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The Vikings (TV series)


Bavarian Raven

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This show inspired me to dig out all of my history books on the vikings even though this series is pure fiction.

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Its Ragnar Lothbrok. ;)

I've watched 4 of 6 episodes so far. I love his wife Legartha and the two children.

Two more episodes to go and I am all caught up.

I was talking about the question the priest asked him and then the bird (a rook I presume) flew in and told a revelation type story. I have been watching the last few episodes as well and it is very good.

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I was talking about the question the priest asked him and then the bird (a rook I presume) flew in and told a revelation type story. I have been watching the last few episodes as well and it is very good.

Hmm... I am going to have to rewatch that episode.

Anyways the series is purely fictional accounts with some real history and amalgrams of historical figures mixed in.

Ragnar Lothbrok = the real history's Ragnar Lodbrok the Dane with various bits and pieces of different historical figures thrown-in together?

Earl Haraldson = Harald the Pretender amalgram? Or mostly pure fiction with various bits and pieces of different historical figures thrown-in together?

King Athelstan = Aethelred, King of Northumbria

We've seen the Lindisfarne raid in 793 AD, upon which the Anglo-Saxo Chronicle records preceding this event people witnessed portents and omens such as lightning in the skies and flying dragons.

Neat show!

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Two weeks ago (I missed last week's episode) showed the 789 raid on Dorset in the Portland Bay as well.

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Earl Skrymskdr Wraggletooth addresses his warriors before starting their latest attack.........."Right, listen up you lot. Remember, first we loot and pillage, then - and only then - do we burn! got it?"

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It's been quite a good series so far. A bit surprised when Ragnar publicly humiliated the erl's wife, but then she was a b**** to him in the past. Looks like we might still get a brotherly backstab.

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The series is full of a whole lotta mixed history and timelines. For instance, the raid on Lidisfarne took place on 793 AD and yet Ragnar Lothbrok death is commonly believed to have occurred on 865 AD and King Aelle of Northumbria death two years later in 867 AD. That is a 72-74 year difference alone.

Just as Rollo, the first duke of Normandy is portrayed as Ragnar's brother in this series too. That is totally historically incorrect.

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Yea his brother is a jealous chump. He's gonna die. I'm sure of that.

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Yea his brother is a jealous chump. He's gonna die. I'm sure of that.

Not necessarily, because if Rollo is based off the historical Rollo who became the first duke of Normandy and is the great-great-great grandfather of William the Conqueror. Hmm...

Also, if Ragnar Lothbrock is based off Ragnar Lodbrok,

he is destined to be shipwrecked and die after being thrown into a pit of vipers by King Aelle of Northumbria.

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Not necessarily, because if Rollo is based off the historical Rollo who became the first duke of Normandy and is the great-great-great grandfather of William the Conqueror. Hmm...

Also, if Ragnar Lothbrock is based off Ragnar Lodbrok,

he is destined to be shipwrecked and die after being thrown into a pit of vipers by King Aelle of Northumbria.

Far be it from me to argue with you but television cliché says he'll likely die. Reason is Ragnor is a far more likeable character and characters like his brother usually get nixed. Besides, how many jarls can they have in one season?

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Just as Rollo, the first duke of Normandy is portrayed as Ragnar's brother in this series too. That is totally historically incorrect.

I doubt there was only one man in all of history called Rollo.

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Far be it from me to argue with you but television cliché says he'll likely die. Reason is Ragnor is a far more likeable character and characters like his brother usually get nixed. Besides, how many jarls can they have in one season?

True.

I think in the series Ragnar may or may not suffer the shipwreck and may even survive King Aelle.

All these events after the fact, Ragnar in 845 was already ruler, took Paris with a fleet of 120 ships and thousands of men, (though Paris wasn't the huge city it was later in history at that time), and was paid 7,000 lbs worth of silver and keep all his spoils too in order to spare it and leave it. That is 3 1/2 tons worth of silver. Whew!

I doubt there was only one man in all of history called Rollo.

But Viking's Rollo is based upon the historical Rollo however from numerous sources on the net.

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Interesting. I learned after this show came out that Viking was never what they went by and that the word Viking is an act, a verb... True?

