Vikings today are depicted as six foot four muscle-bound bearded monstrosities that cleave through armor like it isnt there, and wield many gilt and otherwise esoteric forms of weaponry. Not much is seen out of them besides action packed jump cuts in battle scenes, but thats OK. They can get by on that, because of their sheer cool factor. Unlike the heroes of the north implanted in the minds of the many, the average viking was a stunted man of no more than 5'8" on average, and they spent most of their time farming instead of slaying enemies by the thousands. Rather than flowing locks of blonde hair and tattoed savagery, out for gold and women, these men tilled the soil most of the time until they were forced to raid to sustain themselves. But I digress, and in further detail:
Weapons:
Vikings as appearing on the show typically have swords and axes of steel, not to mention a relative abundance of chain mail. There are no horned helmets in this itineration, but they can be found in many other modern works, notably the vikingesque Conan the Barbarian. This already puts a Mod (Modern viking) ahead of a Pes (Larping warrior peasant), as at best the Pes would have a padded gambeson, a spear or axe of iron, and a long knife called a seax. Steel isnt stronger than iron in terms of PSI applied, but it is vastly more flexible, allowing for blows taken to be absorbed by the blade rather than a possible shattering effect. The ranged weapons of the vikings, seen rarely for the Mod, are also much better than the Pes' version, as they display stylistic references to the recurve bows of the east, which allows for a greater draw weight, hence more power, from a smaller bow. Old vikings used longbows or shortbows with literally 0 stylistic properties of the recurve, and suffer for it in terms of range and penetration. The gambeson was very effective against cutting blows and stopping arrows, and remained in use for several centuries after its initial appearance, but it would stand no chance at stopping a steel axe or a shaft from a bow with a 200 pound draw weight and stylistically recurved influences, whereas the chain mail of TV vikings is proof againt all blows. Also, there are no itinerations of past vikings with horned helms, so they lose on that too.
Physicality:
Modern vikings, namely the ones on the TV show Vikings, are massive. They each top 6'4" with no problems at all, and seem to be the nearest thing man has birthed to an oak tree. This is because off the set, they each have physical trainers to hone their bodies to the max, and dieticians to help them eat correctly and maintain their physique. They recieve training in martial arts, and if something is truly dangerous, they can call upon an equally strapping stuntman to be the strapping viking for them. The Pes, as you will recall, does none of this. They plow stony fields, and build houses, and sometimes train for war, but most of thetime they are just trying to scratch a living from the ground. Dietarily, there was a lot of fish, dairy, and wheat, which destroy muscle mass by being, in order, Omega 3 fatty acids, literally distilled lard, and just a ton of carbs and gluten. When training for a fight, this diet is hardly adviseable. It might have made the average viking bigger than the average Brit, but the Brits of the time were tiny anyways. In short, there is no reason why a modern day viking couldnt absolutely RKO a Pes 6 ways to sunday barehanded.
Technology/Social:
Vikings in the modern day interpretation live well. They have invented basic compasses and astrolabes, allowing them to navigate where they will, and their farms, though seldom seen, have no problem feeding everyone AND the dogs. There are regular congregations in the high kings hall for drunken carousing, and the meat and mead always flow. They travel by seamless ships, each plank flush with its brothers, and there is freedom in the land, with landed nobles rarely asking for service. In the olden days, the Pes would have spent most of his life farming, with carousing chances coming but rarely. The soil is so poor that sustenance farming was the only tenable option, and raids were largely responsible for the import of food as well as riches, not just riches. The king might have had mead regularly, and meat, but he would have likely been the only one aside from particularly wealthy nobles, as meat and mead were expensive. They ships were not flush built, but clinker, with each plank jutting out a little more from its brethren, which at the time was strong but nothing compared to a modern idea of the ship. They had invented no astrolabe or compass, and had to take the technology via raids. Vikings in the modern era might as well be space pirates compared to the Pes.
Weapons:
Vikings as appearing on the show typically have swords and axes of steel, not to mention a relative abundance of chain mail. There are no horned helmets in this itineration, but they can be found in many other modern works, notably the vikingesque Conan the Barbarian. This already puts a Mod (Modern viking) ahead of a Pes (Larping warrior peasant), as at best the Pes would have a padded gambeson, a spear or axe of iron, and a long knife called a seax. Steel isnt stronger than iron in terms of PSI applied, but it is vastly more flexible, allowing for blows taken to be absorbed by the blade rather than a possible shattering effect. The ranged weapons of the vikings, seen rarely for the Mod, are also much better than the Pes' version, as they display stylistic references to the recurve bows of the east, which allows for a greater draw weight, hence more power, from a smaller bow. Old vikings used longbows or shortbows with literally 0 stylistic properties of the recurve, and suffer for it in terms of range and penetration. The gambeson was very effective against cutting blows and stopping arrows, and remained in use for several centuries after its initial appearance, but it would stand no chance at stopping a steel axe or a shaft from a bow with a 200 pound draw weight and stylistically recurved influences, whereas the chain mail of TV vikings is proof againt all blows. Also, there are no itinerations of past vikings with horned helms, so they lose on that too.
