Comments by "Evan" (@MrEvanfriend) on "Vikings Tv Series Historical Evaluation" video.

  1. Fheed Pexx The sagas don't put Ragnar Lodbrok, whose name the show gets consistently wrong, and who was probably mythical, with Hrolf the Walker, who they call by his Latinized name "Rollo" and who was the man who took Normandy as tribute. Nor do they connect either of them with the Lindisfarne raid. The sagas don't put 8th-9th century Scandinavia in a feudal system, because that's retarded. And they don't claim that before Lindisfarne, nobody in Scandinavia knew of the British Isles, because this is also retarded. Basically, nothing in that show is even remotely accurate or authentic other than the ships, which are done wonderfully.
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  2. Of course I haven't read every saga, but I do know that in English (what with me being a native English speaker and all) Ragnar Lodbrok is ALWAYS spelled and pronounced with the D, not the TH. And Hrolf is either referred to in English as Hrolf the Walker or Gangahrolf. It would be nice if they were speaking Old Norse, but as half-assed as that show is, I can see why they're not. It would also be nice if they managed just a little historical accuracy on a couple things, but they don't seem to be going for that, either. I haven't watched the show past the first half of the first season, after that I became too disgusted and gave it up. In the first episode they're acting like there's nothing to the West of Scandinavia, and "Ragnar Lothbrok" has this "revolutionary" idea that there is land, ie the British Isles, to the West. This is ridiculous. You claimed that this moronic show is based on Icelandic sagas, I was pointing out how taking a couple characters from them and a couple unrelated historic events and throwing them all in one jumble is neither true to history (which I know quite a bit about) nor true to the sagas. And they got almost no details right, especially about society. They put these people in a feudal system first and foremost, which is every bit as anachronistic as putting them in the Roman Republic. Then, they make the feudal system such that if you kill the Jarl, you become Jarl yourself, which is just pure fiction. Then they have shieldmaidens, for which there is zero historic evidence, and it is HIGHLY unlikely that such a thing ever existed, because it's an incredibly bad idea on every level. Then they have these ridiculous monstrous priest-demon things, which is also completely false. Oh, and explaining how the guy getting executed is going to Valhalla, which isn't how Norse paganism worked. And of course the whole "my slaves are my equals" thing which was clearly designed more to appeal to modern sensibilities than to give any air of authenticity whatsoever. If you think they got details right, I'd suggest reading some history books on the period, because that shit is no more accurate than Game of Thrones, which at least admits that it's fantasy. I don't remember any jewelry off hand, but the weapons aren't particularly accurate (I recall some rather ridiculous axes and swords slung over shoulders and a conspicuous lack of spears), the "armor" and costumes are by no means accurate, and the ships are really the one redeeming feature of the show. They're done beautifully.
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  3. There is FAR more wrong with that retarded show than just the costumes and armor. First, they can't even get the names of the primary characters right. Ragnar LODBROK (not "Lothbrok") is a well known probably mythical figure. Gangahrolf, or Hrolf the Walker, had his name Latinized as Rollo, but certainly didn't call himself that. Second, they're putting 8th-9th century Scandinavians in a feudal system. No, not at all. And to make it worse, you become Jarl by killing the old Jarl, which is the way that no feudal system ever has worked. Then there's the claim that before Lindisfarne, the Norse had no idea that the British Isles existed. Again, no. Then, they have executed people going to Valhalla, when Valhalla was only for those slain in battle, and not even all of them. Then, they add to the historical confusion and popular false imagine of women being on raids. Again, THIS DIDN'T HAPPEN FOR ANY NUMBER OF BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL REASONS. I can't emphasize that strongly enough. Then you have the main character with the ridiculous haircut whose name they couldn't even be bothered to get right treating his slaves as equals, because a modern audience generally tends to be against slavery, so they feel the need to soften that reality to appeal to them. No, slaves were not treated as equals there or anywhere else. And this was all just from the first half of the first season, after which I was too disgusted to keep watching, since they'd already gotten basically everything wrong. Also, Ragnar Lodbrok was probably mythical, but even so he is in no way connected with the Lindisfarne raid, or, for that matter, with Hrolf the Walker. Basically, the only thing that show did a decent job on was the ships. They look good. Everything else is pretty much terrible. They should have just gone ahead and put them in the horned helmets, because the lack of horned helmets seems to be the only concession to authenticity that they made.
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