The band around the boy's tunic looks like a tablet weave pattern called "Dublin Dragons" based on a 10th century find from Dublin. Just seeing an actual tablet woven detail gives me so much hope for the costumes.
And applique of tablet weaving to garments is an unlikely waste of a nice piece of tablet weaving. Applique of folded tablet weaving is a modern affectation employed by reenactors who don't know how to do embroidery, especially used on commercial products to keep prices down. It looks fakey. In the Viking Age and other periods of Ancient and Medieval history decorative edging would have been embroidered directly onto the fabric.
@@laurabennettyoutube We might guess, or perhaps our esteemed host can produce archeological evidence. Otherwise, we might look to contemporary echoes of past practices retained by traditional cultures. We might look to the Saami, as their tunics bear a striking resemblance to the flared and skirted Viking Age tunic design pattern recommended by our host. The Saami use various techniques of applique on their tunics and trousers (breeches?), but their woven work is reserved for sashes, garters, and leg wraps. Look too toward recent reconstructions of the Sutton Hoo sword, which incorporate narrow colorful woven straps into the sword scabbard's suspension system. Whether such a reconstruction is speculative or is supported by archeological evidence is unknown to me. We can presume that the ancient Celts (at least) were greatly skilled in leathwork and leather weaving based simply upon their design motifs surviving in other media. Since the Celts predated or were contemporary with the Norse peoples, it would be unwarranted to presume the Norse were not also equally skilled. But that is leather, and all leather techniques do not transfer to fabric cordage. For my part, I am not interested in recreating a certain period of the material culture of past ages or peoples based solely upon verifiable archeological evidence. To do so would be to create a reconstructed material culture that is depauperate and would likely be unrecognizable to real people alive in past eras. That is because so much is lost to us and was not preserved in the archeological record. My goal is to rediscover the best of what my favorite past ages had to offer, and then bring it forward into our own time so that it can be passed to the future forming a part of future culture before it is lost completely. Such of course would, of necessity, be filtered through, and interpreted by, contemporary craftsmen such as myself.
@@Tipi_Dan this is a really lovely manifesto and I'll have to steal it! I've had trouble explaining to people why I feel this need to bring history into my everyday dress habits and fashion design for others, but you've pretty much said it. Evefy age took what had come and did their own thing with it, and so should we.
This may sound weird, but I'm almost extra excited to see the combination of really well-crafted historical reproduction costume pieces like the hand-finished garments and tablet weaving in a film that is also clearly making some design choices based on popular "myths" and modern ideas of what's fun to watch. It's one thing to see a film that's 100% historical fantasy and has no period details at all, but for a film that's leaning on wild dramatic Weird Aesthetic Choices to *still* have such good costume pieces and recognize the importance of those details and respect the quality of craftsmanship . . . it's giving me some unexpectedly warm fuzzy feelings.
A movie that’s 100 percent accurate is just a documentary. This is not that. It is necessary that the director take some artistic license in order to express whatever point he wants to make with the movie. He may have something to say about the strangeness of religion, ect. Shakespeare had a lot of weird stuff in his plays too.
Not weird at all, most history buffs have no idea how and why movies are made. Historical fidelity isn't the most important part of a movie and it shouldn't be.
A few minor notes: Björk's character was originally just listed as _Slavic Witch_ in the cast (& is now listed as _Seeress_ ) so she probably isn't a priestess and her being some form of witch is likely the reason for her more exaggerated appearance. The reason for Amleth and his compatriots being shirtless is because they're based off of Snorri's interpretation (& likely error from mistranslation) of the Berserkir in the sagas (bare-shirted rather than bear-shirted). Since the film is clearly leaning more into the fantastic elements of Norse myth over historicism, I don't mind the shirtlessness here since it doesn't feel as out of place in a story from the sagas than it would in a full historical adaptation but I can appreciate the criticism since it is a large part of the Flanderization of vikings in "historical" tv and film.
My guess is that they are going more for an Úlfhéðnar design rather than berserkir. I know there's a lot of overlap and different theories on then possibly being the same thing.
My guess is that they are going more for an Úlfhéðnar design rather than berserkir. I know there's a lot of overlap and different theories on then possibly being the same thing.
@@alexmanning9961 Berserkir/berserkers is now used to describe the broader category of shamanic warriors, not just those channeling the spirit of the bear. Jöfurr and Úlfhéðnar would fall under that same umbrella.
Pious Skeleton Really like your comments here, yes. For a lot of the “outlandish” stuff in the movie there are actually direct references in the Icelandic sagas, whether true or just mythological.
I mean, Hamlet was the prince of Denmark, and Shakespeare based it on a story from Saxo Grammaticus "Gesta Danorum", so viking Hamlet isn't really that much of a stretch. Also, as far as the priestess goes, guessing the costume designer watched some Heilung videos and said "I WANT THAT"
I mean the main character's name is Amleth... clearly there's some creativity/flexibility with the costumes but they clearly did actual research which is pretty rare for this period and anything to do with Vikings/Norse culture. Also Björk's character, the Slav Witch, is wearing temple rings!!
This movie is based on the legend of Amleth which was the basis for Hamlet, so yeah. It's not a Hamlet ripoff, it's just a different telling of the original legend.
I mean.... Even If there wasnt a historic/in universe Connection... Recycling Shakespeare isnt new. After watching "Hamlet but with Lions" (yes, Disney, it's pretty obvious) and "Hamlet, but in an American Biker Gang" (sons of anarchy), im curious about "Hamlet, but it's VIKINGS"
@@stucodyI agree, it definitely has an intentional dreamlike quality to it. That said, it's been about half a decade since we had Taika Waititi's vision of Valkyrie's flying into battle as part of a dream-like memory. On top of that, the perfectly straight teeth are far too modern a concept that it takes me out of the moment. All attention to detail for the setting are undermined by perfectly modern dentistry. So when they try to add dental carving, then they just look like modern braces. It becomes ludicrously anachronistic to presume that someone of the period would dream of a perfect being with gleaming white and straight edged teeth. Any and all examples of excavated carved teeth will be on naturally "bad" looking teeth, to modern standards. Its a personal feeling of disappointment that they weren't brave enough to include some realistically dodgy (and therefore scarier) looking molars.
My guess is that the shirtless and animal-skinned guys are supposed to be Berserkers. In some of of the Icelandic sagas kings have pet stables of Berserkers, (including Hrolf Kraki's saga which is sometimes cited as an early iteration of many of the story tropes that eventually ended up in Hamlet) so the Hamlet character might be posing as one to get close to the Claudius character, mirroring Hamlet's feigned madness in the play. The Valkyrie may look absurd and fantastical... but... well... she's a fantastical being- they probably deserve a bit of artistic license there. Hrolf Kraki's saga is really interesting because it combines plot elements more familiar from both Hamlet and Arthurian legends, and illustrates how ideas were continually recycled and recombined in medieval storytelling, travelling widely and even reaching places as remote as Iceland. People have always loved a good story, no matter what time or culture they were born into and our cultures have always shared ideas.
Yeah, I don't see a problem with shirtless and animal skinned Berserkers. Isn't Berserker a kenning for both "bear-shirt" and "bare-shirt"? Like helmets would be thrown off in battle, going into battle shirtless, maybe even naked doesn't seem off for those mad lads.
@@vizari9570 yeh as someone who is Icelandic, it's actually disheartening when people put down and don't really care to learn about these aspects of the culture and mythology but instead criticise it and say it looks silly.
@@Mek_Alenes I know that the word 'Berserker' refers to the fact they supposedly wore bear skins. Am I right in assuming that 'Ulfhednir' refers to wolf skins? My volume of Icelandic sagas translates the bands of elite warriors as 'Berserkers', but that might just be because the average English language reader probably wouldn't have heard of Ulfhednir. Although, there's at least one of them who magically turns into a giant bear, so presumably he was always a Berserker.
The shaggy wool cloak another character (uncle?) is wearing looks very much like a vararfeldur cloak. If so, that's so much better than randomly draped sheep pelts and furs. Glad you are feeling better!
I know many very skilled craftsmen who worked on this production, weavers, armorers, advisors and someone who has a small screen role as well. I’m confident this film may actually be a step in the right direction. Careful hopes!
