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Skallagrim Hey Skall, I recommend giving the Baremettle channel a gander, they released a interesting demo video. Edit: Was also curious what you thought of the Jackson Crawford channel.
I believe that going berserk it's kind of like meditating if you do it a lot you can do it more it's kind of like controlling your anger to a point where it is the focus of your entire being
I feel, reasonably, berserker originated from those fighters who, mostly in a chaotic charge melee military engagement, are so "in the zone" their focus so extreme, their awareness so in the moment, that they were so successful in cutting a swath thru surrounding enemies. Its easy to imagine the skalds or priest would then sing that up as channeling the gods/totemic animals, invulnerable, and perhaps even off examples like that they formed special units who the priests claimed are granted the berserk power from their gods. It's easy to see how simply "being in the zone" could inspire these legends, and provide examples for other warriors to emulate this, with them psyching themselves up as you detailed, and specialized units named after this.
“The berserk fury comes over me even when I least want it.” Sounds like a medieval depiction of ptsd. Fight or flight instincts, suddenly feeling like you’re about to enter another battle and need to fight the enemy before you to survive. Just a thought.
don't think that mental disease is the problem here, I mean a group of 200-500 + people who are all worriors and who all have the same mental problem? pretty unlikely in those times I think.
☆5crappY there were small amounts of berserkers compared to the rest of the warriors... not saying all berserkers did but in this case it makes sense that a mental issue such as PTSD could explain this one berserkers issue of entering the state when he least wants to...
"If you're tripping balls that's not really great for fighting," agreed. Counterpoint: Dock Ellis threw a no-hitter major league baseball game on acid.
Extra point: your life isn’t on the line nor do you have to be nearly as aware of your surroundings when playing baseball when compared to a battlefield, and people react to acid in a variety of ways.
You actually fight better while trippong. Your body feels less pain to no pain, you see everything with an extreme focus, sometimes even in slow motion. You also think about everything way faster.
@@caseyjones8246 depends if its a upper or a downer and even than thats only so far, though remember the Zulu they drugged up before battle and fought off ceazar lol and only lost to the British cuss tanks
@@dicorockhimself I did a lot of research on this and the best I could find is that archeologists were digging up a grave that was from the viking age and they found a substance similar to bath salts (aka meth like) in the burial. I definitely seems that we don't have a lot of info to go off of but I wouldn't be surprised to see warriors taking a drug similar to meth into battle considering the nazis did this too in ww2.
Not exactly about the Berserkers but about the shield biting: I had once the concept about an old warrior who known as so brutal, that he would in the rage of battle bite of and eat the edge of his shield, intimidating a lot enemies, especialy younger foes with less expirience. (and be honest most of us would go "nope!" at the sight of some so axe carzy, he eats his own shield) Later on it would have been revealed that this warrior would cover the edges of his shield with bread dough every evening befor battle and roast it over an open flame, making the bread a similar color as the rest of the shield, which was what he was always eating. His reason: He would often get hungry on the battlefield and searched for a god way to eat something without need to take a break. Thous he covered the edges of his shield with bread. His reputation as crazed shield eating badass was just a side effect he wasn't even aware off.
There's a fun little story that happened in early 2000s among Russian buhurtsmen. So, there was this guy who took a nasty hit to his shield, so a part of it broke off. So, before the next battle, he did precisely what you described: filled the damaged part with some kneaded bread, and, at the start of the battle, bit off that part of his shield, which did wonders to intimidate the opposite team.
"comes over me when I least want it" could this honestly be a soldier with PTSD having a complete flash back? My uncle was a nam flash back and his whole past came back training and all. My dad ended up the blunt end many nights. Maybe this berserker was a warrior with PTSD. And in a society that relished the battle and carnage, maybe they weren't seen as damaged as we do today. Maybe it was thought that they were so proven in battle that this infliction was a gift. Just a rambling idea
I like this idea. Mainly because it's quite possible you are spot on. Especially if you remember that ancient warfare was brutal and savage to the point that it makes modern warfare seem like a kids game. You werent dealing with an enemy that is shooting at you from a few hundred yards away or rather more accurately you were but on top of that you had calvary charges and I gantry charges and once you are in the mobs you are literally within 5 feet of an opponent that is actively trying to stave your skull in. It's even worse when you realize the human body is actually quite hard to kill there are stories of people getting a leg and arm lopped off and them still fighting on until they die of blood loss. And I dont know about you but I can imagine the fear or terror you would feel while fending off attacks that are being thrown at you from a guy who is blooding from a stump of an arm and bleeding from what was his right leg.
It might also be a metaphor to describe his hot temper. He could be so easlily angered that he became as ferocious as an elite warrior in the midst of combat at the slightest provocation. It could be just a figure of speech.
@@rasiabsgamingcorner2258 I think "kid's game" is a little extreme. Modern warfare sports its own horrors that ancient warriors could never imagine. Men getting blown apart by explosives or the man next to you getting a round in his throat from an unknown location are things that would cause even battle-hardened ancient warriors to sweat and feel fear. I understand what you are trying to say but felt "kid's game" was downplaying modern warfare quite a bit.
13:36 Nord spotted "I will drink from your skull!" "That's a nice head you have on your shoulders." "Less talking! More raiding!" "Today the gods will decide your fate!"
I always just knew it as a state of animalistic awareness. I thought of it as an adrenaline induced flowstate accompanied by a lack of control over ones violent urges. It's like seeing red, but not being belligerent about it and knowing exactly what to do to take down an opponent. Time slows down and you seem to become much stronger than you remember because things that seemed a hassle now feel much less effortless. The "berserkr state" to me just always seemed like someone using the placebo effect to engage their fight or flight systems on demand in order to have more control over it. Talking about a berserkr rage coming over you when you least wish it just sounds like the dude is too well trained with too many anger issues like a veteran having a flashback and cutting his friends hand open (saw that happen first hand). I figured it was always just a pure state of bloodthirst, but control of that rage varies from person to person, hence why some people might smash their buddies head on a rock and not realize that's their buddy until the attack was in motion, and he'd have to psychologically "hit the brakes" to either save his friend or mitigate the damage he might otherwise do. But on the subject of the actual Berserkr, you have a legitimate point. Rights of passage could include things like killing a bear and taking its pelt, but one with better records supporting it is to fight an auroch bull (norse longhorn, basically) and cut your drinking horn from its head. What you had was usually what you went and got or made yourself. I would assume that accumulating these kinds of trophies would mark you as a rather stout and learned fighter since you could take on all manner of intimidating and vicious beast, and could serve as a fighting mans resume. Those with more impressive trophies have enough experience, ferocity and balls to be a champion in any wealthy mans eyes. From what I've been able to gather, they were valued as a means of dueling substitutes. So if someone challenged you to a duel, someone could duel on your behalf, so the wealthy could hire a really intimidating champion to stand forth and make his opposition regret their challenge, essentially protecting the wealthy from better fighters with less wealth by being pay to win motherfuckers.
An interesting parallel to the berserkers are the gaesatae over 1000 years earlier, a Celtic tribe that went into battle naked, intimidating the Romans with their shouts and behavior. They were cut down by the javelins of the velites (skirmishers) mind you, so it's not like they were some form of super soldiers.
The berserkers seems very similar to "gallowglasses" who were norse-gaelic fighters in Scotland and Ireland from the 13-17th century. They descended from Norse-celtic clans from Scotland. They were used as bodyguards and as elite warriors and mercenaries. They were often picked for being very big and known for wielding two handed axes and swords which was a custom arrived from the Norse. I think that is were these people tie into the Berserkers and Ulfhednar.
Wow, that was the best creator driven sponsor recommendation I've ever seen; I hope the folks over at Nord appreciate your efforts my friend. Great vid, as always, and good luck to you and Cara on the move east.
Nice seeing more and more academic citation on youtube on yours and other channels. Also, using and pronouncing words in original languages and explaining there contexts. really enjoyed the video,
I feel like the berserker vs ulfhednar thing could just be that some would wear bear skin while others would wear wolf skin, perhaps even as a ranking system.
@@heyllo1337 Idk man, Orochi doesn't have much going for them, low damage and a shallow moveset and the third Hit of the light chain is just parry bait half the time
Harald Hadrada (arguably last of the great viking kings) died at Stamfort Bridge in 1066 like this "Harald was struck in the throat by an arrow and killed early in the battle in a state of berserkergang, having worn no body armour and fought aggressively with both hands around his sword." His forces with him were not wearing full battle gear because they were not expecting a full on fight, but it's notable that Harald seemed to wear even less than others when melee ensued (and was promptly cut down by a lucky arrow, just as his Saxon foe would as well just weeks later).
There's mention of a warrior who held Stamfort's bridge by himself. Whether or not he was a berserker or a just a very, very talented fighter, we don't know. I don't recall Harald Hardrada not wearing anything. They didn't wear their battle gear because they were taken by surprise by the Saxon army and/or their armour was misplaced.
@@alexrexaros9837 Harald had only rolled up with a small scouting force without full gear and were taken by surprise seemingly. The rest of the army was still getting ready on the beach. Harald may have decided to try and hold the bridge to give them more time.
