Editing Berserker (section)

== Types ==
=== Berserkers – bear warriors{{anchor|Berserkers}} ===
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| image2 = Fighting Mimes - Google Art Project (berserker).jpg
| footer = {{ubl|Left image: [[Källby Runestones|Vg 56 runestone]] from [[Västergötland]], Sweden, possibly depicting a berserker in animal skin.{{sfn|Price|2019|p=309}}|Right image: Possible [[Varangians]] berserker ritual painted in the 11th c. [[Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv]].{{sfn|Price|2019|p=307}}}}
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It is proposed by some authors that the berserkers drew their power from the bear and were devoted to the [[bear cult]], which was once widespread across the northern hemisphere.<ref name=hallowell1925/><ref name=nioradze1925/> The berserkers maintained their religious observances despite their fighting prowess, as the ''[[Svarfdæla saga]]'' tells of a challenge to single-combat that was postponed by a berserker until three days after Yule.<ref name=jones1997/> The bodies of dead berserkers were laid out in bearskins prior to their funeral rites.<ref name=danielli1945/> The bear-warrior symbolism survives to this day in the form of the [[bearskin|bearskin caps]] worn by the guards of the Danish monarchs.<ref name=jones1997/>

In battle, the berserkers were subject to fits of frenzy. They would howl like wild beasts, foam at the mouth, and gnaw the rims of their shields. According to belief, during these fits, they were immune to steel and fire, and made great havoc in the ranks of the enemy. When this fever abated, they were weak and tame. Accounts can be found in the sagas.<ref name=cleasby1874/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Berserkers |url=https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/weapons/berserkers/ |website=National Museum of Denmark |access-date=20 June 2022 |archive-date=24 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524153458/https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/weapons/berserkers/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

To "go berserk" was to "''hamask''", which translates as "change form", in this case, as with the sense "enter a state of wild fury". Some scholars have interpreted those who could transform as a berserker as "''hamrammr''" or "shapestrong" – literally able to shapeshift into a bear's form.<ref name="Davidson" />{{rp|126}} For example, the band of men who go with Skallagrim in ''[[Egil's Saga]]'' to see King Harald about his brother Thorolf's murder are described as "the hardest of men, with a touch of the uncanny about a number of them ... they [were] built and shaped more like trolls than human beings." This has sometimes been interpreted as the band of men being "''hamrammr''", though there is no major consensus.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sturluson |first=Snorri |title=Egil's Saga |url=https://archive.org/details/egilssaga00snor |url-access=registration |year=1976 |publisher=Harmondsworth (Penguin) |page=[https://archive.org/details/egilssaga00snor/page/66 66]|isbn=9780140443219 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Jakobsson |first=Ármann |year=2011 |title=Beast and man: Realism and the occult in ''Egils saga'' |journal=Scandinavian Studies |volume=83 |issue=1 |page=34 |doi=10.1353/scd.2011.0013 |s2cid=162375667 }}</ref>

Another example of "''hamrammr''" comes from the ''[[Hrólfs saga kraka|Saga of Hrólf Kraki]]''. One tale within tells the story of [[Bödvar Bjarki]], a berserker who is able to shapeshift into a bear and uses this ability to fight for king [[Hrólfr Kraki]]. "Men saw that a great bear went before King Hrolf's men, keeping always near the king. He slew more men with his fore paws than any five of the king's champions."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Eirik the Red, and other Icelandic sagas|last=Jones|first=Gwyn|date=1961|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0192505828|location=London|page=313|oclc=184742664}}</ref>

=== Ulfheðnar – wolf warriors{{anchor|Ulfheðnar}} ===
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| footer = {{ubl|Left image: Probable Ulfheðinn on one of the [[Torslunda plates]].|Right image: Possible ''ulfheðinn'' on the {{Interlanguage link|Gutenstein scabbard|de|Schwertscheide von Gutenstein}} (replica).}}
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Wolf warriors appear among the legends of the Indo-Europeans, Turks, Mongols, and Native American cultures.{{sfn|Speidel|2004|p=10}} The Germanic wolf-warriors have left their trace through shields and standards that were captured by the Romans and displayed in the ''[[armilustrium]]'' in Rome.{{sfn|Speidel|2004|p=15}}{{Sfn|Speidel|2002|p=15}}

