The Viking's Beast

Úlfhéðnar

The sagas told of men, covered with a pelt, skinned from a wolf. They were told to be the warriors of Odin, the Chief God. The sagas told the men to be as mad as hounds and unbreakable. Nor fire or iron could harm them.

The sagas were wrong. The men did not wear the pelts of wolves, they were the wolves.

The first of the Ulfhednars were just men, but given a gift from Odin, the All-father, were able to become the wolf. The wolf became a part of their soul, their mind, their body.

Their skin ripped and dropped from around their muscles, and fur found its place in their staid. The mouth and nose longated in to a snout, teeth grew and canines became more visible.

The wolf and the man became one.

The Christians called them cursed;

''Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night,
may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.''

Now, this was not true. The Ulfhednars were not cursed, but blessed. Odin chose the first of them, to fight beside him and bring justice to those who deserve it.

He gave this gift to their children as well, for he found any descendant of his warriors to be worthy of such a gift.

Due to having the beast inside of them, their behaviour became more wolf-like. They started to run in packs, with the most dominant in the lead, as an Alpha. Their senses became more powerful, and were even able to detect their soulmates with far better success than humans.

Humans did not have the benefit of a great sense of smell, vision or hearing, so to find ones soulmate was rare. The ulfhednars were lucky, and finding your soulmate became almost ritualistic for them.

Soulmates became sacred for the wolves, and were given a more mundane name; máni, the moon.

Máni was something every wolf cherished and loved. It was their light in the darkness, their single reason to return from a battle, the very reason they fought with such ferocity.

They were more than men, thanks to Odin. They aged slower than any man living, and some were even gifted with immortality if proven their worth.

While men could fall from injuries, the ulfhednars could endure so much more. They healed only a little faster, but they could withstand arrows to the chest, blades to the stomach, far better and not die.

At least that was true in the sagas. Fire and steel did not give them fatal blows.

Ulfhednars were more than a legend, written in sagas to past down your children. They were very real, and far more dangerous than anyone could ever imagine.

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