Hey nice seeing you! Your the knive throwing dude right? I enjoy your videos and respect what you do. It's extremely thrilling and impressive. And I got to throwing knives because of your videos! Keep it up
It's a compound word, ber is bear, or like English, bare, and serkr is shirt. So I find it possible that their hair could be called a shirt, but maybe I'm just being to analytical.
When I started learning about REAL Norse culture, and about the language, I started thinking that our term "berserker" is a corruption of the Old Norse term "berreskyrta (bair.skyr.tau) translated into English as "bear-shirt" and that term was used to describe some of the Norse champions because some of them would wear the skin of a bear they'd killed over their shirt like a hood as a display of their strength and combat prowess. (Norse champions who DIDN'T wear bearskin hoods would be called "kappi" the Old Norse word for both "hero" and "champion") I though that some of them MIGHT have gone into a battle rage, until I watched this video; Skall made some VERY good points as to why a warrior WOULD'T wanna go into an uncontrollable battle frenzy like what you see fantasy barbarians do all the time, and why lots of those things described in this video were probably just psyche up rituals in line with chanting and beating your weapon against your shield. With all that in mind, I have NO idea where this image of warriors going into this uncontrollable battle frenzy came from, and how going into it came to be known to us modern day folks as going "BEAR-SHIRT". PS: Regarding that possible SUB category of Berreskyrta, the Ulfhedar, I can actually think of an example of one we've seen in media fairly recently, if a pretty silly one; the Skullgirls version of Beowulf.
There are stories of the native American version of berserkers. Supposedly a person continued to fight off the Europeans even after his head had been removed, until the last one had been killed or fled.
That was the smoothest and most enjoyable seqway into the promotion I have seen on the internet. Everything else about the video is also awesome and enlightening, but that just made me laugh out loud.
In Chris Kershaw's "The One Eyed God" he speculates that the Berserker was a sort of elite holy warrior. They supposedly had to go through a set of trials and special training to become warriors of Odin.
@@laramyelliott2903 Possibly. The Templars had to spend their time when not fighting or patrolling the roads living a strict monastic lifestyle. We don't have as much information on Berserkers as we do Templars, but what we do have implies Berserkers didn't do much of anything between battles. Templars were warrior monks, Berserkers were just elite warriors sworn to Odin.
Well, Odin was the god of warriors and kings, I recall he also had either a kenning or another name that meant "Frenzy". And I remember reading that one ritual for becoming a berserker was basically becoming Nordic Tarzan and living off the land, but might have been fiction for all I know. Still the notion sounds interesting.
@@Inquisitor_Redacted Aye, it's a sad reality, but unless we can summon actual folks for questioning....barring centuries of linguistic development, then we're kinda boned on figuring out what is truth or myth. Hell, we don't have a fraction of all the prehistoric life on Earth in the fossil records, what we found was made by sheer chance or luck. I think 10,000+ years of human history has about as many gaps too, after all history and the past are called that for a reason.
So glad you did this episode, as I am an avid Anachronism card game player, Grettir The Strong is one of the warriors and Bear Sark & Berzerkergangr are 2 of his support cards. It is the poem of Grettir that I love his character, story, and especially the history even more.
There were berserkers in my ancestral clan. They weren’t vikings though, but were still great warriors who eventually held a third of Ireland. From what I could dig up they still did partake in snorting a powdered mushroom before charging into battle. Would essentially ride a drug-induced adrenaline rush as they fought.
I eat mushrooms a couple of times....and 1 time there was a big quard dog that attacked me while i was under the influence. normallyi am scared of big guard dogs...but this time i ran to the quard dogwhile he was charging me . and kicked him so hard he fell over by my kick and i picked him up by his neck and threw him away. and this was a rottweiler. Was not scared one bit.....so i can see a viking under the influence of them going beserk and not giving a F.
@@RobbieT015 There is some decent research for this coming out now. The active chemical in the mushrooms (psilocybin - excuse spelling) binds to serotonin receptors and can change how the brain interprets fear and fear response. This was found very effective at treating soldiers for example, who come back from theatres of war with PTSD so I'm definitely a pro-mushroom berserker guy.
We were the Norse Kings Elite bodyguards for a reason. Sure other warriors can be deadly but we are the greatest this world will ever know period. many are forged from a brutal past yes and predatory environment but drugs have mostly nothing to do with being a berserker. Sure at times we can take things. Do you think a KING would want Drunk and high men around protecting him when they are on duty or would the KING want sober and attentive bodyguards? There is your answer. We just are a different breed and are fearless, very large, brutal and fast. Unlike most warriors who are not balanced WE are. We have the gift of all attributes just like a bear or large wolf. SPEED, POWER, AND WE WILL NOT BACK DOWN TO ANYONE IF THE INDIVIDUAL WANTS TO ACTUALLY DO US OR WHOEVER WE ARE WITH HARM.
@@RobbieT015 That might just be because you were familiar with dogs. I had exactly the same reaction to a stray that tried to attack me a few years ago, right down to the notable absence of fear. Although in my case it was more of a shove, stomp, and growl that scared it into running away. My personal theory is that fear gets applied to your memories retroactively, as you process the situation, so when something happens and you 'win' before you have time to feel afraid, you don't feel afraid.
Personally, I would liken Viking Berserkers to the Aztec Jaguar Warriors. Elite fighting force? Yes Animal Imagery? Yes Possible Chemical Enhancement? Yes
@@MaliciousMollusc I actually thing this is a pretty valid comparison of Berserkers to Jaguar Warriors. Both try to emulate the animals they are representing, but from where I'm standing, the Berserkers take it one step further. I think they're somehow mentally transforming themselves to believe that they ARE Bears.
Yes, elite warriors. Right. They became that. It was more a don't waste resources you can't replace easily type of deal. I don't have any education or paperwork published on the subject, but I do have practical knowledge and experience on berserkers. It's a genetic, psychological anomaly, similar in some way to psychosis. Berserkers exist in the modern era, and in nations you might not think of when you contemplate berserkers. Yes, highly effective in combat. Yes, exceedingly vulnerable in same without actual hand to hand combat training. Someone I know who also has experience with this once likened it to using an attack dog. The analogy fits. However, as Skall himself noted, there's a lot of grey area and interpretation of something like this is going to be complicated. I'll add that it's going to be skewed by perspective and what context you wish to apply. Don't be objective; firstly, you really can't be with a topic like the one at hand, and secondly, any and all attempts (disclaimer: in my experience) tend to detract from the discussion and analysis of the topic. Yes, long post. I apologise for that. Sometimes, however, you really need to dig in when commenting on a topic like this, and that is precisely what I did. Hope you enjoy. Cheers!
I'm going to correct you there, oselopillin or jaguar warriors were not elite, they were mostly from the bottom of society but still, they were very dangerous. Kuauhpillin or eagle warriors, were more like a personal guard not often seen in battles. Mexikah similar concept would be the Kuachikeh, shock troops who were always in pairs, and had sworn upon their lives to never retreat or step back in battles.
Excellent video! Very thought provoking! I'm from the Danelaw, and always been interested in my Viking ancestors. Although Ferocity is a useful thing in combat, full control is required to make it practically useful. At one point I was thinking Bipolar disorder (as, I wonder if they shared a genetic defect that made them more likely to suffer from Bipolar disorder), which often exhibits as extreme, uncontrollable anger. But of course, how could you aim such a weapon? If it was uncontrollable how could you possibly gain more than you lost! But you continued ...................... and after a while I started thinking " SAS" and other special forces that exist around the world. Could the 'Berserkers' actually have been the worlds first Special Forces? Physically awesome, skilled and deadly, but also incredibly intelligent. Such a person could be understood as capable of creating a berserk experience for the recipients of the behaviour, and could easily be called a 'Berserker", or one who makes the world go berserk! Watcha Fink?
Lindybeige did a video on that long ago and i burned him and his source, professional historian, ended up agreeing with me after some debate and was very interested in the research the Somafera group conducts on the topic so...i consider myself somewhat of an expert on this. First of all Berserkers arent unique. We have very similiar style warriors in the greek Meneads, the persian leopard men or the far eastern Amok warriors(Ancestor spirits rather than animal), arguably even the celtic Fianna. Second all are described in very similiar manners so holes in the berserker records can be filled with what we know from different sources. Third, you did pretty wall actually but lets go into detail: 1) Name: likely was attributed to the spiritual belief of becoming one with a bear. Ulfhednar as well - wearing a wolfs skin can be taken literally but most berserkers e read of did not wear bear skin or wolf pelts. Meanwhile we have other cultures with similiar spiritual beliefs and what they call their berserkers which clearly indicate spiritual association. Also fightuing nude would be stupid. 2) Method of inducing state: As you said shrooms can be discarded for mentioned reasons. Also keeping the shrooms around all year might prove difficult depending on the area you live in. Some sources also claimed being dead drunk as source of the gengr which is even more ridiculous and we can exclude the idea of acutal posession by a spirit. The working method is getting High on adrenaline. Adrenaline boosts your strength, speed and reaction time all said about berserkers, and is very beneficial in combat with little downsides. Pain reception also gets dulled. Secondly biting shields, pulling beards, jumping, growling all build up adrenaline. And given the situation a gengr might be induced spontaniously from an adrenaline rush so fits the descriptions and Somafera group works pracitcal with this except understanding. I personally never entered a full gengr just partially but that already was pretty amazing. From those who enter full gengres i can tell you are still able to distinguish friend from foe, you are just very jumpy and might see anything coming at you as attack. So to avoid friendly fire youd want to station berserkers away from the rest of the troops however they will not just attack their friends. Then again medieval combat is pretty messy and its possible to mistake a friend for a foe so that happened with non berserkers as well. 3) Spread: Its unclear but sources indicate that there were berserker families who trained the art, and we read of at least 1 group dedicated to Odin who did this as spiritual practise and actually did have an initiation ritual which was killing a bear with a dagger only.
