The defining picture of the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 was undoubtedly that of a bare-chested man posing resplendent in a horned fur hat and face paint.
Photos of him in his bizarre costume have been shared throughout the globe — he appears to completely encapsulate the absurdity of the mob takeover of America’s sacred seat of energy.
The person in query has since been identified within the media as a far-right activist from Arizona by the title of Jacob Chansley (often known as Jake Angeli). He was rapidly alleged to be an adherent of the QAnon conspiracy principle — although not earlier than fake rumours spread that he was really an antifa “plant”.
One factor that ought to make it very clear the place Angeli’s politics lie are his tattoos. On his torso he has a big Thor’s hammer, often known as Mjölnir, and what seems to be a picture of the Norse world tree, Yggdrasill.
Mjölnir is one image we could be fairly certain was utilized by the unique adherents of the Norse perception system, maybe to summon the safety of the god Thor.
Yggdrasill is the enormous ash tree that helps the Norse cosmos, its branches reaching into sky realms inaccessible to people, and its roots to the subterranean realm of the lifeless. Not like Thor’s hammer, it was solely not often depicted by the Vikings, and representations such because the one beneath are trendy interpretations.
Above these tattoos with a central place in Norse mythology is one that’s extra contentious. It depicts a valknut — a picture that seems on two Viking-Age stones from Sweden carved with scenes from Norse mythology, together with the Stora Hammars I stone on the island of Gotland.
The image’s unique that means is unclear, nevertheless it seems in shut proximity to the daddy of the gods, Odin, on the stones. As Odin is carefully linked with the gathering of fallen warriors to Valhalla, the valknut could also be a logo of dying in battle.
Snorri Sturluson, a medieval Icelandic collector of myths, tells us in his “Language of Poetry” {that a} well-known large referred to as Hrungnir had a stone coronary heart “pointed with three corners”, and so the valknut is typically additionally referred to as “Hrungnir’s Coronary heart”. No matter its unique that means, it has been utilized in newer occasions by numerous neo-pagan teams — and more and more by some white supremacists as a coded message of their perception in violent wrestle.
Borrowed symbols
Angeli claims that he wears his weird costume to attract consideration to himself — however there’s certainly another excuse for the naked chest and precariously low-slung pants. He’s displaying these tattoos to full impact, and needs them to be seen.
Many individuals have related tattoos which specific their neo-pagan perception, Scandinavian heritage, or curiosity within the myths.
However there is no such thing as a doubt that these symbols have additionally been co-opted by a rising far-right motion. A touch at the place Angeli lies on this continuum is in a tattoo that’s much less seen on his left shoulder, however which a number of lecturers together with archaeologist Kevin Philbrook Smith have identified appears to be a model of the Sonnenrad, or sun-wheel.
It is a image listed by the Anti-Defamation League as “one in every of a variety of historic European symbols appropriated by the Nazis of their try and invent an idealised Aryan or Norse heritage”. Typically it accommodates a swastika or different hate image — however worn with nothing inside, it is extremely simple for different white supremacists to fill within the clean.
Canine whistles
There may be, in fact, an extended historical past of the co-opting of Norse imagery by the far proper. Beloved of Himmler, the runic script inspired the insignia of the SS, whereas the swastika is one other of these “historic European symbols” that options in numerous varieties on image stones and runic inscriptions.
This misappropriation continued after the autumn of the Third Reich, although in a extra muted type. Neo-Nazis — a minimum of these not brazen sufficient to put on a swastika — are inclined to go for much less recognisable symbols. These embody numbers representing “Heil Hitler” (88 — H is the eighth letter of the alphabet) or “Aryan Brotherhood” (12 — letters one and two).
Far-right adherents additionally favour different characters from the Germanic runic writing system which talk related messages.
One in every of these is the Othala runic letter — its title means “inherited land”, and so it regularly seems within the emblems of white nationalist teams from Ukraine to the US.
These “coded” symbols, and others newly borrowed from Norse fantasy, are even tougher to identify and condemn. Sky recently cancelled a reality TV show after viewers complained one contestant was lined in tattoos — together with on his face — that might be seen as having far-right connotations.
But when sure symbols are arduous for most people to identify, they’re definitely canine whistles to members of an more and more international white supremacist motion who know precisely what they imply.
Many students argue that one of the best ways to counter far-right misuse is to drown it out with optimistic and correct representations of Norse fantasy — the place I took in my recent retelling.
However within the wake of the mass taking pictures in Norway in 2011 by Anders Breivik, who named his weapons after weapons of the Norse gods, in addition to the 2019 Christchurch mass shooter Brenton Tarrant, together with his allusions to Valhalla, and of this newest poster-boy of far-right revolt, we now have to suppose very arduous about whether or not that is the correct method to counter a really international extremist motion.
Loading
On the very least, lecturers — and anybody else with a real curiosity in Norse mythology — have to be much more concerned in countering these abuses of our topic on the bottom.
In any other case, we run the chance of ceding the sector to those that see the obscure idea of “Norse heritage” as a solution to additional unite a global fraternity of violent white supremacists.
Tom Birkett is a lecturer in Outdated English at College Faculty Cork. This text initially appeared on The Conversation.
