00:43:05 (someone): And then Cú Chulainn spares her because she's a woman, kind of putting her below the hundreds of men he had absolutely no problem killing. The attitude towards women is, sadly, representative of a lot of stories we've talked about on here, and, it seems, of ancient medieval literature in general. Oddly enough, though, it's not representative of ancient Irish society. Compared to Roman, Greek, and other contemporary societies, women in Gaelic Ireland have much more freedom, protection under law, and status. They could be teachers, lawgivers, healers, some sources say druids, and even rulers. The Romans, when they came in contact with the Celts, were astounded by the equality of men and women. Say an aside made for a moment. Just look at Skullhawk and Efe, the teachers and leaders mentioned last episode. They were authority figures and fairly powerful and respected. Grohur is on the throne largely because of his mother's intelligence and political skill. And even looking back at Maeve, despite the ending, she's the authority when it comes to the army of Connacht. She is at least equal to her husband and really skillfully handles Fergus and the other warriors. And she also really skillfully handles herself on the battlefield as well. She's a decent warrior. I, personally, would be interested in what effect the medieval monks had on the manuscripts, because I think that might be an intervening factor. One interpretation put it this way, this story focuses not so much on Maeve's good deeds, but on the perceived weaknesses of womanhood.

00:29:58 (someone): For the second time that day, the Prince turned pale, hardly able to breathe as he begged pathetically for her forgiveness. She gave it. and said that she would forgive him, but reminded him that she didn't trust him. She didn't need to. Her children were the documented heirs to the kingdom now, and, most of all, even though he had tried to imprison her, kill her, and abandon her, she had outwitted him at every turn, and he should remember that, if he ever thought about betraying her again. He had intended to marry her, to trap her, and exact his revenge. But in the end, she had turned his planned scenario back on him. The prince had already named his heirs, and they were her children, whom the people loved. At this point, he was unnecessary. With that, she bid the prince goodnight and left. This story was an excellent example of a strong female protagonist, and I was able to find a couple different readings on the tale. The first was not very generous to Krystal, and it's a reading based on a lot of fairy tale tropes. In that reading, she wanted to be married to the prince, but saw his abandonment of her as an opportunity to help him grow up and mature. Her victory in that reading was becoming a mother. She grew into a triumphant mother figure, both to her children and her husband, helping him to see the error in his ways, to become the virtuous head of the family. In that version, the husband was just childish and immature, not dangerously devious and deceptive.

00:14:14 (someone): But she would be remiss if she didn't at least check. All she found were the nine skulls of the girls who had come before her. The nine girls who died, she gathered them up to take them back to their parents, to their home, so they could be given the honor that they deserved. They would have in death what they never had in life. Just kidding. Seriously, according to the story, she picked up the skulls and trash-talked each and every one of them, calling them timid little wastes who deserved what they got for not standing up to an actual dragon. She left them in the cave next to the rotting remains of the one who killed them. She lashed the dragon's head to her back and alongside the dog who picked off a snack or 40 on their way home, dragged it back to the city. Her family, who hadn't stopped weeping since she left, was overjoyed by her return and the people were stunned. She was celebrated as a hero and it wasn't long before the king himself came knocking. He proposed to her and while I would usually take that to mean that the king declared that he was marrying the young woman, And the young woman hopefully agreed. Things were a bit different for Li Qi. When the young woman is the only person to kill a dragon that was threatening your city, well, her agreement was pretty necessary. And she did agree. Qi became the queen. And throughout her life, which was a long one, because she got married at 13, the district was free of monsters.

