of re-enactment seen a reenactor´s child kicking or beating anyone who had fallen to the ground, with the exception of an observed martial arts contest.

Dreamers like Petr and his son. Escapists. How come now that those escapists seem to be more capable than the "Herrenmenschen", the masters of virtual and economy? How come that those apparent outcasts are socially more capable, more intelligent and more virile?

I could bore you with scientific studies and sociological research. But I am a dreamer, so I´d try to answer the question with a dream.

In "Mara und der Feuerbringer" the protagonist, 14-year-old Mara Lorbeer has to face the "Feuerbringer" a demonic would-be god that was born out of a demon, a wrong translation - and, as I interpret it- psychological neglect. One could learn that there also is more to the dubious Dr. Thurisaz mentioned in the film, obviously making a big business out of selling esoteric seminars. But there is more to the seemingly superficial seminars. I a second part of the film we COULD learn, why the firebringer gains his power and whereof he is made. Mara is not done with him in the least, and the second book and the third (and I guess the fourth, which is currently in the making) will offer a lot of insight into the mythological world which is courtesy of Tommy as well as the Vikings themselves. And here is where the rubber hits the road and myth and magic meet the so - called actual world. The film was made with two big - term corporations. It was considered as recommendable by objective and independent institutes in Germany, and yet by active ignorance became subject to sabotage. But I do not want to rant on endlessly about that fact.

There was a growing community of people with a dream centering around Tommy and his achievement. Reenactors, poets, students and professors of Old Norse literature as well as druids and storytellers, musicians and lovers of fantasy and science fiction. How I am informed did they fight the sabotage and even managed a small victory in that smaller cinemas now boycott this abominable Marvel Avenger cartoon novel trash film in favour of a great movie made with heartfelt love. It was love that created this victory, and you can take for granted that I do not advertise this film because I get money or any other advantage from it than the dream coming to life. For if you look closely at how the topic of the movie and the adventures of Mara Lorbeer interfere with reality you notice something weird and wonderful: That where the story ends, another begins. And this latter story is deeply rooted in our prosaic everyday life, a life we thought was bereft of any wonders and cleaned and sanitized from all magic.

There is a loving community now. Dreamers, for sure. Escapists.

But escapists with teeth and nails. And as Mara Lorbeer faces the deity that wants to doom the world, with a little help by the professor and the Gods, the real story happening alongside it in the so - called real world coincides.

We all are faced with doom. It is reality. And a dark and unholy shadow is lurking in the sunshine of a world we thought was ours to take and shape. And it was all of us who invocated the shadow by forgetting to dream and love and tell our children wonderful stories. It is quite unhelpful to sit back and grin and look forward to the Apokalypse, as many monotheistic fanatics do. This attitude helped pave the road for the Evil that has befallen our world, the cynical grey god of a machinery human.

This cyborg human subspecies is thrice blessed and thrice cursed. First, it seems overly powerful and almighty. It has no dreams and thus no fear. It has not feelings but lust, greed and hate. It has everything it could want for and yet will always hunger for more, until it has eaten the world and all of its dreams. It feeds on all things colourful and turns it into a hopeless grey.

Am I wrong? Read the newspaper, watch the TV, browse the internet. And find your own opinion.

I am a dreamer. I guess I am a bit like Tommy, and Jonny, and Rhobynn. I am frightened, and cold, and I often have no hope left in the November rain.

But there is the love of my life by my side. I do not know how I will survive or fare. But I know there´s always help. As long as you stubbornly believe in your dream, and if you can´t do it, stubbornly believe you could, I guess there´d always be a way.

We will walk into the woods, into the night, along the stems of moss and tree into the golden twilight where both worlds meet. There it will be we will be clothed. There it will be we will find our weapons. There will be the place of our feasting and our fighting.

Death to the Maggot of Grey!

Marihar Iala Makija!

