Mel Gibson working on a Viking Epic!

[Thagarr]

I just ran across this story from back in March, Mel Gibson is currently working on making an epic Viking movie! After the way Hollywood has treated Vikings over the years, I am excited about this idea, but a bit cautious. The historical accuracy of most Hollywood films is questionable at best, and down right laughable when it come to Vikings! There is only one Hollywood film I can think of that even came close to showing Viking culture, The Thirteenth Warrior, and even that one was far off base. The European film Outlander comes as close as any film I have ever seen to showing Viking culture, but it focuses more on it's Sci-Fi elements.

Gibson recently reflected on the meeting as a special moment for him – a chance to get underway with a project that started as a daydream during his youth. “It was the first movie I ever thought about making," Gibson said. "I saw it in my mind back when I was teenager. Seriously, it’s the first movie I wanted to make. And I think it will be the last film I direct. It’s the thing I have been going toward, in a way, since I was young, and I think when it’s done I may be finished.”

"We're going hammer and tongs on the script right now,” Gibson said. “When I was 16, learning about the history of the English language I became fascinated with Vikings. And I imagined what they would sound like, how would they talk and that’s what I will be going for in this film. It’s a challenge though. There's never been a good Viking film, not that I've seen. I think I have found the right way to get into it, though, but I don’t want to say too much. The real problem is making those guys sympathetic. They were monsters."

This last statement has me a bit concerned though, Vikings were brutal, no doubt about that! However, they did live in a brutal age! There are many other civilizations of the Dark Ages that were just as brutal, but came no where close to creating the culture the Vikings had. They settled Iceland and Greenland, two of the most brutal climates on the planet. They were fierce warriors, but they were also great craftsmen, their longboats were more than a match for any other vessel of the age. Their metallurgical skills were second only to that of the Japanese. Their pantheon of gods rivaled that of the Greeks and the Romans. They were good farmers and great story tellers, their Saga's are still being told today. At the time, the Vikings had one the most expansive trading empires on the planet, stretching from Russia and the Middle East to North America. They were the best sailors of the age, and great explorers, reaching the New World over 500 years before Columbus! Unlike most other European cultures of the time, they bathed regularly, Vikings were actually quite clean comparatively speaking.

Anyway, I am really hoping that this film is done properly, and that he is as meticulous with his research on this film as he has been with his others. You can read the full article HERE!

 

[Peter Willemoes]

Did you get to see Rise of Valhalla, Thagarr? Its quite psycadelic, and tend to focus on the art in a red sky a lot..almost like Apocalypse Now.
But there is a story to it and I liked it the second time around.

 

[Thagarr]

Not yet I haven't Peter, really looking forward to getting the chance one of these days! It does look a bit ...different, to say the least!

 

[Peter Willemoes]

Oh I just realized, how you wonder what language the vikings were speaking. I can easily help you out on that.

Modern Scandinavia unfortunately has been influenced with other languages; i.e. Danish is heavily infected with german. But Iceland and Faroe Islands has been isolated for such long periods, that they are the closest thing you will come to our original common language, we all spoke once. While Iceland and Faroe Islands will easily understand eachother, Danes, Norwegians and Swedes do understand eachother, with some effort and guessing. Although sounding all the same to you, none of us are able to understand Icelandic or Faroe. Especially Faroe has been pointed out to be almost exact the old viking-tongue.

For comparison:
Linguistic lesson in Faeroe
Linguistic lesson in Icelandic

Folk song in Danish, sung by a Faeroe Choir (they learn Danish in school)
That same shantie sung by a native Dane


Oh, and the weapons issue. I am sorry to dissappoint you, but our weapons were actually pure junk. Swords were first of all made from different sorts of iron-quality (which is not good) and welded together in pieces. And the shields were made equally bad. They were thin, made of wood and not resistant to more than 2 full blows with an axe. But this were required, to meet the way they fought:

1.Hit-and-run tactics, flanking, horses. Berserkers were seldom seen and not as common as fiction indicates.
2.The actual struggle to die in combat. This would kill most enemy selfconfidence.
An honourable death = killing as many enemies as possible on beforehand. Dishonour was trembling and getting slaughtered
before killing anyone at all, only a litlle more hornourable than dying of a heart attack while ploughing the field back home.
3.If picked up by the enemy, the weapons would not provide their new owner a long life, because:

a) The sword: Hit the enemy from above with the sword like you would chop wood - if used horisontally, it could break(!)
b) The Shield: Notice the painting on the front of any viking shield. They were painted on the outside to hide the wooden alignments and confuse the enemy. If the enemy could figure out the alignment, he could cut the shield in half in a single blow. Only by turning the shield to horisontal alignments, the shield would be stronger and work like it should.

Also, axes were more likely used than swords, because they were cheaper. Only rich men owned a shield and well-crafted swords.

