8. Legendary Viking warriors who transformed into beasts, berserkers were soldiers from ancient Scandinavia who are believed to have existed between at least the 8th and 11th centuries
Great warriors appearing throughout the Norse Sagas, berserkers were soldiers who possessed the ability in battle to transform themselves into bestial forms and endure inhuman levels of pain. First recorded by the Romans, meeting Trajan’s column in Dacia in the 2nd century BCE, berserkers supposedly served as the elite vanguard of Harald Fairhair during his unification of Norway in the late-9th and early-10th centuries. Following these immense exertions, such warriors would subsequently enter into a prolonged period of weakness, lasting for several hours or even days, during which time they could succumb from the ordeal.
Although the literal transformations into other animal forms defy reality, the physical existence of berserkers themselves has remained a disputed aspect of Norse history. Appearing repeatedly throughout historical records, most descriptively from the Byzantine Empire, most scholarship has generally accepted the foundational truth of the legend and sought to explain the phenomenon. Whilst controversial, many interpretations suggest the inducement of the berserker strength via the voluntary consumption of powerful hallucinogenic drugs. Most likely henbane, a poisonous plant from the nightshade family, seeds from the deadly plant have been repeatedly found in Viking warrior graves across Denmark. Increasingly regarded with fear, by the 12th century CE, most Viking legal codes outlawed berserkers as a danger to society.