Some thoughts on Mara- the film by Tommy Krappweis

Tommy Krappweis, inventor of German cult cartoon character (uh, am I possessed because I write in aliterations?;-)) "Bernd das Brot", has made a very, very great film. "Mara und der Feuerbringer", a spellbinding story about a young girl discovering that she is a spákóna and has to save the world from the fate of the Gods, the Ragnarök, has a lot to offer. Dragons, Vikings, professors dunked into a stream and THE idol of many students of Old Norse literature, Prof. Dr. Rudolph Simek, in a role playing himself as a teacher. And there is a most evil character, a new-born God called Loge, the firebringer. This ursurper kidnaps the wife of Loki, the genuine Old Norse God of fire, deception and satire, the trickster of the Gods. Myth has it that Loki was bound by the thundergod, Thórr, to a rock and tortured by the poisonous saliva of a giant snake fastened above him. His wife, Sigyn, helps Loki by gathering up the saliva in her magic bowl. But when the bowl is full, she has to empty it, and when Loki is hit by the poison again, he writhes and cries, and his cries shake the ground. Ultimately, the shaking earth will loosen his bounds, and then the end of the world as we know it will come. Now Sigyn (and her bowl) are kidnapped, and if you take that to mind you realize the world´s in for big trouble. Mara, with the help of Prof. Weissinger and a migration-era superhero is the only one capable of bringing back Sigyn and her bowl from the captivity of Loge.

Loge has many characteristics of Surtr, the Eddic fire giant, but there is more to him. For he has been born out of a wrong translation and Wagnerian hype. And the perversion of Old Germanic mythology by the Nazi regime in the Third Reich, one might add.

Prof. Weissinger, in one scene of the movie, states that he owes the fact that his office is situated in the basement of the University to the Nazis and their ideology that up until now renders a study of the subject near impossible. He gets infuriated by the media hype about vikings with horned helmets, cartoon characters and underwear models as Norse heroes... this I take as a very little nasty comment on recent media productions not exactly brimming with authenticity, so to say;-).

And, OH, how well I can relate to this! I once studied Old Norse literature as well, at Bochum University. We were constantly threatened by closure, were cut short on finance, had no access to modern literature and constantly had to legitimate ourselves for studying topics such as runeology, a science about the study of runes and runic inscriptions, since the Nazis also  did this and that.

Enter Loge. He is not just the personification of Wagnerian provenience, but also of the madness of the esoteric approach, of media hype, and the ultimate enemy of any sincere scientific and mythological approach towards Old Norse mythology. And, as C.G. Jung stated in Wotan (1928), the neglect of this genuine mythology ultimately leads to mass hysteria and neurosis, being one reason the Nazi regime had such an easy dealing with the mass psyche of Germany.

We live in a world where surface is everything, where buying, selling and consuming are the primary sense of life. Many of my so-called friends have developed a psychotic line of behaviour along this frenzy, this frantic run through life, where there are no values left.

Generally, there is a strong desire, an outright yearning for myth. But, as Ursula K. Le Guin, author of the famed "Earth Sea" series states in her foreword to the new book of the series, the industry is already reacting. By marketing hype and consumer politics even dragons are subject to buying and selling and thusly deprived of their enchantment and magic. I personally believe that this is not only due to business policies and marketing strategies, but a reactionary social process. People with a strong and stable character are less prone to hype and marketing hysteria. Genuine myth and fairy tale offer a strong method of character - building, and, it is a commonplace in psychology that myths have a strong influence on the development of personality and character. Strong characters have a tendency to question their own consumer behaviour. The media have long lost their objectivity in favour of spreading a mixture of fearmongering news and marketing. Product placement and underwear models as superheroes are a normal marketing strategy in our time. A true story without intent of selling anything but its own content is hard to come by. This goes as far as the use of fantasy classics such as the Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Apart from the movies which were not THAT bad, but not THAT good either, you can buy anything from t-shirts, cups, stickers, replicas, toilet paper and whatnot. The pictures created by the movie are commonplace now. Millions of fans now have the same picture of a king, with the associated merchandise flowing in behind. It is refreshing to see, however, that the victory over the wild psychological landscape of fantasy is not complete. Still there are artists, e.g. like my idol in blacksmithing, Gullinbursti creating art that brings up different pictures, and re-enacting the myth and thusly unmounting the rigid regime of those marketing pictures.

