54 pages • 1 hour read
John GwynneThe Shadow of the Gods
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 36-45Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 36 Summary: “Varg”
Content Warning: This section contains scenes of graphic violence, torture, enslavement, and child abuse.
Varg struggles with the physical toll of the climb through the Boneback Mountains and his growing frustration at being barred from completing an akáll to fulfill his promise to his sister. He talks to Skalk, and the Galdurman offers to perform it for a price: A blood oath of debt to him. Skalk warns that it could sever Varg’s ties to the Bloodsworn.
The Bloodsworn scouts find a gruesome scene in the forest: the mutilated bodies of some of Queen Helka’s warriors, hanging from trees. Glornir realizes Skalk withheld the truth about Helka sending other warriors into the mountains. Despite being shaken, the Bloodsworn continue their trek.
Chapter 37 Summary: “Orka”
Lif and Mord tend to Orka’s injuries after her fight with Drekr. When the brothers question why she thought her plan would work, she replies that fighting and killing is easier for her than others. They then tell her they were planning to leave, but saw Jarl Sigrún’s ship arrive, and stayed to warn Orka that the jarl is looking for them.
The trio return to Darl and follow Skefil, the burned man, for information on Drekr. They capture him and Orka tortures him into revealing that Drekr is headed north to the Grimholt Pass, taking Tainted children with him, including Breca. Skefil also says that Hakon is involved in the abductions, though the queen herself seems unaware. Orka then kills Skefil to ensure he won’t talk about them.
Chapter 38 Summary: “Elvar”
Elvar and the Battle-Grim reach the vaesen pit, a massive fiery chasm. On the other side is the volcanic Mount Eldrafell. Uspa says they are close to their destination, but warns that they will need to cross the mystical Isbrún Bridge. She uses blood magic to summon the bridge, which appears to be made of ice.
The Battle-Grim’s excitement is cut short when the ground erupts with swarms of tennúr, which attack. Grend is overwhelmed and gravely injured. Just as Elvar begins to falter, Biórr arrives, carving through the tennúr and helping her protect Grend. Together, they retreat to the safety of Agnar’s shield wall.
The Battle-Grim finally reach the Isbrún Bridge and leave the swarming tennúr behind. Despite their losses, the group continues toward Oskutreð.
Chapter 39 Summary: “Varg”
The Bloodsworn camp in a pinewood glade under the perpetual twilight of Sólstöður, the month-long day. Varg contemplates Skalk’s offer to perform an akáll, which could reveal the identity of his sister’s murderer, at the cost of leaving the Bloodsworn.
Meanwhile, Skalk and Vol clash. He accuses her Seiðr-magic of being a dangerous and unearned corruption because of her Tainted nature, in contrast to the Galdur-magic he reveres as disciplined and honorable. It sparks a debate about the morality of judging individuals by their parentage versus their deeds, with Sulich defending the latter. Skalk retaliates with a pointed accusation against Sulich for past crimes. The argument teeters on the edge of violence until Glornir intervenes.
Chapter 40 Summary: “Orka”
Orka, Mord, and Lif leave Darl and travel back to the farm where they’ve been staying. She devises a plan to lure Guðvarr and Jarl Sigrún out of their fortress using herself as bait, so the brothers can exact revenge for their father. However, when they reach the farm, they find Guðvarr and a large group of warriors, including some of Helka’s, waiting for them.
Outnumbered and unprepared, Orka decides to retreat. Guðvarr’s warband give chase as the trio flees toward a nearby bridge across a ravine. After they cross, Orka sets it on fire. With Guðvarr temporarily stopped, the trio continue northward toward the Boneback Mountains and the Grimholt Pass.
Chapter 41 Summary: “Varg”
At the edge of a glade, the Bloodsworn watch as a stream of enslaved people haul rubble out of a massive cave entrance, while armed warriors guard them. Svik rallies the Bloodsworn, urging them to gear up and ready themselves for combat. Varg dons his helmet and readies his weapons while fighting the urge to abandon the fight and focus on his quest for vengeance. The Bloodsworn get into position and charge once Glornir gives the signal.
Chapter 42 Summary: “Elvar”
The Battle-Grim regroup after crossing the Isbrún Bridge and Elvar tends to Grend’s injuries. Agnar asks about the man’s condition, then reminds her that the bonds holding the Battle-Grim together are stronger than blood.
Later, Elvar finds Biórr and thanks him for saving her. The two of them kiss again, then retreat from the others for some privacy.
Chapter 43 Summary: “Varg”
The Bloodsworn ambush the group in the glade. They quickly gain the upper hand, only to lose it when a massive troll emerges from the cave, accompanied by a red-eyed Tainted man wielding the bone sword of Orna. The troll rampages through the battlefield, scattering the Bloodsworn.
Meanwhile, Glornir attacks the red-eyed man, but the bone sword’s power leaves him gravely wounded. Vol intervenes with Seiðr-magic, creating a barrier to protect her chief, which is shattered by the bone sword. Vol and Glornir are thrown aside and, fueled by a primal instinct he cannot suppress, Varg charges the red-eyed man and kills him. However, he is also struck by the bone sword and knocked unconscious.
