The Tragic Ballad of Jorundr
*spoilers for Vikings: Valhalla Season 2 ahead for any of you who plan on watching*
1 Quote
“It is no accident that this homeplace, as fragile and as transitional as it may be, a makeshift shed, a small bit of earth where one rests, is always subject to violation and destruction. For when a people no longer have the space to construct homeplace, we cannot build a meaningful community of resistance.” —bell hooks, Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics
1 Reflection
*the following contains spoilers for Vikings: Valhalla Season 2 for any of (the few of? lol) you who plan on watching*
It is a tragic reality that those who speak up about abuses of power are often met with violence instead of belief and tangible action to seek accountability. This can be said for all whistleblowers, who face severe risk to career, livelihood, and personal safety in various forms like being fired, threatened, assaulted, defamed, or even killed.
I see this in the character arc of Jorundr in Vikings: Valhalla Season 2. What happens to him is so classic, so textbook, and so tragic that it should act as a lesson in the tactics of coercive power as well as the role of community in resistance.
The setting: Jorundr is a Jomsviking of the semi-mythical community of Jomsborg, and depicted in the show as a key leader, perhaps second only to Harekr, who is clearly the one running the show in Jomsborg. We meet Jorundr as someone who is rescuing refugees who are victims of religious persecution. As we travel with the refugees into Jomsborg, it seems like an incredible safe haven, yet with some things that just feel…off.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to paper careplanes to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.