Deepeeka – Viking Shield with Norse Serpent Knotwork

This Viking Shield is sturdily built and crafted from thick and robust wood. It is hand-painted with an intricate Norse knotwork featuring entwined serpents and at its center is a steel shield boss to protect the hand. The shield is rimmed in steel for additional durability and hand a wooden grip bar on its reverse. Often depicted in complex, coiled Norse knotwork is the Jörmungandr – the tempestuous Midgard serpent of the World Sea and a herald of the final battle to come – Ragnarök. Jörmungandr is a sea serpent of colossal size who encircles the world at the borders of the oceans, biting his tail and thus encompassing the world within his confines. It is when Jörmungandr releases his tail that the world will end. In this sense he holds the world together in structural balance and the shirking of his duties leaves the world in chaos in both a real and symbolic sense. The imagery of the Midgard serpent is similar to the larger, cross-cultural Ouroboros – a mystical symbol of a serpent or snake eating its tail – an icon of destruction, rebirth and the endless cycle between.