Question! Is there a online 'list' of people that DO historical crafts ? I am kind of a newbie, know about SCA & the like, but with 'Rona, I haven't gone looking to get more involved ! (Shakes fist at 'rona!) Would be kind of cool if each country had a historical online portal - for history (writing/reading!), current/past archeological work, people doing historical crafts, etc. I am pretty sure any young film makers would have to spend a LOT of time researching, & might be a great idea to help them & any "newbies" to get involved (virtually at least due to 'rona!) I know in Canada, there was (is?) a National Film Board - and it is government funded. (I watched MANY spectacular animations from Canada in my youth!) I doubt you could/would get funding in the USA (where I am living), as heaven forbid we invest in CULTURE! But, the European folks seem a lot broader minded about these things !? Discuss ! ;)
@@m.maclellan7147 there is not really no. I am heavy into Vendel Period living history and have found many if my contacts through facebook groups and instagram. Also joined existing groups of people and found many craftsman through that.
Excellent video and thanks for the shoutout! Dropped a link to this vid on my community page as well. There's a ton of really cool information in here. I noticed the symbol on the Seer's helmet as well. I think the fur on his helm is inspired by the description of the Seidrwoman's headgear as described in Eirik The Red's Saga which includes black lambs wool if I recall correctly. But the papier mache look isn't quite great, I agree. And the symbol which originates in later Icelandic Medieval magic rather than the viking age is a constant curse. The story from Saxo takes place in Daneland / Jutland, so I imagine that's where this film takes place, but given the creative liberties, it could easily be set in Iceland as well.
I believe part of the movie will take place in Iceland, they have used the Amleth saga as base, and Amleth flees after he acted as a mad man. In the original saga he goes to Britain. Here he seems to go to Iceland. ;)
On Kidman's character looking Slavic/Ugric: IIRC, the original story of Amleth took place in the Jutland peninsula of Denmark where Amleth was an either Danish or Jutish prince. It wouldn't be out of the realm of the ordinary for the elites of that region and era to marry useful foreign partners. Harald Bluetooh for example married a Vendish princess, and his son married a princess of Poland.
Couldn't Kidman's headdress have been brought back from one of her hubby's Viking expeditions, and she just liked it? It's bound to have happened at least once in the early mediaeval era, and it could have given Kidman's character a bit of extra kudos (Oooh, exotic. Your man must be really good at bringing in the wealth). On the whole, though, it's looks as though they tried, aside from the things they've "had to do" for theatrical impact. We can only make a visual judgement at the moment, though.
Eggers actually mentions this somewhere, It's Finnish and the idea behind its appearance is that it was perhaps booty from a raid gifted to his wife. if memory serves.
Hey man, love your videos but there is one thing that caught my attention here. There are many sources dealing with lamellar armor during the Viking Age obviously. However, I would recommend many of the works by Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson who deals a lot with cultural exchange between warrior groups from Scandinavia and those in various places along the Eastern Way. Lamellar armor was indeed likely an import, however, this in no way excludes use by Scandinavians who operated in Eastern lands as merchants, mercenaries, and raiders and who had extensive contacts with warrior groups in that area. Much of the material culture of a martial nature at Birka seems to show these contacts (ie evidence for use of steppe-nomadic composite bows, Magyar sword belt mounts etc). The context of the Birka lamellae that you discuss, whose numbers likely represent multiple sets of armor, is also important to mention. These finds are dated to around the mid 10th century and were found in what has been seen as a battlefield context as well as in the Garrison itself. In short, to say unequivocally that Vikings did not use such armor seems unfounded and quite frankly, likely completely incorrect.
I could see how it’d be an issue if many of the warriors were wearing lamellar armor or some other uncharacteristic piece of equipment. But is it necessarily a big stretch to believe that a Viking nobleman could own some sort of expensive or exotic armor like lamellar through trade, especially with the Byzantines, genuinely curious
@@rapidvetD People often forget they travelled and traded more than they went a-Viking. It really isn't hard to believe they'd have foreign clothing or armor if they were rich. I know I sure as shit would.
I thought you were going to get whiplash "WOW! That's so good!" "OMG! That's so wrong!!" Thanks for a fun first video of the year, Jimmy. So glad you are feeling better and Happy New Year to you and yours.
I'm confused... Isn't that what Willem Dafoe looks like anyway? All kidding aside, the man is mad talented. His speech in the "do you like my cooking" scene in The Lighthouse absolutely blew me away! The Valkyrie does look a bit too much like she's wearing a Halloween costume. But the trailer makes this film look awesome and exciting! Definitely looking forward to seeing this one! An all star cast doing Viking Hamlet sounds great to me!
@@yochanan770 Valkyries aren't mythological creatures. Being a valkyrie was a profession. Otherwise there would never have been Vikings who ended up marrying one.
The yellow tablet woven piece on the boy's costume (at the 5:20 mark) is an Irish 10th century piece from Dublin, so Viking Irish. I did a video on that one. The original was done as a brocade, and I'm not sure, from what little detail is there, if this one was done as a brocade. But still...woohooo!
Why do we make priests and priestesses wear crazy things? Well, I mean, I would toss papal hats into the category of “crazy things religious figureheads wear”….
Two points: First, it seems that a section of the film takes place east of the Baltic, which could explain a lot of the Slavic cultural artefacts that would be out of place in Iceland. Second: Eggers' first film has a witch that eats a baby and flies on a broomstick. His second has a mermaid and a scene where Dafoe appears as Proteus, with tentacles etc. Eggers' films mix historical settings with folklore and magical elements, and criticising this trailer as if The Northman is supposed to be a straight period piece is disingenuous. I mean valkyries don't exist at all, so worrying about whether the valkyrie's teeth would have been carved is kind of like worrying about exactly what sort of hat Father Christmas wears. If you were expecting a documentary you're looking in the wrong place.
@@TheWelshViking Can you think of another viking movie where there has been more attention paid to historical accuracy regarding costume and set design? Seems to me like this project has been a labour of love and that no small amount of effort was made to give it some authenticity - seems a shame to nit-pick. Your knowledge is very impressive - a privilege to listen to :)
I am very much enjoying the quantity of mail shirts in this trailer and the lack of dressing people up in weird floppy leather and calling that armour. Glad to hear you’re feeling better!
@@Me-yq1fl in scandinavia the viking age is set between ca 700 - 1100, and I want a movie in that time period somewhere in scandinavia that is not focused on fighting but other part of their life and culture like mythology, farming, woodworking etc. It would still be a viking movie = a movie set in the viking age in scandinavia.
Yes. And I'd like to see more of the matriarchy when most of the men went away. Not just women fighting , like use of herbs and flowers. Some flowers were used to induce miscarriage. I'd like to see a viking bring back a virus and maybe that's what set off all the burning sacrifices. I'd definitely like it to be more rounded like using magic mushrooms for illness.
Wearing an eye curtain is something that is actually done by the people who speak to spirits in various cultures around the world (these days such spirit-speaking tends to get lumped together under shamanism as a blanket term). They are used for the very practical reason of wanting to not be distracted by what's going on around you while talking to said spirits, while also not wanting to completely lose sight of things so you don't accidentally step in a fire or something. You can find a fair few historical photographs of people from a number of times and places wearing them. Some eye curtains are as simple as fringe on a headband while some are incredibly elaborate. A somewhat skimpy yet elaborate eye curtain is certainly the sort of thing that would readily catch a costumer's fancy for a mystical character (you get that spirit talking vibe while still being able to see the actor's face), and *might* even be appropriate. Whether or not the eye curtain being worn by that character is stylistically accurate is no doubt a separate matter.
So glad to hear from you again! Since the 'rona, I've been mum-ishly worried! Excellent review! Hope the film doesn't disappoint too badly, though your reaction to that stuff is always entertaining and informative!
Shirtless wearing wolf skin would probably be the Ulfhednar. I'd give em' a break on the horned dancer and it being from earlier period simply because Vikings or rather the Norse would maybe use older rituals passed down through tradition.
@@trishmagenta883 The Ulfhedinn is a type of Berserkr. There's the Berserkir(plural), which are of the bear. Ulfhednar(plural), which are of the wolf. Jofurr(plural), which are of the wild boar.
Worth noting that those hooked tags are just known as "hooked clothing tags". Using them to secure winingas is just something re-enactors do. There are some at the legs in Birka but they could be leg wraps, garters, attaching hose to braies or baggies, etc. etc. and we have TONS of loose finds. There is even a find with a pair of Anglo-Saxon ones on a leather belt pouch from Eastern Europe. So yeah, clothing hooks. However, this cloak clasp is not any of that.
