Really weird idea: Harry Potter as an Icelandic saga

Thought up this weird idea/concept. I love Icelandic sagas but only "like" Harry Potter. The basic concept is inspired by stuff like "Star Wars as a saga" and the low low fantasy Harry Potter thread. This is my idea of what Harry Potter as a saga or in a Norse setting might look like:

Could this strange idea (which fits my passions) actually work? Snape would probably be called "Sverrir Snorrason''.

Harri, of course is Harry himself and Jakob and Leikny are obviously James and Lily. Rognvald and Hervor are Ron and Hermione. The general plot of "Boy's parents are killed by power-hungry enemy, he's fostered out to abusive guardians and eventually rescued and taken to a place where he learns to develop his special abilities'' is pretty easily transferrable.

edited 16th Oct '13 5:14:47 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

bump. The title would probably be "The Saga Of Harri the Green-Eyed." Another idea I had was a retelling of the story of Grettir Asmundarson (Grettir The Strong)in a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of early 10th century China.

edited 11th Oct '13 10:25:57 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

This actually seems incredibly interesting. How will seid (I thought it was "seidr") be depicted and how will Hogwarts be reinterpreted?

@neko: On seid/seidr: I've seen both Depending on the Writer and how they want to Anglicise it. It would be portrayed in a similar way to the way it's depicted in sagas; summoning spirits, use of staffs/wands, carving runes in blood, resurrecting the dead... Spá and galdr (rune-chants) would also be present.

Hogwarts is still a school, this time located in a group of longhouses. The Four Founders were leaders of a secret society of runic magicians with Genetic Magic, which unlike the books doesn't mean that a Muggle (with no magical blood) necessarily can't do magic. They just need to work very hard at it.

edited 11th Oct '13 11:01:19 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Cool, cool. Now, will you be exclusively using creatures from Icelandic folklore? Will house rivalries be translated? What about the sorting ceremony and quidditch.

Quidditch... I think I'd adapt it as a kind of magical version of knattleikr, a ball game where the players were held back while the ball was in play, when it was struck with a hard bat. Both teams fight to get the ball for their side. The fight would be a lot more violent on broomsticks. Icelandic folklore includes many mythical creatures also present in the HP series. Werewolves and trolls, for example. There are also dwarves and the Hidden Folk (Dobby and the house-elves) and draugar, which don't appear in HP.

I want to transfer house rivalries, but have no idea how to work it in. The horcruxes could be runestones carved with blood.

edited 12th Oct '13 3:21:21 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Unfortunately, I know less about Iceland's history than I do about its folklore. This is a really awesome concept, though!

Thanks. Anyone have suggestions on how house rivalries would work?

edited 12th Oct '13 4:09:11 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

bump

Dumbledore = Alarr? No, DD needs a sex change, the most manipulative people IIRC are Gunnars wife in Njals saga and Eiriks Bloodaxe wife in Egils saga.

House rivalry = feuding clans.

@Jaqen: Are you an Icelander?

Eirik Bloodaxe's wife Gunnhild? The Gunnhild who sleeps with a young man and makes him unable to consummate his marriage because he didn't tell her about his girl back home?

Seriously, Dumbledore as a woman actually could work. Her name would probably be something like "Alfrún" or "Alfdís."

House rivalries= clans. That actually works. The Slytherins would be the equivalent of the Sturlungs (Snorri's family) represented by Draco Malfoy's equivalent. Do you have any ideas on what names the clans could have? Bonus points if they aren't only plausible but also sound something like the house names.

edited 16th Oct '13 2:52:44 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

I am Welsh, but I studied the sagas.

Vikings didn't have schools, but fostering children was very common.

Helga is already a Viking name. 'Hrafn' = raven; "sonnar" = sons; Godwin is a Saxon name meaning "God's friend". I GUESS the Icelandic would be "Gudhvynn, Osvynn or Aesvynn". Google is your friend, ask Viking naming conventions.

"Harri Jakobsson, son of a chieftain called Jakob Petursson and his wife Leikny Evangsdottir, is orphaned in a raid on his parents' farm by an evil seid practitioner called Thorbjorn inn Hrádi."

Ari is a real Norse name. Harry, Henry, Henricus, Heinrich, Hendryk is a Germanic name, so there is probably a Norse cognate, google is your friend.

James = Jacob: biblical names became fashionable after Iceland converted to Christianity 1000 AD. Northumbrian Vikings converted to Christianity 850 ish. So Thomas Riddle => Thomas Kenning.

Evan = Welsh for John, so Lily Jonsdottir.

Rognvaldr Arthusson. Arthur = Welsh for Bear, Bjoern = Norse for Bear, so Bjoernsson. Different Norse dialects spell "oe" as "o umlaut", "o with a line through it" etc. google to check the spelling.

"Gangr" is a Norse name. Hrolfr Gangr = Rolf Ganger = Rolf the Walker was a King of Denmark who was too big to ride a horse, so he walked. Hermione Gangrsdottir. Bad news, the correct grammatical form is "Gangsdottir"; good news, only nerds like me care.

edited 18th Oct '13 1:53:59 PM by Jaqen

re Harry: I remember seeing the name "Harri" on a list of male Old Norse names somewhere. "Hinrik" is apparently Icelandic for Henry. Lilja(lil-ya) is an Icelandic form of Lily so Lily would be "Lilja Jonsdóttir."

