sagas
Extended heroic narratives
Sagas are long stories of heroic adventure, originally the medieval Norse prose narratives recounting the deeds of legendary Scandinavian figures.
The term extends to any sprawling narrative spanning generations or great events: a family saga, the saga of westward expansion.
In casual use, saga describes any prolonged complicated experience: Let me tell you the saga of getting my car fixed.
Successive family rulers
- generationsPeople born around same time
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
- descendantsThose who come after
bloodline · heritage · clan · kinship · inheritance · patriarchs · matriarchs · feuds
Recounting events aloud
- chronicleOrdered historical record
- talesSpoken or written narratives
- plotsSecret plans or storylines
- charactersPersons in a narrative
heroes · villains · conflict · adventure · journey · chapters · episodes · arcs
Medieval Nordic raider
- NorseAncient Scandinavian civilization
- IcelandicOf a North Atlantic island
- skaldNorse heroic poet
- runesOld Germanic script
longship · fjord · Vinland · Ragnarok · Valhalla · Odin · Thor · Loki
Old English epic's protagonist
- IliadAncient Greek war epic
- OdysseyEpic of homecoming
- AeneidRoman founding epic
- MahabharataSanskrit war epic
Gilgamesh · heroic · quest · odyssey · trilogy · cycle · bard · recitation
Licensed business operation
- seriesOrdered set of related items
- trilogyThree linked creative works
- sequelContinuation of prior work
- prequelLater work, earlier setting
cinematic · Star Wars · Marvel · Twilight · Game of Thrones · Harry Potter · Lord of the Rings · binge
dynasty
Successive family rulers
- generationsPeople born around same time
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
descendants · bloodline · heritage · clan · kinship · inheritance · patriarchs · matriarchs · feuds · legacy
storytelling
Recounting events aloud
characters · heroes · villains · conflict · adventure · journey · chapters · episodes · arcs · cliffhanger
viking
Medieval Nordic raider
runes · longship · fjord · Vinland · Ragnarok · Valhalla · Odin · Thor · Loki · Freya
Beowulf
Old English epic's protagonist
Mahabharata · Gilgamesh · heroic · quest · odyssey · trilogy · cycle · bard · recitation · oral
franchise
Licensed business operation
- seriesOrdered set of related items
- trilogyThree linked creative works
- sequelContinuation of prior work
prequel · cinematic · Star Wars · Marvel · Twilight · Game of Thrones · Harry Potter · Lord of the Rings · binge · fandom
- mythologyZeus, Apollo, Athena, Poseidon, Odin
- Viking AgeVikings, longships, raiders, Odin, Norse settlers
- Myth TextsTheogony, Iliad, Odyssey, Epic of Gilgamesh, Mahabharata
- mythmakingfounding myths, founding myth, origin stories, origin story, mythos
- Nordic StudiesNorse mythology, Old Norse, Viking history, Norse gods, runestones
- Norse PrehistoryViking Age, Iron Age, Bronze Age, Stone Age, runestones
sagasanecdotes
Brief amusing accounts
vignettes · sketches · snippets · flash fiction · blurbs
sagastrivialities
Insignificant matters
trifles · trivia · mundanities · small talk · gossip
sagasbare facts
Unembellished essential information
bullet points · abstracts · outlines · précis · summaries
- epic sagaExtended heroic narrative work
- family sagasMultigenerational storytelling tradition
- legendary sagaFamous long heroic narrative
- Viking sagaMedieval Scandinavian prose narrative
- Norse sagaOld Scandinavian heroic narrative
- Nordic sagaNorse heroic narrative