The Great Tales
The Rhizomatic Evolution of the Nibelung Dragon-Slayer
The story of Sigurd the dragon-slayer is one of the most celebrated tales in all of European literature—but it doesn't come to us in a single, authoritative form. Instead, it spreads like a root system across languages, centuries, and cultures: Old Norse sagas and Eddic poetry, Middle High German epic, Scandinavian ballads, and medieval German song. In this episode, we begin mapping that rhizomatic network, introducing the major sources that preserve the Völsung-Nibelung tradition before diving deep into three extraordinary poems from the Icelandic Codex Regius.
Thursday, January 15, 2026
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About
Myth, legend, and story communicate history, meaning, identity, and the highest truths about both the seen and unseen world. Both ancient Israel and the Christian Church recorded, preserved, rewrote, commented on, and found edification in the great, epic tales (as well as the lesser ones), whether they originated inside or outside the people of God. Join Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick and Dcn. Seraphim Richard Rohlin as together they read the great tales.
Music attribution:
Cold Journey by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Contributors
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Dcn. Seraphim Richard Rohlin