00:12:24 (someone): These were magical women and possibly fairy creatures that, yes, live in lakes. One had given Arthur Excalibur, one had been beheaded in front of Arthur, one will run away with Merlin, and then there's this one. I'm still trying to hammer out the motivations of the various ladies of the lake, but they appear to be supernatural women who aid King Arthur in his time of need. For instance, when he's about to be stabbed to death by his own sword in a field. So, with Excalibur poised above his head, Akalon suddenly began to feel the handle grow warm. Then, almost immediately, it was red hot. He shrieked and instinctively tossed it to the ground. Arthur, on his back, with his face bravely contorted in terror, seized the opportunity. He lunged for the sword, which, for him, was quite cool, and in one motion sliced the scabbard from Akalon's side. The sword out of his hand and the scabbard on the ground, Akalon almost reached for it. until Arthur found a gap in his armor, and ran Excalibur straight through it. The spectators had been sitting there in stunned silence, but soon, all twenty knights erupted in cheers. That guy that they didn't know had killed the other guy that they didn't know. They could leave! Ser Domus was deep in thought about what wall he was going to bump out to make room for his jacuzzi, and his brother's much nicer house, as King Arthur tore the helmet off the opposing knight.

00:02:58 (someone): Her daughter was going to be alright. The kingdom was kind of far away, so the queen hired servants to pack up the dowry, which would follow the princess to her new home. Before parting ways, mom took the princess aside, clutching her hand. The queen stood holding back tears as she produced a knife. As long as the princess lived in her house, in her kingdom, the queen was able to protect her. Here she had freedom, power, and the ability to speak her mind freely. The queen motioned to the walls. As soon as she stepped beyond these walls with the dowry, all that would change. The queen had chosen as good a husband as possible, but there were always surprises and deception. That's why the queen was doing this. As she spoke, she inched the blade closer and closer to her thumb before pressing down firmly with a slice. Swiftly, she pulled out the towel, sopping up most of the blood. It was then that she revealed an embroidered handkerchief. With it, she caught exactly three drops of blood. After bandaging her finger, the queen delicately folded the handkerchief and asked her daughter to tuck it in her dress, keeping it close to her heart. The princess did as her mother asked and, with a smile, assured her that she would be fine. She might be leaving, but she was going into the world that the queen had prepared her to face. it would be okay. At last, the queen hugged her daughter for what might be the final time. She liked her daughter's optimism, but she knew too much of the world to share it.

00:36:02 (someone): He had an odd, sad, and complicated love life that I won't really go into. I can only say that he never really experienced redemption from the several anxieties that plagued him in the romantic sphere, and many of his loves went unrequited. In fact, when he died unmarried of liver cancer at the age of 70, a long letter from his youth, from a girl he had loved, was found in a pouch on his chest. The movie Frozen is based off this story, but as you can probably see, only in the broadest of strokes, in that it contains a Snow Queen and a quest for redemption. I like to think of this, the original story, as an alternate reality where Elsa doesn't experience love, acceptance, and redemption in the end, and instead uses her powers to rule a frozen kingdom and steal people from their homes to slake her deep loneliness. And, also, we don't really get any explanation as to who the Snow Queen is, what her motivations are, or any sort of origin story or anything like that in Hans Christian Andersen's version. The ending is a little unsatisfying, but I really like that, after the treatment the Little Mermaid got, where she basically spends the whole story hoping that Prince notices her before dying for him, Hans Christian Andersen actually let a female character go on kind of an epic quest, save the male character, and live. Next week is an Irish legend, and we'll start in on the story of Cúchulainn. If you like the characters in epic scale of the Viking, Greek, or Arthurian legends, these are awesome stories from Ireland in the same sort of style.