I agree with most of this but the research I have found states that a Ulfhednar was a seperate class of berserker that was believed to have been personally chosin by Odin through sheer ferosity or percieved Omen. But its all pretty merky do to both misinterpretation, and modern norse being shamed for their roots by those who fimd history problematic.
@Ethan to source - its in the islendinga sagas. Not sure if it was egill saga or skallagrim saga To your question. There is multiple ways to try and enter it,. not everyone can though. In short you need adrenaline, a sense of danger and anger. One commin initiation ritual in history was to fight a bear with nothing but a knife which is ofc not viable today. So a semi dangerous one used by the somafera group is to hold your hand directly in a campfire until you achieve it, can lead to bad burns though so...not too advisable either In the sagas some enter the state by shieldbiting and beard pulling as well as dancing with wide movements (pain and actiating muscles for adrenaline) Personally i have good experiences with certain aggressive music with shouting, hitting my fingers on wood, kicking hard object with my legs and toes. When you entered th state a few times its much easier later on as you "remember" it. i never experienced a full gengr though. just half assed shit, which is...lets say you loose control over how strong you actually are and i accidentally destroyed a few doors and light switches as result. Its aklso imiliar to a runners high and you may overdo it with your body and pay the price later, i genuinely was hospiatlised twice for it
legit thought the same! at 12:18 Skall shows a scene with Dwayne Johnson doing the Haka with a youth soccer team there from one of the fast&furious movies, so I guess he did too
@@clothar23 I think that and other various groups of tribal warriors would just tank the previous pistol cartridge (.32 ACP I want to say) and chop them to bits. They found the .45 ACP stopped the raging warriors in their tracks or something like that.
Call me crazy but seeing this batshit insane axe wielding northman tripping on mushrooms I'd be intimidated enough to probably impact my ability to fight lmao
Well done! Thanks for the info. Side note - Letting go of your sense of self-preservation might be your best option in a duel, but only if you know for a fact that your opponent is a far better warrior than you are. In a situation that is already very much against you statistically, adding chaos into that situation might increase your chances of getting lucky.
The Berserker at Stanford Bridge was capable of staying where he stood instead of charging blindly to his death. Kinda surprised you didn't mention him.
I don't have the time (or, rather, the patience) right now to watch the whole video, but I just want to throw something into the discussion. I study ancient philology in Düsseldorf, Germany and my main focus lies on Greek antiquity. And I have a theory (which, granted, I have no proof for yet, just arguments, but I'm thinking about writing my bachelor thesis on it) that Diomedes, the, in my mind, greatest human-only (as in not the direct descendant of a God), named warrior in the homeric Iliad, was an example of a berserker in a non-norse mythological story. The fifth song, the Aristeia of Diomedes, is the first Aristeia (translated "excellence", basically their shining heroic moments) in the Iliad and follows directly after he had been scolded by Agamemnon for staying away from the fighting and not living up to his father's heroicism. Diomedes had been very quiet in that exchange and agree with Agamemnon and even apologized. However, as soon as his Aristeia starts he is imbued by Athena's spirit in a way that makes "fire" shoot out of his shield and helmet (which is of course metaphorical, I doubt the man was running around on fire). He goes on a one man rampage in the Trojan lines and when shot into his shoulder by Pandaros he pulls it out and goes RIGHT back to killing. He murders Pandaros and almost kills Aeneis and then WOUNDS Aphrodite as she tries to rescue her son. Then, when Apollon takes over rescuing Aeneis, Diomedes still continues persuing, until Apollon reminds him that he should not attack the Gods. At this point Diomedes seems to return to reality, realizes that Athena told him NOT to attack any God except Aphrodite and tells his men to fall back. The next time he is seen he's shown nursing his earlier wound from the arrow, which until that point had been basically forgotten. One big part of the berserk is being seemingly immune to pain, at least during their trance of violence. And while that is one part, there's two more. For one, and that's a short one, Diomedes then goes on to wound Ares, the God of Fucking War, in the very same chapter. Granted, with Athena's help, but I think the poet just didn't want to show a non-God damage the war God completly on his own. Second, and this I think is important, the archaic Greeks, in the Iliad especially, are shown to loot corpses a LOT. In the Iliad, the fourth and fifth song, warriors sometimes pull the armour from the enemy the moment they touch the ground dead. This is because warriors at this time were not paid. They lived on their earned τιμη(timé, something like honor could suffice as a translation) and any treasure they could procure on the battlefield. Even the great heroes do it. Except Diomedes. He is never once shown taking loot from a fallen enemy. He just slays his way to victory. He's also interesting in that Diomedes is completly written out of the action in song 11 by being wounded and having to return to his tent. He is only mentioned a few times later in song 22, I think. This is, a historian I read said, because Homer could not possibly have let the Trojans overpower the Greeks and push them back to their ships if Diomedes had still been there, a warrior that is described as being equal to Achilles. Hope you guys found this discourse interesting. I had fun writing it at least. No idea how well it fits into your argumentation, because I'm too tired to actually listen to it right now.
@@cat_ziska Thanks a lot, that means a lot. It's a theory I think a lot about and that I'd like to write my bachelor thesis about, if possible (and if I can find an interesting enough angle to look at this).
@@DrunkenCoward1 Definitely look into. I'm a bit rusty in research, but it sounds like you're on the right track. Check out the Perseus Digital Library for a good grasp of primary sources. Best of luck! Here's evidence of my love for Diomedes: instagram.com/p/BGYNPSsO4ML/?
I'd say that there is certain techniques to awake your inner beast but you need other techniques to control it. Otherwise you can get into blind rage if you're hurt or see weapon or in other "trigger" cases you've preprogrammed. Even if you accidentally hurt yourself or if it's a weapon that your friend holds in his hand. It's not impossible that some of berserkers used rituals to enter that state while others needed to use other rituals to control themself before they "go berserk" in a wrong time.
I would translate Berserkrgangr (Bärsärkargång) as "going berserk" personally, based on my interpretion of the swedish use for it. Not so much the way they move, but more so the act or happening of it beginning. Which you moved into yourself! Honestly I would take into account the possibility of (as you say) adrenaline but also from other sources, as well as psychological well being. What if some good warriors had certain instabilities that could explain involuntary berserking. Food for thought! In a society like that it would make sense to be associated under one phenomenon (berserking). Could well have been different types of berserkers both elite warriors and other types, that has meshed together over the generations due to tongue and disappearing with time.
Hey, you mentioned undead monsters. Could you do a video about the depiction of undead in different cultures? The modern "zombie" is based on voodoo and IRL rabies, and outside of Skyrim I don't think the viking undead are given much attention.
I SWEAR TO THE GODS about two or three hours ago I had an argument with a guy on Facebook who claimed the historical real life Berserkers to be naked brutes immune to pain and almost invulnerable who raged in battle with huge axes, and I wondered if Skallgrim had ever made a video about this. I think the stars have never been so aligned. Tonight I will watch the video cause now I am working
I've always thought of a berserker's rage as just that. Rage. Imagine you're in combat. Your brothers fall around you, every bone in your body is screaming to run, but you know you can't. The adrenaline starts pumping, and you scream your battle-cry. Everything goes red as you go into a rage. Nothing matters now. You must kill or be killed. No retreat. No surrender. That's the power of a berserker. Or at least, they want you to think that. Psychological effects should not be ignored. Yelling, screaming, giving the appearance of madness. Say some guy with a big f-off ax starts running towards you screaming his head off with foam flying from the corners of his mouth. You'd be forgiving for running. It's entirely possible they were completely under control, and just wanted the enemy to see them as monsters.
You can't exactly ''pretend'' to how and scream and bite down on your shield. Act like you're possessed by a bear for long enough, and your brain will start believing it. Now add a fanatical devotion to Odin who is said to bestow the ''Óðr '' that causes the trance in the first place, and that's a very strong self-hypnosis method. I've tried it, just the howling, screaming and bear possession part, without the animal pelts or faith in Odin. It took me a fucking while to calm down and that was in a controlled environment without the stress of warfare. See what I'm talking about? The human brain is a mighty powerful weapon that gets often ignored when it really shouldn't.
