insight into the final orgy of Ibn Fadlan.

In Ibn Fadlan's Risala, days before the end of the amazing Viking ship burning funeral, the voluntary human sacrifice from among the deceased's slaves who essentially then becomes a funeral bride companion by choice, has sex with her dead master's huscarls individually, then on the day-of enters a tent aboard the ship where she has intercourse with six of them:

"Then six men went into the pavilion and each had intercourse with the girl."

~ Ibn Fadlan's Risala §90 

Maybe I've watched far too much Freyr-centric intimate programming, but perhaps instead of running a one-by-one train, there's something more of a concurrent sexual group crescendo for the girl with the final asphyxiation & the priestess' stabbing of her at the moment of breathless orgasm. We're talking a sept-some, which is probably something few get to incidentally have in the course of their lives, so this could be the staging & delivery of a peak experience to gift someone at the most ecstatic juncture of their sacrificial exit.

[eBook cover for a 27-page short erotica.] 

No one's really proposed this before and is my original thought, and I would wonder if the relevant passages describing the funeral proceedings might render other translation choices that further support this possibility. Note that Ibn Fadlan's not in the tent, is outside the boat, and is then being told by an interpreter what's occurring, and so there's some open possibilities beyond the text here. And part of my thinking is the willing consensual choice to become a sacrifice. Sure, she gets her feet washed like a queen, totally has all-you-can-drink, pampered for ten days, has the reassuring "beautiful and green" vision of the afterworld, and by default of this process gets a ticket to go there, but maybe also the upsell of this death is an exceptionally transcendent pleasuring that eases the final transition there, which would factor in making such a choice attractive.

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.