00:07:18 (someone): Find the last rider. He's right here, the leader heard, feeling a knife on his throat. The young king, who had surprised the bandit leader, said that to lead people astray and poison them was a coward's way. He challenged the man to combat. The king saw the bandits raise their crossbows, But the leader shook his head. Really? The men lowered their weapons, and it was then that the king noticed something. Holding the young man close allowed him to pay attention to the smaller details, like the man's long blonde hair, voice, and basic anatomy. The young man was a woman. She was, and she also knew an opening when she saw one. Well, the king marveled at a woman leading. An elbow found his solar plexus, and soon he was on the ground, gasping for air. The woman raised her hands to keep her men from turning the king into a porcupine, and bent down to his ear, saying that it was a brave thing he did there. He could have run, she would let him live, but if he was truly as brave as his words, he should come find her. Her name was Zul'Visya. She snapped her fingers, and the men mounted their rides. A couple drove the carts, and more herded the horses belonging to the king's men. They even took his horse. Sitting up in the dust, catching his breath, the king watched her leave, repeating her name, Sulvicia.

00:15:46 (someone): Cool. Her turn! Eaglebeak was the youngest of 18 daughters and two sons, children of the King and Queen of Jotunheim, after Thrymere. When their parents died, the king and queen left the money to the daughters, but the throne to the sons. The parents owned three remarkable treasures, a chess set, a horn, and a golden ring. The brothers managed to take the chess set and the horn, but the sisters, all 18 of them, held on to that ring. Eagle Beak being the self-reported prettiest and nicest of the sisters, she was Cinderella-ed and forced to serve her 17 older sisters. She had to wait on them day and night, and if she stopped or talked back, she would leave bruised and beaten. Huddled in the corner of the kitchen, Eagle Beak wished for vengeance. She hated her sisters. They had all been a happy family when her parents were still alive. But now, she was miserable. She couldn't leave, she had no place to go. She could barely tolerate her life. So she did the one thing the giants never did. She prayed to him. The next evening, there was a knock at the door. And when the sisters answered it, in strode a man with long hair, a curly red beard and a hammer on his belt. Thor winked and flashed those pearly yellows and asked who was the eldest sister.

00:43:05 (someone): And then Cú Chulainn spares her because she's a woman, kind of putting her below the hundreds of men he had absolutely no problem killing. The attitude towards women is, sadly, representative of a lot of stories we've talked about on here, and, it seems, of ancient medieval literature in general. Oddly enough, though, it's not representative of ancient Irish society. Compared to Roman, Greek, and other contemporary societies, women in Gaelic Ireland have much more freedom, protection under law, and status. They could be teachers, lawgivers, healers, some sources say druids, and even rulers. The Romans, when they came in contact with the Celts, were astounded by the equality of men and women. Say an aside made for a moment. Just look at Skullhawk and Efe, the teachers and leaders mentioned last episode. They were authority figures and fairly powerful and respected. Grohur is on the throne largely because of his mother's intelligence and political skill. And even looking back at Maeve, despite the ending, she's the authority when it comes to the army of Connacht. She is at least equal to her husband and really skillfully handles Fergus and the other warriors. And she also really skillfully handles herself on the battlefield as well. She's a decent warrior. I, personally, would be interested in what effect the medieval monks had on the manuscripts, because I think that might be an intervening factor. One interpretation put it this way, this story focuses not so much on Maeve's good deeds, but on the perceived weaknesses of womanhood.

00:07:13 (someone): They weren't fine. So many people were dead and the dragon was just straight poison and teeth. The dwarf said that the fairies would take delivery of the girl on top of a nearby mountain. The king and the queen, he made the queen come along too, trudged their way up the mountain to see the palace with the tower. There, the three fairies sat like queens of the universe, the story says. And the dragon, the poison-in-teeth one, was there on a diamond chain. The king knew. The woman had wanted the baby the whole time and tempted his wife with the fruit. There was unimaginable power here, and they both had played right into these women's hands. In tears, they surrendered their daughter. Before they left her, they named her Blanchette. The girl grew up in the tower and was educated by her fairy moms. In probably too much of a Disney-like turn, her only friend was a talking parrot. That is, until she saw him. The prince hefted himself over the window sill and into the room. He and the princess, now a teenager, kissed. All right, babe, time to go. He had been a traveler, lost in the woods beneath her window, and he had called out to her. She was in love with him instantly. Not only because he was, say, marginally attractive, but because he was the only other person than her mom's that she had ever seen. but she knew that her fairy caretakers had pledged her to another.