Chapter 44 Summary: “Elvar”
Elvar and the Battle-Grim travel through the fabled Dark-of-Moon Hills. As they march, Elvar questions the disparity between the tales of the place and its mundane reality. She also tries to connect with Biórr about his past, but he is reluctant to discuss it. Uspa assures them that Oskutreð is near, though her cryptic responses frustrate the others.
Around the campfire, Elvar and Uspa get into a philosophical argument. Uspa sees their pursuit of the gods’ relics as dangerous, but Elvar defends her belief in battle-fame. She also insists that chosen family is more important than the power of blood ties, an idea Uspa scoffs at.
Chapter 45 Summary: “Varg”
Varg regains consciousness in an underground catacomb after the battle. He learns that those digging at the site were looking for the Raudskinna, a magical book of life and death. While Vol tends to his injuries using her Seiðr-magic, she asks about the akáll he seeks, prompting him to recount the story of his sister’s murder. Vol promises to discuss the akáll with Glornir.
Before they can say more, Skalk and his companions, Olvir and Yrsa, betray the Bloodsworn. Skalk knocks Vol unconscious, while Yrsa kills Torvik. Skalk, impressed that Varg killed a dragon-born Tainted, again offers the opportunity to fulfill his oath in exchange for allegiance. Varg, angry at their betrayal, tries to fight back, but Skalk knocks him unconscious again.
Chapters 36-45 Analysis
Orka and Varg, along with their respective cohorts of characters, move into place in the Boneback Mountains for their meeting at the end of the book. Varg’s need to get justice for Frøya continues to drive him, yet it places him at odds with his current place among the Bloodsworn. Varg struggles to cope with Glornir repeatedly blocking his access to Vol, leading him to consider a blood oath to Skalk out of desperation. The themes of Familial Bonds and Sacrifice and The Costs of Vengeance and Glory collide here. When Torvik offers to help avenge Frøya, Varg is torn, as “[a]ll his life he had been alone, Frøya his only companion, his only friend, the only one he had ever trusted. As he sat and stared at Torvik he knew that this lad before him meant what he said” (349).
Like Orka, Varg believes fulfilling his vow of vengeance requires following a solitary path and sacrificing his growing bonds with the Bloodsworn when they cease to become useful. That’s why he considers taking Skalk’s offer: “Just walk away. How can you fulfill your oath to Frøya if you are dead? Who are these people to you?” (367). Critically, Varg doesn’t choose to walk away at this moment, instead joining the Bloodsworn in battle. As a result, his Tainted blood triggers his rage during the fight and he takes his final steps toward becoming a full group member, which he confirms when he refuses Skalk’s offer. In this way, Varg begins to reconcile his need for vengeance for Frøya with his desire to honor the new ties he has formed.
Orka’s actions reinforce her role as a tragic character, driven by love for her son but increasingly consumed by her single-minded focus on vengeance. Her interrogation of Skefil is brutal and unrelenting, and once she has what she wants, she executes him. Lif and Mord, meanwhile, provide some perspective on how, even in a world this brutal, she is extreme in her methods. The brothers are shocked by the fact that she still executes Skefil, despite previously agreeing to let him go. When questioned why she did it, she replies, “Because a cleaved head no longer plots” (336). While Mord and Lif are motivated by vengeance for their father, they lack Orka’s clarity and resolve—they still hesitate to follow through with doing what is necessary no matter the cost.
Elvar, meanwhile, is north of the Boneback Mountains, heading for Oskutreð. The group’s quest to find the site of the gods’ battle invokes The Impacts of Cultural Memory, with the group still drawn to the site and what it represents despite the passing of time. Although the Battle-Grim face some setbacks when crossing the Isbrún Bridge, Elvar is overall in the best position of the three point-of-view characters. Like Varg, she is bonding with her warband and has sex with Biórr despite Grend’s concerns about him. Her desire to prove herself and earn battle-fame seems closer than ever as she walks through places only spoken of in the sagas. They are coming to life, and she is part of them. However, her skeptical nature, established much earlier in the story, comes back around in her ideological clash with Uspa.
Elvar, driven by a thirst for glory, sees the chance to explore the battlefield where the gods clashed as the pinnacle of achievement on her journey “to become a song, a saga-tale told from generation to generation” (391). In contrast, Uspa dismisses the Battle-Grim’s pursuit of fame as hollow, warning that the treasures of Oskutreð are not riches or glory but “blood and death and misery” (391). In her eyes, it is a reminder that pursuing power and glory often has catastrophic results. Elvar argues against Uspa’s grim outlook with the idea of human choice: “Our choices decide the future. Who we trust, who we love. And our choices will determine what comes of the treasures we find at Oskutreð. Kin are not the answer. Blood is not the answer” (392). She places her trust and loyalty in the Battle-Grim, a chosen family bound by shared oaths and a common purpose.
Uspa, meanwhile, has no choices to make. Her husband was enslaved, and her son was stolen. She must guide the Battle-Grim to Oskutreð to get him back, despite knowing that only death can follow. Their respective cynicism and idealism represent two sides of the same coin, reflecting the duality of human nature: While humans have the agency to act, the actions taken can have dire consequences.