Enter Tommy. I daresay he believes in myth and magic. He appears not a hazy-eyed dreamer, but in any case he wanted to create a modern myth to give back something to the world of fancy and dreams in the best sense of the word. He is very authentic and created a genuine myth.

And here comes the culprit: He did so with co - financing by a big-player TV production corporation famed for hype and marketing in the worst sense of the word. Of course, this corporation does nothing else than other corporations do. But I personally have the impression that they financed a production they deemed harmless and serviceable only to learn there was a myth created with a lot of potential to endanger many marketing strategies they had thought up. What better way then to get rid of it than doing no marketing for the movie and letting it die? From an accounting depreciation point you could easily account it as a dismission depreciation, and there´d be no second part to fear. More important yet was that the distribution corporation tried to label it as a mere children´s movie while it actually is THE best fantasy movie Germany has come up with since the venue of the Michael - Ende novel film "Die unendliche Geschichte" (The Neverending Story). The message was "leave the making of fantasy films to the Americans, they know their trade better". This would have been the end of the story.

But that does neither take into account Tommy nor the community he created in two weeks time. Throughout Germany, people from many social backgrounds socialized and visited the cinema to watch the movie repeatedly - as a statement. They went there in their re-enactment attire or as a cosplayer. I daresay, Loge is writhing now in anger;-). And why should it be that German directors should not be able to create a decent fantasy film? There´s no reason they should not. German history is brim full with authors of fairy tales (Grimm, E.T.A Hoffmann, Eichendorff, Storm, Goethe, Schiller, just to name a few). The German fantasy scene is thriving and is one of the liveliest in the world.

Mara is not just a film now. It is a movement, and I am proud to have part in it. I am proud to kick Loge´s ass myself. It is about time that real people took to peacefully repairing a shattered world.

Tommy has started it. He is a genuine, true hero to me. I ask... what would be if the rebels of dreams joined forces?

 

 

I just want  my readers to take hope into the fact that still it is possible to have a mind open to real pictures of the mind, real fantasies, and real dreams... and that it is never too late to fight for your dream. Such as Tommy does and many others who follow him. 

 

 

Never surrender.

Rettet Mara! (Save Mara...)

(English article below the German version)

Neu in den Kinos und schon zum Scheitern verdammt zu sein scheint der von der FBW Filmbewertung mit dem Prädikat "wertvoll" ausgezeichnete Film "Mara und der Feuerbringer". Tommy Krappweis, Erfinder der Kultfigur "Bernd das Brot", der auch schon die Bücher der Mara - Trilogie verfasste, führte Regie. Der Film wurde unter anderem durch den bekannten Altgermanisten, Skandinavisten und Philologen Prof. Dr. Rudolph Simek, Verfasser zahlreicher Standardwerke zur nordischen Mythologie, beraten und liebevoll und jugendgerecht umgesetzt. Im Film werden wichtige Fragen der jugendlichen Entwicklung aufgegriffen und in den Kontext der skandinavischen Mythologie gesetzt: Die Protagonistin, Mara Lorbeer, die in der Schule bislang das Leben einer Außenseiterin führte, entdeckt eines Tages, dass sie eine Spákóna, eine Seherin in der nordischen Tradition ist. Nur sie allein kann die Welt retten, die vom Untergang und dem "Endschicksal der Götter", dem Ragnarök, bedroht wird. Unterstützt wird sie dabei von einem Skandinavistik - Professor, der einige Überraschungen erlebt, aber auch zu bieten hat. Der Film stellt neben vielen anderen Aspekten eine Tour de Force durch die Welt der nordischen Mythologie dar, bietet jedoch auch eine ganz entscheidende Kritik an dem Umgang mit dem Thema vor und während der Zeit des Dritten Reichs. Die Figur des Loge, die den Widersacher der jungen Seherin darstellt, thematisiert die pathologische Verfremdung der alten Mythen während dieser Zeit.

