A Curse Carved in Bone

Freya’s prophesied future as the shield maiden imposes on her a destiny she’s desperate to avoid. With its promise of death and destruction at her hands, the prophecy is a curse. It upends her life; makes her a target of powerful men who want to exploit her; and even shapes her identity and sense of self, making her believe she’s “destined to be a monster” (310). The mythology of Freya’s world depicts fate and free will as opposing forces, but the novel challenges this dichotomy, suggesting instead that the influences of fate and free will are inextricable from one another. Freya’s struggle for self-determination, symbolized by the metaphorical image of weaving her own fate, forces her to confront the limits of what she can control.

Freya and Bjorn exist in a world in which nearly everyone’s future is pre-determined. Though they are among a tiny minority, known as the Unfated, who theoretically have the power to change their destiny, Saga explains to Freya that even the Unfated rarely succeed in doing so. They, along with the fated majority, are taught to believe in destiny and to see prophecy as the Allfather’s infallible guidance.