00:01:20 (someone): an important character but one who hasn't been the focus of an episode yet. Basically, we'll track her from her earliest mention in the legends all the way through to the first great trial of her life. If you don't know, Guinevere was a princess in the early middle ages who became queen when she married King Arthur, a legendary king. And despite her being married to the king, Lancelot, the greatest knight in Arthur's realm, a young man about 13 years her junior, has fallen in love with her. We'll check in, not in the middle of the medieval love triangle, but at the very beginning, when Guinevere saw Arthur for the first time. Guinevere had never seen a god before, but she had seen Arthur, and that was enough. She was a girl, heck, he was still a boy. He might be nearly five years older than her, but he didn't look it. He looked perfect. She had heard about him, of course. The boy king, the noble spat. The illegitimate king, among other colorful words. She heard about him, but only in news and rumors of battles. Storming at the head of an army, fighting the rebel barons. Everyone to whom he spoke joined him. He had a wizard advisor. He shined with destiny, with the dawning of a new age for their island. Now, he was here. Guinevere's father, Leo Dagon, was one of the kings who declared their allegiance to Arthur early on.

00:06:42 (someone): Arachne looked forward to the goddess asking her forgiveness when all this was over. It was Olympian versus human, mortal versus immortal. When one of the villagers noticed a team of nymphs bringing the beautiful, fully armored stranger water and massaging her shoulders like a prize fighter, while she and Arachne worked feverishly on the loom, he called his friends. Soon, the workshop was packed. as the surrounding village clambered in for a look at what the two women were weaving. Arachne was working in such a way that hid her designs. But Athena wasn't. Her works told the glories of the gods and their powers over humans, starting with her very own first victory. It was the founding and naming of Athens, when the people of the city found Athena's gift of an olive tree, preferable to Poseidon's gift of a saltwater spring. Can't imagine why. Poseidon then graciously flooded the city with his spring to show how not mad he was. Athena showed her own greatness, but she also showed something else. As the waters flowed from Athens, they went somewhere else, into a pot that cooked dinner for a god, and into a deluge, and into a warning that Arachne and all the other humans were only there because the gods explicitly allowed them to be. Wait, why are we cutting away? One of Athena's nymph cheerleaders asked another. The other nymph sighed. Just relax.

00:41:46 (someone): Sig Arthur asked. Ingi nodded, since she first saw him. Ingi and Sig Arthur married, and despite their enormously dysfunctional relationship, they worked, and they loved each other. Horthor and Velstagadi took off their own cloaks to reveal two things. They were attractive younger men, and they were Hogni and Sigmundur, the two boys who had been exiled, but saved by Sigarthur in the first part of the story. And after a shower and not being covered in dwarven metal, they hit it off with the two princesses. The story ends with three weddings, and Sigartha and Ingi ruled Tartaria side by side as they grew old together, and neither tried to kill the other again. Well, too much. I found the story interesting because it obviously frames Ingi's refusal to get married as a curse laid upon her, but she just has the worst guy show up to seek her hand. And I'm not a scholar in this, but it seems like a way for the story to have a strong woman as a ruler while not alienating sensibilities of the time. It plays lip service to the fact that that it's a curse and she might not be making her own decisions, oh look how evil she is. But I think we'd be hard pressed to find someone today who'd be willing to marry any of those guys, lose their kingdom, and all personal and political power. It's only when someone she wants to marry comes along who's able to save her sisters and uncles that the curse breaks. When she would have chosen to marry Sig Arthur anyway.

