“It is a tale of how I will take from my enemy what the law says is mine.” 

This bold declaration establishes Uhtred as the narrative’s authority and puts the chronicle of a nation’s birth in relief against a deeper narrative of one man’s righting a wrong and the emotional, psychological, and spiritual evolution that mission requires.

“Our men began beating weapons on their shields and that was a fearsome sound; the first time I ever heard an army making that war music; the clashing of ash spear shafts and iron sword blades on shield wood.”

Here, Uhtred reveals his profound response to the chaos, confusion, and violence of the battlefield. Long before he understands the concepts of cultural identity and nationalism, he responds to the raw, carnivore energy of war. Its confusion, for the boy, is coaxing music. 

“A poet, a weaver of dreams, a man who makes glory from nothing and dazzles you with its making. And my job now is to tell this day’s tale in such a way that men will never forget our great deeds.” 

Uhtred is talking with Ravn, a blind working poet who is part of the Norse invasion force. He addresses how he will, in time, recreate the mess and blood of the Norse invasion in the sweeping glory of poetry. The novel explores how the terrible reality of war becomes history and then myth.