Badass of the Week

In 1628, Vasa warship set sail as the most powerful warship Sweden had ever built—a floating symbol of ambition, wealth, and absolute confidence. It had more cannons, more firepower, and more swagger than anything else in the Baltic. It also had a fatal flaw.

On its maiden voyage, in front of a cheering crowd and the entire city of Stockholm, the Vasa made it about three-quarters of a mile… before a light gust of wind tipped it over and sent it straight to the bottom of the harbor.

In today's episode, Ben and Dr. Pat break down how a king’s ego, a rushed timeline, and some truly catastrophic engineering decisions combined to create one of the most spectacular failures in history—and why, somehow, that disaster is exactly what makes the Vasa so badass.

Because sometimes being legendary doesn’t mean you won. Sometimes it means you failed so hard they’re still talking about it 400 years later.
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History is full of revenge stories - but almost none of them spiral into full-blown, years-long war against an entire nation. This week, host Ben Thompson is joined by producer Andrew Jacobs to dive into the blood-soaked legend of Jeremiah “Liver-Eating” Johnson -a mountain man who survived brutal winters, outlaws, and ambushes… and then allegedly spent years hunting down members of the Crow Nation after the murder of his family.

It’s a story of myth vs. reality, frontier violence, and one man’s transformation into something closer to folklore than human. Because when your nickname is Liver-Eating, you’re already way past the point of reasonable behavior.
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History’s earliest civilizations didn’t just invent writing, cities, and law, they also gave us one of the most unpredictable, volatile, and straight-up terrifying deities ever worshipped. Meet Ishtar: the Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, sex, power, and absolutely zero chill.

Hosted by Ben Thompson with guest Dr. Patricia Larash, this episode dives into the legend of a goddess who could seduce kings, destroy armies, and then descend into the underworld on what might be the most ill-advised power move in mythological history. She’s been worshipped, feared, blamed for plagues, and credited with victory in battle -- all depending on what kind of mood she woke up in.

From divine romances that ended in disaster to her infamous showdown with the Queen of the Dead, Ishtar’s story is a wild ride through ancient Mesopotamia’s greatest myths and a reminder that when you’re the most powerful being in the universe, consequences are more of a suggestion than a rule.

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Medieval Spain was a chaotic battlefield of rival Christian kingdoms, powerful Muslim emirs, shifting alliances, and nonstop war - and in the middle of it all rode Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, the legendary warrior history remembers as El Cid.

Exiled by his own king, El Cid didn’t disappear quietly into the margins of history. Instead, he built an unstoppable reputation as a battlefield genius and mercenary commander, fighting for whoever would hire him and defeating just about everyone who stood in his way. His campaigns reshaped the balance of power in Iberia, culminating in the stunning conquest of the great city of Valencia, where he ruled as a warlord-king.

In this episode Ben Thompson and Dr. Patricia Larash explore the life of one of the most legendary knights of the Middle Ages—a warrior whose story includes exile, epic sieges, brutal battlefield victories, and one final act so wild that even death couldn’t stop him from leading his army to victory.

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The samurai weren’t supposed to go quietly.

This week, host Ben Thompson is joined by guest Mike Primavera to tell the story of Kondo Isami the peasant-born swordsman who rose to command the most feared killers in Kyoto: the Shinsengumi.

As Japan cracked open under pressure from Western powers and internal rebellion, Kondo and his men became the iron fist of the collapsing shogunate — hunting assassins, cutting down rebels, and enforcing order with cold steel in the streets.

But when civil war erupted and the emperor’s modern army marched forward with rifles and artillery, Kondo faced an impossible choice: adapt… or die defending a dying world.

He chose the sword.

This is loyalty pushed to its breaking point. An era ending in blood. And a man who stood firm while history moved past him.

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