Literature Glossary
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Saga
Definition:
Do you like your Scandinavian and Icelandic warrior stories with a healthy dose of backstory and detailed family trees? Then the saga might be for you.
It's a prose genre that's all about heroic feats, magical weapons, fighters who like to take a break from brawling to recite poetry, and lots (and lots and lots) of genealogy.
Old Norse sagas are often stuck into categories like kings sagas (which are about kings), family sagas (which are about families), and mythical hero sagas (which are about hot dogs).
Just kidding. They're about mythical heroes.
Ready to check out some Icelandic sagas? Here's a whole database full of them. Just make sure you click on the English language option if your Icelandic and Old Norse are rusty.