Chapter 140: Love Not The Bright Sword For Its Sharpness

### Story Date

Thursday, 4 August, AD 1043/6551 ε.Κ/24 Dhu l-Hijja 434 AH/25 Qiao-Yue Huangyou Era Year 1/25 Heyannir ÅrO -1/25 Av AM 4803

## Appearances

### Locations

Constantinople
Paris
La Bouille
Vedrarfjord
Berk
Selfoss
Jelep-La
Lake Menmecho
Eigg
Loktak Lake
Wellebou

*Thor likewise changed between the East Norse and the Eirish Sea Norse, although his divergence was more of a change of emphasis. Across the various Norse and other Old Germanic-derived religions, of which Norse is the only survivor, Thor and his various incarnations—Thuner in Old Frisian, Thunar in Old Saxon, and Donar in Old High German—was consistently a lightning and thunder deity associated with storms, sacred groves, strength, hallowing, fertility, and the protection of mankind from elemental forces. He ensured that crops sprouted and were protected from the ravages of nature, and defended farmers and thralls, acting as the defender of mankind’s hard-fought order from elemental chaos. While the precise canon of the stories differed, often significantly, the god’s portfolio and general aspects were generally agreed upon across time and space, but this did not mean that the importance of the different roles were all ranked identically.*

*For the Eirish Sea Norse, Thor’s focus on fertility and hallowing were lessened, with some of the responsibility for these being given over to his wife Sif, and his role as protector and defender of mankind, especially those in bondage, grew more emphasized…*

*—The Second Flowering Of Yggdrasil: An Analysis Of The Norse Resurgence, 1710*

## Major Events

* Alexios confronts Sophia over Heidrun being a woman and her and Sigurd being intimate with her but Sophia gets him to back down by explaining that the scandal would ruin him too.
* King Henry considers the strife brought by Sir Henry and Berk taking the Jews in his city and orders that more anti-dragon weapons be built.
* Henry's army arrives at the Seine River.
* Padraig reports to Fintan that Archbishop Octavianus told him to withhold a portion of the Food and Bed Rights payments to the Christians and pay it directly to him as their tithe, which he did, but later learned that Octavianus told the Christians to pay a portion of what they receive as a tithe to him. Yngvarr reports that Archbishop Eadsige was the landlord of the brothels and is upset that the Bog Burglars providing sanctuary to the women who used to be there since that caused his rents to disappear. He then reports that Archbishop Adalbert has been throwing his weight around and this caused Norse Christians to revert to Norse Paganism in disgust.
* Gothi explains to the visiting Norse Pagan Priests that they hold a blot to Thor every time they free thralls or otherwise rescue people, and has those who can help prepare it.
* Hiccup and his retinue build infrastructure in Iceland.
* Mulan's expedition reaches Jelep-La, Horse-Tea Road in the Kingdom of Lhasa, Böd. They encounter a Pecheneg raiding party and Mulan, knowing how dragons react to eels, throws eels at them, causing the dragons to flee and the Pecheneg raiders are defeated. With Mushu calming the dragons down, Mulan and her group free the dragons from their chains. Out of gratitude, the dragons fly them to the next leg of their journey, the Chandra Kingdom where they arrive at a monastery where they meet Mala.
* Camilla advises Stoick to send riders back on mail runs to get funds to integrate the Jewish refugees as well as send warnings out to the scattered Jewish people outside of France.

## Characters

### Humans

* Heidrun Hallvarsdóttir
* Sigurd Trondsson
* Gunnar Bræsisson
* Sophia Makris
* Demetrius Pachis
* Alexios Makris
* Henry of Francia
* Spitelout Clodgallsson
* William of Normandy
* Henry the Sinister
* Fintan mac Ionatan
* Padráig mac Bran
* Yngvarr the Merry
* Gothi Hiccupsdóttir
* Stigr Njállsson
* Hemming Ákisson
* Dagur mac Oswald
* Hiccup clan Haddock
* Toiréasa
* Fa Mulan
* Li Shang
* Malachi
* Yao
* Ling
* Chien-Po
* Unnamed Pecheneg riders
* Isioma
* Gunvor Dugaldsdóttir
* Tunka Manin
* Mala (first appearance)
* Cami Berthasdóttir
* Stoick the Vast
* Merida Dunbroch

### Dragons

* Pílahridh
* Redsnout
* Mjolnir
* Kingstail
* Mushu
* Unnamed Pecheneg dragons

## Analysis

### Epigraph Tie-In

* The epigraph discusses how the Eirish Sea Norse emphasised Thor's protection of thralls and the otherwise defenceless. The chapter shows Gothi reiterating those points to the Norse Priests from Uppsala.