Because why not?

Jackson Crawford is a PhD student in Scandinavian Studies, specializing in Old Norse and its descendant languages. He was trying to find a way to sharpen his linguistic skills in a creative way, and when a colleague pointed out how well Star Wars would work as an Icelandic saga a ljósapera went on.

His efforts are being posted at the Tattúínárdœla saga blog, along with an English translation. He’s beginning from Chapter 1 with the story of Anakinn himingangari and his childhood as a slave in Tattúínárdalr. Eventually he’ll become the disciple of Viking Víga-Óbívan, meet Queen Paðéma Rúvísdóttir, and father the twins Lúkr and Leia.

The “familar but somewhat garbled” story and faux-scholarly footnotes remind me a bit of Crichton’s warped retelling of Beowulf in Eaters of the Dead.

Víga-Óbívan commends Leia to the care of a local goði and Lúkr to a man whom he believes to be Anakinn’s brother, but who is probably a disguised Óðinn. Déor speaks of the son of “Anacan” as having been raised by “Owen,” which may suggest that this interpretation is correct, but if this is in fact the name of the god, it is unclear why the form should lack the initial glide of Anglo-Saxon (unless this part of the story originated in the Danelaw; for full discussion of this and other problems of the text in Deor see Nashat 2010).

I also really like the fact that in this version of the story, the character “Jarjari inn heimski” is mentioned only in passing as a local fool slain by Anakinn in a childhood berserker rage. Now that’s quality storytelling.