I’m on a bit of a Finland run posting about my author playlist over on Substack…
Today, we’re taking a look at Ensiferum’s 2007 song Wanderer — which as far as I can tell, is either about Finland’s great folk hero Väinämöinen, Conan the Barbarian, or me…
Like Korpiklaani, Ensiferum draws a lot from the Kalevala, to the point of directly quoting the text in their songs — and those themes are a lot more explicit and obvious in those other songs, especially the ones where they are just quoting the Kalevala.
With that in mind, I’m not sure if the Wanderer from the song is supposed to be a specific Finnish folk hero like Väinämöinen (basically musical Gandalf) or Lemminkäinen (sort of a Heracles-type figure, featuring in Sibelius’ tone poem The Swan of Tuonela), or just a generic sort of Fantasy Hero.
Ensiferum also has a lot of songs that are broadly Fantasy-y or mythological.
Honestly, the lyrics of Wanderer could be pretty easily applied to Conan…
And, as a bonus that kinda-sorta ties into today’s post, here’s a video from YouTube Channel Empire of the Mind discussing Anglo-Saxon poem The Wanderer in relation to the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien:
Check out my full playlist is here:
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