posted
I was just wondering if you guys know of any books, films, etc, that relate to Norse culture or "Vikingism." This certainly seems like the place to ask. They can be fiction or nonfiction, though I'd guess I'd prefer fiction.
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
"Eaters of the Dead" by Michael Crichton (and the movie, "The 13 Warrior". It's supposed to be what the source of the Epic of Beowolf might look like. Very interesting.
There is some in "Byzantium" by Stephen Lawhead. An Irish priest gets captured by some Vikings and joins them in an expedition to sail down the Danube (I think) into the Black Sea and from there to Byzantium. Also very interesting.
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Worlds of Fun has an amusement park ride called The Viking Voyager. It's startlingly realistic, right down to the TidEbowl blue of the water your Viking longship travels through.
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Er, Veggie Tales "Lyle the Kindly Viking"? Probably doesn't count, but has the coolest Gilbert and Sullivan style songs about loothing and plundering.
Posts: 1021 | Registered: Sep 2004
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As a descendant of Vikings, I would recommend When the Raven flies. It’s a “remake” of Once upon a Time in the West, rather well done, and there are no silly horned helmets or busty blondes.
Edit: By the way, if you are looking for historical accuracy, The 13th Warrior is a poor choice.
posted
Yes. Asterix and his friends are Gauls, a Celtic people living in what is now France in Roman times. Nothing to do with Vikings, who didn't appear until several centuries later.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:I guess they might overlap. Early vikings and late Romans and Gauls.
Historically, no, they don't. Not at all, actually. But the original question was about popular culture rather than historical authenticity, after all. So if M. Uderzo put Vikings into Asterix, that's a bizarre anachronism on his part, but that comic remains a valid answer to the question.
Edit: Well, it also depends on what you mean by "Romans". The Byzantine Empire, which lasted until its final defeat by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, was Roman. But it was not by any means the same "Rome" as that of Julius Caesar, and the term "Gaul" had slipped out of currency as an ethnic or geographic descriptor by then. So technically, yes, the Vikings were around during "Roman" times, but not the Rome found in "Asterix". Which is more than anyone even wanted to know about it.
posted
I know when the Roman Romans were around and the Vikings. I never thought of that total historical innacuracy before. It's 600 years out of time!
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How about the credit card commersials? The Capitol One ones? They play a ravaging horde out to destroy...
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posted
Joel Rosenburg had a few novels based on Norse myths..Keeper of the Hidde ways was the name of the series....The Fire Duke was the first book, I think.
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