"1184" is not a concept album. The songs '1184' and 'Heidra' are the only songs related to the title. The title is the year of the greatest sea battle in Norway. It took place in the Fjord of our home village Sogndal. The people of Sogndal were tired of all the taxes from King Sverre. When he raised them again before Christmas 1183, a group of men in Sogndal, led by Arntor (a local farmer) killed the priests and men that served Sverre, as a protest for his tyrannical regime. Sverre was furious and ordered his army to burn Sogndal to the ground and kill the guilty ones. Another local king, Magnus Erlingsson, heard that Sverre was on his way to punish us and saw an opportunity to defeat him in a battle and become the sovereign king of Norway. The two armies bashed together in the fjord here in Sogndal, 2000 men died and sadly our "king" Magnus fell in the battle. As a punishment Sverre burned Sogndal to the ground. He confiscated Arntor's farm, and made it a seat for his men. So our lyrics are made in honour of our local hero Arntor, and is in total hatred against Sverre. The other lyrics on "1184"are shared between me and Valfar and are more personal lyrics, dealing with subjects like longing, hatred, pride, sadness and egoism.
Hváll / Windir interview, Voices from the Darkside, 2001
WINDIR released their third album, 1184, on this day in 2001 through Head Not Found.
It is Valfar who has written the lyrics about the seabattle of "1184" He is very interested in our local history. The lyrics of WINDIR are based on local history, not our Norwegian history in general. WINDIR will always be based on the mighty history of our home village Sogndal, and since both I and Valfar grew up on the same farm as my great ancestor Arntor, we feel a strong connection to the history of the battle in 1184.
Hváll / Windir interview, Voices from the Darkside, 2001