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Interesting. I learned after this show came out that Viking was never what they went by and that the word Viking is an act, a verb... True?

The experts themselves debate the meaning and the source origin of the word Viking, but yes it is generally an act, or trade, or description/characteristic of the Northmen. One popular definition that holds very little water with the experts is "sea warrior" or "sea raider".

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BTW, I am currently reading one of the better recommended books on Vikings written by Johannes Brondsted published back in the 1960s.

He committed 4 pages relatively early in the book discussing this very thing, where did the word "Viking" come from and where did is originate.

I have 4 books on the Vikings and 3 books on Viking age Iceland.

And a list of 3 more books on the Vikings I want to purchase.

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Glad you have such dedication. I sure don't. I'll look forward to your informative posts. Not to dumb it down but a few years back I heard Mel Gibson was supposed to make a Viking movie. I'd be all over that. Not sure what ever came of it, if anything. Think of Mel what you will but he sure can make an incredible and epic historical blockbuster. Braveheart, the Patriot, Apocolypto

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Here, I never thought of actually looking it up. From August 2012, it's called Berserker...

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=93461

CS: Now looking at what's going on with upcoming projects. What's the status on the Viking movie, which is still called "Berserker" I presume?

Gibson: It's still called "Berserker" and I believe it's going forward. I've talked to actors and stuff, and there are some good names attached who want to do it.

CS: But not DiCaprio?

Gibson: He's pretty busy, so no.

CS: Is it still a violent Viking movie in the original language?

Gibson: Not the original language. I'd thought about that at one time but then when you consider that English comes from the middle English language, it's not a big jump. I'll do something that's understandable for a modern audience. But it won't be the English THEY'RE used to.

CS: You've got a script?

Gibson: I've got a great script. And the idea's been batting around my head for years. And I couldn't find a way to make it work, because if you look at what Vikings did, they're pretty unsympathetic. And there's no point in doing Viking light. So I had to find a way to find devices and ways to make that work dramatically, intelligently and make it seem realistic so it's about real conflict in a real era in the 9th century, so that you actually see behavior and a new mode of thought seeping in. By the 11th century there weren't any of these guys left anymore.

CS: Will this be expensive?

Gibson: Everything's expensive. It's like ridiculous. But I can't talk budget.

CS: Are you having discussions with investors or studios?

Gibson: Both and there's some interest and they dig it, but it isn't the entire vision. You can't write the vision down. You can only have a blueprint and then go from a jumping off spot. But it was by accident that I bumped into Randall Wallace and we're collaborating on the script. We've got a fourth draft and it's great. All we've got to do is do it now.

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Glad you have such dedication. I sure don't. I'll look forward to your informative posts. Not to dumb it down but a few years back I heard Mel Gibson was supposed to make a Viking movie. I'd be all over that. Not sure what ever came of it, if anything. Think of Mel what you will but he sure can make an incredible and epic historical blockbuster. Braveheart, the Patriot, Apocolypto

That's interesting! I liked Braveheart inspite of all its historical inaccuracies. He definitely knows how to make an epic historical blockbuster. And his films are always splash the screen with the gorey details.

Back on the subject of the word "viking", here is another opinion this time from the Viking Answer Lady. Two minor conflicting views, I repeat minor, that come from two excellent basic texts written on the "Vikings", which are Everyday Life In The Viking Age by Jacqueline Simpson and The Vikings by Johannes Brøndsted.

Dear Viking Answer Lady:

I'll have you know that you are misusing the term "Viking"! There are no such thing as "viking" ladies, much less "viking answer ladies," because the only people who can accurately be called Vikings were sea raiders and pirates of Scandinavian extraction.

(signed) I Know More Than You Do

Gentle Reader:

Much as it pains the Viking Answer Lady to have to contradict one of her Gentle Readers, I am afraid that in this instance I must do so. While it is correct that "Vikings" originally were raiders, the activity gave rise to so much notoriety that eventually the term has come to be used to describe a wide range of people, places and activities between about 750 C.E. and 1066 C.E.