00:36:56 (someone): No one knew that Theseus' children, the future kings of Athens, were hidden away with Elpenor. And after the burning of her house, Absolutely no one knew that Helen's slave, an elderly old woman who had the young princess's complete confidence, was Aethra. Even Menethius, when he came to compete for Helen's hand when she came of age, didn't recognize the woman he was hunting as she stood right behind Helen. Aether was with Helen when she married Menelaus and became Queen of Sparta. She was with Helen at the birth of her child, Hermione, and she was with the woman who, in her mid-twenties, looked out on the sea and saw ships coming into port. Ships from the other side of the world, from a place called Troy, carrying a man named Paris. One thing I like most about Greek mythology is that its heroes, like its gods, are distinctly human. No one's perfect. yet all strive for greatness. Theseus, I really think, is the best of his generation. It's kind of a low bar though. The closest ones were Hercules, who's sometimes depicted as an unstoppable murder machine, and Jason, though he's kind of a sniveling coward who asked Medea to do all the work for him before betraying her. Super great having his name. Theseus tried and failed at a lot of things and he messed up. But in that way, he's pretty much like all of us. Still, it's kind of a sad way for him to go out.

00:11:27 (someone): Making her way to Caledon, in the kingdom of King Wineman, anxiety began to grow in the pit of her stomach. But, entering the main hall, she dismissed it. The worst they could say was no. And they did. A lot of them said a lot of no's. It wasn't just Theseus, and I shouldn't make it sound like he was even the instigator. He was just the most readily recognizable name and, you know, does have a fairly prominent and famous example of using a woman to get out of a jam before straining her on an island to kill herself. It was ultimately Meliager who stuck up for King Wyman and insisted that Atalanta be allowed to hunt. And before you feel too good about this thoughtful and progressive gentleman insisting on equality of the sexes, well, whatever budding feminism Meliager possessed was overshadowed by the fact that the newly married prince was very into Atalanta, the beautiful wild huntress who strolled into the kingdom and bucked all conventions. Anyway, even though she had the eye of a Meliaser, Atalanta wouldn't be deterred. She had grown up in a hunter clan that was largely egalitarian, and since she didn't have a father or brother, she was free to grow up as her own master. This was not true for the ancient Greek society at large. Ancient Greece was deeply patriarchal, and women were expected to go from subservient to their fathers to subservient to their husbands upon marriage. They didn't come out into the man's realm.

00:39:51 (someone): Despite her years, Guthrung continued living for a long time. She outlived every one of her generation. This woman, once one of the most powerful leaders of the island, whose name and beauty were known across the world, had become a simple old lady, praying anonymously in the pews. I like to think that this was her penance. She lived when everyone else had died. She existed in obscurity, though power had been so important to her. She was now alone, looking back on a life defined by her companions. and yet she always studied feeling a great weight for what she had done. Eventually she went blind but on the night of her death I like to think that when she closed her eyes she opened them in the Iceland of her youth. Her children were there unmarred by the violence that plagued their family. Her father was there enjoying a feast with his old friend, Olaf, the kind and happy man he had once been and would always be now. She would pass her brothers on the way out of the house as she ran in the clear, cold air. As she turned the corner, she would see them sitting in the hot springs, waiting for her. Kjartan and Bali, the scars of their life gone, sitting together as they always had, as they always should have been. They had been waiting for her for years. Nearly everyone was there now. It was all over, all forgiven. She would settle down in the warmth of the hot springs and laugh as she had in her youth with her two best friends in all the world. That night, Guthrun passed silently in the shadows, a soft smile across her face.

