A Fate Inked in Blood

“‘I will make it quick for the poor bastard’s sake, and then you’ll be free to pursue your every desire.’ ‘You will not!’ I gasped, despite Vragi’s untimely death being one of my most frequent daydreams. ‘I forbid it!’”

Freya knows that Bjorn is not serious about his offer to kill Vragi, but she explicitly forbids it even though she longs to be rid of her cruel husband. This scene establishes the ongoing conflict between duty versus desire, and Freya’s instinctive choice in this moment indicates that she feels compelled to put duty above personal desire.

“But I wanted to do more than just survive. I wanted my days to be more than time I needed to endure. I wanted to live them, to relish them. To find passion and excitement in them the way I had for that fleeting moment on the beach with a stranger.”

This passage reveals Freya’s complex and multifaceted motivations, revealing her desire to gain the freedom to live her life more fully. The quote also explains why she pretends to fight the forest trees with a branch and an improvised shield, and it reveals her reasons for reacting so strongly to her first encounter with Bjorn. Ultimately, it is clear that she sees the prospect of marrying Snorri as a means of realizing her previously impossible dreams of fighting in raiding bands.

“Nearly two decades ago, a seer spoke a prophecy to me of a shield maiden who’d been birthed the night of a red moon. She told me that this woman’s name would be born in the fire of the gods, and she would unite the people of Skaland beneath the rule of the one who controlled her fate. […] All is fated except the lives of the children of the gods. […] Your path is unknown and as you walk it, you rearrange the threads of all those around you.”

As Snorri reveals the details of the shield maiden prophecy to Freya, it becomes clear that this development will set the plot in motion and serve as a source of motivation for Freya and several other characters. For those who want power, the prophecy tells them that they will rule Skaland if they control Freya. However, the prophecy also implies that Freya must choose between a destiny that unites her people and brings her glory or an unknown future that she creates and controls.

“‘It is only a matter of time until Harald crosses the strait, and we have not the strength to fight him. Skaland must be united, and it is the will of the gods that they will be united beneath your rule. It is a sacrifice to share your hand with another, but one I will gladly accept to protect our people from our enemies.’ My stomach twisted with unexpected guilt, because I’d not considered that either of them had a higher purpose.”

Ylva says this to Snorri regarding his plan to marry Freya, and Freya reacts with discomfort and guilt as Ylva’s words reveal the worthy intention at the heart of their plans to use Freya’s power. However, this seed of a “higher purpose” is drowned beneath the corruption of ambition and power. Even so, Ylva’s words challenge Freya’s assessment of Snorri and his first wife and add complexity to Ylva’s character. The implication is that her rudeness toward Freya is the external manifestation of her inner emotional burdens.

“‘If you ever betray us,’ she whispered, ‘I won’t just kill you. I’ll make you watch while everyone you care about is carved apart, piece by piece, and when you are reduced to a broken thing, I’ll bury you alive.’”

Ylva’s potential for cruelty, as demonstrated in this threat, shows a more ruthless side to her personality, complicating her character as Danielle L. Jensen maintains a level of ambiguity regarding her true nature. Freya’s first-person narration ensures the continuation of this ambiguity. Apart from characterizing Ylva herself, this quote also demonstrates what is at stake for Freya, emphasizing that her choices are deeply influenced by the frequent threats against her family.

“[M]y mother always said knowing the future was a curse because, good or bad, you couldn’t change it. Except that I could. The one drop of blood Hlin had gifted me gave me the power to change my fate.”

This line asserts that Freya’s Unfated status is a gift. Whereas most mortals have no sense of control over their lives, Freya has the power to change her fate. The rest of the narrative will both challenge and support this position, affirming and contradicting it in turn. This narrative pattern is a deliberate stylistic choice that emphasizes The Tension Between Destiny and Autonomy.

“‘For twenty years I hunted you.’ Snorri gripped my arms hard enough that I’d have bruises tomorrow. ‘I refuse to lose my promised destiny within hours of possessing you.’ Possessing. The word made my muscles tighten as though my body itself rejected such a notion, but I said nothing.”

In Freya’s patriarchal society, she has grown used to feigning submission to men and making sacrifices to soothe their egos in order to protect herself. When she is freed from Vragi and set on a new path, she has reason to hope that things will change, but Snorri’s words prove that he sees Freya as a tool to wield, not a human being to honor and support.

“There was comfort in his touch, a safety that I’d never felt with a man before, and my sluggish mind slowly turned over why that might be […]. It was because there was no demand in his touch. No sense that he intended to take anything from me or to use me the way so many others had.”