Glad you're feeling better, Jimmy! I'm extremely excited for this movie, mostly because I LOVE what Robert Eggers does with his historical films. Even if some things might be off/anachronistic/totally from the wrong time, everything still manages to feel so real and lived in and given the effort he puts into his films (he and his team built the lighthouse for The Lighthouse and its beautiful) it makes for very enjoyable viewing.
Yes! For me the favourite part is how the dialogues are always written so they sound as close to being period-correct as possible without becoming incomprehensible for modern audiences. And the actors always do such an amazing job of moulding their voices around them [shiver of delight]. You really have a feeling that you're watching people of that time, even if some details might be off (I'm not enough of an expert to notice anyway, though I'm interested enough to realise when movies get things obviously wrong haha).
Insightful analysis as always! A long time ago (probably closing in on 20+ years at this point,) I read the portion of Saxo Grammaticus' _Gesta Danorum_ ( _History of the Danish People_ ) that essentially was "Hamlet" -- point of fact this person's name was "Amleð." I think Saxo based this on some older material as well - so anyway when I saw the trailer I immediately recognized the story. There's another movie based on this where Christian Bale plays Amleð... it's got the incredibly generic name of "Royal Deceit" or something like that. I suspect there's going to be a lot of weird mysticism in this one...
@@TheWelshViking Of course Icelandic horses about 1000 years ago might have looked a little bit different from now, but as they were descendents of British, Germanic and Nordic native ponies, they surely didn't look like the horses in the film. It's assumed that importing other breeds to Iceland was already banned in the year 930.
Why is the Skarsgard brothers the automatic go to for playing olde timely Norse Raiders? I legitimately thought that this movie was going to be a prequel for the True Blood TV series as Alexander Skarsgard played a character called Eric Northman and was a Norse raider when alive. I also kind of low key hate that the costume designer is leaning quite heavily into the burlap sack school of color palettes. Can we for once have a director and costume designer use the vibrant colors and natural dyes that would have been available? The whole desaturated color plus chucking mud at people is such a lazy trope. People loved rich colors then and today and while yes some chose to be slovenly, most were quite clean.
Gorgeous impromptu Sean Connery impression, I laughed so hard I scared the cats off. The priestess and papier mache helm man: Yes, demonization of Pagan cultures. And I'm glad you're feeling better!
To me it was fairly obvious that this film wasn't claiming to be super historically accurate. It seems to me to inspired by how the sagas are written. Most people accept that sagas were the "viking hollywood" of the time and were most definitely embellished. This seems to me to be a interpretation of Hamlet in the spirit of a Norse saga instead of an English play. Can't wait to see it.
I can possibly add two things. a) on the series The Vikings they did actually use proper tablet woven trim on their tunics - not all of it was accurate mind you - because my friend here in Ireland wove the trim. She tried to make them stick with realistic trim but apparently they needed the stuff, some of the stuff, to be woven using metalic thread simply because it ''looks cool on film and the audience expect it'' so the background lot wore the genuine Viking style/design trim made with hand dyed wool and the important ones wore trim with very modern thread in it. (her late husband taught Viking mythology at a Swedish university while her area of expertise is Viking/Norse textiles b) they make their pagan priests/priestesses like that because it's Hollywood and anything pagan must be ''demonised'' (to quote her late husband, himself from the USA originally) and also, I suspect, because the audience again expect it because they have been conditioned to believe this is how pagan 'clergy' dressed/acted. A good example is Braveheart and how a surprising number of people still swear blind that Braveheart and all his fellow Scots (never mind he was Norman originally in his past) wore blue paint and acted like idiots. Great video, keep on with the whisky, it kills most nasty bacteria and viruses. Honey and whisky is apparently even better I'm told. Good job Shakespeare's works aren't still copyrighted, he'd be making a fortune out of them at this stage, seems every time someone in Hollywood - especially but not only - wants a new storyline they copy one of his plays and change the era. Nothing like popularity. Take care, stay safe and happy new year. Dublin.
The audience expects it? The film crews come out with some bollocks... The decision makers are the Director with his'vision' and the Costume folks who pander to it despite all the historical evidence. Yes it's his money and so he makes the call.
TLDR: I think the black and white face paint is a blood substitute. Blood is like the word "fuck" for movies, at least in the US. You can use it, but if you use it too much it will increase the rating to the point where theater won't show it, and therefor you won't get your money back from it. And the people that decide the rating of the movie, don't care about accuracy or vision, just what they personally find offensive. For movies or shows where they should be using a LOT of blood (religious rites/excessive battles/torture chambers/etc.) they will use "black paint" or "black goo" as a sub and tell the ratings people that it is just grime, mud kicking up, or some other excuse. Then they can use their blood allotment for a PG-13 film (believed by studios to be the most lucrative) for an epic final battle. Because not everyone can be The Shining and swear up and down that it was rust water because of old pipes.
I'd just like add to number 2 that the Christian priesthood is no stranger to wearing weird headgear either, just look at the ceremonial pointy hats of catholic bishops, or the absolutely ridiculous papal tiara that was used up to the sixties.
@@crow1066 In the case of The Vikings TV series the costume designer listened to my friend and agreed with her, it was the director or producer who was insisting on the inaccurate trim.
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Happy New Year! Glad you're feeling better. I wouldn't go hard on the fantastic bits, like Valkyries and Odin/priestess/magician/whatever. They're fantastic, they're magic, they're not of our world. There's literally no reason to tie them to any specific time or style. I'm more concerned about the real human beings being historically accurate. Just my opinion.
For those who are unfamiliar, Ocean Keltoi is a reconstructionist heathen (neo-Pagan around what we can construct of the old Norse religion, based on scraps of the written records and finds), who focuses more on the literature than the artifacts. And from what I saw of his review is that this film is loosely based on several different sagas, kinda woven together by theme and vibe. So I wouldn't go in expecting accuracy. As for the fetishization of the weird, I think that's primarily for the modern American audience, where Christianity is highly political, so making not-Christian look as not-"normal" as possible may be deliberate choice. (color me cynical).
That was the opinion of a friend's late husband, Norse mythology and religion was his field of study (and he was a practitioner as well) and he was very critical of the ways in which Hollywood portray any religious people who aren't christian (because they often portray the Christians of the era badly as well). But Ocean Keltoi is a subset I haven't heard of before, certainly S didn't ever mention it so I wonder how accurate it really is, especially as S's practices were based on written records but he called it Odinism.
@@musicandbooklover-p2o Ocean Keltoi is the name of the *UA-camr* -- not the practice. I think UA-cam blocks replies with links in them, so just search for Ocean Keltoi channel. He put up a video this last February titled :"Asatru, Norse Pagan, or Heathen, Which one is right for you?" that talks about the nuances in different flavors of Norse neo-paganism (the various practices and the words used to describe them are constantly evolving, especially as more people join in). I will give a warning that his intro and outro has a lot of flicker and glitch animation, so if that's a danger to you, you might want to skip the first and last minute or so.
@@CapriUni Thanks, I'll have a search. Having known S for years and, because I read all the Norse mythology as a child/young teen and had no problems with his religious beliefs, he taught me a fair bit more about their mythology and practices. Which I found fascinating to be honest (not being one who really cares what someone else believes in as long as they don't preach to others unless asked). Having studied the era, the people - his doctorate was done on the Germanic beliefs as given in Tacitus, all read in the original Latin - and having lectured in Sweden for years as well as writing books on the subject - reference and also fantasy - he was learned and definitely knew his stuff. He also had a certain amount of disdain for some claiming to practice the beliefs if only because they happily mixed up all sorts of different 'pagan' practices as it suited them and then claimed them to be ''authentic'' Norse religious practices. He recently died and was cremated as his beliefs dictated wearing his ceremonial Norse clothing complete with religious regalia (because they were cremated at one time, Up Helly aa still celebrates this custom up in the Shetlands to this day, and the 2022 celebration will be held on 25th January this year). But equally the practices in the different parts of the Norse world/trading empire would have been different as they assimilated whatever beliefs were in that particular area, hence the Germanic version in England and a more Russian version in what is now Russia but was then under Norse control and so on around the place. Really fascinating when you look deeper into it but, like most things now, people often just skim a couple of pages on the internet, take the bits that appeal and cobble together something they then claim is ''authentically'' Norse. Take care, stay safe, happy new year.