I like your videos. and I liked this one because I am a Swiss citizen, from the french-spaeking part of mthe country and, when I was still young, I went to attend a conference given by an historian in GRANDSON where the Burgundian wars between the Duchy of Burgundy and the Swiss Cantons ( a Canton in Switzerland is a State) started, followed by the battle of MORAT ( MURTEN) and finally NANCY in the LORRAINE where the Duque of Burgundy was killed. Now what is interesting is that the historian told us that, prior to the battles, the young Swiss warriors of that time ( 15th century) used to build themselves into a frenzy which was called - in German - BLUTRAUCH , also more or less BLOODFUME, meaning they were loosing control. this resulted in fights among themselves and it looks like that, sometimes they had more wounded or even deads than during the battle itself.Since at that time the Swiss Confederation was 100% Germanic, the customs between them and the Scandinavians had the same background. And since the Swiss were very warlike ( remember that from 1424 until l812 - the Napoleonic wars- Switzwerland's main exports were mercenaries and FRANCE was our main customer , it is not surprising that our young men behaved this way.
I love watching your content but I have to be honest, I clicked on this video because of the Suikoden 2 image you had in the thumbnail from your Nord VPN notice. lol Love that game! Kudos to you though, loved it as always!
WAIT IDEA What if berserkers were parts of clans with specific totem animals, wolfs, bear, etc. that just wore the skins as some sort of religious charm for protection?
There is also the war trauma interpretation. There is many sources about post war psychological trauma, like that knight who screamed every time he hear a metal sound, like the black smith working. Maybe some berserker were just traumatised worriors that went crazy.
A well crafted and informed video as always Skall. I know this is a older video and you may not see my comment but I just wanted to ask if you've seen a video by the youtuber "Traditionalist Tolkienist". It was a response video to Lindybiege's video about berserkers and you were mentioned at the end aswell. Just curious what you thought about it.
The ultimate warrior: a berserker wielding a katana in one hand and a pommel in the other. No one could stand a chance Edit: not a serious comment, don't leave a serious reply.
Leif Ericsson’s own accounts of his best friend and company that he met on his first journey to Norway describes some usual behaviors and usual mindset of an “average” berserker pretty damn well, in my super humble opinion. If I can find my old copy I’ll edited this with the authors name ams title.
From the reneectment experiences I have to say, it is a great thing to have an experienced warrior on your side, who, at the moment of formation breaking (both your or the enemies) steps out of the line and starts to wave his weapons really furiously. It can break the oponents line, if it is weakened, or it can stop the opposition from advancing through the opening. It needs a special kind of fighter to actually do that, since it is a risky move. However, doing that without ability to think would be a complete suicide. (also, you can see this thing being performed by many heroes in ancient times (for example both Achilles and Hector were famous for this skill) or even later in the 16th century (for example Big Pier was well known for that))
Some in the reenactment community here in Norway (lots of us are history geeks, have mentioned that the Ulfjeðnar might be Berserkers that were connected to Oðinn, so a spiritually controlled rage, like a meditative stage, like a war shaman sort of, so a higly spiritual warrior, that buff his stamina through meditation, and adrenalin boosting training (reflex training, use of pain to feed strenght and determination).
I've had good experiences with NordVPN so far, so give it a try if you're looking to upgrade your internet security. Go to nordvpn.com/skallagrimyt to get 75% off a 3 year plan and use code SKALLAGRIMYT for an extra month for free.
Skallagrim Hey Skall, I recommend giving the Baremettle channel a gander, they released a interesting demo video.
Edit: Was also curious what you thought of the Jackson Crawford channel.
I believe that going berserk it's kind of like meditating if you do it a lot you can do it more it's kind of like controlling your anger to a point where it is the focus of your entire being
I feel, reasonably, berserker originated from those fighters who, mostly in a chaotic charge melee military engagement, are so "in the zone" their focus so extreme, their awareness so in the moment, that they were so successful in cutting a swath thru surrounding enemies. Its easy to imagine the skalds or priest would then sing that up as channeling the gods/totemic animals, invulnerable, and perhaps even off examples like that they formed special units who the priests claimed are granted the berserk power from their gods. It's easy to see how simply "being in the zone" could inspire these legends, and provide examples for other warriors to emulate this, with them psyching themselves up as you detailed, and specialized units named after this.
Consider donating dollary-doos to patreon so he can spend them rightly.
That was one of the smoothest sponsor segways Ive ever seen
Berserkers, Raging Beasts, Warrior Elites or Florida Man?
Scandinavia man
Florida man on a Tuesday
@@testfortester7131 with some 'good stuff'
Alec nolastname ready to eat some ones face on a highway overpass in Miami lol
bathsalts of celtic people
Therapist: “Berserker Skall isn't real, he can't hurt you"
Berserker Skall: 0:01
Skallserker
I had a Skyrim character called Skall the Beserker.
We need to stop him before he destroy the hole town.
@@kingkuroneko7253 😂
Puny therapist.
“The berserk fury comes over me even when I least want it.” Sounds like a medieval depiction of ptsd. Fight or flight instincts, suddenly feeling like you’re about to enter another battle and need to fight the enemy before you to survive. Just a thought.
Or schizophrenia
ADHD, low impulse control, going into a rage?
don't think that mental disease is the problem here, I mean a group of 200-500 + people who are all worriors and who all have the same mental problem? pretty unlikely in those times I think.
Logan Anderson I was just thinking the same thing when he said that... not saying they all had it but that deffo sounds plausible for some
☆5crappY there were small amounts of berserkers compared to the rest of the warriors... not saying all berserkers did but in this case it makes sense that a mental issue such as PTSD could explain this one berserkers issue of entering the state when he least wants to...
"You're gonna love this, trust me"
- Some berserker, 853 AD.
"What you're seeing now is my normal state."
You cracked me into a big lol :D
"If you're tripping balls that's not really great for fighting," agreed.
Counterpoint: Dock Ellis threw a no-hitter major league baseball game on acid.
Well he is a good damn legend
Extra point: your life isn’t on the line nor do you have to be nearly as aware of your surroundings when playing baseball when compared to a battlefield, and people react to acid in a variety of ways.
You actually fight better while trippong. Your body feels less pain to no pain, you see everything with an extreme focus, sometimes even in slow motion. You also think about everything way faster.
@@caseyjones8246 depends if its a upper or a downer and even than thats only so far, though remember the Zulu they drugged up before battle and fought off ceazar lol and only lost to the British cuss tanks
@@dicorockhimself I did a lot of research on this and the best I could find is that archeologists were digging up a grave that was from the viking age and they found a substance similar to bath salts (aka meth like) in the burial. I definitely seems that we don't have a lot of info to go off of but I wouldn't be surprised to see warriors taking a drug similar to meth into battle considering the nazis did this too in ww2.
A true Berserker knows he cannot be harmed since he's protected by NordVPN.
he was in the battlefield but the other soldiers thought he was on northumbria raiding a catholic monastery
I actually laughed out loud
NordVPN just reeks of Candid vibes for me for those who are familiar with that situation. I don't trust it and no one should.
of course
@@thewhiteboar3840 what does candid mean in that context?
A true Berserker would throw the sword and keep the pommel.
*the sword is the pommel*
Plot Twist: It's a Darth Maul sword with two swords connected at the pommel.
Even if Viking swords pommels are not removable the Berserkir just rips it off and throws it
@@SolarDragon007 sh*t 🤔
Evilswarms lmao
Shirtless Skall was not what I expected to see today
Nor what I needed
He should be an extra on Vikings or The Last Kingdom.
keep your hands up boys :D
cant complain
@@Alphae21 lol
0:00
ASMR to help u sleep - Berserker Skallagrim slams ur head against the floor til ur unconscious
0:00 My Ikea furniture's point of view of me giving up trying to assemble it
Not exactly about the Berserkers but about the shield biting:
I had once the concept about an old warrior who known as so brutal, that he would in the rage of battle bite of and eat the edge of his shield, intimidating a lot enemies, especialy younger foes with less expirience. (and be honest most of us would go "nope!" at the sight of some so axe carzy, he eats his own shield)
Later on it would have been revealed that this warrior would cover the edges of his shield with bread dough every evening befor battle and roast it over an open flame, making the bread a similar color as the rest of the shield, which was what he was always eating.
His reason: He would often get hungry on the battlefield and searched for a god way to eat something without need to take a break. Thous he covered the edges of his shield with bread.
His reputation as crazed shield eating badass was just a side effect he wasn't even aware off.
lmao
Interesting character.
There's a fun little story that happened in early 2000s among Russian buhurtsmen. So, there was this guy who took a nasty hit to his shield, so a part of it broke off. So, before the next battle, he did precisely what you described: filled the damaged part with some kneaded bread, and, at the start of the battle, bit off that part of his shield, which did wonders to intimidate the opposite team.
@@asxpot I wasn't aware of this. Nice. ^^
He should pin this. That's really cool and funny. Do you have a link to this?
Being elite warriors they had to maintain good physical shape, as such nutrition is important. Biting the shields gave them fibers boost.
DwarfInBlues
And iron
Minerals
and splinters
Well, it probably had leather around the edges so I'd say protein.
