Nordic Mythology Podcast Ep 281 - Sounds of War with Felix Lummer
Sep 18, 2025
Felix Lummer, a PhD in Old Nordic religion and a lecturer at the University of Iceland, delves into the fascinating concept of the Belliphonic, or Sounds of War. He discusses how sounds, from battle cries to trumpet signals, shape warfare and group identity. The conversation touches on the challenges of capturing auditory experiences in written forms and explores the emotional impact of battlefield sounds. Felix also examines reenactments to understand historical soundscapes and reveals how sound serves as a strategic tool in combat psychology.
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Belliphonic Defined
- The term 'Belliphonic' combines Latin bellum (war) and Greek phone (sound) to mean 'sounds of war'.
- Felix frames it as an analytical lens for studying battlefield soundscapes in texts and ethnomusicology.
Textual Limits On Battlefield Sound
- Written sagas are limited to words, so they often tersely mention battle sounds without tonal detail.
- That brevity forces scholars to infer soundscapes from sparse textual cues and context.
Intra- vs Extradiegetic Sounds
- Felix distinguishes intradiegetic mentions (sounds described in text) from extradiegetic performance sounds.
- Many ambient combat noises remain unspoken yet are essential to reconstructing the soundscape.
