The Cappen Varra Stories of Poul Anderson

The Cappen Varra Stories of Poul Anderson had a lengthy career spanning forty-four years. (Only Fritz Leiber’s two rogues, Fafhrd & Grey Mouser, have had such a lengthy career.) The character pops up in the 1950s in a very uncharacteristic Fantasy tale in a decade of hard Science Fiction. That was because of the magazine it appeared in, “The Valor of Cappen Varra” (Fantastic Universe, January 1957). Fantastic Universe in 1957 was edited by Hans Stefan Santessan. Even before that editor, the publication used Sword & Sorcery by Robert E. Howard, Bjorn Nyberg & L. Sprague de Camp. Santessan would later edit two important anthologies of Sword & Sorcery, The Mighty Barbarians (1969) and The Mighty Swordsmen (1970). These did not include Cappen Varra because L. Sprague de Camp had already snapped it up for Swords & Sorcery (1963).

The Valor of Cappen Varra

Cappen Varra ends up on an ill-fated Viking ship as a wandering scop. The ship is caught in a bad storm and wrecked off an island known to be haunted by trolls. King Svearek sends the bard to find food and fire. Cappen goes unhappily but has an ace-in-the-hole, an amulet of silver. The spell of protction requires the holder speak three truths about the opponent. He encounters a troll-wife who threatens to murder him in several nasty ways. He also finds King Svearek’s missing daughter who is the troll’s slave.

With great bravado he outwits the troll (saying some pretty mean truths to her face) and saves the girl. It is only after he is back on the ship does he hear that trolls don’t use magic and silver is no ward against them. King Svearek offers his beautiful daughter as a reward but Cappen Varra sneaks away because he hates the northern climate.

I felt the presence of an old English ballad in this tale. “Allison Gross” has “the ugliest witch in the North Country” offering a handsome man pearls and fancy shirts to buy his love. When he spurns her because of her ugliness, she turns him to into a serpent. He is freed from the curse when the Seely Court, the good faeries, pass by. Anderson has his hero extricate himself by luck and bravado rather than magic.

Shared Worlds of the 1970s

And that should have been the end of our wandering bard, but an unusual thing happened at the end of the 1970s. Robert Aspirin and Lynn Abbey cooked up the idea of the “Shared World“. With Poul’s encouragement the concept of a collection of stories where characters, setting and events coalesce between the authors to create a larger experience exploded as Thieves’ World. (There were others: Ithkar and Liavek being two of the more successful competitors.) The series ran for twelve volumes as well as a dozen novels. Poul saw it as a chance to bring Cappen Varra back! “The Gate of Flying Knives” (Thieves’ World, 1979) was the third story in the first collection. It would be Anderson’s only contribution.

Varra is down-and-out since the lady of his patron, Molin Torchholder, has disappeared. He goes to the Maze where he sees his old friend Illyra the fortuneteller (a character created by Lynn Abbey, from the preceding story, “The Face of Chaos”). What Varra really wants to do is find Danlis, the companion of Torchholder’s wife. The medium casts a fortune then rudely tells Cappen to leave. What she has seen has frightened her greatly.

Cappen recalls the last time he saw Danlis. The couple, along with Jamie the Red (Gordon R. Dickson’s character), had gone on a picnic where the trio discussed mathematics, then a dangerous new situation in Sanctuary. The ruling Rankians have decided to build a gigantic temple to their foreign gods eclipsing the local all-father, Ills.

When Varra meets with the wizard Enas Yorl (John Brunner’s character from “Sentences of Death”) in The Vulgar Unicorn, he learns the thief, Hanse, saw strange winged creatures near the Temple of Ills. Yorl calls these creatures the Flying Knives or sikkintairs. Danlis and her mistress are most likely being held captive behind a dimensional gate as hostages to dissuade the Rankians from building their temple. (Varra shows Yorl his silver amulet that was featured in the last story, twenty-two yeas ago.)

The Gate of the Flying Knives

Cappen seeks out Jamie the Red. Together they sneak into the temple of Ills. On the roof they find a strange artifact, a scroll four feet by six feet. This proves to be the Gate of the Flying Knives. The scroll is a portal to another dimension. Before the heroes can go though it they have to fight three guards.

On the other side they find a pergola marking the portal. They also find a mansion where the two women are being held. There are no warriors guarding them so getting Danlis and her mistress is fairly easy until Hazroah, the priest leading the Ils temple revolt, shows up and blows a horn. Jamie kills the priest with a spear. The horn blasts brings a sikkintair, which Jamie battles as Cappen takes the women to safety. Jamie battles and kills the thing gloriously. (He’s having such a good time.) Unfortunately, all the rest of the Flying Knives come too. The four are prepared to die on this side of the gate to protect their loved ones back home.

