Beserker RAGE!

[RuhlFreak55]

Given to the men by Odin himself has anyone heard of it??? makes you all powerful you can destroy any and all in your path........every enemy left dead in a field of blood and the beserker stood fast

[salmon1]

All I have to say on this is:

[Kale]

The term berserker comes from Old Norse berserkr (plural berserkir), meaning "bare of shirt", meaning a warrior fighting without armor (debated), or "bear shirt", alluding to wearing clothing made of bear fur.[citation needed]

Some berserks also took names with björn in them in reference to a bear. The pre-battle ritual of the berserker included ritualistic group chants and dances, serving to work the warriors into a fighting rage; the rituals also seemed to give the berserkers the feeling of invulnerability, causing them to fight with a reckless disregard for their own safety. It is possible that these rituals also included psychoactives (the most commonly suggested psychoactive being the Amanita muscaria species of mushroom) mixed with mead, allowing the berserker to disregard pain and wounds in battle.

Another theory about berserkers is that wearing bear or wolf skins served as a symbol of their proclivity for worshipping the spirit of the bear. Siberian and Sámi peoples venerated the bear (see bear worship), although there is no direct evidence of similar veneration in Viking Age Norse culture. Some scholars think that the berserker believed he was "possessed" by the spirit of the bear, having its strength and ferocity, and some sagas even suggest that the berserker could take on the animal's shape and force. In that respect, they are the basis of fantasy characters like Beorn in The Hobbit. A variant form of berserker was the ulfhednar who wore the skin of a wolf.

[HORSE~]

Given to the men by Odin himself has anyone heard of it??? makes you all powerful you can destroy any and all in your path........every enemy left dead in a field of blood and the beserker stood fast

Isnt Odin the father of Thor??

[Kale]

Isnt Odin the father of Thor??

THOR (thawr) was the eldest son of ODIN and the strongest of all the gods. THOR was the protector of mankind and with his magic hammer, Mjolnir, he fought the battles of the good gods and mankind against the evil giants.

[RuhlFreak55]

kale....teach me more.....i really want to like know all about norse religion and stuff....is there a good book?

[Kale]

kale....teach me more.....i really want to like know all about norse religion and stuff....is there a good book?

Dude all you have to do is ask Google any question you want answered, thats all I did. For example. "Thor son of Odin" or just "beserker". Here is what I got whenI just typed in "Norse Religion" http://www.feri.com/dawn/religion.html

[LawMan018]

The only downside was many times they were worked up into such a rage they would turn on their allies and after their rage had subsided they were very ill and bedridden for at least a week. Too bad they don't have a supplement... Berserker's Rage

[CSAR]

Wasn't there a rap in "Clerks" about some dude named Kluger being a berserker?

[perfectbeast2001]

I get it when people get in my way at the supermarket. I killed 28 people in Tescos last week alone.

[jobyjoe]

Wasn't there a rap in "Clerks" about some dude named Kluger being a berserker?

"My love for you is like a truck, BESERKER,
would you like some making f@ck, BESERKER.

My love your you is like a clock, BESERKER,
Would you like to suck my c@ck, BESERKER."

Silent Bob's cousin from russia (i think) was in a metal band.

[jobyjoe]

Fro Wikipedia...

"Berserkers (or Berserks) were Norse warriors who had sworn allegiance to the god Odin and worked themselves into a frenzy before a battle

Etymology

The term berserker comes from Old Norse berserkr (plural berserkir), meaning "bare of shirt", meaning a warrior fighting without armor (debated), or "bear shirt", alluding to wearing clothing made of bear fur.[citation needed]
Some berserks also took names with björn in them in reference to a bear. The pre-battle ritual of the berserker included ritualistic group chants and dances, serving to work the warriors into a fighting rage; the rituals also seemed to give the berserkers the feeling of invulnerability, causing them to fight with a reckless disregard for their own safety. It is possible that these rituals also included psychoactives (the most commonly suggested psychoactive being the Amanita muscaria species of mushroom) mixed with mead, allowing the berserker to disregard pain and wounds in battle.
Another theory about berserkers is that wearing bear or wolf skins served as a symbol of their proclivity for worshipping the spirit of the bear. Siberian and Sámi peoples venerated the bear (see bear worship), although there is no direct evidence of similar veneration in Viking Age Norse culture. Some scholars think that the berserker believed he was "possessed" by the spirit of the bear, having its strength and ferocity, and some sagas even suggest that the berserker could take on the animal's shape and force. In that respect, they are the basis of fantasy characters like Beorn in The Hobbit. A variant form of berserker was the ulfhednar who wore the skin of a wolf.
Hilda Ellis-Davidson draws a parallel between berserkers and the mention by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII in his book De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae ("Book of Ceremonies of the Byzantine court") of a "Gothic Dance" performed by members of his Varangian Guard (Norse warriors working in the service of the Byzantine Empire), who took part wearing animal skins and masks: she believes this may have been connected with berserker rites (Hilda R. Ellis-Davidson. Pagan Scandinavia. NY: Frederick A. Praeger. 1967. p. 100).
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Literary references

