In the occult study of the esoteric meaning of runes, the Uthark theory originated in the 1930s with the work of philologist Sigurd Agrell (1881–1937), a professor at Lund University, Sweden.
He theorised that the rune row is a cipher, and that one can understand its meaning by placing the first rune, "F", last, resulting in an ”Uthark” instead of the traditional "Futhark" order. He articulated the bulk of his theory in his book of 1932, Die spätantike Alphabet-Mystik und die Runenreihe .
The suggestion has not been accepted in mainstream runic studies, due to lack of historical sources, but has found proponents in occult circles and in popular culture.
Kenneth Meadows promoted the Uthark theory in his 1995 book Rune Power. Thomas Karlsson, founder of the magical Order Dragon Rouge and Therion lyricist, then published the first monograph dedicated to the subject after Agrell's work of 1932: Uthark: Nightside of the Runes in 2002.
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