There's not so strange that it is Hamlet since there are a lot of theories that Shakespeare probably was inspired by the Amleth Saga and kept the outlines of it. ;)
I'm excited to see this too. In terms of, like, archeological awareness, and getting the material culture right, this blows all prior mainstream productions out of the water--which speaks more to the theatrical costuming tradition going it's own way than to this film being super accurate.
::waving madly:: Hi, Jimmy! Happy 2022, I hope you are feeling better by now (or soonest, if not yet). edit: that Valkyrie looks like she has braces on the most straight upper teeth ever.
When I first saw the trailer, the Valkyrie just looked like an angry teenage girl with braces. Watched it on my phone, I had to rewind and double check what on earth I just saw, I still couldn't make out that it was tooth carvings until I saw stills from trailer blown up bigger and I could zoom in. Anyone else or just me?
Just nerdsniping here, but the story of Amleth (which this seems to be based on) is widely considered to be the basis for Hamlet, and was relatively popular in England still in the Tudor period. The names are similar because of this. So it is more Original Hamlet than 'let's make Hamlet-but VIKINGS'.
Coming back to this after watching the film, and sleeping on it, it went over much better than I expected. All the mystical stuff wasn't as out of place as I expected. In fact - it felt like watching a Saga (since it is based on a classic tale).
@GiRayne what's with the lefties so desperately trying to believe The Northman is "undermining masculinity"? The story is on par with old sagas - the main character swears vengeance on his uncle, which seals his fate, something that was important to the norse in the 10th century. This isn't a 90s action flick, where the hero gets his revenge, gets the girl, and rides off into the sunset. This is the viking saga version of revenge, where the hero's oath of vengeance shapes his destiny, which he meets head on, unto the end.
@GiRayne lol. Wrong, wrong, and more wrong. The Northman is not a stunning, and brave commentary about the faliure of masculinity. It's a revenge story on par with other period sources, such as the poem of Beowulf, saga of Sigurd, etc. Amleth's father is a successful buisnessman. After he is murdered, Amleth finds employment with another company, but eventually, his fate (a result of the oath of vengeance that he took) catches up to him, and drives him to a faraway land, to complete his quest. A quest that is 100% successful, and in the end, Amleth realises that he cannot run from his destiny, and goes to end the feud with Fiolnir - even at the cost of his life, to prevent further revenge (something his mother tried to do by having him killed - unsuccessfully, to stop Amleth from seeking revenge). Exactly on par with what I'd expect from period sources.
Interesting, might give it a watch. If this is a bit more blending of historical and myth/sagas, then I don't mind so much the more fantastical parts looking a bit...fantastical or out of place. Berserkers, valkyries, etc should probably look like something you don't see every day. Though maybe just a bit more hyped version of what's normal instead of out in left field.
I agree completely with the Valkyrie thing. Looks way too much like 19c Victorian romanticism of the Greek and Roman influence on the idea of the Germanic and Nordic deities.
I get the impression this is from a dream sequence (or maybe a substance-induced hallucination). It reminded me a bit of the Poseidon scene from his other film, The Lighthouse.
The main thing that stood out was Fjölnir's scale mail armor. That was probably the most inaccurate bits of armor from what I know about it at least. Other than that, I thought most of the other costumes were pretty spot on. Maybe a little more color and less mud, but not that big of a deal.
You know, men going shirtless is a common enough phenomenon in general, that I think it deserves a pass under even the most rigorous historical analysis.
Whenever lamellar comes up I give it a pass. I think it's fine, as long as it's not overused. If it's worn by a single figure, I can imagine that figure gained it from either trading or traveling in the East. If more than two people wear it, that's when I start asking questions.
As long as they keep it for those with the wealth to excuse it like a Chief, Jarl, or King or a high ranking warrior. I do however sometimes find the outright dismissal of lamellar armor as slightly irritating at times though. Lamellar helmets were used in Europe by the Germanic Lombards and while our findings of lamellar are incredibly scarce they aren't that much scarcer than our finds of helmets and mail armor.
@@CollinMcLean I mean, he didn't dismiss it or something, he said it was worn and existed, but we just don't have any evidence that the vikings wore it during the viking age. I think that's fair. Well, at least if you don't count the Rus as vikings, because they used it I think. When I remember correctly, lamellar was mostly popular among people living in the steppe and other nomadic or just often migrating groups - like the lombards. I guess it was easy to maintain while traveling. But yeah, it wouldn't be that bad when only one or two persons have that armor. I think there are even actual founds from Birka of lamellar armor which was identified as quite identical to the kind of lamellar made by steppe nomands, so it's quite sure that it was an import.
Dude... my mom is Native American... the priestess looks fine (you carried that a little too far) who the fuck knows how outrageous these oracles/seers/priestesses of Northern Europe looked exactly lol
@@TheWelshViking * Yeah, and what I said still stands: "Who the fuck really knows how outrageous these oracles/seers/priestesses looked exactly." ...do some research on shamans and medicine men/women for a change. You'll be surprised :)
* Also; these shamans/seers/medicine men/women represent the spirit world.... why the fuck would they look normal and non-exotic if they're representing the weird supernatural vitality of the Otherworld... That don't make no sense lol
I suspect the shirtlessness is called 'if you have Alexander Skarsgard in your film, you make damn sure he's shirtless in at least one scene or the punters will object'
Jimmy, so nice to know you are feeling better. Take care of you. This was a really enjoyable and interesting review of this trailer. Can’t wait to see your review of the whole film.
Sorry to hear you were I’ll over Christmas - glad you’re feeling better now. Love this vid - quite fancy watching this film, really liked The Lighthouse. Someone mentioned The Northman on Jackson Crawford’s channel, so I’ve shared this vid with them.
heh... Nilleviking GIæsel was asked to give some advice about the costumes... and she has her knowledge. How much they have choosed to follow her advice, I don't know ;P
I feel we aren't allowing creative licence, and I must say, if buff men wish to fight shirtless then we should allow that - and just admire the end results 😉
This isn't a historical movie, it's a viking folk tale. It's supposed to have divinity and magic in it because, well because it's a folk tale. That's the point.
I am excited to see this. I would also love to hear your opinion on how a berserker should be portrayed. Bare of shirt? Wearing a bear shirt? Or perhaps just an elite, well armed warrior? How would you portray the berserker? I feel like there's an expectation to see them in any "Viking" movie. Thanks again for another informative video.
This is a welcome response. Now I can go into it with appropriate expectations. Request/idea/question: Is there evidence of religious ritual passed through the families of metal smiths? The material I have found does not seem at all definitive. (I know that multiple requests are more weighty, so I hope I am not the only one with this interest.) Very good to hear that you are recovering from your illness.
Speaking of hats, I'm trying to reconstruct the "Birka hat" - specifically, based on the cap end found in grave 644 (which had traces of silk in it). I was pointed to an eastern-style "pointed cap". Got any sources that might be helpful?
Hamlet? Are you talking about Amlóði (english: Amleth) from the Prose Edda, you know, the one Hamlet is based on? ^^ Costumes actually look okay (atleast some of them), but why oh why do they insist on making the gribs of the swords so darn long :/
Interesting video, interesting comment section, and glad to hear you're feeling better. Stay well! I'm already looking forward to your video about the entire film and just wanted to add that the Icelandic poet/novelist Sjón co-wrote the film. He has a very interesting style, which often goes into magic realism and surrealism, so I'm really excited to see how that translates in the film (and is maybe an explanation for the weird/unrealistic stuff in the trailer)!
It is great to have you back, lovely boy, lovely boy. I've just watched the trailer and was giggling over how the King and his retinue had apparently snuck up on the castle without anyone announcing their presence until the gates were opened.
Why is he shirtless? Seriously, they had Alexander Skarsgård get significantly bulked and buffed and they were absolutely going to find justification for showing it off. It will sell tickets. Despite any non-authentic moments that may/may not be there it's really exciting that the filmakers seem to have actually spent a good amount of time and attention to detail
So odd. Almost like there were 2 costume designers, one that knew what they were doing and one that didn't know and didn't care. As for the pagan priests and priestesses always being weird in movies I think it's just a way to draw attention to those characters and make it obvious that they are different than everyone else.
