The Varangian Guard was a mercenary unit of many cultures, including Norse, that served the Byzantine Army from 988 to 1204. The 11th century is considered the heyday of Norse presence in the Guard, but few facts of their service have survived to today. The present dissertation argues that the Varangians as we know them are largely detached from their murky history, and are instead defined by their fictionalized depictions in literature, particularly the Old Norse sagas. In this context, these mercenaries are identifiable by Varangian symbols of great honor, immense wealth, and martial prowess, established through repetition in the Scandinavian corpus. However, the roles these characters play in their respective texts are highly individualized and heavily dependent on the surrounding narrative. As a result, they are malleable figures that fascinate due to their elite status and accomplishments, but adapt easily to reflect and explore the values of different time periods, settings, and formats of storytelling due to the lack of concrete history attached to them.
The first two chapters center on Varangians abroad, who are predominantly inspired by the most influential literary Varangian, Haraldr Sigurðarson. Chapter one looks at Haraldr himself and the construction of his early years in the poetry and kings' sagas. Chapter two deals with the further development of the Haraldr model into new genres via Bolli Bollason and Þorsteinn drómundr. The third chapter delves into Varangian veterans at home in the North: Bolli, Halldórr Snorrason, Gríss Sæmingsson, and Þorkell Þjóstarsson. These figures are much more diverse in their depictions, drawing heavily on the context of their respective sagas to provide commentary on contemporary rather than historical issues, from political tensions to combat trauma. The fourth chapter approaches two modern works featuring Varangians, the graphic novel Northlanders (2008-2011) and the video game Horizon Zero Dawn (2017), and how these mercenaries are still being leveraged to tell relevant stories in today's world.