63 pages • 2-hour read
The Sea of Trolls
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of suicidal ideation.
The Rune of Protection
The rune of protection serves as a motif that develops the themes of Compassion as the True Measure of Heroism. The protective pendant is “a square disk of heavy gold” stamped with the image of “a budding tree” to represent Yggrassil (71). Just as the World Tree’s pure life force flows through the earth and connects all the realms, empathy creates connections between living creatures. The Bard models heroic compassion for his student by giving him the rune of protection, even though this leaves him vulnerable to Queen Frith’s attacks. The protagonist follows his mentor’s example when he saves Thorgil’s life by giving her the rune of protection, which is “the one thing he valued most in this world” because of the hope and safety it gives him and the link to his teacher (368). Jack is only able to overcome “The Ordeal” and claim “The Reward” of his quest after he gives the rune away, further cementing the link between heroism and compassion.
Farmer also uses the pendant to advance the theme of The Relentless Struggle for Survival by showing how it gives Jack and Thorgil the will to live. For example, when Jack considers drowning himself after his abduction, the rune reminds him, “Life was precious and not to be thrown away heedlessly” (94). For much of the novel, Thorgil seeks death because her primary motivation is to reach Valhalla. After Jack gives her the rune, her personality, goals, and view of the world are transformed because it makes her “value life rather than death” (370). The rune offers protection not only from external forces but also from the internal enemies of hopelessness and disregard for life, making it significant to the theme of survival.
The Afterlife
The afterlife emerges as a motif of The Power of Belief because the characters’ understandings of what awaits them after death exert a profound influence on how they live. Beliefs about the afterlife weigh particularly heavily on Thorgil’s decisions. For most of her life, she was taught that she would be condemned to “the icy halls of Hel” because she was born a thrall (359). This stigmatized background intensifies the shield maiden’s desperation to merit a place among “the best and brightest” heroes in Valhalla by dying in battle (124).
Jack develops the motif and changes the course of Thorgil’s life when he shows her that there are many afterlives in the World Tree’s upper branches: “[T]here’s High Heaven for Christians like me and a lot of other places I don’t know about. Yggdrassil contains all of them” (360). The author’s emphasis on the multiplicity of afterlives signifies that individuals’ fates are tied to their own choices and beliefs. The motif of the afterlife helps Jack claim agency for himself and offers hope to others while respecting the diversity and power of belief.
Hrothgar’s Hall
Hrothgar’s hall, a key setting in the epic poem Beowulf, serves as a motif of The Relentless Struggle for Survival. The king’s hall was once a place of great liveliness and joy, “as sound as a nut and as warm and friendly as a summer afternoon” (44). However, the attacks by Grendel and his mother turn the place of life into a scene of death and devastation. Throughout the novel, allusions to Hrothgar’s hall situate individual disasters, like the destruction of the Holy Isle, within a broader cosmic struggle between life and death:
[Jack] had never seen the Holy Isle—few of the villagers had—but it had always been there like a kindly light on the edge of an uncertain world. Suddenly, Jack remembered the Bard’s words: There’s no way in this world for happiness to exist alone. The golden hall was too beautiful, and so, like all bright things, it attracted destruction. ‘It’s like Hrothgar’s hall,’ he said aloud (64).
Near the end of the novel, Rune invokes the motif when he explains to Jack why raiders will continue to target England: “Frothi destroyed Hrothgar’s joy, and her sister Frith brought desolation to you. Now that such attention has been drawn here, it will not turn away” (429). The motif of Hrothgar’s hall helps Jack understand that life must be cherished even though the relentless struggle for survival makes peace impermanent.
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