In this scene, Bjorn holds Freya’s freezing body against his to warm her after they swim in the ice-cold fjord to set Gnut’s ships on fire. Freya’s love for Bjorn grows as his actions reinforce her initial assessment that he doesn’t intend to use her. However, Freya’s growing trust leads to an ironic twist when she learns that Bjorn is secretly aligned with Nordeland and has been tasked with delivering her to them.

“‘The gods will not grant you greatness for nothing,’ he said. ‘You must prove yourself to them.’ It was not lost on me that I’d once dreamed of greatness, and now, presented with it, it felt like the last thing I wanted.”

As Freya’s character develops, her desires and motivations change. After experiencing real battles and seeing the carnage and grief of the aftermath, Freya realizes that battle glory is not the ideal way to achieve greatness. In her culture, however, greatness and battle glory go hand-in-hand, so despite her disillusionment with the glories of fighting, she continues to lend her efforts to Snorri’s battles, choosing duty over desire.

“I liked him. Liked how he was both terrifyingly ruthless and heartbreakingly kind. […] Liked the way I felt not just safe in his presence, but strong. I wanted to be close to him, and I was terrified of how my feelings might grow if I kept feeding that want.”

This passage emphasizes that Freya’s feelings for Bjorn have transcended her initial lust, becoming strong enough to escalate the conflict between duty and desire. True to the conventions of the romance genre, this shift forces the characters’ budding romance to drive the plot. Here, Freya’s conflicting desire and trepidation highlights the risks of the relationship even as she recognizes and justifies her amorous feelings.

“My father holds your family hostage, and you’ve proven time and again that there is nothing you won’t do to protect them, no sacrifice you won’t make. Even though, if I might add, they don’t deserve it. Which means he can do whatever he wants, and you will abide.”

The external conflict between Freya and Snorri pits Freya’s desires for autonomy against her need to protect her family. Long before Freya analyzes the nature of her family dynamics, Bjorn recognizes the fact that her mother and brother take advantage of her. He sees how much of her autonomy she sacrifices herself for them, and his observation reiterates her altruistic compulsion to choose others over herself.

“‘You are a child of the gods, girl. You are one of the Unfated, which means everything you do has the power to alter your destiny, and the destinies of those around you, for good and ill.’ Not for the first time, I hated that fact. Longed to be fully mortal so that everything I’d ever do was already woven. For it felt like I was running down an unmapped path where I might easily lose my way, dragging myself and all those I cared for to our doom.”

Being Unfated changes the meaning and implications of free will for Freya. She can’t deny culpability for her choices or actions by attributing all of life’s events to fate. Instead, she must confront seemingly impossible decisions, and every option comes at a cost. In this quote, Ylva tells Freya that Snorri’s warriors left Halsar undefended to protect her, and Freya begins to realize the cost of her destiny and her decisions on her fellow Skalanders.

“What good is vengeance when all we know and love are dead? What glory will we feel in defeating our enemy if it means no hearth fire for us to return to?”

Snorri is eager to attack King Harald at the base of Hammar rather than returning to Halsar to defend it from attack. For Freya, the choice is either “[d]estroy our enemy or protect our home” (233). In this passage, she convinces the group to return to Halsar, proving that her values and motivations are more complex than the driving forces of geopolitical warfare that currently rule her society.

“It was the nature of our people to spit in defiance of adversity, to look forward rather than backward, to fixate on vengeance rather than to grieve for the fallen.”

After returning to Halsar and finding it already destroyed, Snorri and his warriors must choose between destroying their enemy and rebuilding their home. With their eagerness to fight, Jensen emphasizes that the patterns of Freya’s fictional world mirror those of its Norse-inspired culture. Freya therefore chooses cultural values that emphasize action rather than passivity, and this aspect of Jensen’s world-building creates a more deeply conflict-driven plot.

“Bodil snorted. ‘Not having willed something to have occurred doesn’t render a person blameless, woman. You know that as well as anyone.’ Given that guilt was a near-constant companion these days, I probably knew it better than most.”

Guilt plays a large role in guiding Freya’s choices. While she knows that a sense of responsibility is important for a leader, her inner turmoil proves that too much guilt is paralyzing. Here, Bodil is referring to the guilt that Bjorn feels for letting Freya grab his fire axe and burn herself. Ironically, although Freya doesn’t understand his guilt, she exhibits the same behavior patterns in other situations.