The earliest surviving reference to the term berserker is in Haraldskvæði, a skaldic poem written by Thórbiörn Hornklofi in the late ninth century in honour of King Harald Fairhair, the famous ruler of Norway. The poem was preserved by Snorri Sturluson. In this poem, Harald's army includes a warrior gang of berserkers fighting under his name at the battle of Hafrsfiord. In it, they are described as Ulfheðnar = "men clad in wolf skins". This grounds a connection between bears and wolves in Norse warrior culture and the common assumption that the word "berserker" itself originates from men wearing the skin of the bear. Snorri Sturluson goes on to mention berserkers in the Ynglinga saga: "his [Odin's] men rushed forward without armor, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit their shields, and were as strong as bears or wild bulls, and killed people at a blow, but neither fire nor iron told upon themselves" (Ch. 6). Berserkers appear prominently in a multitude of other sagas and poems including The Saga of Hrólf Kraki, many of which describe berserkers as ravenous barbarians who loot, plunder, and kill indiscriminately.
Much can be derived about berserkers from Egils saga. Egil's grandfather was named Kveld-Ulf meaning "evening wolf", and this is generally ascribed as meaning he was a werewolf. Kveld-Ulf's son, referred to as Skalla-Grimm, was a berserker. Kveld-Ulf and Skalla-Grimm are both depicted as irascible and violent throughout the saga. One commits suicide and the latter kills his offspring. Egill Skallagrímsson himself is described in the saga as attacking opponents with his teeth. Patently, violence and gruesome tragedies permeate the berserker ethos described in Icelandic sagas such as this one.
Berserkers fought with crazed or drugged strength, heedless of danger. They worked themselves up into a bloodlust – berserker rage – before battles, banging their helmets with their weapons, biting their shields, and howling. They were said to be immune to pain (or even immune to weapons) in battle. In their fury they would attack their enemies but also everything else in their path, sometimes even their own people and allies.
Allies to the raging Norsemen were wary of berserkers. Fearing that their own homesteads and families might be targeted by the berserkers' violent instability, friendly Norsemen kept women and children at bay.
In 1015 Jarl Eiríkr Hákonarson of Norway outlawed berserkers. Grágás, the medieval Icelandic law-code, sentences berserker warriors to outlawry. By the 1100s organized berserker warbands had disappeared.
King Haraldr Fair-Hair's use of berserker "shock troops" became a sphere of influence. Other Scandinavian kings used berserkers as part of their army of hirðmen and sometimes ranked them as equivalent to a royal bodyguard. It may be that at least some of those warriors just adopted the organization or rituals of berserk warbands or used the name as a deterrent or claim of their ferocity, as it is doubtful any king would have accepted a band of maniacs as his closest men.
Still, some scholars consider the frenzied and indomitable berserker and his bear-skin coat to stand right alongside horned Viking helmets as a "feature of later literary [works] rather than contemporary historical ones", placing the legitimacy of Norse sagas as historical records into question.
Another berserker story involved the Hound of Culain, who on several occasions enters this state of mind.
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Theories regarding the causes of berserker behavior