A Hint of Science Fiction

But it is finally Cappen Varra’s turn to shine. He insists he can close the gate. They pass through and he grabs one corner and another and creates a one-sided piece of paper, a Moebius strip. This cause the gate to disappear. They are safe. Before he can receive any thanks from Danlis she begins prepping him to present all the information of the plot of the Ills priests, to take his reward as a statesman and rise in power. Varra runs away, leaving all the glory and reward for Jamie. Later they meet in a tavern, and split the cash part of the reward. As before, Cappen Varra refuses to be corralled by marriage and respectability.

It is fairly obvious that Anderson had read the Brunner and Lynn stories that preceded his tale, a well as his old collaborator, Gordon R. Dickson’s ideas that would become Jamie the Red (1984). Anderson is the first author in the book to try using so many characters in a truly interactive way. It doesn’t always make this story better though. Unlike many Anderson stories, this one is quite episodic, which is okay if you aren’t in a hurry. He doesn’t exactly use infodumps, but some of the scenes feel rather like lectures. He says Danlis’s one fault is she likes to lecture. Even the author feels the yoke, there I think. Varra’s solution to the gate is pure problem-solving SF writing.

Fairy Gold Interlude

“Fairy Gold” (The Unicorn Trade, 1984) begins with a couple breaking up in Caronne, Varra’s old hometown. Cappa Varra is mentioned as the author of a favorite book. “Natan was at his fireside, reading aloud from an old book—the verses of wayward Cappen Varra, which this prudent, wizened modern man loved…” This is not an actual Varra story so I won’t cover it here.

The Lady of the Winds

“The Lady of the Winds” (F&SF, October-November 2001) is an actual sequel to the Thieves’ World adventure, taking place after the events in “The Gate of Flying Knives. Having the new wealth of his reward, Cappen Varro goes all out for debauchery until he gets bored of it all. Having death threats and no novel pleasure, he decides to step outside of Sanctuary to see the world again. (The fact he got caught sleeping with Nerigo’s wife has nothing to do with it. A well-thrown knife kills Nerigo’s bruiser and allows him to run.)

Varra joins a caravan as a means of getting out of the Rankan Empire. The wagons stop when bad weather threatened to turn them around. The cause is an angry local goddess named Aiala. Cappen seeks the wind woman out (armed with his silver amulet) and charms her with his singing and declarations of happiness at finding the perfect woman. He learns she is in a foul weather mood because the other elementals have laughed at her musical composition. She offers to share it with the bard.

Musical Conundrum

After politely confirming her musical ability, he makes the mistake of suggesting it may have been a matter of timing. Aiala insists that Varra write her a masterpiece for the upcoming wedding of two gods. If he fails to write a truly great piece, in an archaic and unfamiliar language, Xandran, his life is forfeit, the caravan will not pass and the locals will suffer a terrible winter. All in twenty four hours.

Retreating to the village, he holes up in a cellar and begins writing the song. He asks the caravan master, Deghred, for assistance with Xandran, though most of his knowledge of that language relates to business or whores. When the bard discusses the ordeal he uses the possibility of success to negotiate a deal with the trader, five percent of the caravan’s take if they make it to their destination. The next day Cappen goes to the wind woman and giver her the song. She loves it and all will be well.

This last outing with Cappen Varra lacked any really good fight scenes or desperate physical challenges. The main battle is between a composer and a song, which frankly is a bit too abstract for great Sword & Sorcery. The story has some fun bits on how non-composers  view creative types, how everybody thinks they can do it, etc. After decades of hearing “I wanted to be a writer…” I am sure Poul Anderson is qualified to write this tale. It could have used a ass-kicking hack-down with some ice ghouls or something.

Conclusion

The three Cappen Varra stories of Poul Anderson were never a planned affair. Written over more than four decades, they pop up like a surprise every twenty years or so to delight us with a hero who is cowardly and yet brave, able and yet unable. This is the real magic of Cappen Varra. He is utterly human and possible. Unlike the over-ther-top Jamie the Red, Cappen Varra whines about the weather, sulks at bad fortune, avoids the controlling arms of women. He has flaws but is generally likable all the same. This is a depth of writing that we see rarely in Sword & Sorcery where Howardian he-men or Moorcockian Gothic dominates. Again only Fritz Leiber’s two Lankhmerian rogues come to mind when I think of equally complex heroes. The Cappen Varra stories are not so many as to fill a book, but they are gems to be treasured all the same.