 

[Thagarr]

Oh, and the weapons issue. I am sorry to dissappoint you, but our weapons were actually pure junk. Swords were first of all made from different sorts of iron-quality (which is not good) and welded together in pieces.

I respectfully disagree mate, pattern welding(actually forging and repeatedly folding the iron together) different types of iron greatly increases the overall strength of the blade. Though this can make a sword brittle, later reheating and tempering helped give the blade a bit of flexibility. As this was a time consuming, and therefore expensive process, I do agree that it was usually the more wealthy that had better swords. Sure some swords were cheaply made with inferior techniques, this was mainly due to the lack of natural resources in a particular area. Swords and other metal objects made in Iceland were a good example of this, as most of the iron available was bog iron. Very early Viking period(late iron age) weapons such as the Scramasax, were badly made and didn't last long in battle.

Thanks for the links for the languages, good stuff mate!

 

[Peter Willemoes]

Well you're right and perfectly into it. My esclamations are based on findings around York, where they really did put those weapons under a microscope and concluded these things, but that is not necessarily the case all around. I.e. our metal resources here is some brown ore of really no value, but i.e. Sweden's iron resources are of excellent quality. It's not black and white and vikings can not be tied up as a unified group of supermen, but most people tend to/want to know them that way.
I am blushing a bit - I thought you were one of those people

And I am glad you liked the links

 

[Peter Willemoes]

PS: My good friend Brian is making huntingknives for customers from all over the world, he is quite famous in those circles. Its not that I know a whole lot about the process, but he loves to explain and invite me to smith with him, his speciality is something he calls damasque-technique. Sometimes a rich guy wants a custom vikingsword - unfortunately I never tried to be around when he makes one of those, but then again it's not exactly a guest-friendly situation, either. It eats him up when he make one and it does not interest him anymore, it's just a huge workload and money is not the issue anymore. His site may interest you:

BS Klinger (do a google-translate, he is not good at english)

 

[Thagarr]

No need to be blushing mate, those stereotypes are really widespread, and unfortunately they are passed on as actual fact by people who should know better. The one stereotype that annoys me the most is the horned helmets! I have spent many years study Viking culture, and it really is quite fascinating! Most people don't realize that the term Viking more accurately described a way of life than any one civilization, but as the civilizations that practiced this were so similar, they are generally just refereed to as Vikings.

I saved the bookmark for your friends site, cool stuff mate! I'll go through and have a look when I have some time to actually delve into it a bit more.

 

[Stallion]

They didn't have horned helmets? : I went out for Halloween one year as a Viking with the horny helmet! I got hung up on a tree trying to get to some guy's front door thanks to that stupid thing!

Oh, the impracticality of it all!

*We now return you to your regular programming.*

 

[Thagarr]

Stallion, you would have still got hung up on that tree ...your horny with or without a helmet!

 

[rupertlittlebear]

They didn't have horned helmets? : I went out for Halloween one year as a Viking with the horny helmet! I got hung up on a tree trying to get to some guy's front door thanks to that stupid thing!

Oh, the impracticality of it all!

*We now return you to your regular programming.*

once saw a specialty harley helmet

viking horns (ok, fake viking helmet with horns)

and a pony tail

made from horse hair

so it was a real pony tail

 

[Peter Willemoes]

Yeah, judging from his avatar, it seems tree-hugging horses are most likely to end up well-hung when horny - with or without helmets.

 

[Stallion]

What did I do to this topic?

The Vikings seem to have packed up and been replaced by tree-huggers or something. My oh my.

 

[Thagarr]

Waddah ya know, you really can find anything on the Internet!

 

[Peter Blood]

The most accurate viking movie i have ever seen was How to Train Your Dragon; then again, it was the only viking movie i have seen.

 

[Peter Blood]

The most accurate viking movie i have ever seen was How to Train Your Dragon; then again, it was the only viking movie i have seen.

 

[Peter Willemoes]

There is this movie called "When the Raven Flies"(original titled: Hrafninn flýgur).

An Icelandic movie that I personally would describe as spaghetti-western-viking / house of flying-daggers-alternative.The plot is bloodrevenge through generations, like in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", and the main character be throwing knifes from his sleeve. And never miss! Its old, from 1984 and in a kinda way so self-righteous and dark-twisted, that it gets hilarous.


Edit: Oops, forgot about this website called "TOTAL VIKING POWER!!! all about true viking power

Hope the google-translation makes sense somehow, its really a good laugh

Yaaarrrr!! Pirates and Canadians be on the enemy list

 

[Thagarr]

: Interesting site Peter, drink mead, feel the power!!

Canadians being on the enemy list I can understand. Back-bacon, beer and tukes make for a deadly combination!

Ya know Peter, I think I actually saw part of that movie on late night TV once a long time ago, I don't remember much about it, just the knife thrower had great aim! I may just have to dig around and see if I can find it again!