00:10:12 (someone): Though they were scouting out the road, she had seen them before they saw her. The centaurs took one look at the beautiful young woman traveling alone and galloped off in her direction. We've talked about centaurs before, and there are like two good, noble centaurs. One is the epic hero slash camp owner Chiron, and the other is Nessus, who Hercules accidentally killed. The rest are just animals. and have no issues killing or raping anyone who gets in their way. Centaurs were a challenge for Hercules on his labors, and he had arrows coated with super poison. Atalanta didn't have the poison advantage, but she did have another. She was Atalanta. She had spent her whole life practicing becoming invisible in the wilderness. So when one centaur found the other dropping lifeless to the ground with an arrow in his head, he was pretty surprised. But Atalanta wasn't, and she quickly drew back another arrow as calmly and disciplined as ever. The second centaur having no idea where the arrow came from that killed his friend, realized just how out of his depth they had been to chase after this young woman, before another one of her arrows abruptly stopped that thought. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. She still had to keep an eye out for brigands, gods, and monsters, but no one saw her. Making her way to Caledon, in the kingdom of King Wineman, anxiety began to grow in the pit of her stomach. But, entering the main hall, she dismissed it.

00:03:54 (someone): Her father, though old and sick, stayed sharp in his skills well into his old age. He was a renowned leader in the army, and even after he left, Mulan said that he practiced every day, both in martial arts and philosophy. He stayed up to date with his weapons, and could be seen running down and shooting eagles out of the sky with a bow and arrow until just a few years ago. And you know who was right by his side? Mulan. She trained daily with him, first out of curiosity and to stem the boredom inherent in medieval village life, but then she found that she really had a talent for these things. She would spar with her father, then go off with him on hunts. She would help him maintain his armor, and he would tell her all about his life in the army. She's not a tomboy, though, or a fish out of water. She weaves at the loom as confidently as she can thrust a spear. Wear silk and armor with the same amount of comfort, and we'll put you on the ground in hand-to-hand combat and then make you some tea. Legendary Mulan is all-around awesome. She wouldn't wonder when her reflection will show who she is inside, because she's supremely confident in who she is and what she needs to do. As she's walking up to her house, she sees her father, struggling to get up after leaning on a fence post. He knits his eyebrows at the sound of clashing swords in the distance, people sparring, preparing. His joy is not in winning victories or gaining renown anymore, but watching his daughters comb their hair.

00:29:58 (someone): For the second time that day, the Prince turned pale, hardly able to breathe as he begged pathetically for her forgiveness. She gave it. and said that she would forgive him, but reminded him that she didn't trust him. She didn't need to. Her children were the documented heirs to the kingdom now, and, most of all, even though he had tried to imprison her, kill her, and abandon her, she had outwitted him at every turn, and he should remember that, if he ever thought about betraying her again. He had intended to marry her, to trap her, and exact his revenge. But in the end, she had turned his planned scenario back on him. The prince had already named his heirs, and they were her children, whom the people loved. At this point, he was unnecessary. With that, she bid the prince goodnight and left. This story was an excellent example of a strong female protagonist, and I was able to find a couple different readings on the tale. The first was not very generous to Krystal, and it's a reading based on a lot of fairy tale tropes. In that reading, she wanted to be married to the prince, but saw his abandonment of her as an opportunity to help him grow up and mature. Her victory in that reading was becoming a mother. She grew into a triumphant mother figure, both to her children and her husband, helping him to see the error in his ways, to become the virtuous head of the family. In that version, the husband was just childish and immature, not dangerously devious and deceptive.

00:16:32 (someone): And Hercules, Theseus, and the others were held up as heroes. And Hercules got a country named after him. That will be a life-defining achievement for most of us. For Hercules, it was just another Thursday. Now, they sat rocking in their boats, just off the beach of Amazonia. That, was the real reason they were there. Hercules, as his ninth labor, was tasked with getting the belt of Hippolyte, the queen of the Amazons. It had been given to her by her dad, Ares. It didn't do anything, it was just a belt. They all had a really good time and a fun stay in Amazonia. Hercules and Hippolytae got on very well. In fact, many of the Amazons and the Greek men did, but now it was time to go. Theseus had even met someone. Her name was Antiope. She was the sister of the queen and another daughter of Ares. It was sad to say goodbye, but they had to go home. He had a kingdom to rule and Theseus told Antiope that he only had so much power and the Greeks, for as great as they were, would not be down with the whole matriarchal warrior woman thing. It was then that he heard a splash of an oar near the side of the boat. It was Antiope, there to say one final goodbye. She kissed him and they embraced.

