I just watched season 1 of the drama series Vikings. It is like a cross between the mini-series The Pillars of the Earth and the series Game of Thrones. The series is VERY artistic! The music and the photography are beautiful. The series captures the dark, cold, wet climate of what life is like living in high-latitude lands. The combat is as good as I have ever seen. The costumes, weapons, and armour look awesome! My only criticisms are the pathetic way that Gabriel Byrne's character leaves the series, the pathetically incompetent way that the saxon (Northumbrian (English)) commanders and warriors are portrayed, and how pathetically few warriors the King of Northumbria can muster to fight the vikings. But don't let this sway you from watching the series - trust me, you will be barracking for the vikings to win every battle anyway. If you haven't already watched the series and you are a fan of the series Game of Thrones, then I highly recommend the drama series Vikings.
You are correct: the demise of the earl is not shown historically correct. Ragnar would not have know about nor understood the significance of the arteries located in ones wrist. His act of mercy would have consisted wrapping the dying mans fingers around a swords handle, granting him a death worthy of Valkyries. If you harbor some deeper interest in Nordic history I recommend Carl Crimbergs History of European Nations vol 7/24 (isbn 951-0-09735-7) or if you prefer more fictious touch I recommend Bernard Cornwell's Saxon stories. Wery entertaining, but not strictly historically correct, apart from the main lines, like the fall of northumbria and other weak anglo saxon kingdoms until the rise of the Alfred the Great of wessex, the first, last and only King of the English till the French conqureror made sure at Hastings that the entire anglo-saxon culture would be no more.
Speaking as a descendant of the invading Normans, the Anglo-Saxon culture seems to have survived admirably. The game we are playing is heavily based on Tolkein's works, which are, in turn, based on Anglo-Saxon mythology.
Genetically the AngloSaxons and the Vikings are the same. The Vikings assimilated into the cultures of the countries, they conquered so completely that after a few generations they were in destinguishable. The Normans were originally Norsemen but by the time they invaded England they spoke French. By the time of Edward the III the king and nobility identified themselves as English. Most of the AngloSaxons who remained the majority of the population never bothered to learn French so the Normans were forced to speak to them in English. The present monarchs are of German descent. George I was the Elector on Hannover which is in Saxony.
I have no idea what the Pillars of the Earth is but I am quite a fan of the GoT, alas I have never read a single book of the series, so my understanding of the subject relies sole on the HBO´series. Which, btw. Are in my opinion great, should I find the time I will read. What comes to the music in the series I love it too. And scenery, well that is what home looks like… The, perhaps sad, historical fact is that the Northumbria did fall quite rapidly under the dominance of the Norse. Even if they were the first, the Kent (and other parts which names escapes me) soon followed. Wessex with it`s dragon banner and it`s Great king Alfred almost succumbed. Alfred gave birth to the very idea of united island/kingdom. Sadly it never took place an sich. Couriously, the isle of the speakers of the modern anglo-saxon is rumored to be splitting in two halves as the Scots are leaving the union? Cultural anthropologically and sociologically perceived Tolkein´s mythology is a bastard of many currently existing cultures and their mythologies. For example the horselords of Rohan resembles the brittons living next to a far more advanced culture of the Romans. Ulmo, one the greatest Valar is almost copy pasted from Finnish mythology, that being the stubborn, almost all powerful lord of the deep who rarely consort with other powers to be. Not to even mention the tale of Húrin which is utterly based on the tale of Kullervo. But the analogy is as always wanting, even as all fiction reflects reality, there is always quite a room for interpretation. Yes and No. Angles, Saxons, Vandals, Goths, Russ, Finns etc. are from the same gene pool. But you are making a slight mistake in your analogy: the Vikigins were never a uniform people. The term "viking" refers to a group of raiders of any Scandinavian heritage who raided in the west, as a varyag or the varagian refers similar persons who raided the east. Although you are right, the Northmen spoke almost the same language as the angles and saxons, or at least a language very similar. Yes and no. They spoke Norman-French which is archaic version of French, which in turn is a Romanized version of the Germanic dialect of the Frank.
If you liked the series this is worth to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM0oVKi3Uug At least it made me smile, like Perkele... Edit. Btw. Who is your favorite character? Floki is mine, the master crafter, self claimed distant relative of the Great Trickster (Slayer of Baldr), not very warrior like, but still a force to be recognized and of course loyal as only a northman can be. Shortly a good rogue.
You mean the kind of loyalty that the main character's brother shows to him? I'd have to watch series 1 again or see series 2 in order to remember who my favourite character was. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip7QZPw04Ks Originally posted by TheDragonTrainer: Originally posted by Mike Slaughter: Originally posted by Mathemagics: Originally posted by Anon Verks: Originally posted by Monrena1: Originally posted by xSirPandax: Originally posted by Chimichanga Supreme: Originally posted by JohnnyJ2x44:
Alas, I have seen only the first season as that is the only season they have aired up North so far, thus I am not aware of the actions of Rollo after that. But he has been shown to lust his brother´s wife at least as much as he lusts equal fame and glory his brother has gained. Given what Jarl Borg tells about his brother, how the latter tried and almost succeeded in poisoning the former, I guess the series quite correctly paints the picture of the Northern version of fraternal love. Loyalty is something that is earned and not something given at birth. I have two brothers and during the thirtysome years both of them have supported me or betrayed me numerous times when the end result served their purpose. I thought that the concept of such sibling rivalry is universal? What are the reasons behind this kind of kindred betrayal? Evolutionary biology teaches us that individuals favor (or should favor) their siblings, their siblings' progeny and their cousins but not their cousins´ progeny as the former harbor sufficiently large amount of the same genes as the individual. Freud and Jung might have quite different view of the reasons behind this rivalry but I blame cultural factors, first and foremost the unforgiving rule of primogeniture. To be honest the rule was never that strict in the North, the sole inheritor could be of either sex and with no matter of the order of birth, still only one inherited. This made the siblings natural competitors and enemies. To counter that effect on untrustworthy siblings the Northmen sought out friends to form bonds and allegiances of unwavering loyalty. In the UK the rule of primogeniture is still in use an sich, contrary to my late Pappa who was of the first generation affected by the abolishment of the primogeniture here in the North. When his father fell into to the shadows the law dictated (as it dictates this day) that half of the property of the deceased will be given to whomever the deceased willed and the other half must be divided equally between the surviving children of deceased. Did this answer to your question about the Northmens loyalty? Btw. Have you seen the series Rome and/or Spartacus? The former is magnificent picture of ancient Rome, the most realistic serie I have yet seen, with excellent cast. The latter is just pure art. Visually less realistic, although utterly brutal filled with sex and violence as the ancient times were, the dialog and story are astonishing. Story being as historically correct as we can know. I am sorry but "FUS RO DAH!!!" says nothing to me. Yes I know it is a reference to Skyrim but I have not yet have the opportunity to play that game. It has been less than six months since I bought this " LEGENDARY DEMON v2" (http://www.jimms.fi/tuote/JIMMS-LEGEN-DEMON-V2) and I am still playing the UFO Aftermath so I can play the Aftershock and then the Afterlight in order to continue to XCOM Enemy Unknown after that there will be re-makes of Jagged Alliance 2, then the Dawn of War 1&2 with all extras, then Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, New Vegas… and after that the Elder Scrolls. And I forgot the Spellforce series. Ah it is difficult when one finally gets hardware competent to play all episodes of a serie…
