106 pages • 3 hours read
The Sword of Summer
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BetaChapters 64-67Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 64 Summary: “Whose Idea Was It to Make This Wolf Un-killable?”
Hearth uses magic to grow heather in the valley so the group can approach Fenris. When they get close enough, Fenris leaps at Magnus so the sword slices the rope holding his front legs. The group attacks, but they can’t hurt the wolf. Fenris’s destiny is set: “Until Ragnarok, I am un-killable” (452).
Blitz lunges with the new rope. Fenris swats it away and slices Blitz across the throat. Hearth casts a rune against Fenris, sacrificing his strength to save Blitz. The rest of the battle doesn’t go any better. Both the Valkyries and Magnus’s hallmates are either overpowered or down. Fenris falsely congratulates Magnus on a good attempt before announcing his intention to devour everyone, saying, “I love this part” (453).
Chapter 65 Summary: “I Hate This Part”
Fenris lunges at Magnus, who falls aside in time for a she-lion to charge past. It’s Sam in lion form. She engages Fenris in battle, ordering Magnus to get the rope. While they fight, Blitz sits up; his bulletproof necktie saved his life. The success of his unconventional armor shows Magnus Blitz didn’t win by fighting and that there are “other ways to win a battle” (455).
Magnus wraps the new rope around Jack’s hilt and uses magic to infuse Jack with summer’s power of growth. Jack rushes Fenris and binds him with the new rope, rendering the wolf immobile. A wounded Sam shifts back to human, and the four stagger into the heather, out of Fenris’s reach. Hearth’s protection rune wears off, and they again become aware of their friends fighting the giants. Gunilla is on her knees before Surt, who raises his weapon for a final blow. She meets Magnus’s gaze across the valley, silently telling him to “make it count” (458). Surt kills her.
Chapter 66 Summary: “Sacrifices”
With Gunilla, the other Valkyries, and Magnus’s friends either dead or wounded, Magnus faces down an unweakened Surt. Surt sends a wave of fire at Magnus, who stands his ground and thinks of his mother. The flames wash over Magnus, “as harmless as butterflies” (460). Magnus consecrates the battleground in Frey’s name, expelling all weapons except Jack from the island. Magnus opens a portal to the fire realm, sending the giants back where they came from.
In the wake of the battle, Magnus and those still standing collect the injured and dead. Beneath their feet, the island rumbles, preparing to disappear at dawn. Magnus’s magic “hastened the process” (462), and they only have seconds to get off land.
Chapter 67 Summary: “One More, for a Friend”
At the shore, T.J. tosses a cloth into the water. It expands into “a full-size Viking warship” with the Hotel Valhalla’s logo (464). Everyone gets on board right before the island disappears, and the ship powers itself away.
Halfborn is badly wounded. With Jack’s help, Magnus uses his remaining strength to heal Halfborn. Magnus blacks out and wakes in a sunlit meadow, accompanied by Frey.
Chapters 64-67 Analysis
Fenris gives Magnus the key to his own defeat. When Magnus sees Blitz survive because his armored tie protected him, he understands killing and combat are not the only ways to fight. Fenris’s admission he’s unkillable makes it clear Magnus must take a different path to bind the wolf and delay Ragnarok. Death and destruction power Fenris, and so the powers of summer and growth defeat him, which is why only a child of Frey could stop the wolf. The same reasoning applies to the deaths of Gunilla and the other Valkyries. They relied on physical combat and killing, forces that don’t work against beings who thrive on such things. Unable to defy their battle instincts, Gunilla and her fellow Valkyries symbolize an inability to change and how this inability leads to stagnation and defeat.
Magnus’s defeat of Surt mirrors his battle in Valhalla. Rather than engaging in combat, Magnus uses magic to disarm the giant and the other warriors. Peace and growth allow Magnus to bring the conflict to an end and banish Surt back to the fire world. The magic also hastens sunrise and the sun’s healing strength, making the island unstable. Even the power of growth can have negative effects.
In Chapter 65, Sam voluntarily shifts into a lioness to do battle with Fenris. Here, she foils Magnus. While she engages in physical combat and is badly wounded, Magnus calls upon Frey’s powers to bind Fenris. Working together, Sam, Magnus, Blitz, and Hearth show how their different strengths make up for each other’s weaknesses. Each contributes something different to the battle: Sam combat skills, Magnus summer’s warmth and healing, Hearth protection, and Blitz the bravery to be himself and play by his own rules.
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