Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of disability and depictions of ableism and sizeism. In addition, the source text uses offensive ableist and sizeist slurs, which are only replicated in quotes in this guide.

“There was a boy called Odd, and there was nothing strange or unusual about that, not in that time or place. Odd meant the tip of a blade, and it was a lucky name. He was odd, though. At least, the other villagers thought so.”

Odd’s name also derives from a Nordic word meaning “point of land,” a geographical shape similar to the tip of a blade. This passage utilizes wordplay to immediately characterize both Odd and the people of his village. Odd is not odd for his name, but for other reasons, yet what defines him as “odd” is other people, not himself. This external perspective on Odd’s personality and presentation is vital to the development of the rest of the story.

“Odd didn’t understand the words of the songs she sang, but she would translate them after she had sung them, and his head would roil with fine lords riding out on their great horses, their noble falcons on their wrists, brave hounds always padding by their sides, off to get into all manner of trouble, fighting giants and rescuing maidens and freeing the oppressed from tyranny.”

Odd’s mother is from Scotland, implying that her native language is an older form of Scottish Gaelic. Scotland during the era of the Vikings was under intense influence from a variety of external cultures, including Nordic, French, and English. The descriptions of Odd’s mother’s songs allude to this French and English influence, particularly that of Arthurian legends, which reflect the noble lord narrative that is less common in older Scottish tales.

“There were blankets in the corner still, and a straw-stuffed mattress, and he could imagine that the little room smelled of his father, and nobody hit him or called him a cripple or an idiot, and so, after building the fire high enough that it would still be burning in the morning, he went to sleep quite happy.”

This passage characterizes Odd as fundamentally lonely and isolated, even if he himself does not seem to identify these feelings outright. His father, while never present alive on the page, is a key influence on Odd’s development and is implied to be his tether to safety and security.