The female bear was the symbol for the feminine aspect and principle and the male bear was the masculine principle. However, the Norse themselves were actually quite peaceful people and even had high standards for gender equality in their day. They have been described as the masters of disguise, and of escape with an intimate knowledge of the landscape. In the Old Norse written corpus, berserkers were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word berserk (meaning "furiously violent or out of control"). [13]:126 For example, the band of men who go with Skallagrim in Egil's Saga to see King Harald about his brother Thorolf's murder are described as "the hardest of men, with a touch of the uncanny about a number of them ... they [were] built and shaped more like trolls than human beings." It was well known that Berserkers had no fear and were not subject to the same rules as other humans or soldiers. Among them, the jötnar created the world and gave birth to all deities – the Asgardians led by lord god Odin and the Vanir ruled by the god of sea Njörðr, there were twelve major gods in total. A member of the Aesir tribe, Frigg was associated with marriage, love, wisdom, and prophecy. The Wolf is an animal of protection. More recent opinion is that barr means foliage in general and that the conifer assumption is not warranted.[16]. These men were capable of terrifying feats and were known to strike fear into the hearts of anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path. Some records say that their appearance featured that of a troll more so than a human. They were known to be similar to vicious animals and were feared by all when they went into their state of frenzy – often known as berserkergang. Many accounts of Berserkers speak of their tendencies to bite at (and even eat) the metal at the edges of their shields and one account even mentions a Berserker who swallowed a fire ember. [5], The bas relief carvings on Trajan's column in Rome depict scenes of Trajan's conquest of Dacia in 101–106 AD. Freya was a prominent Norse goddess, a member of the Vanir tribe, and a practitioner of seidr magic. Tyr was a Norse god, one of the Aesir deities, who represented war, bravery, and justice. [24] Later, by Christian interpreters, the berserker was viewed as a "heathen devil". Finnur Jónsson conjecturally translated it as "shoots". One tale within tells the story of Bödvar Bjarki, a berserker who is able to shapeshift into a bear and uses this ability to fight for king Hrólfr Kraki. This was considered to be among their most precious possessions and they looked after these things diligently. "[13]:132 In addition, the helm-plate press from Torslunda depicts a scene of Odin with a berserker with a wolf pelt and a spear as distinguishing features: “a wolf skinned warrior with the apparently one-eyed dancer in the bird-horned helm, which is generally interpreted as showing a scene indicative of a relationship between berserkgang ... and the god Odin”.