What about the hallucinogenic mushrooms?
That was the cleverest way of implementing a sponsor into an otherwise unrelated video topic I have ever seen.
You should watch TierZoo
Alex Hay It was clever but I saw it coming for a while. Some make it basically unnoticeable.
Alex Hay you’ll never see it coming :3
Alex Hay It felt forced to me.
That sponsor part certainly is more creative and easier to watch than reading the script for a crappy mobile game.
Berserkers are the equivalent of the meme
"Me rushing the enemy team hoping to catch them off guard but knowing damn well I'm about to get lit up"
"comes over me when I least want it" could this honestly be a soldier with PTSD having a complete flash back? My uncle was a nam flash back and his whole past came back training and all. My dad ended up the blunt end many nights. Maybe this berserker was a warrior with PTSD. And in a society that relished the battle and carnage, maybe they weren't seen as damaged as we do today. Maybe it was thought that they were so proven in battle that this infliction was a gift. Just a rambling idea
It could also be uncontrollable urges, very violent intrusive thoughts, some so bad they could lash out in anger and rage?
I like this idea. Mainly because it's quite possible you are spot on. Especially if you remember that ancient warfare was brutal and savage to the point that it makes modern warfare seem like a kids game. You werent dealing with an enemy that is shooting at you from a few hundred yards away or rather more accurately you were but on top of that you had calvary charges and I gantry charges and once you are in the mobs you are literally within 5 feet of an opponent that is actively trying to stave your skull in. It's even worse when you realize the human body is actually quite hard to kill there are stories of people getting a leg and arm lopped off and them still fighting on until they die of blood loss. And I dont know about you but I can imagine the fear or terror you would feel while fending off attacks that are being thrown at you from a guy who is blooding from a stump of an arm and bleeding from what was his right leg.
Yeah, I've heard that as well as several other mental illnesses suggested
It might also be a metaphor to describe his hot temper. He could be so easlily angered that he became as ferocious as an elite warrior in the midst of combat at the slightest provocation. It could be just a figure of speech.
@@rasiabsgamingcorner2258 I think "kid's game" is a little extreme. Modern warfare sports its own horrors that ancient warriors could never imagine. Men getting blown apart by explosives or the man next to you getting a round in his throat from an unknown location are things that would cause even battle-hardened ancient warriors to sweat and feel fear. I understand what you are trying to say but felt "kid's game" was downplaying modern warfare quite a bit.
13:36 Nord spotted
"I will drink from your skull!"
"That's a nice head you have on your shoulders."
"Less talking! More raiding!"
"Today the gods will decide your fate!"
Your money or your life
Noooo! they will steal my butter!
''I'm gonna put some dirt in your eye.''
You can have steel.
Its almost harvesting season
That smooth ass sponsor dude.
Super Excited for you to come to NS! Im in Amherst myself, The border town between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
A Nationalsozialist?
Great, we still have some here in Germany too!
0:00 ~ 0:05
*Insert Dark Souls you Died*
Thank you, dark souls
I was blocking!!! XD
Online pvp in a nutshell
Chained Ogre PTSD
This thread is gold.
5:45 pause and bask in the glory of the rainbow unicat moth
my life is richer now
*_-THOSE ARE MONARCH BUTTERFLY WINGS REEEEE-_*
I always just knew it as a state of animalistic awareness. I thought of it as an adrenaline induced flowstate accompanied by a lack of control over ones violent urges. It's like seeing red, but not being belligerent about it and knowing exactly what to do to take down an opponent. Time slows down and you seem to become much stronger than you remember because things that seemed a hassle now feel much less effortless. The "berserkr state" to me just always seemed like someone using the placebo effect to engage their fight or flight systems on demand in order to have more control over it. Talking about a berserkr rage coming over you when you least wish it just sounds like the dude is too well trained with too many anger issues like a veteran having a flashback and cutting his friends hand open (saw that happen first hand). I figured it was always just a pure state of bloodthirst, but control of that rage varies from person to person, hence why some people might smash their buddies head on a rock and not realize that's their buddy until the attack was in motion, and he'd have to psychologically "hit the brakes" to either save his friend or mitigate the damage he might otherwise do.
But on the subject of the actual Berserkr, you have a legitimate point. Rights of passage could include things like killing a bear and taking its pelt, but one with better records supporting it is to fight an auroch bull (norse longhorn, basically) and cut your drinking horn from its head. What you had was usually what you went and got or made yourself. I would assume that accumulating these kinds of trophies would mark you as a rather stout and learned fighter since you could take on all manner of intimidating and vicious beast, and could serve as a fighting mans resume. Those with more impressive trophies have enough experience, ferocity and balls to be a champion in any wealthy mans eyes. From what I've been able to gather, they were valued as a means of dueling substitutes. So if someone challenged you to a duel, someone could duel on your behalf, so the wealthy could hire a really intimidating champion to stand forth and make his opposition regret their challenge, essentially protecting the wealthy from better fighters with less wealth by being pay to win motherfuckers.
0:04
Y O U D I E D
Wasted
*C O N T I N U E ?*
YES / NO
An interesting parallel to the berserkers are the gaesatae over 1000 years earlier, a Celtic tribe that went into battle naked, intimidating the Romans with their shouts and behavior.
They were cut down by the javelins of the velites (skirmishers) mind you, so it's not like they were some form of super soldiers.
The berserkers seems very similar to "gallowglasses" who were norse-gaelic fighters in Scotland and Ireland from the 13-17th century.
They descended from Norse-celtic clans from Scotland. They were used as bodyguards and as elite warriors and mercenaries.
They were often picked for being very big and known for wielding two handed axes and swords which was a custom arrived from the Norse.
I think that is were these people tie into the Berserkers and Ulfhednar.
Wow, that was the best creator driven sponsor recommendation I've ever seen; I hope the folks over at Nord appreciate your efforts my friend. Great vid, as always, and good luck to you and Cara on the move east.
Nice seeing more and more academic citation on youtube on yours and other channels. Also, using and pronouncing words in original languages and explaining there contexts.
really enjoyed the video,
I feel like the berserker vs ulfhednar thing could just be that some would wear bear skin while others would wear wolf skin, perhaps even as a ranking system.
A true berserker would wear the bear
@@weswolever7477 well yeah, otherwise they'd be ulfhednar
Proto Furries then?
Perhaps the size of the man for appropriation.
*Skallagrim at beginning of video*
Myth: CONFIRMED
The segue to the promo was so smooth I'm not even angry.
"My love for you is like a truck."
Berserker
Olaf, girl think sexy!
“Would you like some making fuck berserker!”
I thought I was the only one who had that going through their heads all through this lol
Olaf, Metal!
My love for you is ticking clock, Berserker!
"The Viking age equivalent of friendly fire..."
A 'Friendly stab'.
You're welcome.
or slice
(Stabs Ally) Ally: attempts to stab you You: wo wo wo bro it’s a friendly stab
Spinning around in circles wildly swinging the axe lol
A Bro-Cleave?
"Friendly Hammer"?
0:01 SO that's what a hungover Skallagrim acts like.
QUICK, FETCH THE COFFEE!
First second of the video, "berserker Skall" instantly smashed like button
Yet still more people must berserk on the like button.
The true meaning of Beserker is 400ms hyperarmour lights
Well, better that than fucking orochi light spam
DemoKing 333ms* you forgot to delay it
@@heyllo1337 Idk man, Orochi doesn't have much going for them, low damage and a shallow moveset and the third Hit of the light chain is just parry bait half the time
Lol
Grab the berserker perk and watch him pop some mushrooms on the battlefield
Harald Hadrada (arguably last of the great viking kings) died at Stamfort Bridge in 1066 like this "Harald was struck in the throat by an arrow and killed early in the battle in a state of berserkergang, having worn no body armour and fought aggressively with both hands around his sword." His forces with him were not wearing full battle gear because they were not expecting a full on fight, but it's notable that Harald seemed to wear even less than others when melee ensued (and was promptly cut down by a lucky arrow, just as his Saxon foe would as well just weeks later).
There's mention of a warrior who held Stamfort's bridge by himself. Whether or not he was a berserker or a just a very, very talented fighter, we don't know. I don't recall Harald Hardrada not wearing anything. They didn't wear their battle gear because they were taken by surprise by the Saxon army and/or their armour was misplaced.
@@alexrexaros9837 Harald had only rolled up with a small scouting force without full gear and were taken by surprise seemingly. The rest of the army was still getting ready on the beach. Harald may have decided to try and hold the bridge to give them more time.
I loved how you dropped in the Sponsor! That's how I want to see sponsorship done
Skall with oddly acurate recreation of a psychedelic trip
True
Makes you wonder huh
Ahh, I miss my 200 Berserkers vs 5000 Roman Legionaries in Total War: Rome 1
*YARRRRGHAAAHKGHAAAAKGHAAAAK!*
Therapist: Berserker Skall isn't real, he can't hurt you.
Berserker Skall: 0:00
Stolen comment.
