From the Stereotypes of the Norsemen deliver us… VI

A lot more of the same, but the storyline has achieved a certain kinetic motion, and things are happening. Now, as it is closing, the storyline seems to have a momentum that should have been achieved in the second or third episode. The series speed, however, seems a lot more indebted to soap opera than to saga. And in this episode, there is a lot more actual research!

And when Haraldsson’s henchman was axed while encouraging a revolt against Ragnar…well, it may have cut off some fascinating subplots for the future, but I was smiling! Of course, I saw him as needing a little death not merely because of his questionable actions but because of his fashion sense…

Correct

Good use of holmgang–challenge-wise. The reaction is, of course, just Sheriff of Nottingham Hollywood. The abrupt reversal of Haraldsson’s actions, reactions and thoughts are rather unconvincing though.

Obviously Ragnar got a counterfeit sword 🙂

Tostig’s boasts rang very well!

The boat burial for Haraldsson owes much to ibn Fadlan‘s description of such a ceremony among the Rus

The ambátt’s costuming—showing flesh—was far more correct than similar ones of the royal women

Bjorn is showing signs of growing up to be Bjorn Ironsides!

“My brother doesn’t hold grudges. He’s strange that way.” At least they give lip service to Norse feuding while still making the protagonist seem modern, progressi8ve and wise!.

Animals are kept in the house! However, it would have been so much better if we had seen horses, cattle or even sheep and goats. Keeping pigs in the house is not so well documented! They certainly were not just fattened over the winter!

The versatility of drakkars that are able to sail across oceans and up rivers. They probably had a meter draught.

Ælla’s pit of vipers was a great forewarning. Will it be used as it was in legend?

Incorrect

The great hall looks more and more like a barn.

It was the woman who often endorsed and provoked the holmgang or aggression, certainly did not tell the guy to run away from it!

Lagertha, call Xena. She wants her nightie back!

Bed does not match any found

Bedroom of Haraldsson looks more like some cluttered Victorian concept of a Viking Hall

What is that blue fur Ziggy—I’m sorry, Siggy—is wearing. In fact, that entire cloak.

The ambátt’s hair should probably have been shorter.

The maroon fur on Siggy’s later cloak. How many cloaks did she have? Did the local Hancock’s have a sale on multi-colored fake fur? And then her earrings. What haux fashion shoot did she wander off of?

The rope on Floki’s cloak, instead of a brooch, being used as a frog

Uncertain

Locks of hair are unmentioned for the time, though they were used in earlier times, generally for religious purposes, and later (16–17C) as love tokens. Their use as sentimental reminders of te dead—children or otherwise—seems to have developed only in the Victorian era. The “lock” that Siggy gives Haraldsson seems more like a scalp in its fleeting appearance!

Ragnar’s armor owes more to Kirk Douglas’s Ragnar than to accuracy

Not certain the holmgang would be done without helmets, but apparently the heroes are real men who don’t need them at any time!

The winner becomes Earl—or King, as Ragnar was in legend—and oaths of fealty were a lot more SCA than accurate, though it was seemingly legitimized the accession of Ragnar. The oaths were apparently sworn in Germanic convention on swords and were quite important between the lord—the king and his men—taking precedence over other oaths.

Drinking horns were used in ceremonial context; their use during this funeral can be reconciled. But I have great questions about whether drinking horns—which were probably very personal if we look at the carved ones that still exist—were just horns placed in a big barrel!

The funky hat worn by the seidkona  is probably a joke allusion to the old concept of Vikings wearing horn helmets as opposed to the possibility of metal horns on priests’ helms in elder times…but it still looks kind of silly! 🙂

The slaying of the family of a slain headman seems in my reading more a later thing or from other cultures.

******

There is no doubt that I will get the inevitable DVD set of the series, and I hope that I do not wear out the pause function of my player as I search for those details that appeared fleetingly ore in darkness and were not emphasized!

The very fascinating story of Viking duels, or holmgang, is well worth additional reading to help understand it!