Re "Gangsdottir": I'm a nerd, so I care.

Here's how it might start out:

—-saga style—-

"There was a woman called Lilja, Jon's daughter, who lived at Arngeirsstaðir in Laxardal. People said that she was the most beautiful woman in Iceland since Gudrún Osvif's daughter. She was red-haired, pale-skinned and green eyed. She had a proud temperament and was kind-hearted and wise. Her sister Hrafnhildr was younger by a year and vicious, ugly and jealous. They were very close. Lilja had a foster-brother whose name was Sverrir, the son of Snorri, and they loved each other dearly.

When she reached fifteen winters, many men wished to marry Lilja, hearing of and seeing her great beauty at the Thing. Her father called her to him and said, "You must choose which of these men you will wed. The Norns have decreed that our fate is bound with your choice.'' She asked his leave to wait a short time before telling her decision and travelled to the house of Alfdís, her foster-mother."

edited 19th Oct '13 5:24:39 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

On the name Gangr, wouldn't it be more likely to be Gangulfr?

Gangulfr looks like Walking Wolf, it sounds like a Norse name.

Gryffindor was not Godwin, he was Godric, so Gudhreikr, Osreikr or Aesreikr. Check spellig.

"There was a man named X Ysson" is the classic beginning of a saga. Nerds like me love that.

The Norse form of Godric is apparently Gudrikr. So maybe "Gryffindors" would be called Gudrikungs 'descendants of Godric'.

Gudhrikungar looks good.

Petunia => Hrafnhlidhr might be confused with Rosvyth Hrafnklo.

Sagas have no One-Steve Limit.

If you are Bad Ass, people will name their children after you. That is why Vikings needed patronomics and nicknames.

edited 22nd Oct '13 3:42:27 PM by Jaqen

If "Hrafnhildr" isn't a good name for "Petunia-equivalent" what could be a better one?

I said it's not a big problem because sagas have no One-Steve Limit.

Check Norse flower names. Naming girls for flowers is very common, but I never heard of a woman named Petunia. Find a flower that is not used as a name. Last year, I met a woman named Fuchsia. I never heard of that flower being used as a name before.

Maybe a meaningful-sounding name like Ulfdís (not a flower name, but means 'wolf-dís).

Naming Of Parts is done. How to Icelandify HP & PS?

Vikings did not have schools. Fostering childern was common. Most chieftains (godhar) would have a couple of fosterlings.

"Alfdiis Peredusdottir was renowned as wise at seidhr. She fostered many childhren of the godhar. They say that Alfdis even fostered peasant children who were talented at seidhr."

Thomas Kenning wants the magic dib-dob. Harri Jacobsson, Rognvaldr Bjoernsson and Hjervor Gangulfsdottir want Kenning NOT to have the magic dib-dob.

Replace Philosophers' Stone with a Viking culture magic dib-dob.

Replace Quidditch with a Viking sport.

Replace Chess with Hnafakatl, Gwyddbwyll the Barbarian versions of chess.

Peredur = Welsh for Perceval. Norse for Perceval??? I dunno.

At the beginning, Harri humiliates Drakr Luxsson and 2 minions. The rest of clan Sturlung don't care. At the end Aldis publicly humiliates all of clan Sturlung, all the clan feud with Harri.

edited 24th Oct '13 3:32:01 PM by Jaqen

Yes. This must be a thing.

I know nothing about Icelandic sagas, but this sounds incredible.

@Jaqen: My actual idea was that Draco's equivalent character would be named "Ormr Loptsson". (Don't ask me why I chose Lopt- maybe it's because of Loki and his "evil" status at least to the Norse.)

That is a very good idea on how to Icelandify PS as part one of the "Gudrikunga Saga''. Actually, the most difficult thing about this idea would be the use of skaldic poems as a way of responding in conversations. I don't really consider myself to be that good as a poet.

Here's my (first) attempt to write a poem (well a verse). It's really bad:

Yes, I know I'm bad at poetry. .

@Achmaenid: Thanks.

Magical artefact's a sword (like Tyrfing) or even a totally made up magical sword called something like ''Fjorsvafi (Life-taker)". Dwarf-made swords are said to be magical. Welsh slaves were common, so it's possible Hinrik/Harri, as well as Alfdís could have Welsh ancestry. Professor Mc Gonagall could be a Scottish freedwoman.

EDIT: Tyrfing would actually be a good stand-in for the Elder Wand.

edited 27th Oct '13 1:07:43 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

Here is chapter one of ''The Saga Of The Gudrikungs'' part one.

edited 28th Oct '13 2:33:51 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Saga style is excellent BUT because of saga style, you gotta include Liljas genealogy. BUT the whole point is that Lily is a Mud-blood.

There was a woman named Lilja Jonsdottir who lived at ... Jon Xsson' clan was of little account, but Lilja was more beautiful than ... Lilja was skilled at seidhr, so she was fostered to Alfdis Peredusdottir, the wisest...

I assume you are dropping The Masquerade. Vikings already know about magic. Aristos = wizards and squibs; Peasants = muggles and mudbloods.

If you keep The Maskerade, then you can make Lilja as aristocratic as you like.

EDIT TO ADD Icelandic Peasants did keep genealogical records because those bloodlines were title deeds to land.

edited 29th Oct '13 12:58:37 PM by Jaqen