 

Der Film stellt eine kurzweilige und wertvolle Unterhaltung, nicht nur für Kinder und Jugendliche, sondern gerade auch für gebildete Erwachsene dar, und bietet kulturelle Aufarbeitung mit wohldosierter Action auf hohem Niveau. Die deutsche Produktion mit namhaften Größen wie Esther Schweins und Christoph Maria Herbst (Stromberg) wurde durch eine namhafte TV- und Kinoproduktionsgesellschaft produziert. Jedoch steht zu befürchten, dass der Film aufgrund mangelnder Werbung wieder in der Versenkung verschwindet. In sozialen Netzwerken wird daher zu bewußtem Engagement für diese deutsche Produktion aufgerufen. So ist bereits eine regelrechte Bewegung entstanden, die sich aus Museumsdarstellern, Germanisten, Skandinavisten und anderen Geisteswissenschaftlern zusammensetzt. Diese Bewegung setzt sich neben dem Einsatz für einen sehenswerten Film auch und besonders für die unverkrampfte Auseinandersetzung mit wichtigen nordeuropäischen Mythen ein. Denn gerade in einem geprüften Europa ist diese Auseinandersetzung mehr als wichtig: Nur wer weiß, wo er herkommt, kann gemeinsam mit anderen auch die Herausforderungen der Zeitgeschichte nachhaltig meistern.

 

Es bleibt also nur ein Aufruf: Besucht diesen sehenswerten und wertvollen Film mit Eurer Familie oder allein und handelt damit in mehrfachem Sinne positiv für die Förderung deutscher Kultur in einem europäischen Zusammenhang. Wenn Ihr ihn gut findet, sprecht darüber. Teilt ihn auf facebook und twitter, schickt ihn an alle Eure Freunde. Macht ein Event draus, geht in Gewandung in den Film oder mit Holzfällerhemd, Chucks und T-Shirt, wie Mara es tun würde. Und zeigt so den Mobbing Kids "eine WIRKLICHE Schlange" (Zitat aus Mara... neugierig?;-))

 

 

 

Hier gibts ein Interview mit Tommy Krappweis, der sich für sein Baby den Arsch bis zur Erschöpfung aufreisst.

 

 

 

 

So, now to a little insight for my English readers. You might have wondered why it is that you read on Fimbulmyrk about yet another fantasy film. "Mara und der Feuerbringer", a motion picture directed by German film director Tommy Krappweis, who by coincidence is also author of the fantasy novel trilogy, however is more than just another fantasy movie.

 

It is a spellbinding story about some things those of us who are old might remember still - it is about growing up and not giving up on your dreams in the process. It is about a little girl, Mara Lorbeer, being mobbed at school, and having a hard life - with a mother who is on something of an esoteric rampage, a frantic quest for sense in a world deprived of all magic and being beaten up at school by the bully kids. In this situation she learns that she is actually a spákóna, a seeress in the Old Norse tradition. The film, by the way, was counselled by the famed Austrian philologist Prof. Dr. Rudolph Simek, author of many benchmark works concerning Old Norse mythology and philology. If you know Prof. Dr. Simek and you learn that Mara gets a much - needed support by "the professor", you might even discover some similarities. For Mara desperately is in need of support: She is the only one capable of saving the world from the "Ragnarök", the final fate of the Gods. In a most eloquent way the ultimate enemy is introduced: Loge, who shares many, many characteristics with the fire Jotun (giant) Surtr, who storms the Asgardian realm with his flaming sword on the day of doom. But Loge is made of a different stuff. He gets his power by the neglection of Nordic myth and the hysterical and pathological way Nazi Germany adapted the tales of the Gods in the time of the Third Reich and before. Being the mythological personification of the Loge of Wagnerian provenience, Loge seems to be larger than life, and at  the first look it seems next to impossible that a little girl could manage to even face this almighty and powerful God who is even capable of kidnapping the wife of the great deceiver of Norse mythology, Loki, himself. But both Loge and the spectators are in for a surprise. The professor and Mara both learn from each other, thusly making the perfect match for the adventure. This to me is a message that has certainly enriched my life: That the virile creativity and the academical view can work hand in hand to cope with the overly strong and Evil force that threatens the world.

 

I have watched the film. It is well suited for Youth and children, but you can truly appreciate it if you have some insight into the Norse mythology. And here it is where the story enters into real life.

