Olaf the Glorious: A Story of the Viking Age by Robert Leighton
This book can be treated partly as a biography of Olaf Tryggvason (or Olaf Triggvison in the book). His life however has the elements of the hero myth. A hero isn't just a representation of the changes in the season or life and death. They also symbolize their people or the changes in their society. Olaf was such a man. He forcibly imposed a change by converting his people to Christianity. If sources were to be believed, he had a very complicated life. He was chased out of his country and denied his right to the throne, became a slave in Esthonia, was later reunited with a family member and had a fairly comfortable life at the court of King Valdemar, had many adventures as a Viking, and became a persistent and often harsh advocate of Christianity during his rule as the king of Norway. He was also a brilliant boy. He learned things much easier than his peers and he excelled in almost everything, like the heroes of various myths. Like every great hero however, he also had ...