Frenzy warriors wearing the skins of wolves called ''ulfheðnar'' ("wolf-skin-ers" or possibly "wolf-heathens"; singular ''ulfheðinn''), are mentioned in the ''[[Vatnsdæla saga]]'', the ''[[Haraldskvæði]]'' and the ''[[Grettis saga]]'' and are consistently referred to in the sagas as a group of berserkers, always presented as the elite following of the first Norwegian king [[Harald Fairhair]]. They were said to wear the pelt of a wolf over their chainmail when they entered battle. Unlike berserkers, direct references to ''ulfheðnar'' are scant.{{Sfn|Speidel|2002|p=15}}{{sfn|Simek|1995|p=435}}

''[[Egil's Saga]]'' features a man called Kveldulf (''Evening-Wolf'') who is said to have transformed into a wolf at night. This Kveldulf is described as a berserker, as opposed to an ''ulfheðinn''.{{Sfn|Speidel|2002|p=15}}{{sfn|Simek|1995|p=435}} ''Ulfheðnar'' are sometimes described as [[Odin]]'s special warriors: "[Odin's] men went without their [[Chain mail|mailcoats]] and were mad as hounds or wolves, bit their shields...they slew men, but neither fire nor iron had effect upon them. This is called 'going berserk'."<ref name="Davidson">{{cite book|last=Davidson |first=Hilda R.E. |title=Shape Changing in Old Norse Sagas |year=1978 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |location=Cambridge: Brewer; Totowa}}</ref>{{rp|132}}

The helm-plate press from Torslunda depicts a scene of a one-eyed warrior with bird-horned helm, assumed to be Odin, next to a wolf-headed warrior armed with a [[spear]] and sword as distinguishing features, assumed to be a berserker with a wolf pelt: "a wolf-skinned warrior with the apparently one-eyed dancer in the bird-horned helm, which is generally interpreted as showing a scene indicative of a relationship between berserkgang ... and the god Odin".<ref>{{cite book |last=Grundy |first=Stephan |title=Shapeshifting and Berserkgang |year=1998 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |location=Evanston, IL |page=18}}</ref>{{sfn|Simek|1995|p=48}}

=== "Jǫfurr" – proposed boar warriors{{anchor|Jǫfurr}} ===
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| image1 = Patris Torslundaplåtarna - Historiska museet - 108869 HST (cropped).jpg
| image2 = Boar-helmeted figure on the Gundestrup Cauldron.jpg
| footer = {{ubl|Left image: Warriors with [[boar crested helmets]] on one of the [[Torslunda plates]].|Right image: Warrior with [[boar crested helmet]] on the [[Gundestrup cauldron]].}}
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In Norse poetry, the word ''jǫfurr'', which originally meant "wild boar", is used metaphorically for "a prince, monarch or warrior", which probably stems from the custom of wearing boar's heads as helmets or [[boar crested helmets]] in battle.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jöfurr |url=https://cleasby-vigfusson-dictionary.vercel.app/word/jofurr |website=cleasby-vigfusson-dictionary.vercel.app |access-date=19 April 2024}}</ref>

Swine played a central role in [[Germanic paganism]], featuring in both [[Germanic mythology|mythology]] and religious practice, particularly in association with the [[Vanir]], [[Freyr]] and [[Freyja]]. It has been proposed that similar to berserkers, warriors could ritually transform into boars so as to gain strength, bravery and protection in battle. It has been theorised that this process was linked to the wearing of [[Germanic boar helmets|boar helmets]] as a ritual costume.<ref name=beck1965>Beck, H. 1965 Das Ebersignum im Germanischen. Ein Beitrag zur germanischen TierSymbolik. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.</ref><ref name="Kovářová">{{cite journal |last1=Kovářová |first1=L. |title=The Swine in Old Nordic Religion and Worldview |journal=Háskóla Íslands |date=2011 |s2cid=154250096 |language=en }}</ref>