 

For Tommy Krappweis produced the film for a huge TV and cinema production corporation. The motion picture was considered with the official predicate of being a valuable one for kids and adults alike. But fact is, there is next to no advertising for this movie by the corporation. The film is no supported and Tommy himself advertises it via facebook and twitter in hope of being able to fund the second part of the movie.

 

To me personally there is a very acrid stench of fish around the whole process, one that I know all too well from my time of studying Old Norse literature, the stench of outright sabotage, ignorance and neglect. When studying, we were always faced with the accusation of being Fascist or Nazi just because we wanted the outright opposite - learning about the truth of Norse mythology to get rid of the ridiculous endeavours of Nazi Germany. Or plain ignorance, neglect and derision. In order to fight for our country, to regain a healthy national identity we strove to look through the nationalistic pamphlets, through the sneer and sniggering of materialists and the almighty businessmen. We were fighters then, we are fighters now.

 

And here comes the beauty of it all: Philologists and reenactors, philosophers and students, kids and adults alike have formed a friendly and peaceful community to support this modern-day myth. A genuine myth, for its is the mythological personification of one of the biggest fights of our time: The fight of the dream against the egomaniac times, the fight of the heart against hate and greed, and the fight of our nation for a healthy identity. For only if you really know who you are you can truly welcome guests or fight enemies within, as our time demands from us all. Mara fights our fight, and she has become a symbol for this fight, and I sincerely wish that creativity and science will form a shield wall against the force of Evil - that dwells in ourselves.

 

Watch the movie. It´s not a heebie-jeebie action fancy where things go kaboom every second. It is sincere, and unpretentious, funny, serious, and atmospheric. It is a children´s film for adults, and adult film for children. It´s about fighting dragons, heroes, swords, friendship, love and freeing Gods.

 

But be warned: The "Vikings" series might make you throw up afterwards:-D. 

And here´s a poem I wrote long ago (and was inspired by the hélstáfnar runes on the rune inscription of Rök, Sweden: "Sibbe veahvari ól niraethr", but seems to strangely fit now:


Vaivarar Kríg

Hrafnar thrjá floginn yfir hafinns,
Hrafnar thrja,
Inn fyrsta fló,
Hann fló till Útgards,
Annar fló,
Hann fló till Midgards,
Inn thridi fló,
Hann fló till Asgards.

Hveistu hvé hrafnar sagum?
Hveistu hvé rúnar ratinn?
Hveistu hvé sóa ok hvé rista skál?

Vart sverdtíd, vart blóttid,
Vart vaevarar kríg,
Vid mannligan vapnóm vi gangan till strids:

Vid sverdi ok skeggi ok gándr av ýr,
Vid fyfir fárbauti ok gándr av ýr,
Vid iarnarbrótt iarnt ok gándr av ýr,
Vid galdinn ok seidinn ok gándr av ýr,
Vid rúnor ok sógur ak gándr av ýr-

Vi kempan att vinna ok vinnan it lands.

The war of the guardians of the sacred

Raven three flew over the sea,
Raven three.
The first flew, he flew to Útgard,
The other flew, he flew to Midgard,
The third one flew, he flew to Asgard.

Do you know what the ravens say?
Do you know what the runes council?
Do you know how to sacrifice and how to write?

It is sword - time, it is time to sacrifice,
The war of the Vaivari (sentinels of the sacred) has come,
With gleaming weapons we face combat:

With sword and axe and a staff of yew,
With the arrow´s giant and a staff of yew,
With shards of broken iron and a staff of yew,
With sorcery and witchcraft and a staff of yew,
With runes and tales and a staff of yew,

We will fight to win and claim this land.

Please take note: This is in no way an academical way of treating the topic. Actually, we read the phrase "Sibbe uuai uaari" as "Sibbe of Vé" nowadays, and my teacher, Prof. Dr. Else Ebel would whack the shit out of me, but hey, it´s poetry. It is fantasy. I have also messed up the writing, for I can´t find the types for the "dh" and "th" sounds. But I guess the point´s made nonetheless. To my English - speaking readers: There´s something you can do: Inquire about the movie in English. Tell your friends about it. Share it on facebook and twitter and social networks. And "show the bullies a real snake" (quote from Mara).

So, Tommy, if you read this: Take care, and rest assured that you are not alone.