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So, apparently there's a meme going round Tumblr which suggests that "an arrow to the knee is old Nordic slang for getting married". Very cute, but personally, I don't believe a word of it. Principally because there are no sources for it, other than Tumblr.

If it were true, I'd expect someone to have published an academic paper on it by now, given that Skyrim has been out since November 2011! This person did 3 hours of research and found nothing.

Anyway, I wondered whether anyone here knows anyone with a degree in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic studies who could comment about whether or not it was likely to be true.

In theory, it could be.


"I was an adventurer like you, but then i got married." sounds the same to me as "I was an adventurer like you, then i took an arrow to the knee."

Or it could be a case of saying you were injured sounds a lot more though than saying the wife won't let you go out adventuring any more. I'd be willing to believe that's why there are so many guards saying it.

It may never had been intended to be construed like that. But it's very possible for someone to view taking an arrow in the knee to be a metaphor to getting married and having to reorder your priorities. I never thought of it like that before, but now that you've presented the idea, yea...I'm on board.

It's possible, especially since them guards could running chasing after dragons without any hint of limp whatsoever.

I'd buy that. And that explanation makes it slightly less annoying whenever one of them says it.

This could actually explain the physics of the world.

Well my husband and I have been using "I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took a toddler in the knee" as a running joke for quite some time now, so yeah...

Funny, but no. There clearly isn't so much thought put into the dialogue of these games that they would start creating such clever metaphors, and it isn't from our own history.
That doesn't mean we can't start using it as such tho.

it's a nice idea

as far as i am aware, arrows weren't a big thing for vikings anyway, used mainly in hunting and big battles, so i don't think it would be as widespread a thing to spawn a metaphor. Arrow to knee in RL without antibiotics is probably going to be a bit more dangerous than a family life ahead

in any case, do we have any 1000 year old metaphors from anywhere which make sense now?

Same here>_> I highly doubt the meme existed as an ancient old saying>_> sounds like wishful thinking
As for things over 100years making sense.. well ironically the first joke to exist in written history is actually about a wife farting on her husband's lap..
Yep... first joke ever was a fart joke=__= yep

I have seen viking graffiti in the church on the island of Iona (Scotland), essentially it says " me and my brother were here" - it has their names which I can't remember. It's carved into a granite block

it is very cool

it's amazing to know how much people then were like people now, our technology tends to blind us to that i think

Graffiti is the pre-electronic version of Twitter. It's even in the pyramids.

You only need say Tumblr to prove it's false.

It's not about it being "true" or not.


Its just a metaphor that someone somewhere thought up. As said, whether it was intentional or not, marriage could be viewed as "taking an arrow in the knee"
It changes your life, and to a point, can hold you back.

I was referring to it directly meaning getting married.

Pretending that meaning, I'd like to hear Annekke Crag-Jumper say it! But yeah, it just sounds like a cute piece of "headcanon." While I don't know anything about oldyn tymes slang,* sometimes I can tell when Bethesda did research in other areas: there are altars in the game that have broken swords on them, and breaking/bending swords as an act of sacrifice has been observed in Anglo-Saxon archaeology.


heheheh

*Do go look up the graffiti discovered in the ruins of Pompeii. Obscene and hilarious.

I know in Norse culture marriage was taken very seriously but the man still adventured out in search of wealth to provide for his family and if he failed to provide then the wife would be free to seek a divorce... So I'm thinking a more realistic line would be " I use to guard the kingdom but I took an arrow to the knee now I'm an adventurer like you"

Vikings were great traders, farmers and fishermen and that's how i imagine husbands would provide for their families.

Christianity encroached on their lands and their holy men were slaughtered - so the Vikings started their raids of "Christin Lands" which they are famous for

i think a loft of the traditional viking images (particularly in the British Isles) stem from this period where they are roaming around slaughtering coastal settlements and plundering gold from churches, but this wasn't their main activity.

Skyrim pictures Nords as domestic folk willing and able to fight for their way of life which imo is closer than the Klingon-like "die well in battle" image I grew up with in the movies

so the arrow to the knee = time to marry thing doesn't ring true to how the vikings truly lived imo

That would explain it.

Well, now I'm certainly going to think this whenever I hear that glorious line...

It could make sense. Although you also see plenty of married couples where one goes off on "adventure" or looking for treasures and what not (ie, the story of Frida's husband from Dawnstar). I think it depends on the lifestyle. Some people are clearly into adventure and will seek it out regardless. Some people just try to make the most for their families and usually end up getting clobbered in the end. In most cultures those stories of adventure exist as lessons to be learnt.

This was an interesting little thing that popped up, though. Heavens bless the internet.

I agree that it would make sense, and I would be little surprised if it was remotely true.

By the by, what happened to your Moderator status?

Another consideration: Taking the King's shilling?
Wandering adventurer, recognized for at least a half-decent fighting ability, is conscripted to serve a Jarl. Refusal to serve the Hold could prove- uncomfortable.

She quit ruling so Musicman can rule the world.

That's off topic (and not true), but you can read about it here. Be sure to visit our Announcements subforum for forum news like that!

And now, back to the topic.