If the set is anything like the one for The Vikings you are sort of right. A friend did the tablet woven trim for the cast in The Vikings and while the costume designer was happy for her to make genuine patterns/wool/not sparkly trim (fairly authentic in other words) it was only suitable for the characters not meant to be of major importance. They had to have trim made with metallic thread in them because that was what the director/producer wanted, partly apparently because it looks better on camera and partly because that is how many - especially in Hollywood - think they dressed. My friend did argue her case right up to the producer (her area of expertise is Norse textiles so she knows of what she speaks) but she couldn't convince him. She ended up asking my daughter to do the metallic trims because she couldn't bring herself to do the herself, they were so inaccurate. It might well be something similar here where the costume designer is overridden by those higher up because it looks better/suits their vision/fits in with previous films and the fans expect it. Take care, stay safe and happy new year.
I'm gonna be that annoying a$$hole who says: Aaaaaactually, this isn't so much a "Viking Hamlet" as it's a film version of the story that William Shakespeare ripped off/adapted for "Hamlet", because "Hamlet" wasn't an original story he came up with. You may now pelt me with vegetables!
The Saga of Prince Amled is so legitimate, that it has even been done before on film, during the 90s. Check out "The Prince of Jutland", with Christian Bale as Amled, Tom Wilkinson as the King, the glorious Helen Mirren as the Queen and Gabriel Byrne as the evil devious uncle (among other top notch English actors). Later it was released for DVD as "Royal Deceit", criminally chopped off and without 15 minutes that almost ruins the movie, but it is still watchable, for it is sooo good.
Unsure if this is what the design artist was going for, but the shells on the priestess’s face does make it look as if she has three eyes with split pupils. Doesn’t make their use of them any better if they wouldn’t have been used at the time. But probably better then them using white paint if their aim was to make it look as if she had three eyes.
spoiler cuz i saw you didnt make a video after you saw the movie: lots of naked fighting, whats with the wolve rituals? seems pure fiction. what about the transportation o f slaves to small farming comunities? the two brothers killed and hang like a centaur? is that ever mythology know by vikins? how accurate is the posture of Amleth when walking with a hunchback? how historic are the names? and why can olga speak norweigan/icelandic? was being bilingual common at all?
4 month later, we know that the Bjork character actually exists in sort of a dream state, mythical other world, so we can excuse it, no? And that Roman looking chick has carved teeth? I thought they were braces and it really annoyed me.
About that single-edged sword, how early does this design appear? Migration era blades are far removed from my area of expertise. I am under the impression that the double-edged sword developed from the spatha, but have never heard about the first single-edged blades. Though some studies of blades from the adjacent Avar Khanate demonstrate that the Avars actually switched from double-edged blades to single-edged ones which came from further east sometime during the 7th century. Is this the origin of the "Albion Berserker" style backsword?
There actually are a decent amount of single edged swords found in Norway that are dated to around the 9th and 10th century. They don't appear as common or widespread as double edged swords but they're by no means an anomaly.
Spoiler don't read if you havet seen: Nicole Kidman story is she was a taken slav slave she wasn't supposed to be a viking. So her costume makes even more sense
I will admit to very much loving Robert Eggers movies for his historical passion projects which makes me willing to forgive a bit more silliness that I usually wouldn’t but Eggers has a few things going for him that I’m sure will play into the film: when he deviates from the history it’s usually for the sake of storytelling rather than any kind of pandering to modern sensibility and also a lot of how much the period is understood comes across in his screenwriting. In the trailer Anna Taylor-Joy’s characters talks about using magic to break men’s minds, one of the very real fears of messing about with magic at the time being that it drive you insane and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a historical media about vikings where magic is about Blood Eagles and orgies.
@@jodieg6318 OK, thank you for your reply. I’m not a native speaker of English. However, we can’t be sure which meaning of “cunning” she has in mind until we watch the film.
I think that this is very instructive and interesting. Thank you! We will reserve full judgment for the film. I tend to give films a few degrees of artistic freedom, especially this which is a myth and not a historical reenactment. I don't get the sense that they abused those few degrees, shirtless men and relics from other time periods notwithstanding. This seems much more thoughtful than the average Hollywood fare, is all I'm saying. If Eggars inspires Hollywood to create more jobs for History Majors that's also a nice bonus down the line, for them and for audiences. I won't hold my breath TOO much for that, though.
Hamlet is literally Amleth. Shakespeare basically stole the concept from the original Norse story of Amleth and just moved the H, changed the setting, and made the sword poison at the end.
Loved the video Jimmy! I think the papier-maché thingy on that old dude's forehead is actually a piece of birch bark. Also, this might be a stretch, but the shirtless men wearing wolf pelts may be in reference to the Völsunga saga, in which Sigmund trains Sinfjotli for future combat by dressing in wolfskin and essentially engaging in guerilla warfare. Pillaging and stealing while wearing nothing but wolfskin is a motif found in a number of Indo-European mythologies known as the "Männerbund" or Proto-Indo-European *kóryos, meaning something like 'warband' (also the origin of the Germanic word for army, *harjaz). Overall, I kinda love the look of this film and the way Viking Hamlet catches that spear and yeets it back at its thrower reminds me of a really cool moment in the Anglo-Saxon poem The Battle of Maldon, in which a dude pulls a spear out of his dead lord and with it kills the guy that threw it.
I love watching you go over movies like this! Unfortunately part of me would also love to see you rip into The 13th Warrior because its just.... has so many things that were as interesting as others were wrong. XD
This looks like it was a real emotional rollercoaster for ya Jimmie, I hope you did self care! 😂🖤 I'm sure I'll still dig it. Hamlet is great that's why we keep remaking it 😁
Could you please review the trailer for 'Margrete Queen of the North' It looks like it will be a really good movie and I would love to know how accurate the costuming is.
Dad KNOWS that an attempt will be made on him, that's why he's wearing maille in his house! :D Oh, and the girl in the off-pinkish-brown dress also seems to have yellow-ish borders around the neck and sleeve openings.
that papier-mache hat thing looks like it could be a piece of birch bark? not sure what that would mean symbolically or historically but that's what it looks like to me
You should review the movie now that it’s out and it’s surprisingly more accurate then you’d think. Robert Eggers had Viking historians and such work with him on the film of course for film sake there’s still some flash and fantasy.
Ethan Hawke's riveted mail is made by hand by the excellent Russian reenactor Sergei Simunin. There are a lot of reenactors involved in the production
No way, it was Sergei! That's exceedingly cool!
@@TheWelshViking it sure it! Sergei is really proud, and he is such a nice guy as well! 😊
I hope they release a whole bunch of "the making of" clips with people who worked on the movie :-)
Lame and worthless. How come there is never anything interesting about the Vikings like an a comprehensive presentation of their martial art glima?
@@jessehines4044 oh, have you been listening to the mad ravings of Lars Magnar Enoksen?
The band around the boy's tunic looks like a tablet weave pattern called "Dublin Dragons" based on a 10th century find from Dublin. Just seeing an actual tablet woven detail gives me so much hope for the costumes.
And applique of tablet weaving to garments is an unlikely waste of a nice piece of tablet weaving. Applique of folded tablet weaving is a modern affectation employed by reenactors who don't know how to do embroidery, especially used on commercial products to keep prices down. It looks fakey. In the Viking Age and other periods of Ancient and Medieval history decorative edging would have been embroidered directly onto the fabric.
I came here to say exactly this 😁 I'm trying to weave the Dublin Dragon currently and it's challenging 😅
I'm interested in learning more about this. What were long pieces of tablet weaving actually used for in the Viking Age?
@@laurabennettyoutube We might guess, or perhaps our esteemed host can produce archeological evidence. Otherwise, we might look to contemporary echoes of past practices retained by traditional cultures. We might look to the Saami, as their tunics bear a striking resemblance to the flared and skirted Viking Age tunic design pattern recommended by our host. The Saami use various techniques of applique on their tunics and trousers (breeches?), but their woven work is reserved for sashes, garters, and leg wraps. Look too toward recent reconstructions of the Sutton Hoo sword, which incorporate narrow colorful woven straps into the sword scabbard's suspension system. Whether such a reconstruction is speculative or is supported by archeological evidence is unknown to me.
We can presume that the ancient Celts (at least) were greatly skilled in leathwork and leather weaving based simply upon their design motifs surviving in other media. Since the Celts predated or were contemporary with the Norse peoples, it would be unwarranted to presume the Norse were not also equally skilled. But that is leather, and all leather techniques do not transfer to fabric cordage.
For my part, I am not interested in recreating a certain period of the material culture of past ages or peoples based solely upon verifiable archeological evidence. To do so would be to create a reconstructed material culture that is depauperate and would likely be unrecognizable to real people alive in past eras. That is because so much is lost to us and was not preserved in the archeological record.