Theories about what causes berserker behavior include spiritual possession, ingestion of materials with psychoactive properties, psychological processes, and medical conditions.
According to a theory of spirit possession, the berserk rage was achieved through possession by the animal spirit of either a bear or a wolf. Berserkers would cultivate an ability to allow the animal spirit to take over their body during a fight. This is seen as a somewhat peculiar application of animal totemism.
Botanists have suggested the behavior might be tied to ingestion of bog myrtle (Myrica gale syn: Gale palustris), a plant that was one of the main spices in alcoholic beverages in Scandinavia. The drawback is that it increases the hangover headache afterwards. Drinking alcoholic beverages spiced with bog myrtle the night before going to battle might have resulted in unusually aggressive behavior.
The notion that Nordic Vikings used the fly agaric mushroom to produce their berserker rages was first suggested by the Swedish professor Samual Ödman in 1784. Ödman based his theory on reports about the use of fly-agaric among Siberian shamans. The notion has become widespread since the 19th century, but no contemporary sources mention this use or anything similar in their description of berserkers. Today, it is generally considered untrue or at best speculation that cannot be proven.
A UK television programme in 2004 tested the possible use of fly agaric and alcohol by training a healthy volunteer in the use of Viking weapons, then evaluating his performance under the influence of fly agaric or alcohol compared to no influence. It was shown that use of fly agaric or alcohol severely reduced his fighting ability, and the tentative conclusion drawn was that berserk state was achieved psychologically; otherwise, berserkers would have been too easy to kill. Of course, this does not take into account the mindset that the berserker likely would have attempted to place himself in.
A simple theory attributes the behavior to drunken rage. It is also possible that berserkers worked themselves into their frenzy through purely psychological processes, perhaps using frenzied rituals and dances. According to Saxo Grammaticus they also drank bear or wolf blood.
U.S. professor Jesse L. Byock claims (in Scientific American, 1995) that berserker rage could have been a symptom of Paget's disease. Uncontrolled skull bone growth could have caused painful pressure in the head. He mentions the unattractive and large head of Egill Skallagrímsson in Egilssaga. Other possibilities are mild epilepsy, rabies, and hysteria. Nevertheless, these theories are highly unlikely, as the berserkers would - seemingly - inevitably turn against each other instead of the enemies. During battle, they are consistently described in the frenzy of rage; yet, the berserkers, while sometimes purportedly felling allies, seem to have avoided attacking each other.
Going berserk — berserksgangr or berserkergang — could also happen in the middle of daily work. It began with shivering, chattering of the teeth, and a chill in the body. The face swelled and changed its color. Next came great rage, howling, and indiscriminate brawling. When the rage quelled, the berserker was exhausted and dull of mind for up to several days. According to sagas, many enemies of berserkers exploited this stage to get rid of them.
Manic Depressive (Bipolar Disorder) - Offers another possible explanation for this behavior. During a manic state, the person affected is impulsive and often seems uncontrolled, and often percieved as exhibiting aggressive behaviour. (A dysphoric mania consists of a manic episode with depressive symptoms. Increased energy and some form of anger, from irritability to full blown rage, are the most common symptoms.) After the manic high where the person has elevated energy levels, and the ability to disregard risky behaviour, the person enters a depressed state that lasts for several days.
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Modern age

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Modern term usage
The word "berserker" today applies to anyone who fights with reckless abandon and disregard to even his own life, a concept used ad nauseam during the Vietnam War and in Vietnam-inspired literature (Michael Herr's Dispatches) and film (Oliver Stone's Platoon). "Going berserk" in this context refers to an overdose of adrenaline-induced opioids in the human body and brain leading a soldier to fight with raging fearlessness and indifference, a state strikingly similar to that of the 9th century berserkers observed in this article. "Going berserk" is also used colloquially to describe a person who is acting in a wild rage or in an uncontrolled and irrational manner.
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Modern popular culture
Main article: Berserkers in popular culture
Berserkers or figures influenced by the concept or mythos of the Berserker sometimes appear in modern popular culture, although they are rarely based off of historical depictions."

[CSAR]

"My love for you is like a truck, BESERKER,
would you like some making f@ck, BESERKER.

My love your you is like a clock, BESERKER,
Would you like to suck my c@ck, BESERKER."

Silent Bob's cousin from russia (i think) was in a metal band.

Dude! That's what I was talking about. Pretty funny shit!

[RuhlFreak55]

Hail Gods Of War!!

[RuhlFreak55]

let the battle begin, with swords in the wind!

[beuleux]

Dont you just love the internet...

[RuhlFreak55]

does anyone still practive norse religion????????? i think it'd be sweet....

[Morpheaus]

I get it when people get in my way at the supermarket. I killed 28 people in Tescos last week alone.

i know exactly where you're coming from! they stand in the middle's of the aisle's so nobody else can get past...b*****d's!