“‘You’ve never been alone,’ Bjorn said, his voice so soft that no one but me would hear over the wind and my weeping. ‘I will be at your back until I cross the threshold to Valhalla, Born-in-Fire, whether you want me there or not.’” […] Bjorn held me tight, stroking my hair, the certainty that he would not walk away crumbling all the walls I’d built around my heart […].”

After Freya nearly freezes to death on the way to Grindill, Bjorn makes this declaration, and the moment marks a turning point in their relationship. Freya’s divine gift, her magic shield, echoes the metaphorical walls she has built around her heart, suggesting that she fears emotional vulnerability and abandonment as much as physical danger. Trusting Bjorn enough to let those walls drop moves her forward in her character transformation.

“‘You are mine, Born-in-Fire. Even if only the two of us know it.’ I was. Gods help me, but I was. And for the first time in my life, it felt like I wanted for nothing.”

When Freya and Bjorn finally stop resisting their forbidden attraction and openly commit themselves to each other, the moment changes the course of the plot as both characters embrace The Consequences of Exercising Free Will. However, Bjorn’s statement also proves ironic, given the eventual revelation of his betrayal. Freya has fought the idea of being possessed by anyone, but now she allows herself to “belong” to Bjorn because she trusts him and believes that he is different than other men.

“‘Bodil is dead because—’

‘Because she willingly went into battle, and in battle, people fall. She knew the risks as well as anyone, Freya. Certainly knew them better than you.’

I flinched, […] my rage faltering beneath the onslaught of sharper emotions. I’d chosen to fight today knowing that I was weak. I’d stumbled. I’d dropped my shield. I’d left Bodil exposed. I’d killed her.”

These lines offer a telling example of Freya’s problematic level of guilt and her habit of blaming herself for events beyond her control. Despite the logic of Bjorn’s argument, Freya remains unconvinced, demonstrating her tendency to feel unwarranted guilt and self-blame. As the story unfolds, more extreme situations will ultimately force Freya to overcome this internal flaw.

“‘Ask yourself how Skaland will become united. Then ask what you’ll have to become to achieve that end.’ ‘What does it matter?’ I demanded, because I didn’t want to look into myself to find the answers to those questions.”

In Steinunn’s ballad, Freya sees her own actions in the battle of Grindill through others’ eyes and realizes how brutal and terrifying she becomes when the divinely inspired rage overtakes her. She doesn’t want to acknowledge this seemingly monstrous part of her because it will force her to make a difficult choice: achieving glory as a battle legend or taking a more peaceful path and preserving her humanity.

“‘I love my husband,’ Ylva said. ‘But he sees only the glory, not the backs of those he must step upon to achieve it. […] I do not wish to see him rise to power on a tide of fear. Do not wish for that to be my son’s legacy.’”

Ylva’s words reveal how Snorri has changed in her eyes and imply that despite her cruelty toward her enemies, she also has the potential for compassion. She was previously in agreement with Snorri’s plans and was willing to help him exploit Freya. However, this passage suggests that she is having a change of heart.

“If the child is gifted only avarice, her words will be curses, but if gifted altruism, what divine power she might make her own is a fate yet unwoven.”

Hlin makes this enigmatic prophecy about Freya to her mother. Although Freya does not know how the prophecy will affect her life, it has significant implications for the series’ development. Because Freya continually chooses to put others’ needs before her own, it is clear that she has been “gifted altruism.” This passage therefore suggests she has more divine power than she realizes, and that her power may, in fact, be unlimited.

“I’d told my mother that I was through with her. It’s time you made your own way in the world. A lie, because I refused to abandon her.”

This quote provides an example of Freya’s intrinsic altruism. Despite finally recognizing her mother’s selfishness, Freya still chooses to protect Kelda when a new threat arises. This frustrates Bjorn, who hates to see Freya sacrifice her own wants and needs, but Hlin’s foretelling suggests that this altruism will give Freya the strength she needs to achieve her own chosen destiny.

“Geir and Ingrid chose this, the voice whispered from the depths of my mind. They’ve earned this fate. Why sacrifice your own destiny to protect them from it? […] Indecision wracked my body, threatening to tear me apart, because I didn’t know what to do.”

This scenario mirrors the one in which Freya protects her mother despite her realization that Kelda does not deserve it. However, the anguish of indecision that Freya feels in this moment emphasizes The Consequences of Exercising Free Will, and it is clear that Freya must accept this element of uncertainty as the cost of being Unfated. Only with her acceptance of this dynamic will she be able to achieve her goals and help the people of Skaland.