My goal is to rediscover the best of what my favorite past ages had to offer, and then bring it forward into our own time so that it can be passed to the future forming a part of future culture before it is lost completely. Such of course would, of necessity, be filtered through, and interpreted by, contemporary craftsmen such as myself.
@@Tipi_Dan this is a really lovely manifesto and I'll have to steal it! I've had trouble explaining to people why I feel this need to bring history into my everyday dress habits and fashion design for others, but you've pretty much said it. Evefy age took what had come and did their own thing with it, and so should we.
This may sound weird, but I'm almost extra excited to see the combination of really well-crafted historical reproduction costume pieces like the hand-finished garments and tablet weaving in a film that is also clearly making some design choices based on popular "myths" and modern ideas of what's fun to watch. It's one thing to see a film that's 100% historical fantasy and has no period details at all, but for a film that's leaning on wild dramatic Weird Aesthetic Choices to *still* have such good costume pieces and recognize the importance of those details and respect the quality of craftsmanship . . . it's giving me some unexpectedly warm fuzzy feelings.
A movie that’s 100 percent accurate is just a documentary. This is not that. It is necessary that the director take some artistic license in order to express whatever point he wants to make with the movie. He may have something to say about the strangeness of religion, ect. Shakespeare had a lot of weird stuff in his plays too.
True man this feels like quality mythic or historical fantasy
Not weird at all, most history buffs have no idea how and why movies are made. Historical fidelity isn't the most important part of a movie and it shouldn't be.
All well said!
Tbh the Valkyrie is a dream sequnse. It's clearly meant to look fantastical in comparison to the other stuff we see.
Same for the witch, I think we're supposed to assume he's high on acid and/or mushrooms for a lot of the movie. 😋
@@styot problem is it literally was used for accurate divination.
The Valkyrie looks like she’s wearing braces. Maybe Odin had great healthcare / dental. 😊
@@Rokomarnzero literary, artistic, or archeological evidence in norse cultures.
@@45calibermedic so it's even more ridiculous
A few minor notes: Björk's character was originally just listed as _Slavic Witch_ in the cast (& is now listed as _Seeress_ ) so she probably isn't a priestess and her being some form of witch is likely the reason for her more exaggerated appearance.
The reason for Amleth and his compatriots being shirtless is because they're based off of Snorri's interpretation (& likely error from mistranslation) of the Berserkir in the sagas (bare-shirted rather than bear-shirted). Since the film is clearly leaning more into the fantastic elements of Norse myth over historicism, I don't mind the shirtlessness here since it doesn't feel as out of place in a story from the sagas than it would in a full historical adaptation but I can appreciate the criticism since it is a large part of the Flanderization of vikings in "historical" tv and film.
My guess is that they are going more for an Úlfhéðnar design rather than berserkir. I know there's a lot of overlap and different theories on then possibly being the same thing.
My guess is that they are going more for an Úlfhéðnar design rather than berserkir. I know there's a lot of overlap and different theories on then possibly being the same thing.
@@alexmanning9961 Berserkir/berserkers is now used to describe the broader category of shamanic warriors, not just those channeling the spirit of the bear. Jöfurr and Úlfhéðnar would fall under that same umbrella.
Pious Skeleton Really like your comments here, yes. For a lot of the “outlandish” stuff in the movie there are actually direct references in the Icelandic sagas, whether true or just mythological.
I immediately thought of the goddess Hel at first just because of how exaggerated they made her.
I mean, Hamlet was the prince of Denmark, and Shakespeare based it on a story from Saxo Grammaticus "Gesta Danorum", so viking Hamlet isn't really that much of a stretch. Also, as far as the priestess goes, guessing the costume designer watched some Heilung videos and said "I WANT THAT"
I mean respect if they like Heilung, at least, I guess!
I mean the main character's name is Amleth... clearly there's some creativity/flexibility with the costumes but they clearly did actual research which is pretty rare for this period and anything to do with Vikings/Norse culture. Also Björk's character, the Slav Witch, is wearing temple rings!!
This movie is based on the legend of Amleth which was the basis for Hamlet, so yeah. It's not a Hamlet ripoff, it's just a different telling of the original legend.
I mean.... Even If there wasnt a historic/in universe Connection... Recycling Shakespeare isnt new. After watching "Hamlet but with Lions" (yes, Disney, it's pretty obvious) and "Hamlet, but in an American Biker Gang" (sons of anarchy), im curious about "Hamlet, but it's VIKINGS"
yes i thought that, and i'm pretty sure that's Bjork too.
I love how the Valkyrie's teeth are perfectly straight and insanely white, making the carvings look like braces!!
yesssssssss you know I thought the same!
My thought exactly. Looked like braces. *groans*
My first impression.
That's exactly what I thought, they gave her braces!
@@stucodyI agree, it definitely has an intentional dreamlike quality to it. That said, it's been about half a decade since we had Taika Waititi's vision of Valkyrie's flying into battle as part of a dream-like memory. On top of that, the perfectly straight teeth are far too modern a concept that it takes me out of the moment. All attention to detail for the setting are undermined by perfectly modern dentistry. So when they try to add dental carving, then they just look like modern braces. It becomes ludicrously anachronistic to presume that someone of the period would dream of a perfect being with gleaming white and straight edged teeth. Any and all examples of excavated carved teeth will be on naturally "bad" looking teeth, to modern standards. Its a personal feeling of disappointment that they weren't brave enough to include some realistically dodgy (and therefore scarier) looking molars.
My guess is that the shirtless and animal-skinned guys are supposed to be Berserkers. In some of of the Icelandic sagas kings have pet stables of Berserkers, (including Hrolf Kraki's saga which is sometimes cited as an early iteration of many of the story tropes that eventually ended up in Hamlet) so the Hamlet character might be posing as one to get close to the Claudius character, mirroring Hamlet's feigned madness in the play. The Valkyrie may look absurd and fantastical... but... well... she's a fantastical being- they probably deserve a bit of artistic license there.
Hrolf Kraki's saga is really interesting because it combines plot elements more familiar from both Hamlet and Arthurian legends, and illustrates how ideas were continually recycled and recombined in medieval storytelling, travelling widely and even reaching places as remote as Iceland. People have always loved a good story, no matter what time or culture they were born into and our cultures have always shared ideas.
Probably are meant to be Ulfhednir, which are a variation of the Berserker. ;)
Yeah, I don't see a problem with shirtless and animal skinned Berserkers. Isn't Berserker a kenning for both "bear-shirt" and "bare-shirt"? Like helmets would be thrown off in battle, going into battle shirtless, maybe even naked doesn't seem off for those mad lads.
@@vizari9570 yeh as someone who is Icelandic, it's actually disheartening when people put down and don't really care to learn about these aspects of the culture and mythology but instead criticise it and say it looks silly.
@@vizari9570 thank you! much love!
@@Mek_Alenes I know that the word 'Berserker' refers to the fact they supposedly wore bear skins. Am I right in assuming that 'Ulfhednir' refers to wolf skins? My volume of Icelandic sagas translates the bands of elite warriors as 'Berserkers', but that might just be because the average English language reader probably wouldn't have heard of Ulfhednir. Although, there's at least one of them who magically turns into a giant bear, so presumably he was always a Berserker.
The shaggy wool cloak another character (uncle?) is wearing looks very much like a vararfeldur cloak. If so, that's so much better than randomly draped sheep pelts and furs. Glad you are feeling better!
Oh, nice spot! Yes! Very good stuff.
I know many very skilled craftsmen who worked on this production, weavers, armorers, advisors and someone who has a small screen role as well. I’m confident this film may actually be a step in the right direction. Careful hopes!
Question! Is there a online 'list' of people that DO historical crafts ? I am kind of a newbie, know about SCA & the like, but with 'Rona, I haven't gone looking to get more involved ! (Shakes fist at 'rona!)
Would be kind of cool if each country had a historical online portal - for history (writing/reading!), current/past archeological work, people doing historical crafts, etc.
I am pretty sure any young film makers would have to spend a LOT of time researching, & might be a great idea to help them & any "newbies" to get involved (virtually at least due to 'rona!)
I know in Canada, there was (is?) a National Film Board - and it is government funded. (I watched MANY spectacular animations from Canada in my youth!)
I doubt you could/would get funding in the USA (where I am living), as heaven forbid we invest in CULTURE! But, the European folks seem a lot broader minded about these things !?
