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Lupine symbolism is said to be one of the defining points of the Indo-European Traditions, and indeed it is hard to cite an Indo-European civilization in which the wolf did not occupy a role of prominence; from the birth of Romulus and Remus and the foundation of Rome through to modern times the wolf has always occupied an eminent position of privilege in the mind of the Indo-European. This is even evident today - even Hollywood cannot bypass the lonely figure of the wolf at night, for the werewolf has survived on in popular myth to this day.
A number of important deities, ranging from in to the Greek Apollo, can be found with a wolf by their side. That the wolf, and occasionally, its canine cousin the dog, were important ritual animals cannot be doubted; at times though the important role of these animals crossed over from the natural world of the wilderness into the civilized world of man, where the boundaries between human and animal became blurred. One such occupant of this transitional space is the werewolf; another figure is that of the Nordic or Teutonic Berserker. Even older still, there is the tale of the Vrtya, dating back to the most archaic elements of Vedic society, almost completely buried by the past.
The Berserker and the Vrtya together constitute what is perhaps one of the oldest traditions, for both share a number of significant features in common, which can be found dispersed amongst other Indo-European peoples also; martial brotherhoods existed among the (Indo-European) Greeks, Scythians, Persians, Dacians, Celts, and Germans in which initiates magically assumed lupine features.Known partly for their fury in combat, partly for the use of magical means to subdue the enemy, these myths persist today in the popular myth of the werewolf. Whilst the literal rendition of the berserker is 'warriors in shirts (sekr) of bear', the berserkers were thought to be also able to shift their form into that of a wolf. For the purpose of this writing we will concentrate only on the symbolism of the wolf.
The fact that the Berserker was strongly connected to wolves as well as possessing the afore-mentioned association with bears is illustrated by the use of their alternative title 'wolf-coat'. It is probable that this name was used in connection with the wearing of some symbol of the wolf such as a wolfskin belt, for popular tradition in Norway records that 'shape-changers', were men who turned into beasts at night, and would don a belt of wolfskin before they left the house. The traditional garb of the wolf-skin coat is also attested to by the Hrafnsml, a poem composed about c. 900 AD, in which the berserkers are described as the privileged warriors of Harald Fairhair of Vesthold in Norway; they are described as receiving rich gifts from the king because of their fierce fighting qualities, and also referred to as 'wolf-coats':
"Wolf-coats are they called, those who bear swords Stained with blood in the battle. They redden spears when they come to the slaughter, Acting together like one."
The connection between the Berserker and lupine/canine symbolism can also be seen in the Icelandic Eddas which name Hundingr as the king of Hundland, "Dog-land". Similarly, the pre-tenth-century Anglo-Saxon Widsith mentions the Hundingar as a dog-headed people; while the "werewolf" (ulfhednar) military brotherhoods of the Germanic tribes elsewhere fought alongside "half-dogs" (halfhundingas). One of the prime roles of the Berserker was obviously predominantly connected to warfare, in which they were recorded as terrifying opponents in battle, fighting as neither man nor animal, but a creature that shared characteristics of both.
The Ynglingasaga describes the Berserker as follows: "They went without shields, and were mad as dogs or wolves, and bit on their shields, and were as strong as bears or bulls; men they slew, and neither fire nor steel would deal them; and this called the fury of the berserker." This is also referred to as being "to run berserk" (berserkgangr). There is no doubt as to the fact that the Berserker was a fierce and frightening adversary - the questions remains in the significance of the wolf itself, and the nature of the transformation itself - was it purely a tactical device to shock the enemy, or was there a deeper reasoning behind this transformation that bordered on being one of spiritual essence? Georges Dumzil sees the process as blend of the two, both tactical and spiritual.
"The Ynglingasaga text says much, but not enough: the connection the Odinn's berserker had with wolves, bears, etc., was not only a resemblance in matters of force and ferocity; in a certain sense they were these animals themselves. Their furor exteriorized a second being which lived within themselves. The artifices of costume (cf. the tincta corporaof the Harii), the disguises to which the name berserker and its parallel ulf hednar ("men with wolf's skin") seem to allude, serve only to aid, to affirm this metamorphosis, to impress it upon friends and frightened enemies (again, cf. Tacitus, Germania, 38.4, in connection with the efforts of the Suebi to inspire terror)."
Another aspect of the Berserker, here named as Harji and described by Tacitus, provides a further citation in support of the use tactics to terrify the enemy.
They black their shields and dye their bodies black, and choose pitch nights for their battles. The terrifying shadow of such a fiendish army inspires a mortal panic, for no enemy can stand so strange and devilish sight.' Not only does this paint a horrifying visage, it also attests to the vision of a demonic or magical attack, which takes place at night. The night, of course, is a time of sorcery and magic, which is also part of the imagery of the Berserker. The uses of animal motifs are a common feature of Shamanic traditions, with which the Nordic tradition shares a number of features. In such a society, it was considered problematic to ascribe more than one 'soul' to a person. The "exterior form" however, was considered the most distinctive feature of the personality. Dumzil elaborates on this by examining the linguistics of the root 'hamr' and examining its contextual usage in the imagery of the Berserker.
"One Nordic word - with equivalents in Old English and Old German - immediately introduces the essential in these representations: hamr designates (1) a garment; (2) the "exterior form"; (3) (more often the derivative hamingja) "a spirit attached to an individual" (actually one of his souls; cf. hamingja, "chance"). There are some men, with little going for them, who are declared to be einhamr: they have only a single hamr; then some, aside from their heim-hamr ("own, fundamental exterior"), can take on other hamr through an action designated by the reflexive verb hama-sk; they are able to go about transformed (ham-hleypa). Now, the berserkr is the exemplary eigi einhamr, "the man who is not of a single hamr.""
The meaning here is clear - two souls inhabit the one body. One is the spirit of a human, the other that of a wolf. The Berserker is thus not wholly man nor wholly animal - like his descendent the werewolf he is a liminal creature that exists in a twilight world where the boundaries between man and beast are ill defined - yet both paths are closed to him, for the Berserker can never truly belong in either realm. Like the patron deity of the Berserker, inn, they are shamanic creatures associated with the extremities of normal modes of behaviour, creating altered mind states. This aspect of the god inn is portrayed by the origins of his name itself, for the Germanic Wanaz comes from the Indo-European root 'wat-'.
Not only is inn associated with the more cerebral modes of shamanism, the god is described in the Ynglingasaga as possessing the art of metamorphosis.inn is there described as possessing the power to change appearance and form at will.Though this skill is found in a lessened degree in the portrayal of the Berserker, it seems they have gained the ability to possess two souls within one body, and consequentially the ability to fluctuate between them, as a reflex of their association with inn who is the patron deity of the Berserker. The Old Norse berserk stands clearly in an ancient tradition of warriors who were shape changers, capable of transforming themselves into raging wolves in battle.
