Vikings

The History Channel has a new show about the famed raiders of Scandinavia.  It premiered last week and the 2^nd episode was last night.  So far, I’d say it is quite good compared to other efforts at Viking fare.  The central character is Ragnar Lothbrok, an experienced raider who longs to raid richer lands to the West.  Earl Haraldsson, ruler of the region in which Ragnar lives and owner of the raiding ships, refuses Ragnar’s suggestion.  Thus, Ragnar commissions a ship to be built and sets sail.  He lands at Lindesfarne in 793, the traditional starting date of the Viking Age.

The look of the show is good.  There aren’t horned helmets and swords are scarce; only a rich man can afford a sword.  These Vikings use axe and shield.  The long ship is very cool.  On its voyage across the North Sea, it is run through its paces and shows how the men lived, navigated, sailed, and rowed. 

That said, the show has its faults.  The writers do not seem to know Viking law.  Vikings didn’t have a death penalty that an earl would impose.  In the first episode, a man is accused of murder and found guilty.  He is beheaded the following day.  Viking law would have sought a wergild – a man price – to compensate the murdered man’s family.  Failing that, a man was likely to be declared an outlaw.  Outlaws could be killed on sight without fear of retribution.

On another point, Ragnar’s wife, Lagertha, is declared to be a shield maiden.  Previews of future episodes have her in the shield wall (fighting formation) with all the men.  Though Nordic women had much higher standing that their fellow European sisters, they were not generally on the front lines of battle.  Shield Maidens are more legend than history and doubtless related to the Valkyries who carried valiant dead to Valhalla.  It seems no historical era can exist on film unless there are women warriors.  If this was airing on anything other than the HISTORY channel, I’d probably be less annoyed by the bow to that current fad.

Lastly, the grand coincidence that makes Ragnar’s journey to England possible is grating.  He has recently come into possession of two navigation aids, both given to him by ‘a wandering traveler.’  We learn nothing more of this wandering traveler so the items are otherwise inexplicable.  Then there is Floki the shipbuilder.  Apparently, his is the ship design that is now widely known.  He is a genius shipbuilder who can build a ship alone in a short period of time.  The shipbuilder was like a foreman who guided the building, but Floki chops the trees and cuts the planks and all the rest.  He seems to have no assistance.  So, it wasn’t that Ragnar was the first to dare a crossing; he was the first to even have the tools to make the crossing.

This may be History’s answer to the successful Game of Thrones on HBO.  I am quite hooked on that show and they both air on Sunday night.  I’ll be watching both.