Olaf Crowbone

Olaf opens his leather pouch and takes out his divination tool: a pile of crow bones. He casts them. All signs point to success.

Fortified by this auspicious omen, Olaf and his band of followers set sail for his mission to Norway. But along the way, he stops in the Orkney Islands. He disembarks. He strides on over to the biggest house--the house of the jarl. He knocks on the door. The jarl’s son answers. Olaf grabs him, holds a knife to his throat, and shouts for the jarl.

“Hey, jarl!” Olaf’s voice bellows. “You want your son to live to see tomorrow’s breakfast? Do as I say or else.”

The jarl and all of his Orkney countrypeople do Olaf’s bidding.

And what exactly is it that this big, burly, weapon-wielding, hostage-taking, crowbone-oracle-consulting Viking wants them all to do?

Why, convert to Christianity, obviously.

The most revered of all the sword-swinging Viking rulers, the legendary Olaf Crowbone, baptized the Vikings the only way he knew how — with extreme violence. Pat and Ben talk about the national hero of Norway, a guy who consistently dealt with all possible foes by planting them on the point of his sword. This episode has action, adventure, death, destruction, Viking longships, epic battles, and just the slightest hint of religious philosophy thrown in for good measure.

Badass of the Week is an iHeart radio podcast produced by High Five Content. Executive producers are Andrew Jacobs, Pat Larash, and Ben Thompson. Writing is by Pat and Ben. Story editing is by Ian Jacobs, Brandon Fibbs and Ali Lemer. Mixing and music and Sound Design is by Jude Brewer. Consulting by Michael May. Special thanks to Noel Brown at iHeart. Badass of the Week is based on the website BadassoftheWeek.com, where you can read all sorts of stories about other badasses. If you want to reach out with questions or ideas, you can email us at badasspodcast@badassoftheweek.com. If you like the podcast, subscribe, follow, listen and tell your friends and your enemies if you want, as we'll be back next week with another one. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.