Discuss ! ;)
@@m.maclellan7147 there is not really no. I am heavy into Vendel Period living history and have found many if my contacts through facebook groups and instagram. Also joined existing groups of people and found many craftsman through that.
Excellent video and thanks for the shoutout! Dropped a link to this vid on my community page as well. There's a ton of really cool information in here. I noticed the symbol on the Seer's helmet as well. I think the fur on his helm is inspired by the description of the Seidrwoman's headgear as described in Eirik The Red's Saga which includes black lambs wool if I recall correctly. But the papier mache look isn't quite great, I agree. And the symbol which originates in later Icelandic Medieval magic rather than the viking age is a constant curse.
The story from Saxo takes place in Daneland / Jutland, so I imagine that's where this film takes place, but given the creative liberties, it could easily be set in Iceland as well.
I believe part of the movie will take place in Iceland, they have used the Amleth saga as base, and Amleth flees after he acted as a mad man. In the original saga he goes to Britain. Here he seems to go to Iceland. ;)
On Kidman's character looking Slavic/Ugric: IIRC, the original story of Amleth took place in the Jutland peninsula of Denmark where Amleth was an either Danish or Jutish prince. It wouldn't be out of the realm of the ordinary for the elites of that region and era to marry useful foreign partners. Harald Bluetooh for example married a Vendish princess, and his son married a princess of Poland.
Polonius in Shakespeare's version has a name that I think means roughly "Polish person".
Yeah I'm pretty sure her character has been referred to as the Slav Witch
Before she was killed, she showed Amleth her scar of a slave that she bore near her shoulder. That would explain a lot.
Couldn't Kidman's headdress have been brought back from one of her hubby's Viking expeditions, and she just liked it? It's bound to have happened at least once in the early mediaeval era, and it could have given Kidman's character a bit of extra kudos (Oooh, exotic. Your man must be really good at bringing in the wealth).
On the whole, though, it's looks as though they tried, aside from the things they've "had to do" for theatrical impact. We can only make a visual judgement at the moment, though.
if they did that choice, to purposley give the wife and foreign thing from raids, it would be a-ma-zing
She could also be a foreign noble woman. She could very well be of Finnic or Baltic nationality.
Could be could be! Like I say, I'm reserving judgement and hoping for the best!
@@CollinMcLean That's what I was thinking: Queen is foreign. That's why some of her stuff is from elsewhere.
Eggers actually mentions this somewhere, It's Finnish and the idea behind its appearance is that it was perhaps booty from a raid gifted to his wife. if memory serves.
Hey man, love your videos but there is one thing that caught my attention here. There are many sources dealing with lamellar armor during the Viking Age obviously. However, I would recommend many of the works by Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson who deals a lot with cultural exchange between warrior groups from Scandinavia and those in various places along the Eastern Way. Lamellar armor was indeed likely an import, however, this in no way excludes use by Scandinavians who operated in Eastern lands as merchants, mercenaries, and raiders and who had extensive contacts with warrior groups in that area. Much of the material culture of a martial nature at Birka seems to show these contacts (ie evidence for use of steppe-nomadic composite bows, Magyar sword belt mounts etc). The context of the Birka lamellae that you discuss, whose numbers likely represent multiple sets of armor, is also important to mention. These finds are dated to around the mid 10th century and were found in what has been seen as a battlefield context as well as in the Garrison itself. In short, to say unequivocally that Vikings did not use such armor seems unfounded and quite frankly, likely completely incorrect.
Took the words out of my mouth
I could see how it’d be an issue if many of the warriors were wearing lamellar armor or some other uncharacteristic piece of equipment. But is it necessarily a big stretch to believe that a Viking nobleman could own some sort of expensive or exotic armor like lamellar through trade, especially with the Byzantines, genuinely curious
Yup considering scandinavians have been in and around eurasia
@@rapidvetD People often forget they travelled and traded more than they went a-Viking. It really isn't hard to believe they'd have foreign clothing or armor if they were rich. I know I sure as shit would.
It's not about being rich to own this. What we call Vikings today, were also trading world wide (materials from around the world were found in graves.
Constantinople is mentioned by name in the film (in the context of selling slaves) so it's definitely possible.
They were all warriors, even the noblemen. According to their religion they couldn't enter Valhalla unless they died in battle.
I thought you were going to get whiplash "WOW! That's so good!" "OMG! That's so wrong!!" Thanks for a fun first video of the year, Jimmy. So glad you are feeling better and Happy New Year to you and yours.
I'm confused... Isn't that what Willem Dafoe looks like anyway?
All kidding aside, the man is mad talented. His speech in the "do you like my cooking" scene in The Lighthouse absolutely blew me away!
The Valkyrie does look a bit too much like she's wearing a Halloween costume. But the trailer makes this film look awesome and exciting! Definitely looking forward to seeing this one! An all star cast doing Viking Hamlet sounds great to me!
I believe that the valkyrie is intended to be fantastical. It's hard to make a mythological creature look historically accurate.
@@yochanan770 Valkyries aren't mythological creatures. Being a valkyrie was a profession. Otherwise there would never have been Vikings who ended up marrying one.
@@filthycasual8187 Valkyries are mythological. Any reference to vikings marrying a Valkyrie is mythological.
The yellow tablet woven piece on the boy's costume (at the 5:20 mark) is an Irish 10th century piece from Dublin, so Viking Irish. I did a video on that one. The original was done as a brocade, and I'm not sure, from what little detail is there, if this one was done as a brocade. But still...woohooo!
Why do we make priests and priestesses wear crazy things? Well, I mean, I would toss papal hats into the category of “crazy things religious figureheads wear”….
And those weird monk hairstyles.
Two points: First, it seems that a section of the film takes place east of the Baltic, which could explain a lot of the Slavic cultural artefacts that would be out of place in Iceland.
Second: Eggers' first film has a witch that eats a baby and flies on a broomstick. His second has a mermaid and a scene where Dafoe appears as Proteus, with tentacles etc. Eggers' films mix historical settings with folklore and magical elements, and criticising this trailer as if The Northman is supposed to be a straight period piece is disingenuous. I mean valkyries don't exist at all, so worrying about whether the valkyrie's teeth would have been carved is kind of like worrying about exactly what sort of hat Father Christmas wears.
If you were expecting a documentary you're looking in the wrong place.
Gosh, someone's taking it very seriously.
@@TheWelshViking kinda like you?
@@TheWelshViking Can you think of another viking movie where there has been more attention paid to historical accuracy regarding costume and set design? Seems to me like this project has been a labour of love and that no small amount of effort was made to give it some authenticity - seems a shame to nit-pick. Your knowledge is very impressive - a privilege to listen to :)
Exactly! And we still see Jesus as a Clairol commercial blonde! (I wonder what his teeth look like.)
You must be fun at parties.
I am very much enjoying the quantity of mail shirts in this trailer and the lack of dressing people up in weird floppy leather and calling that armour.
Glad to hear you’re feeling better!
Maybe I'm boring but I would love a viking movie that's not about fighting, with more everyday normal stuff ^^
It wouldn't be a Viking movie then, it would just be a Medieval Scandinavia movie.
@@filthycasual8187 it's not medieval if it's in the viking age
@@Me-yq1fl in scandinavia the viking age is set between ca 700 - 1100, and I want a movie in that time period somewhere in scandinavia that is not focused on fighting but other part of their life and culture like mythology, farming, woodworking etc. It would still be a viking movie = a movie set in the viking age in scandinavia.
Yes. And I'd like to see more of the matriarchy when most of the men went away. Not just women fighting , like use of herbs and flowers. Some flowers were used to induce miscarriage. I'd like to see a viking bring back a virus and maybe that's what set off all the burning sacrifices. I'd definitely like it to be more rounded like using magic mushrooms for illness.
Iceland was also attacked by Arabs and some were taken as slaves but I don't know if that was this period.
Wearing an eye curtain is something that is actually done by the people who speak to spirits in various cultures around the world (these days such spirit-speaking tends to get lumped together under shamanism as a blanket term). They are used for the very practical reason of wanting to not be distracted by what's going on around you while talking to said spirits, while also not wanting to completely lose sight of things so you don't accidentally step in a fire or something. You can find a fair few historical photographs of people from a number of times and places wearing them. Some eye curtains are as simple as fringe on a headband while some are incredibly elaborate. A somewhat skimpy yet elaborate eye curtain is certainly the sort of thing that would readily catch a costumer's fancy for a mystical character (you get that spirit talking vibe while still being able to see the actor's face), and *might* even be appropriate. Whether or not the eye curtain being worn by that character is stylistically accurate is no doubt a separate matter.