“And here we have a wild shirtless skall in his natural habitat “
Hey Skall , I have VERY Cool Knives for you ,)) let me know Brother ,))
Hey nice seeing you! Your the knive throwing dude right? I enjoy your videos and respect what you do. It's extremely thrilling and impressive. And I got to throwing knives because of your videos! Keep it up
O want kool knives do you make them make me one i want a set of cool looking dagger for my wall
*Amon Amarth playing in the background*
I wonder if the etymology of beserker could have referred to really hairy men, so not bare chested men but literally bear chested.
Ah yeah Now it make sense, their beared chest protect them from arrows a swords... like Chuck Norris's beard :)
It's a compound word, ber is bear, or like English, bare, and serkr is shirt. So I find it possible that their hair could be called a shirt, but maybe I'm just being to analytical.
I can smell these guys were drugged to death
They had high testosterone
When I started learning about REAL Norse culture, and about the language, I started thinking that our term "berserker" is a corruption of the Old Norse term "berreskyrta (bair.skyr.tau) translated into English as "bear-shirt" and that term was used to describe some of the Norse champions because some of them would wear the skin of a bear they'd killed over their shirt like a hood as a display of their strength and combat prowess. (Norse champions who DIDN'T wear bearskin hoods would be called "kappi" the Old Norse word for both "hero" and "champion")
I though that some of them MIGHT have gone into a battle rage, until I watched this video; Skall made some VERY good points as to why a warrior WOULD'T wanna go into an uncontrollable battle frenzy like what you see fantasy barbarians do all the time, and why lots of those things described in this video were probably just psyche up rituals in line with chanting and beating your weapon against your shield.
With all that in mind, I have NO idea where this image of warriors going into this uncontrollable battle frenzy came from, and how going into it came to be known to us modern day folks as going "BEAR-SHIRT".
PS: Regarding that possible SUB category of Berreskyrta, the Ulfhedar, I can actually think of an example of one we've seen in media fairly recently, if a pretty silly one; the Skullgirls version of Beowulf.
There are stories of the native American version of berserkers. Supposedly a person continued to fight off the Europeans even after his head had been removed, until the last one had been killed or fled.
Spirit kept him going. He wanted to finish the fight so he did
That was the smoothest and most enjoyable seqway into the promotion I have seen on the internet. Everything else about the video is also awesome and enlightening, but that just made me laugh out loud.
Hey Skall, could you take a look at Vinland Saga series (manga/anime). Maybe historical analysis or whatnot. Thanks.
Croz Raven I actually just started reading the series two days ago and had the exact same idea! Small needs to check this out
*THIS!* I've said the same thing weeks ago!
I'm interested if he discussed the historical accuracy of the Fire Emblem series.
Mangay/Anigay
@@AChunkyDog Wait, what?
In Chris Kershaw's "The One Eyed God" he speculates that the Berserker was a sort of elite holy warrior. They supposedly had to go through a set of trials and special training to become warriors of Odin.
So like a pre-christian Knights Templars
@@laramyelliott2903 Possibly. The Templars had to spend their time when not fighting or patrolling the roads living a strict monastic lifestyle. We don't have as much information on Berserkers as we do Templars, but what we do have implies Berserkers didn't do much of anything between battles. Templars were warrior monks, Berserkers were just elite warriors sworn to Odin.
Well, Odin was the god of warriors and kings, I recall he also had either a kenning or another name that meant "Frenzy". And I remember reading that one ritual for becoming a berserker was basically becoming Nordic Tarzan and living off the land, but might have been fiction for all I know. Still the notion sounds interesting.
@@pathogenoxide6917 Unfortunately because we don't have a lot of reliable sources some of this stuff we will never have the answers to.
@@Inquisitor_Redacted Aye, it's a sad reality, but unless we can summon actual folks for questioning....barring centuries of linguistic development, then we're kinda boned on figuring out what is truth or myth. Hell, we don't have a fraction of all the prehistoric life on Earth in the fossil records, what we found was made by sheer chance or luck. I think 10,000+ years of human history has about as many gaps too, after all history and the past are called that for a reason.
Skall, confess, you left your hair long all this time only to make that take from the beginning of the video.
So glad you did this episode, as I am an avid Anachronism card game player, Grettir The Strong is one of the warriors and Bear Sark & Berzerkergangr are 2 of his support cards. It is the poem of Grettir that I love his character, story, and especially the history even more.
I love how your unbiased in your research it's refreshing to see.
The only way I can sum up that intro is: Skallagrim on Bath Salts :-)
:)
Freedomcat That story about "Bath salts" was apparently made up by a few scaremongering cops always looking for more powers.
Florida Skall
That opening scene was quite startling, to say the least. 😅
Second best sponsor plug I've seen, pulling in just behind (fellow beserker) Lindybeige's Dollar Shave Club plug.
There were berserkers in my ancestral clan. They weren’t vikings though, but were still great warriors who eventually held a third of Ireland. From what I could dig up they still did partake in snorting a powdered mushroom before charging into battle. Would essentially ride a drug-induced adrenaline rush as they fought.
I eat mushrooms a couple of times....and 1 time there was a big quard dog that attacked me while i was under the influence.
normallyi am scared of big guard dogs...but this time i ran to the quard dogwhile he was charging me . and kicked him so hard he fell over by my kick and i picked him up by his neck and threw him away.
and this was a rottweiler.
Was not scared one bit.....so i can see a viking under the influence of them going beserk and not giving a F.
@@RobbieT015 There is some decent research for this coming out now. The active chemical in the mushrooms (psilocybin - excuse spelling) binds to serotonin receptors and can change how the brain interprets fear and fear response. This was found very effective at treating soldiers for example, who come back from theatres of war with PTSD so I'm definitely a pro-mushroom berserker guy.
We were the Norse Kings Elite bodyguards for a reason. Sure other warriors can be deadly but we are the greatest this world will ever know period. many are forged from a brutal past yes and predatory environment but drugs have mostly nothing to do with being a berserker. Sure at times we can take things. Do you think a KING would want Drunk and high men around protecting him when they are on duty or would the KING want sober and attentive bodyguards? There is your answer. We just are a different breed and are fearless, very large, brutal and fast. Unlike most warriors who are not balanced WE are. We have the gift of all attributes just like a bear or large wolf. SPEED, POWER, AND WE WILL NOT BACK DOWN TO ANYONE IF THE INDIVIDUAL WANTS TO ACTUALLY DO US OR WHOEVER WE ARE WITH HARM.
@@RobbieT015 That might just be because you were familiar with dogs. I had exactly the same reaction to a stray that tried to attack me a few years ago, right down to the notable absence of fear. Although in my case it was more of a shove, stomp, and growl that scared it into running away. My personal theory is that fear gets applied to your memories retroactively, as you process the situation, so when something happens and you 'win' before you have time to feel afraid, you don't feel afraid.
@@xctu8039 Lol, what's up with all this we shit?
now that is the coolest sponsorship spot I have ever seen mad props for the writing.
Personally, I would liken Viking Berserkers to the Aztec Jaguar Warriors.
Elite fighting force? Yes
Animal Imagery? Yes
Possible Chemical Enhancement? Yes
it sounds more to cuachic. the elite warriors from the Aztecs.
@@jeanmmm8171 They both fit the criteria. Many nations had their own "special forces".
@@MaliciousMollusc I actually thing this is a pretty valid comparison of Berserkers to Jaguar Warriors. Both try to emulate the animals they are representing, but from where I'm standing, the Berserkers take it one step further. I think they're somehow mentally transforming themselves to believe that they ARE Bears.
Yes, elite warriors. Right. They became that. It was more a don't waste resources you can't replace easily type of deal. I don't have any education or paperwork published on the subject, but I do have practical knowledge and experience on berserkers. It's a genetic, psychological anomaly, similar in some way to psychosis.
Berserkers exist in the modern era, and in nations you might not think of when you contemplate berserkers. Yes, highly effective in combat. Yes, exceedingly vulnerable in same without actual hand to hand combat training. Someone I know who also has experience with this once likened it to using an attack dog. The analogy fits.
However, as Skall himself noted, there's a lot of grey area and interpretation of something like this is going to be complicated. I'll add that it's going to be skewed by perspective and what context you wish to apply. Don't be objective; firstly, you really can't be with a topic like the one at hand, and secondly, any and all attempts (disclaimer: in my experience) tend to detract from the discussion and analysis of the topic.
Yes, long post. I apologise for that. Sometimes, however, you really need to dig in when commenting on a topic like this, and that is precisely what I did. Hope you enjoy.
Cheers!
I'm going to correct you there, oselopillin or jaguar warriors were not elite, they were mostly from the bottom of society but still, they were very dangerous. Kuauhpillin or eagle warriors, were more like a personal guard not often seen in battles. Mexikah similar concept would be the Kuachikeh, shock troops who were always in pairs, and had sworn upon their lives to never retreat or step back in battles.
You still need a helmet to be completley armored up skall. Ask oberyn martell.
Nice vid though!
😂😂😂😂
Too soon, man
He had beard
Dude against a guy the size of Gregory Clegane I doubt even a great helm would have helped.
That intro… If only I could unscrew my pommel to defend myself.
