Meet the Characters: Finn Stigandr
- jennifermckeithen
- Aug 6, 2014
- 3 min read
On the doorstep of a peat and stone house, high above the fjords, a boy sat waiting for the moon to rise.
While his mother boiled a meager soup and his father packed their few belongings, Finn watched the northern lights dance across the sky. He tried to burn the image of them into his memory, for his father had told him one seldom saw such sights as far south as Atlantis. That was where they were going in the morning.
“The lands can't support all of the people living here,” his father had said, “And with this famine affecting all from here to Ériu, some must leave or everyone will starve.”
Finn's stomach rumbled. His mother's soup would be the last thing they'd have to eat for a while. “It won't be for long,” she assured him, “No one goes hungry in Atlantis. Not even the poor.”
Green illumination from above flickered on the recently fallen snow. The autumnal equinox was nearing, a time when it was said a man could see his fate in the heavens. It certainly seems true now, Finn thought, given that we're leaving for the strange southern lands tomorrow. It's as though the lights wish us a good journey.
With a twinge of sorrow, the boy knew deep down in his heart that he would never see the land of his birth after their departure upon the morning. But aside from that one event, his future seemed as murky and mysterious as the churning black sea, not at all clear like the skies on this night with the lights' guiding beams.
“What is my purpose?” he asked them.
He received no response. The lights continued their silent dance. Off in the east, a crescent moon peaked behind the undulating ribbons.
*
In writing Finn's character, several factors played a part in his formation. In writing Finn's character, several factors played a part in his formation. Egil's Saga captured my imagination the first time I read it in college. Between reading some of the other Norse Sagas and listening to Wagner's epic operas, I found myself inspired to write about a Norse hero. Though I've never lived that far north (and have no wish to), a few years in the Midwest was close enough to give me at least an idea. Like the Icelandic storytellers of old, I spent many a long, dark winter night watching the snow fall as I weaved my fantastical yarns.
As to other inspirations for Finn, Pierre from Tolstoy's War & Peace is an obvious parallel. In addition to his stirring personal odyssey to understand his purpose in the universe, I was captivated by how he loved and looked after Natasha for all those years from a distance, knowing he could never have her. Sir Lancelot from the Arthurian Legends was another component of Finn's development.
Other than the fact that they would both be good men at heart, I wanted my two main heroes to be complete opposites. Unlike Marcus (who we'll meet in a not too distant future post), Finn embodies the more Germanic idea of falling in love as a good thing; i.e., love as a life's goal, rather than something that could potentially get in the way of one's life plans. In a later post, we'll explore this difference between the Germanic and Greco-Roman ideas of love and marriage.
Picture source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Njal_saga_-_Karis_aid.jpg
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