Physicality:
Modern vikings, namely the ones on the TV show Vikings, are massive. They each top 6'4" with no problems at all, and seem to be the nearest thing man has birthed to an oak tree. This is because off the set, they each have physical trainers to hone their bodies to the max, and dieticians to help them eat correctly and maintain their physique. They recieve training in martial arts, and if something is truly dangerous, they can call upon an equally strapping stuntman to be the strapping viking for them. The Pes, as you will recall, does none of this. They plow stony fields, and build houses, and sometimes train for war, but most of thetime they are just trying to scratch a living from the ground. Dietarily, there was a lot of fish, dairy, and wheat, which destroy muscle mass by being, in order, Omega 3 fatty acids, literally distilled lard, and just a ton of carbs and gluten. When training for a fight, this diet is hardly adviseable. It might have made the average viking bigger than the average Brit, but the Brits of the time were tiny anyways. In short, there is no reason why a modern day viking couldnt absolutely RKO a Pes 6 ways to sunday barehanded.
Technology/Social:
Vikings in the modern day interpretation live well. They have invented basic compasses and astrolabes, allowing them to navigate where they will, and their farms, though seldom seen, have no problem feeding everyone AND the dogs. There are regular congregations in the high kings hall for drunken carousing, and the meat and mead always flow. They travel by seamless ships, each plank flush with its brothers, and there is freedom in the land, with landed nobles rarely asking for service. In the olden days, the Pes would have spent most of his life farming, with carousing chances coming but rarely. The soil is so poor that sustenance farming was the only tenable option, and raids were largely responsible for the import of food as well as riches, not just riches. The king might have had mead regularly, and meat, but he would have likely been the only one aside from particularly wealthy nobles, as meat and mead were expensive. They ships were not flush built, but clinker, with each plank jutting out a little more from its brethren, which at the time was strong but nothing compared to a modern idea of the ship. They had invented no astrolabe or compass, and had to take the technology via raids. Vikings in the modern era might as well be space pirates compared to the Pes.
I am not going to go into the various types of viking warrior, and i do not mention berserks, but on an average day, with an average warrior from the modern interpretation and a contemporary fighter, the modern day would win every. Single. Time.
So why do you think this interpretation has evolved immensely in this direction? The vikings depicted in today’s time are big, rough and tough, and like you said, participating in jump cuts in battle scenes. So, maybe the muscular physique and tall frame add to the intensity of the battle scenes?; however, the vikings depicted in the readings are for the most part average men doing average jobs. There are some exceptions, such as Grettir in The Saga of Grettir the Strong as well as Gunnar and many of the other characters in Njal’s Saga, who do participate in many battles and killings. However, even then, their physical frame and strength is not more or less unusual for the average man at that time. This leads me to think that physicality of modern-day vikings is mainly for the attraction purposes, as well as adding to the “cool factor” movie/tv producers like.
ReplyDeleteDo you think there might be some accuracy in modern portrayals of Vikings? As modern-day Vikings are stretched truths on the historical accuracy of Vikings, there is still truth and accuracy in it. As the portrayals are and T.V shows, such as Vikings does a decent job presenting a lose adaption of the saga of Ragnar Lothbrok. Although the saga stems from oral story telling’s, it is still a saga, with the show presenting its hero as a muscular lengendary badass, like Grettir, and Njal. The accuracy from the show comes from what is stated that Vikings were mostly peasant farmers, and continuous using historical events, such as the raid on Lindisfarne.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you think this interpretation of Vikings began from? What bit of such inspired the first change that inspired the second and so on...or do you think it could have been a group of many changes all together? Grettir the strong could be a good starting point for the modern depiction of the uber strong Viking of these days' videogames and movies and such. The stories of Norse mythology probably had some sway in the modern portrayal of Vikings now that I think about it. However it happened you make a good point, the modern Viking, in Skyrim for example, would probably kick Grettir the Strong's butt. The modern depiction of a Viking is probably easier to market to most people though.
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