They’re the original long fantasy stories. Like ’em? Hate ’em? Either way, let’s hear why.
57 thoughts on “Sagas and Epics”
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They’re the original long fantasy stories. Like ’em? Hate ’em? Either way, let’s hear why.
Comments are closed.
WarniING!@!!
ABsOlOuTlY useless post!@!!
!23
FIRST POSTT ?YA?YNES@
!!
!@
okay.
umm sagas and epics….some are cool(norse stuff) some are not (the illiad) i really dont like my stories in song.
that is what you mean, right?
I like sagas. Well, I am not crazy about them, but if I had one in front of me, I’d read it. Sometimes they’re a little hard to follow. I like Beowolf. I haven’t really read the whole thing but the whole idea/story/general theme is cool. Yay Norse stuff!!! lol, I don’t even know if it’s Norse. Ah well.
I haven’t read many sagas, actually. I know, hard to believe. *note sarcasm*
Um…sagas are ok, depending on what they’re about…of course, that’s the case for all books, stories, movies, etc., isn’t it?
I actually like a lot of the Greek stuff (Iliad, Odyssey, and the like)…but I don’t know if LOTR counts as a saga or an epic, and I don’t really care, cuz either way it’s tooooooo long. There’s too much descriptive stuff in it. I know that some people would say that that’s what makes it so great, but you know, sometimes it just goes too far….
There was a MP sketch called “Njorl’s Saga”. It wasn’t that funny.
But I’ve never read an epic or a saga! Unless you count Harry Potter or His Dark Materials. Those were good.
3 – Iliad is Roman. I’ve been liking the Odyssey, although I’m not sure why it counts as a real saga/epic.
The Iliad and the Odyssey are both Greek epics attributed to Homer. The Aeneid, a new translation of which by Robert Fagles has just been published, is Roman.
The Aeneid is SO HARD TO READ!!!! We had to read it for English class, the prose version, and it was SO HARD!! The story is interesting, but after reading it for school, it has become my least favorite book.
3- I gave up trying to read LOTR. I love the movies but the books are kinda hard to read.
Sure I like ’em. But they can be very unceasingly ceaseless! (I know they mean the same thing.) I gave up trying to read that story about the afareet, it got too confusing when I finished reading the recorded part and tried to read the blogged part.
3- lotr, way too long, boring, but good story
doesnt star wars call itself a saga…i like them…456 were better than 123 tho, i thought
read the ilyad and odessy for school, liked both…
We had an odyssey pop quiz today. Nobody had read it except me, and that’s only because i had read it before. But i didn’t remember that much of it, and i hadn’t re-read it. Luckily we had an open-book quiz right after that, so we could get back some of the points. Doc is crazy.
haha, speaking of doc…our hw for the weekend is to read a handout on how to hold a roman orgy. Basically it tells you how to party like a roman. Latin is great. French thinks they’re cool cuz they’ve got mardi gras…pshaw to them, latin’s just one big party.
Anyway. This is the sagas and epics thread.
I liked Lotr! But then i’m kind of crazy…i read the sil twice.
read the iliad, the odyssey, the aeneid…y’know, the usuals…think that’s about it.
10-the old ones are SO much better. I think there’s hardly a comparison. but that’s just mho. And lotr’s certainly not boring. you just have to know how to read it…
7-wouldn’t that make you like the class better? english is so boring when the books are easy. i wish we spent more time on the aeneid. we only read like two parts of it.
We had to read it independently, though, and write tons of essays about it. We read the Odyssey in class, and the Aeneid outside of class. So it was really hard to comprehend it by myself.
I highly recommend the Volsung Saga, the Saga of King Harald, The Saga of Egil, The Saga of Eirik The Red, and pretty much any other Norse Sagas you can get your hands on.
it’s not a saga, it’s not an epic(even though it’s extremely epic),
its DRAGONFORCE! *scattered applause* dragonforce is the most epic powermetal band ever! (even the genre of powermetal is pure epicness.)
14: DragonForce is utter bull compared to Blind Guardian, Sonata Arctica, Dragonland, Arwen, Angra, Demons & Wizards, Galloglass, Gamma Ray, Heavenly, Kamelot, Lost Horizon, Manticora, Rhapsody, Sabaton, ecc… And they can all play better than DF. Dragonforce are utterly overrated and it pisses me off.