00:26:31 (someone): There are versions that did not happen with this particular trope with Hercules, but years later, when Theseus is in middle age, and she's an emissary coming to his ship from Amazonia, and Theseus shrugs, saying, yeah, she'll do, and pulls up anchor and abducts her. Like most stories, there isn't one version, but this is worse than usual. I landed somewhere in the middle, with her actually liking Theseus and the abduction being, well, still an abduction, but somewhat accidental. Antiope struggled to rise from the chair. Why was it so hard to get up? She looked down as she felt the baby kicking. Again. Oh, yeah. That was why. She had been in Athens just a month or two when she became pregnant. She knew exactly what she would name the baby. She would name it, boy or girl, after her sister, Hippolyte, the queen of the Amazons that Hercules had killed. The people celebrated Theseus' new wife publicly, though privately everyone looked on her as something of an oddity. The Athenians couldn't wrap their minds around her world, her people. She was alternatively a horror and a sideshow act to them. Athens was lonely and it wasn't infrequent that she would find herself in the cliffs, facing north and looking toward home, dreaming about her past life. That life was coming for her though. Her sister, Maritha, wasn't one to rush into big decisions. She didn't know the Greeks beyond this group of heroes that came to their lands.

00:21:30 (someone): Herodotus, an ancient historian, called them, quote, killers of men, destroyers of men, and murderesses. Homer called them those who fight like men. And the writer of Prometheus Bound, a major source for the Prometheus episode, called them simply those who loathe all men. Now, none of these are sufficient, but if you put them all together, you start to see a picture of how the ancient Greeks viewed the Amazons. And, for a profoundly patriarchal society, it was not great. Before going on, I should say that, mythology aside, there were not historical Amazons. That being said, the Greeks absolutely thought that there were historical Amazons. I get a lot of emails asking how much the Greeks believed in their own myths. That's not really a question I can answer, but given how many people outside the normal mythology writers talked about the Amazons, they absolutely believed that the group existed. If you're wondering how a group comprised of one sex continues past a generation, well, there were some stories, like earlier, where a group of heroes would pop in and help them solve that problem for another generation. And there were stories where they just visited their neighbors, the Gargaryens, once a year. A fun weekend was had by all, and roughly 9 months later, the Amazons would return bearing boys. They kept the girls to raise them as Amazon warriors, but the boys would return to be raised by the village. That is the very nice version of this. In some, the boys are just flat out killed, and while that's still harsh, it's nicer than what the most disparaging of the Greek stories say.

00:16:17 (someone): The Viking legends are kind of refreshingly different from some of the others we've gone over up to this point. Lagertha, the barbarian woman, doesn't even bother to hide her hair. She wants the enemy to know a woman is ending their life. Also, as an aside, she's all the more awesome in that, in hand-to-hand combat like this, her long braids would be a huge liability because someone could just grab them. She fights in front, among the bravest, and it's said that all marveled at her matchless deeds. Ragnar had been in the fray and was awestruck with this woman who fought even more intensely than he did. Eventually he defeated the petty king in Sweden and all the other captured people went home. Unfortunately, Lagertha left for her barbarian homeland before Ragnar had a chance to talk to her. There was talk among the men. They had a powerful force, but Lagertha had turned the tide of battle. Ragnar made it known amongst all the warriors that they had gained victory by the might of this one woman. Lagertha is said to be an Amazonian, but that's not really the Greek concept of the Amazonians, so she doesn't really belong to the people once led by Hippolyte, who surrendered her kingdom to Hercules' rippling biceps. It seems more likely it's just a moniker to evoke all the things we think of when we say Amazonian. Ragnar sends letters via messenger, and he and Lagertha become close as they get farther apart, and she returns to her homeland in Norway.