Excellent video! Very thought provoking! I'm from the Danelaw, and always been interested in my Viking ancestors. Although Ferocity is a useful thing in combat, full control is required to make it practically useful. At one point I was thinking Bipolar disorder (as, I wonder if they shared a genetic defect that made them more likely to suffer from Bipolar disorder), which often exhibits as extreme, uncontrollable anger. But of course, how could you aim such a weapon? If it was uncontrollable how could you possibly gain more than you lost!
But you continued ...................... and after a while I started thinking " SAS" and other special forces that exist around the world.
Could the 'Berserkers' actually have been the worlds first Special Forces? Physically awesome, skilled and deadly, but also incredibly intelligent.
Such a person could be understood as capable of creating a berserk experience for the recipients of the behaviour, and could easily be called a 'Berserker", or one who makes the world go berserk!
Watcha Fink?
Lindybeige did a video on that long ago and i burned him and his source, professional historian, ended up agreeing with me after some debate and was very interested in the research the Somafera group conducts on the topic so...i consider myself somewhat of an expert on this.
First of all Berserkers arent unique. We have very similiar style warriors in the greek Meneads, the persian leopard men or the far eastern Amok warriors(Ancestor spirits rather than animal), arguably even the celtic Fianna.
Second all are described in very similiar manners so holes in the berserker records can be filled with what we know from different sources.
Third, you did pretty wall actually but lets go into detail:
1) Name: likely was attributed to the spiritual belief of becoming one with a bear. Ulfhednar as well - wearing a wolfs skin can be taken literally but most berserkers e read of did not wear bear skin or wolf pelts.
Meanwhile we have other cultures with similiar spiritual beliefs and what they call their berserkers which clearly indicate spiritual association. Also fightuing nude would be stupid.
2) Method of inducing state: As you said shrooms can be discarded for mentioned reasons. Also keeping the shrooms around all year might prove difficult depending on the area you live in. Some sources also claimed being dead drunk as source of the gengr which is even more ridiculous and we can exclude the idea of acutal posession by a spirit.
The working method is getting High on adrenaline. Adrenaline boosts your strength, speed and reaction time all said about berserkers, and is very beneficial in combat with little downsides. Pain reception also gets dulled.
Secondly biting shields, pulling beards, jumping, growling all build up adrenaline. And given the situation a gengr might be induced spontaniously from an adrenaline rush so fits the descriptions and Somafera group works pracitcal with this except understanding. I personally never entered a full gengr just partially but that already was pretty amazing. From those who enter full gengres i can tell you are still able to distinguish friend from foe, you are just very jumpy and might see anything coming at you as attack. So to avoid friendly fire youd want to station berserkers away from the rest of the troops however they will not just attack their friends. Then again medieval combat is pretty messy and its possible to mistake a friend for a foe so that happened with non berserkers as well.
3) Spread: Its unclear but sources indicate that there were berserker families who trained the art, and we read of at least 1 group dedicated to Odin who did this as spiritual practise and actually did have an initiation ritual which was killing a bear with a dagger only.
Would love to read your source from point number 3.
I agree with most of this but the research I have found states that a Ulfhednar was a seperate class of berserker that was believed to have been personally chosin by Odin through sheer ferosity or percieved Omen. But its all pretty merky do to both misinterpretation, and modern norse being shamed for their roots by those who fimd history problematic.
@Ethan to source - its in the islendinga sagas. Not sure if it was egill saga or skallagrim saga
To your question. There is multiple ways to try and enter it,. not everyone can though. In short you need adrenaline, a sense of danger and anger.
One commin initiation ritual in history was to fight a bear with nothing but a knife which is ofc not viable today.
So a semi dangerous one used by the somafera group is to hold your hand directly in a campfire until you achieve it, can lead to bad burns though so...not too advisable either
In the sagas some enter the state by shieldbiting and beard pulling as well as dancing with wide movements (pain and actiating muscles for adrenaline)
Personally i have good experiences with certain aggressive music with shouting, hitting my fingers on wood, kicking hard object with my legs and toes.
When you entered th state a few times its much easier later on as you "remember" it. i never experienced a full gengr though. just half assed shit, which is...lets say you loose control over how strong you actually are and i accidentally destroyed a few doors and light switches as result. Its aklso imiliar to a runners high and you may overdo it with your body and pay the price later, i genuinely was hospiatlised twice for it
The idea of the berserker state reminds me of the Haka from Maori warriors.
Thought of that too.
legit thought the same! at 12:18 Skall shows a scene with Dwayne Johnson doing the Haka with a youth soccer team there from one of the fast&furious movies, so I guess he did too
They're why the .45ACP was designed IIRC
@@flightlesschicken7769 Wasn't the 1911 designed because some American Army boys couldn't handle a few drugged Filipino warriors ?
@@clothar23 I think that and other various groups of tribal warriors would just tank the previous pistol cartridge (.32 ACP I want to say) and chop them to bits. They found the .45 ACP stopped the raging warriors in their tracks or something like that.
Your videos are the best!I've subscribed a week ago and I'm watching every single one of your videos and enjoying them all!
Call me crazy but seeing this batshit insane axe wielding northman tripping on mushrooms I'd be intimidated enough to probably impact my ability to fight lmao
Well, he just got distracted by that invisible band of butterflies, so..... Don't do drugs kids.
@Stone Heart Do you get migraine auras?
@@BlackEpyon Dude, listen to the junkie voice of experience... Stoned Heart :P
@Stone Heart Ok Stoned, keep flying with your mushrooms ;)
@Stone Heart Who talk about magical creatures? are you on drugs?
Well done! Thanks for the info. Side note - Letting go of your sense of self-preservation might be your best option in a duel, but only if you know for a fact that your opponent is a far better warrior than you are. In a situation that is already very much against you statistically, adding chaos into that situation might increase your chances of getting lucky.
The Berserker at Stanford Bridge was capable of staying where he stood instead of charging blindly to his death. Kinda surprised you didn't mention him.
Berserkers, the first Leeroy Jenkins meme.
Cameron Durrantcameron “Alright chumps, I’m back, let’s do this! LEEEEROY JEeeeenkiins!”
Dammit Leroy you idiot
At least I have a Chicken
Berserker Paladin, i just love cross job-ing
begins to watch, oh well, looks like skallagrim finally snapped
I don't have the time (or, rather, the patience) right now to watch the whole video, but I just want to throw something into the discussion.
I study ancient philology in Düsseldorf, Germany and my main focus lies on Greek antiquity.
And I have a theory (which, granted, I have no proof for yet, just arguments, but I'm thinking about writing my bachelor thesis on it) that Diomedes, the, in my mind, greatest human-only (as in not the direct descendant of a God), named warrior in the homeric Iliad, was an example of a berserker in a non-norse mythological story.
The fifth song, the Aristeia of Diomedes, is the first Aristeia (translated "excellence", basically their shining heroic moments) in the Iliad and follows directly after he had been scolded by Agamemnon for staying away from the fighting and not living up to his father's heroicism. Diomedes had been very quiet in that exchange and agree with Agamemnon and even apologized.
However, as soon as his Aristeia starts he is imbued by Athena's spirit in a way that makes "fire" shoot out of his shield and helmet (which is of course metaphorical, I doubt the man was running around on fire).
He goes on a one man rampage in the Trojan lines and when shot into his shoulder by Pandaros he pulls it out and goes RIGHT back to killing. He murders Pandaros and almost kills Aeneis and then WOUNDS Aphrodite as she tries to rescue her son. Then, when Apollon takes over rescuing Aeneis, Diomedes still continues persuing, until Apollon reminds him that he should not attack the Gods. At this point Diomedes seems to return to reality, realizes that Athena told him NOT to attack any God except Aphrodite and tells his men to fall back.
The next time he is seen he's shown nursing his earlier wound from the arrow, which until that point had been basically forgotten. One big part of the berserk is being seemingly immune to pain, at least during their trance of violence.
And while that is one part, there's two more.
For one, and that's a short one, Diomedes then goes on to wound Ares, the God of Fucking War, in the very same chapter. Granted, with Athena's help, but I think the poet just didn't want to show a non-God damage the war God completly on his own.
Second, and this I think is important, the archaic Greeks, in the Iliad especially, are shown to loot corpses a LOT. In the Iliad, the fourth and fifth song, warriors sometimes pull the armour from the enemy the moment they touch the ground dead. This is because warriors at this time were not paid. They lived on their earned τιμη(timé, something like honor could suffice as a translation) and any treasure they could procure on the battlefield. Even the great heroes do it.
Except Diomedes. He is never once shown taking loot from a fallen enemy. He just slays his way to victory.
He's also interesting in that Diomedes is completly written out of the action in song 11 by being wounded and having to return to his tent. He is only mentioned a few times later in song 22, I think.
This is, a historian I read said, because Homer could not possibly have let the Trojans overpower the Greeks and push them back to their ships if Diomedes had still been there, a warrior that is described as being equal to Achilles.
Hope you guys found this discourse interesting. I had fun writing it at least.