As Jacqueline Simpson states:

"In medieval Scandinavian languages, a vikingr is a pirate, a freebooter who seeks wealth either by ship-borne raids on foreign coasts or by waylaying more peaceful seafarers in home waters. There is also an abstract noun viking, meaning 'the act of going raiding overseas'.... Strictly speaking, therefore, the term should only be applied to men actually engaged in these violent pursuits, and not to every contemporary Scandinavian farmer, merchant, settler or craftsman, nor even to warriors fighting in the dynastic wars of their lords or in their own private feuds. However, it was the raiders who made the most impact on the Europe of their time, so that it has become customary to apply the term 'Viking Age' to the period of Scandinavian History beginning in the 790's (the time of the first recorded raids on Western Europe) and petering out somewhere round the middle of the eleventh century (by which time raids and emigrations had ceased, the settlements established abroad had become thoroughly integrated with the local populations, and social changes in the Scandinavian homelands had marked the transition to their true Middle Ages). Indeed, the term is such a convenient label for the distinctive culture of this period that one now talks not only of 'Viking ships' and 'Viking weapons' but of 'Viking art', 'Viking houses', and even 'Viking agriculture' - expressions which would have seemed meaningless to people living at the time."

(Jacqueline Simpson. Everyday Life in the Viking Age. New York: Dorset. 1967. ISBN 0-88029-146-X. p.11).

http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/viking.shtml

http://en.wikipedia....queline_Simpson

http://en.wikipedia....annes_Brøndsted

Personally I am favouring Brøndsted's view of this minor discrepancy.

Edited by B Jenkins
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Glad you have such dedication. I sure don't. I'll look forward to your informative posts. Not to dumb it down but a few years back I heard Mel Gibson was supposed to make a Viking movie. I'd be all over that. Not sure what ever came of it, if anything. Think of Mel what you will but he sure can make an incredible and epic historical blockbuster. Braveheart, the Patriot, Apocolypto

You might enjoy an old movie with the title of....wait for it...."The Vikings". It's an old film, but it holds up well today. It stars Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis in the lead roles of father and son Vikings. The soundtrack is very memorable and it reminds me of the "Star Wars" theme.

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You might enjoy an old movie with the title of....wait for it...."The Vikings". It's an old film, but it holds up well today. It stars Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis in the lead roles of father and son Vikings. The soundtrack is very memorable and it reminds me of the "Star Wars" theme.

I'll look for that on Netflix. They're great for older movies.

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You might enjoy an old movie with the title of....wait for it...."The Vikings". It's an old film, but it holds up well today. It stars Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis in the lead roles of father and son Vikings. The soundtrack is very memorable and it reminds me of the "Star Wars" theme.

Ernest Borgnine as Ragnar for the win!! Great stuff and so happy someone else remembers this movie. Let us know if we can stream from Netflix

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You might enjoy an old movie with the title of....wait for it...."The Vikings". It's an old film, but it holds up well today. It stars Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis in the lead roles of father and son Vikings. The soundtrack is very memorable and it reminds me of the "Star Wars" theme.

Its been a long time since I have seen this movie. Great Viking romp.

When The Raven Flies Hrafrin Flygur (1984, Hrafn Gunnlaugsson)

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewsh8c6abE4[/media]

Edited by B Jenkins
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Shadow Of The Raven part 1I Skugga Hrafnsins (1988, Hrafn Gunnlaugsson)

Shadow Of The Raven part 2 I Skugga Hrafnsins (1988, Hrafn Gunnlaugsson)

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muLe1xuSTlA

Unfortunately this yt user hasn't uploaded the third movie in this trilogy titled The White Viking Hviti Vikingurinn 1991.

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Here is a list of books (many out of print unfortunately)

Beginner text - The Viking World by James Graham-Campbell

Beginner? text - The World Of The Vikings by Richard A Hall

Basic text - Everyday Life In The Viking Age by Jacqueline Simpson

Basic text - The Viking Achievement by Peter G Foote and David M Wilson

Basic text - The Vikings by Johannes Brøndsted

Basic text - The Vikings by Else Roesdahl (alot of overlap with Simpson's book)

Basic/intermediate? text - The Vikings In History by F Donald Logan

Intermediate/advanced text - A History Of Vikings by Gwyn Jones (said to be the best with loads and loads of information)

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