8 Qualities of A Viking Warrior (Part 2)
The previous blog post about Viking warrior qualities has presented four out of eight major key to embody the qualities of a Viking warrior. This part 2 blog post illustrates the other four keys.
Fear not death
It might cause some misunderstanding here. In Part 1, we claim that the Vikings treasured their life a lot. But this quality refers to the fearlessness of death. Indeed, the Vikings both wanted to live but if they had to sacrifice their life for something good, they would not hesitate a second.
If it came to family's security, clan's sake, or gods-related issues, Viking warriors would wait for no second to sacrifice their life.
The Vikings were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in battle
In battle, any Vikings daring to join the military meant they could make the ultimate sacrifice. They feared not death. Because only the warrior death could earn them a place in Valhalla, feasting and chanting along with the gods.
A relentless pursuit of knowledge
Viking warriors worshipped Odin and Odin was the god of wisdom in Norse mythology. This made the Vikings chase after Odin's qualities one of which was his non-stop pursuit of knowledge. Odin never stopped learning new things. And so did the Vikings.
In recorded history, hardly did the Vikings reject people from other religion. They would grab every chance to communicate and exchange culture with other non-Viking ones. With this openness, the Vikings could learn many new things beyond their border.
Odin the Allfather was one of the most worshipped gods in the Viking Age
For example, the Vikings learnt the techniques of building trelleborg somewhere beyond their border. And the archaeologists once said the Viking trelleborg was the most geometrically precise and they had not seen any fort reach that perfection.
Dream big and work hard on it
The Vikings dared to dream big. From small hit-and-run military attacks, the Vikings gradually adopted more complicated military tactics. They changed their small attacks into territorial conquests. Once, the Vikings became the nightmare befalling Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
This meant, the Vikings dared to dream big and they also dared to work hard on it. They put their dream on the planning board and from the planning board, they made it to reality.
Viking warriors changed their small hit and run attacks into larger military conquest
Faith
Historians believed that what made the Vikings become such fierce warriors was their firm belief in their gods. Faith, after all, has always been the expectation for something good to come. It was different from hope. Hope is in the mind, faith lives in the heart and the spirit of one individual. When life gets hard, faith becomes knowledge, power, and the brightest guide leading through the darkest time.
The Vikings had a firm faith in Norse Pantheon. And that's what made them become that powerful. Faith is the most powerful thing that helped the Vikings to get beyond their power limits reaching new land and making their name be known until now.