No idea how well it fits into your argumentation, because I'm too tired to actually listen to it right now.
ok ova iggy
IGGGY
As a Classicist, I have to say, you win the internet today. I LOVE Diomedes and this is an excellent observation.
@@cat_ziska Thanks a lot, that means a lot. It's a theory I think a lot about and that I'd like to write my bachelor thesis about, if possible (and if I can find an interesting enough angle to look at this).
@@DrunkenCoward1 Definitely look into. I'm a bit rusty in research, but it sounds like you're on the right track. Check out the Perseus Digital Library for a good grasp of primary sources. Best of luck! Here's evidence of my love for Diomedes: instagram.com/p/BGYNPSsO4ML/?
I'd say that there is certain techniques to awake your inner beast but you need other techniques to control it. Otherwise you can get into blind rage if you're hurt or see weapon or in other "trigger" cases you've preprogrammed. Even if you accidentally hurt yourself or if it's a weapon that your friend holds in his hand. It's not impossible that some of berserkers used rituals to enter that state while others needed to use other rituals to control themself before they "go berserk" in a wrong time.
Ok, that had to be the best product tie in I have seen in a long time well done
I would translate Berserkrgangr (Bärsärkargång) as "going berserk" personally, based on my interpretion of the swedish use for it. Not so much the way they move, but more so the act or happening of it beginning. Which you moved into yourself!
Honestly I would take into account the possibility of (as you say) adrenaline but also from other sources, as well as psychological well being. What if some good warriors had certain instabilities that could explain involuntary berserking. Food for thought! In a society like that it would make sense to be associated under one phenomenon (berserking). Could well have been different types of berserkers both elite warriors and other types, that has meshed together over the generations due to tongue and disappearing with time.
Lindy already told me, but I’ll still watch
*BERSERKAAAAAH!*
BERSERKAAAH!!
b berser-berserker... :^(
Exactly what i was thinking, BERSERKERRR!
Can you make an advanced longsword cuts vid? that'd be very useful since we don't got no hema or anything closely related here.
That was the smoothest transition to an ad ever lol well done sir
Just imagine waking up to skaal standing over you like in the intro 🤣
0:01 when you trigger the chained giant for the first time and think you can deflect his grab
CUT THE FEET
5:46 - You realize that whatever that was just now is gonna be my next wizard's familiar in D&D, right?
TL;DR, it's an exaggerated ambiguous term
Ahh yes, my fantasy has been appeased. Thankyou for the opening
Hey, you mentioned undead monsters. Could you do a video about the depiction of undead in different cultures? The modern "zombie" is based on voodoo and IRL rabies, and outside of Skyrim I don't think the viking undead are given much attention.
Who would win?
Berserk Skall vs Berserk LindyBeige
Oh, man, toughie.
Skall, he’d end him rightly
But what about dragons?
Lindy is hella tall but Skall seems physically more impressive.
@@clothar23 hight is definitely such an advantage.
with great hight comes great respo.. i mean reach.
I SWEAR TO THE GODS about two or three hours ago I had an argument with a guy on Facebook who claimed the historical real life Berserkers to be naked brutes immune to pain and almost invulnerable who raged in battle with huge axes, and I wondered if Skallgrim had ever made a video about this. I think the stars have never been so aligned. Tonight I will watch the video cause now I am working
The Celts were known for charging into battle butt-naked.
@@chimblemasterofchimney4771 I think they did that to prove that they're brave or they don't have any armor available
@@presbykimm That, and/or Irish people are just crazy.
I've always thought of a berserker's rage as just that. Rage.
Imagine you're in combat. Your brothers fall around you, every bone in your body is screaming to run, but you know you can't. The adrenaline starts pumping, and you scream your battle-cry. Everything goes red as you go into a rage. Nothing matters now. You must kill or be killed. No retreat. No surrender. That's the power of a berserker.
Or at least, they want you to think that. Psychological effects should not be ignored. Yelling, screaming, giving the appearance of madness. Say some guy with a big f-off ax starts running towards you screaming his head off with foam flying from the corners of his mouth. You'd be forgiving for running. It's entirely possible they were completely under control, and just wanted the enemy to see them as monsters.
You can't exactly ''pretend'' to how and scream and bite down on your shield. Act like you're possessed by a bear for long enough, and your brain will start believing it. Now add a fanatical devotion to Odin who is said to bestow the ''Óðr '' that causes the trance in the first place, and that's a very strong self-hypnosis method. I've tried it, just the howling, screaming and bear possession part, without the animal pelts or faith in Odin. It took me a fucking while to calm down and that was in a controlled environment without the stress of warfare. See what I'm talking about? The human brain is a mighty powerful weapon that gets often ignored when it really shouldn't.
Liking your stuff. Recent viewer. I find your measured, reasoned argument compelling. Good watching for me.
I like your videos. and I liked this one because I am a Swiss citizen, from the french-spaeking part of mthe country and, when I was still young, I went to attend a conference given by an historian in GRANDSON where the Burgundian wars between the Duchy of Burgundy and the Swiss Cantons ( a Canton in Switzerland is a State) started, followed by the battle of MORAT ( MURTEN) and finally NANCY in the LORRAINE where the Duque of Burgundy was killed. Now what is interesting is that the historian told us that, prior to the battles, the young Swiss warriors of that time ( 15th century) used to build themselves into a frenzy which was called - in German - BLUTRAUCH , also more or less BLOODFUME, meaning they were loosing control. this resulted in fights among themselves and it looks like that, sometimes they had more wounded or even deads than during the battle itself.Since at that time the Swiss Confederation was 100% Germanic, the customs between them and the Scandinavians had the same background. And since the Swiss were very warlike ( remember that from 1424 until l812 - the Napoleonic wars- Switzwerland's main exports were mercenaries and FRANCE was our main customer , it is not surprising that our young men behaved this way.
Berserker seems like the "elite/very brave" unit almost all civs had at one point
Bersekers were elite warrior only in mythology, the real ones were 'gangsters'.
The real reason berserkers vanished into history: blacksmiths got tired of fixing all those bitten shields.
"Come on Bjorn again, really?"
I bet dentists were happy though
Fiber deficiancy was a common problem back then.
3.33
No It makes you look thicc in the right areas.
For that transition into the sponsor you got my like
I love watching your content but I have to be honest, I clicked on this video because of the Suikoden 2 image you had in the thumbnail from your Nord VPN notice. lol Love that game! Kudos to you though, loved it as always!
When Skallagrim finally lets his metal side out.
WAIT IDEA
What if berserkers were parts of clans with specific totem animals, wolfs, bear, etc. that just wore the skins as some sort of religious charm for protection?
Saying that, I once heard something about a Northern bear cult in Scandinavia, worshippers of bears. Could be some correlation
There is also the war trauma interpretation. There is many sources about post war psychological trauma, like that knight who screamed every time he hear a metal sound, like the black smith working. Maybe some berserker were just traumatised worriors that went crazy.
A well crafted and informed video as always Skall. I know this is a older video and you may not see my comment but I just wanted to ask if you've seen a video by the youtuber "Traditionalist Tolkienist". It was a response video to Lindybiege's video about berserkers and you were mentioned at the end aswell. Just curious what you thought about it.
0:00 Oh no! Skall has finally awoken his Nordic blood!
So, basically, Berserkers was furry Huscarls?
Nachokioyu34 fucking furries
Plastikdoom I’ll get Hans.
More like the most dangerous Huscarl who had the most brutal reputation and followed the Jarl around in his personal retinue.
Berserker existed in Norse poetry. Just like dragons existed in such poetry.
"the berserk furry always came when I least wanted"
The ultimate warrior: a berserker wielding a katana in one hand and a pommel in the other. No one could stand a chance
Edit: not a serious comment, don't leave a serious reply.
Underrated comment
Katana is not a best weapon
@@alexm5327 Of course, a katana can't even compare to the power of an unscrewed pommel
@Khaki Shorts Pommel armor would be too dangerous to put on due to the pommel's destructive power
@@alexm5327 rek this weeb with facts and logic
Leif Ericsson’s own accounts of his best friend and company that he met on his first journey to Norway describes some usual behaviors and usual mindset of an “average” berserker pretty damn well, in my super humble opinion. If I can find my old copy I’ll edited this with the authors name ams title.
From the reneectment experiences I have to say, it is a great thing to have an experienced warrior on your side, who, at the moment of formation breaking (both your or the enemies) steps out of the line and starts to wave his weapons really furiously. It can break the oponents line, if it is weakened, or it can stop the opposition from advancing through the opening. It needs a special kind of fighter to actually do that, since it is a risky move.
However, doing that without ability to think would be a complete suicide.
(also, you can see this thing being performed by many heroes in ancient times (for example both Achilles and Hector were famous for this skill) or even later in the 16th century (for example Big Pier was well known for that))
Some in the reenactment community here in Norway (lots of us are history geeks, have mentioned that the Ulfjeðnar might be Berserkers that were connected to Oðinn, so a spiritually controlled rage, like a meditative stage, like a war shaman sort of, so a higly spiritual warrior, that buff his stamina through meditation, and adrenalin boosting training (reflex training, use of pain to feed strenght and determination).