11 im curios, how do you read lort to like them? i liked the hobbit, and plot of lotr, didn’t even really mind the old fashioned writing style besides the, pace which kinda ruined the rest of the books for me…idk
12- essays for school on any sort of story suck…very easy way for teachers to ruin perfectly good books
16-that’s the main thing, the pace. you can’t be in a hurry to get done. just take your time and enjoy it. great book for weekends.
essays are better than tests at least. i don’t actually work very hard on my essays, at least not this year. so no books have been ruined for me. Yet. We’re doing P&P though, which really skares me. especially with smallwood teaching it. jeeshers. but i’ll probably end up ignoring everything he says anyway, cuz that’s one of my fav books. And then he’ll probably be like “*gasp* you put your own opinion in the essay? FAIL!” and i’ll just be like “sucks to be me i guess, but at least i didn’t destroy the book”
ooh, i’m going to B&N today, i’ll have to look for some sagas and/or epics. Norse stuff then? Kewlios. i might end up getting that de lint book too, cuz it was really good. and mebbe another pratchett. or mebbe a heinlein. i don’t actually own any heinlein. the library’s got tons though.
You know what i should get? A wodehouse. Don’t have a single one. Everybody should have a wodehouse. I’ll probably get a blandings castle one. emsworth cracks me up.
Anyhoo. Yurp.
6 – Oh yeah. Duh. I PROMISE, I DID KNOW THAT!!!!! *sigh* I need to stop forgetting these things.
The Odyssey is waiting in my room. I lack the time. It’s about the same priority as A Midsummer Night’s Dream- they require thought to understand, so I can’t read them before bed, and I’m online in my free daytime hours.
4-Njorl’s Saga was kind of boring. Was it in the episode the queen might be watching? I saw three or four last week and they’re mixed up.
^Actually, I think it’s the Iliad in my room, not the Odyssey. I haven’t thought about it recently.
15-rofl pwnt. and hammerfall. and helloween which is just better, not more epic. but it is power metal.
14- i used to like dragonforce. now its okay. operation ground and pound, dawn on a new world, through the fire and flames, and your good for them.
Ive read like adaptations of the illiad and the oddessy, never the real thing. but, im only 13, so im excused, :D. I read boewulf though, and that’s really good. that counts as saga/epic too, right?
Yes, Beowulf counts. As do the Gilgamesh epic, the Kalevala (from Finland), and the ancient Egyptian Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor.
I’ve loved the Odyssey ever since I read a Golden Book children’s version when I was seven. Every time Odysseus washes up on some new island and meets the people there, the first thing he does is to invent a new lie about who he is and where he came from. (In more recent adventure stories, Huckleberry Finn and Lyra Belacqua do the same thing.) His patron goddess, Athena, is fond of him, like a pet. At one point she appears to him in disguise and asks him who he is. True to form, he starts to tell her some cock-and-bull story. Then she transforms back into herself and says, “Aren’t you something. You lie just like a god.” You can tell he’s her favorite mortal. That’s one of my favorite moments in the story.
21: But the problem with DragonForce is that they CAN’T PLAY! I can show you tons of videos on youtube from guys who can outplay the guys in DF with their eyes shut, and I can show you videos of the guys in DF messing up their own material.
And if you like Beowulf, read The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. Main inspiration for Beowulf, very similar story.
15-VALHALLAAAAAAA!
24: What? I’m going to Valhalla, you’re going to Niflheim.
I like The Odyssey. It was the best book I’ve read in English class….for awhile. I liked the Sirens. They made me laugh. And Polyphemus. For a final project some people did a skit with Polyphemus. ‘Twas funny.
24-That was random.
25-And that’s not nice.
I like Norse mythology (somewhat random, but not quite)…my dad made me read it, one time, and it was really interesting. Before that, though, it was Greek and Roman mythology…I was all over that. One of my favorite myths was the one about Eros and Psyche…it’s such a nice story…falling in love, distrusting the one you love, the one you love leaving you for that reason, trying to please the future in-laws, the one you love coming back to you because you need them (like, really need them), and, eventually, living happily ever after…it;s interesting how the authors of my book managed to fit all that into a few pages….
Does anyone have a favorite myth?
We had to read Beowulf in English one year. I can’t tell sixth and seventh grade apart as well anymore, I think sixth, they were in the same room. It was boring, but reading anything aloud kills it. I’ll read the Odyssey after the Iliad, maybe this summer. And I read Lyra’s trilogy. You mentioned her, does that count? Probably not. LOTR bores me. I got halfway throughthe Fellowship of the Ring. The Hobbit I read through a few years back, though.
SAGAZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Favorite myth? Hm…. I’d have to say…. I dunno. To tired to tell.
I read the Oddesy a couple years ago. And LOTR. I should probablly read them both again.
25-Calm. Down. That’s not very friendly.
Once again, one of the GAPAs amazes me with how early they wake up. I returned to the main page, saw the recent comments thingy, and I was happy: YAY!!! MY POSTE! It’s moderated!
They live in different time zones, so it could be different. (Not saying that you don’t get up early, GAPAs….just commenting)
My favourite myth is probably Odin hanging himself on the Yggdrasil for 9 days to learn the runes.
Honestly, everyone should get their parents to get them either The Saga Of The Volsungs or the Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, excellent stuff.
The eye made more of an impression on me.
But didn’t he pierce himself through with a branch? Hanging with a branch through your chest for nine days is pretty gruesome… Actually it gives you a different impression on Odin than the one you usually get about the ‘God of War’. Sacrificing himself for knowledge, he’s a wise and sometimes suplicitous god.
Actually that should be duplicitous, not suplicitous… damn typos…
So did no one look up the religion I’m converting to? Asatru, and proud of it!
17-My favorite Wodehouse is ‘Thank You, Jeeves.’ If you get Blandings, I could recommend ‘Uncle Fred In the Springtime.’ Avoid Mr. Mulliner and golf; read some before you buy.
35-Why am I not suprised?
Read ‘Who’s Afraid of Beowulf’ by Tom Holt. You’ll love it.
35 since you’re the convert maybe you should explain the religion to us, but…
it’s a modern revival of old norse religion, not recognized by the idiots running the us gov as a “real” religion…
22 tale of shipwrecked sailor, epic of gilgamesh, both pretty awesome
Oh! I just remembered a really weird dream I had about sagas and epics (because of seeing this thread)!
I dreamed that I had to read them and they were on really long scrolls.
Yep, that’s all I remember.
But it was pretty cool.
May I post The Epic of Ike here? It’s rather long, but I feel it might be appreciated.
Heck, why am I even bothering to ask permission? Here, I’ll just post an excerpt. That way people will be more likely to read it.
The Epic of Ike
There once was a character name Ike, who was the the color of the third stripe beneath a spot-tailed quoll named Frank’s right ear. But this story isn’t about Frank, nor his right ear, nor the stripe beneath it. In fact, it’s not about Ike either, because he’s actually a rather bland fellow with little to say and even less to do.
Let’s try this again.
Ike’s sister, Ilene, was in fact, quite charming and vivacious, but sadly, she was eaten by an oversized newt at the age of 6, and so the world knew little of her excellent qualities. The newt, however, knew all about them, because, so cheery and pleasant was she, that she continued to be charming in his stomach long after he had swallowed her whole and gone down to the pub for a drink. He went on to develop a multiple personality disorder and alternated between being a dark, troubled best-selling novelist, and a large fluffy animal for a children’s television show. The television show was actually funded by gangsters to transmit secret messages.
This is where Detective Hindenburg comes into our story. Detective H. had been on the trail of these crooks for years, but now he was at a dead end. He had lost them in Fresno, and hadn’t been able to find a lead anywhere. He was returning to his apartment one rainy afternoon when he chanced by a child day-care center and heard through the windows the sound of Ike-Frank singing “Alice says Bucky’s faded, take the sugar and Freddo will meet you in Happyland,” on the television. Suddenly, the gears in Detective H.’s brain started turning. Who was this was this Alice figure? What did she want? Why did he get the feeling that she wasn’t telling Freddo something?
He quickly ducked into a nearby cafe and ordered a serving of beans on toast for sustenance. When he exited, he knew what he had to do. He had to get into the child day-care center, to take the TV. Obviously, the strange fuzzy creature who had been singing the song knew where Alice, Bucky and Freddo were. If he lived in the television set there (which he clearly did- Detective H. had seen him inside the set with his own eyes), then he needed to talk to him. The problem was, the day-care center was likely to be highly secure and guarded. No, if he wanted to talk to the fuzzy animal, he was going to have to lure him out, not take the TV. How? The answer came quickly: food. Now, what did food did fuzzy singing animals like best?
