Winter of Dragons: A Terrific Novel!

Photo credit to Tobias Stonjeck on Unsplash

     It is unusual that I post anything on Monday, but I discovered a new story at my local library and I just couldn’t wait to share it. When I was at the library this Friday, I discovered a book I have never seen before, tucked away on the shelf. It was entitled Winter of Dragons by Reidar Tosk, translated from its original Norwegian. The book looked interesting enough so I took it home. When we got home, I began to read it. Inside the pages, I found the most intriguing haunting story I have ever read. Reeling from the amazing story I had just read, I went to the computer to find out everything I could about Reidar—an author who, shamefully, I hadn’t heard of before.

      Reidar was born on the coast of Norway in 1603. His father was the chief of a small village of fishermen. Winters on the coast were bitter cold and in the early spring of 16011, Reidar lost his older sister, Asvor, to a terrible blizzard. This tragedy, while most likely a common occurrence in those days, affected him for life.  As all boys of his time did, he grew up fishing and learning to provide and, though he obediently studied under his father, Reidar was not like him. He was strangely wrapped up in the tales and legends of his culture. 

     Then, at the age of fourteen, Reidar disappeared during a ferocious blizzard. There is no record of how he got lost in the storm. The village searched for him for days but finally gave up. He was presumed dead, as his sister had been. Finally, about a week and a half later, he stumbled into the village, half-frozen to death. He was barely coherent, going on about a mysterious creature that had saved him. Frightened villagers went out for months afterwards, looking for this monster. They never found it and from that day on, Reidar was an outcast in his own village. People were convinced he had lost his mind in the blizzard.

     Reidar, however, never gave up on the idea that something eerie had saved him. What is most haunting about this is that we have no idea what it was that he saw. His earliest recorded writings describe the monster that he thought had saved him. “Teeth like the rocks by the sea,” he said, “and enormous wings. They shielded me from the ice and wind.”

      Though the description sounds like a dragon, I strongly disbelieve these creatures existed at this point in history. There are no reliable records of them, and I hardly believe a half-crazed young man’s tale of one. However, I believe he saw something. Whatever it might have been, something happened during that storm that saved his life. 

     As time passed, Reidar fell in love with another chief’s daughter. The two fathers gave their blessing, wishing to create a treaty between their people. In the summer of 1623, Reidar married Greta. The next year, he began rewriting his tale of the monster he said he had met. All too soon, other things came along that took his mind off storytelling. His wife bore him a son and his father, the chief, died. Reidar was made chief of a reluctant people. They had never forgotten that winter of 1617.

     Sadly, three years later, in 1627, Greta died in childbirth. Her baby daughter, on the other hand, lived and Reidar devoted himself to her. 

     Reidar’s somewhat peaceful life ended when the chief of Greta’s people died. Without a warning, the people set up their new leader—the dead chief’s nephew. Indignant, Reidar tried to take the leadership away, claiming that, as the deceased chief’s son-in-law, he had the right to rule instead.

     The other village ignored him, and when the news arrived that Reidar was too weak to conquer it, Reidar’s own people mutinied, sending him, his seven-year-old son and four-year-old daughter away.

     Reidar took refuge in a village far from the coast, in a little village where he lived for the rest of his life. He barely talked about who he was and where he had come from. His life was a tale that he was reluctant to share.

     One thing he did share was his eerie tale of his fourteenth winter. Unlike his people, these villagers believed him and he was urged to write a tale about it. The resulting story—the only one we know he wrote—was called Winter of Dragons. The story was written in the saga style of the Scandinavian people, full of adventure and heroes. 

     It is obvious that many of the events in his life influenced Winter of Dragons. For instance, the main character, Duartr, is saved by a dragon from his mutinous subjects. In another event, Duartr meets a mute girl who carries the name of Reidar’s dead sister, Asvor. Though the girl never says a word in the whole epic, she has a strong, haunting personality, leading Duartr through eerie dangers to save the one remaining dragon on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Through the whole journey, Duartr learns that he doesn’t need to be a leader to be happy. In the end, he sacrifices himself for a cause he strongly believes in. (I don’t want to ruin what that cause is ;) )

     The earliest copy of the tale was probably written in 1636. Reidar had been at the new village for about five years. After the first draft of his story was written, we know very little else about him.

     Reidar died in 1652 during an unknown plague that swept through the village. No one knows where he is buried, nor even the exact location of the village he’d sheltered in for the rest of his life. It seems a disappointing ending to the life of a fabulous author.

   Though his life’s tale ended, his written story did not. Winter of Dragons was a closely guarded tale until, centuries later, in the early 1900s, it was discovered by a man named Alfred Knopf, the founder of Knopf Publishing Company. He translated the story into English and published it. Though it didn’t sell well and was forgotten, I believe it is a gem.

     This is not the end of Reidar's story, though. To continue reading, you must click the link. Make sure you read the whole post first; you won’t be able to identify with the link unless you have. ;)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cfD4zSnaVSv_c1b9HApLF8yzDU7a1gou/view?usp=sharing

Thanks for reading!

God bless you.