At this point the story must be interrupted by a very important government announcement:
ATTENTION MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC. WE HAVE JUST BEEN INFORMED THAT THE CURRENT STORY IS LACKING THE FOLLOWING SAFETY FEATURES: 1) A PLOT 2) A POINT 3) ANY TRACES OF COHERENCE WHATSOEVER. THE SURGEON GENERAL WOULD LIKE TO INFORM YOU THAT THE LACK OF SUCH FEATURES COULD BE HIGHLY DAMAGING TO YOUR SENSE OF SENSE. IF ANY OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE TO YOU AT ALL, WE WOULD LIKE TO INFORM YOU THAT IT DOES NOT IN FACT MAKE ANY SENSE, SO THEREFORE YOUR SENSE OF SENSE IS ENTIRELY NONSENSICAL. IF THAT MADE SENSE TO YOU, THEN YOUR SENSE OF SENSE IS PROBABLY OK, BUT YOU MIGHT WANT TO SEE A DOCTOR ANYWAY. IF YOU ARE THOROUGHLY CONFUSED, DON’T WORRY, SO ARE WE. WE HAVEN’T GOT A CLUE WHAT WE’RE SAYING AND ARE PRETTY MUCH SURE THAT SENSE IS OVERRATED ANYWAY. SO THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT IF ANYTHING YOU’VE READ MAKES ANY SENSE, YOU’VE GOT NO SENSE OF SENSE, AND IF IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL, YOUR JUST FINE, NO WORRIES. THANK YOU, THIS HAS MESSAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE GOVERNMENT.
And now, to resume the story.
“Smeagol won’t go, O no precious not this time,” hissed Gollum. “He’s frightened and he’s very tired and this hobbit’s not nice, not nice at all. Smeagol won’t grub for roots and carrotses and- taters. What’s taters, precious, eh, what’s taters?”
“Po-ta-toes!” cried Detective H. “That’s it!”
He rushed off to buy some potatoes.
Meanwhile, Ilene’s family was holding a memorial service for her in the park. Her aunt Bessie said to her aunt Betty “It’s really to bad you know, with her being such a pleasant child and all.” and her aunt Betty replied “Yes, m’dear, but have you tried the potato salad?”
-end excerpt-
Can you post more of the Epic of Ike?
35/37 – I agree. Tell us more!!!!!!!! I like learning about other religions.
All Posts on the Oddysey (typo, I know) – If I get into the highschool I want to go to, then we’re going to have to read it too. I was reccomended to read it before it was assigned and then reread it when it was. Think that’s a god idea?
All Posts of Norse Mythology – read East, by Edith Pattou. Reaaaaaly good book. Some stuff ’bout Niflhiem and Vahalla. (and I know that I spelled those wrong.)
Here it is, then:
Meanwhile, Ilene’s family was holding a memorial service for her in the park. Her aunt Bessie said to her aunt Betty “It’s really to bad you know, with her being such a pleasant child and all.” and her aunt Betty replied “Yes, m’dear, but have you tried the potato salad?”
The funny thing is, this is the exact same thing that was said to me by my second cousin’s pet parrot three years ago just moments before the parrot and I (but not the second cousin) were spontaneously transported to a small island in the Bering Sea, along with six bonsai trees and half of a salad fork (which I had been planning on using to eat the potato salad with). See, we were having a picnic in on the roof of my uncle’s house, because that was the only place where we could escape the ants. I reached for the salad, and next thing you know, it’s bloody 8 below and all I’ve got to keep me warm is six miniature trees. The parrot was just fine, because, being paranoid, he never went anywhere with out an extra parka. So, there I was, trying to somehow get a bonsai tree to perform the same function as a pair of woolen socks, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a spot-tailed quoll appears. “Hullo, I thought you lived in New Zealand,” says I, and he says “Yes, well I moved up here for my health.”
“For you health?” says I, and he replied “Yeah, the dryness of the desert was supposed to be good for my eczema,” and I say “we’re not in a bloody desert, we’re on a freezing tiny island in the middle of the Bering Sea,” and he says “yeah, well I was misinformed.”
Then there was an awkward silence filled only by my angry cursing (I was still trying to make the bonsai be woolen socks and scarves).
“Do need some warm clothes?” he asks and I say “Yes, in fact, some warm clothes would be dreamy you don’t happen to have any do you?”
“No but I know someone who live in the Death Valley who can sell you some for free,” he replies.
At this point I chose to sever our acquaintance and try and find my way off. I took the parrot and made a boat out of the remaining bonsai trees.
The chronicler just remembered the rest of the story.
Detective H. bought a sack of potatoes from a marketplace. At this point, however, he realized that the fuzzy animal couldn’t live in the TV, because things don’t live in TVs, except maybe really old ones. He remembered that it was just a picture of the fuzzy animal on the the TV screen. Stuck again with this new problem, he abandoned his sack of potatoes and walked on, deep in thought.
The potatoes were picked up by none other than Ike, who wasn’t imaginative enough to do anything but eat them for breakfast. Meanwhile, his aunt Betty was reading Ike-Frank’s latest novel, but she wasn’t making much sense of it. It seemed to be about a strange girl who wrote stupid nonsensical stories in her free-time. At this point the story starts building up and even the links between the sentences of unpremediatedness disappear. Ike got a job as a chartered accountant, replacing the last one who had run off to become a lion tamer. Frank ate some bugs and move into a cardboard house. His right ear did nothing. In Ike-Frank’s stomach, Ilene finally ceased to be charming and became a sullen teenager instead. Detective H. walked in front of a bus in his musings and miraculously survived. He wrote a book about the ordeal, which Oprah put on her book list. The chronicler’s eyes began to hurt. Pizza was called for, but all there was to go with it was diet coke. The sun went behind some dirty looking clouds. A faint buzzing was detected somewhere deep in the dampness of the laundry room, and even Klondike Bars didn’t help the matter. The story became boring and even the best-developed senses of humor couldn’t follow it. All seemed lost, but then-
There was the vegemite song.
We’re happy little vegemites
as bright as bright can be,
we all enjoy our Vegemite
for breakfast, lunch, and tea
our mummies say we’re growing stronger
every single week
because we love our Vegemite
we all enjoy our Vegemite
it puts a rose in every cheek!
And this was generally agreed upon as a Good Idea, and there was much celebrating, even for those who don’t like Vegemite.
The END.
32-I’ll see if I can find it, when I next have time…honestly, I haven’t been online in 2 days…which is unusual for me.
33,34-You guys are gruesome…does no one here appreciate a good, original love story?
35-I can’t say I’m shocked…that would be a lie, and my friends all tell me I’m not a good liar. Of course, one of my friends once said, when he found out I couldn’t lie, really, “Well, if you’re gonna suck at something, it might as well be lying.” I have to say I agree.
I read the first book and a half of the Iliad. It was rhythmic. I suppose that’s the way epic poetry is.
in response to frigidsymphony (15) – i was screaming the opening line of “valhalla” from Blind Guardian’s Live album. *sticks out tongue*
45: Then I applaud you for good taste.
Are Tom Holt’s Paul Carpenter books a saga?
I quite like if stories are made into songs
48~ what do u mean?
*PIE*
Well the sugar kills the inherent good-for-you ness
But it’s really very, very good with maple syrup or honey 
WBR LeoP
I have a burning question for the author of the Epic of Ike…did Ike continue on as a chartered accountant, or did he run off to become an anteater tamer?
40, 42- Um. That was confusing. I guess my sense of sense is okay, then. Were you making that up as you went along?
I like some epics and sagas:
Lotr.
His Dark Materials.
Once I read a very abridged version of the Oddysey (unless it was the Illiad.) I liked it. I enjoy greek myths. I don’t know if I enjoy norse myths, because the only one I ever read was Eight Days Of Luke, by Diana Wynne Jones, and that doesn’t really count, but all myths seem to be very much the same, if you know what I mean.
53: LOTR and HDM aren’t Sagas or Epics. Read “The Saga Of The Volsungs- The Norse Epic Of Sigurd The Dragonslayer”.
54-Sigurd Bull-Neck, as I remember. I think the Asterix and Obelix books definitely constitute a saga. Definitely.
54- I wasn’t sure if they counted, since a lot of people seem to be talking about them on this thread.
I read a book called The Voyage of the Arctic Tern, once. I think it almost counted, maybe. It was in verse.
Oh, and it was the abridged version of the Illiad. For some reason I didn’t realize that the Oddysey would be about Oddyseus.
I read a book called The Blood Stone; somehow it was supposed to be similar to The Oddysey, but I don’t get it.