Also some could have been tripping and covered the eyes to stop from seeing spirits or being attacked through the eyes by spirits , entities.
So glad to hear from you again! Since the 'rona, I've been mum-ishly worried! Excellent review! Hope the film doesn't disappoint too badly, though your reaction to that stuff is always entertaining and informative!
Shirtless wearing wolf skin would probably be the Ulfhednar. I'd give em' a break on the horned dancer and it being from earlier period simply because Vikings or rather the Norse would maybe use older rituals passed down through tradition.
They’re berserkers
@@trishmagenta883 The Ulfhedinn is a type of Berserkr. There's the Berserkir(plural), which are of the bear. Ulfhednar(plural), which are of the wolf. Jofurr(plural), which are of the wild boar.
@@Son-of-Tyr Yes
Those cowrie shells are enormous, we do get lots them on the west coast of England but I never found a native one larger than 5mm.
Indeed, and these aren't of the two native varieties!
The first time I saw the valkyrie, I genuinely thought she was wearing braces, as in, orthodontic braces XD
Hah! So did I!
Same
Same
Worth noting that those hooked tags are just known as "hooked clothing tags". Using them to secure winingas is just something re-enactors do. There are some at the legs in Birka but they could be leg wraps, garters, attaching hose to braies or baggies, etc. etc. and we have TONS of loose finds. There is even a find with a pair of Anglo-Saxon ones on a leather belt pouch from Eastern Europe. So yeah, clothing hooks. However, this cloak clasp is not any of that.
Glad you're feeling better, Jimmy! I'm extremely excited for this movie, mostly because I LOVE what Robert Eggers does with his historical films. Even if some things might be off/anachronistic/totally from the wrong time, everything still manages to feel so real and lived in and given the effort he puts into his films (he and his team built the lighthouse for The Lighthouse and its beautiful) it makes for very enjoyable viewing.
Yes! For me the favourite part is how the dialogues are always written so they sound as close to being period-correct as possible without becoming incomprehensible for modern audiences. And the actors always do such an amazing job of moulding their voices around them [shiver of delight]. You really have a feeling that you're watching people of that time, even if some details might be off (I'm not enough of an expert to notice anyway, though I'm interested enough to realise when movies get things obviously wrong haha).
Heh on Bjork character, she's meant to be a Rus priestess, so that might have been more appropriate.
Insightful analysis as always! A long time ago (probably closing in on 20+ years at this point,) I read the portion of Saxo Grammaticus' _Gesta Danorum_ ( _History of the Danish People_ ) that essentially was "Hamlet" -- point of fact this person's name was "Amleð." I think Saxo based this on some older material as well - so anyway when I saw the trailer I immediately recognized the story. There's another movie based on this where Christian Bale plays Amleð... it's got the incredibly generic name of "Royal Deceit" or something like that.
I suspect there's going to be a lot of weird mysticism in this one...
It's set in Iceland, but that's clearly not an Icelandic horse. Why?
Great spot!
@@TheWelshViking Of course Icelandic horses about 1000 years ago might have looked a little bit different from now, but as they were descendents of British, Germanic and Nordic native ponies, they surely didn't look like the horses in the film.
It's assumed that importing other breeds to Iceland was already banned in the year 930.
Why is the Skarsgard brothers the automatic go to for playing olde timely Norse Raiders? I legitimately thought that this movie was going to be a prequel for the True Blood TV series as Alexander Skarsgard played a character called Eric Northman and was a Norse raider when alive.
I also kind of low key hate that the costume designer is leaning quite heavily into the burlap sack school of color palettes. Can we for once have a director and costume designer use the vibrant colors and natural dyes that would have been available? The whole desaturated color plus chucking mud at people is such a lazy trope. People loved rich colors then and today and while yes some chose to be slovenly, most were quite clean.
Well he is Swedish…
Gorgeous impromptu Sean Connery impression, I laughed so hard I scared the cats off. The priestess and papier mache helm man: Yes, demonization of Pagan cultures. And I'm glad you're feeling better!
To me it was fairly obvious that this film wasn't claiming to be super historically accurate. It seems to me to inspired by how the sagas are written. Most people accept that sagas were the "viking hollywood" of the time and were most definitely embellished. This seems to me to be a interpretation of Hamlet in the spirit of a Norse saga instead of an English play. Can't wait to see it.
Hamlet was derived from the Sagas, not the other way around. The Sagas came first.
@@standunitedorfall1863 I'm aware.
I wondered why you were doing something about The Mothman at first glance. Yes, I am actually going for an eye test this week lol
I'd watch The Mothman anytime. Wooly jumpers, beware, your end is near!
I can possibly add two things.
a) on the series The Vikings they did actually use proper tablet woven trim on their tunics - not all of it was accurate mind you - because my friend here in Ireland wove the trim. She tried to make them stick with realistic trim but apparently they needed the stuff, some of the stuff, to be woven using metalic thread simply because it ''looks cool on film and the audience expect it'' so the background lot wore the genuine Viking style/design trim made with hand dyed wool and the important ones wore trim with very modern thread in it. (her late husband taught Viking mythology at a Swedish university while her area of expertise is Viking/Norse textiles
b) they make their pagan priests/priestesses like that because it's Hollywood and anything pagan must be ''demonised'' (to quote her late husband, himself from the USA originally) and also, I suspect, because the audience again expect it because they have been conditioned to believe this is how pagan 'clergy' dressed/acted. A good example is Braveheart and how a surprising number of people still swear blind that Braveheart and all his fellow Scots (never mind he was Norman originally in his past) wore blue paint and acted like idiots.
Great video, keep on with the whisky, it kills most nasty bacteria and viruses. Honey and whisky is apparently even better I'm told. Good job Shakespeare's works aren't still copyrighted, he'd be making a fortune out of them at this stage, seems every time someone in Hollywood - especially but not only - wants a new storyline they copy one of his plays and change the era. Nothing like popularity.
Take care, stay safe and happy new year.
Dublin.
The audience expects it? The film crews come out with some bollocks... The decision makers are the Director with his'vision' and the Costume folks who pander to it despite all the historical evidence. Yes it's his money and so he makes the call.
I can't speak for all of the details of this complaint but garments with gold thread were found at the Birka Viking site.
TLDR: I think the black and white face paint is a blood substitute.
Blood is like the word "fuck" for movies, at least in the US. You can use it, but if you use it too much it will increase the rating to the point where theater won't show it, and therefor you won't get your money back from it. And the people that decide the rating of the movie, don't care about accuracy or vision, just what they personally find offensive.
For movies or shows where they should be using a LOT of blood (religious rites/excessive battles/torture chambers/etc.) they will use "black paint" or "black goo" as a sub and tell the ratings people that it is just grime, mud kicking up, or some other excuse. Then they can use their blood allotment for a PG-13 film (believed by studios to be the most lucrative) for an epic final battle.
Because not everyone can be The Shining and swear up and down that it was rust water because of old pipes.
I'd just like add to number 2 that the Christian priesthood is no stranger to wearing weird headgear either, just look at the ceremonial pointy hats of catholic bishops, or the absolutely ridiculous papal tiara that was used up to the sixties.
@@crow1066 In the case of The Vikings TV series the costume designer listened to my friend and agreed with her, it was the director or producer who was insisting on the inaccurate trim.
Happy New Year! Glad you're feeling better. I wouldn't go hard on the fantastic bits, like Valkyries and Odin/priestess/magician/whatever. They're fantastic, they're magic, they're not of our world. There's literally no reason to tie them to any specific time or style.
I'm more concerned about the real human beings being historically accurate.
Just my opinion.
For those who are unfamiliar, Ocean Keltoi is a reconstructionist heathen (neo-Pagan around what we can construct of the old Norse religion, based on scraps of the written records and finds), who focuses more on the literature than the artifacts. And from what I saw of his review is that this film is loosely based on several different sagas, kinda woven together by theme and vibe. So I wouldn't go in expecting accuracy.
As for the fetishization of the weird, I think that's primarily for the modern American audience, where Christianity is highly political, so making not-Christian look as not-"normal" as possible may be deliberate choice. (color me cynical).
That was the opinion of a friend's late husband, Norse mythology and religion was his field of study (and he was a practitioner as well) and he was very critical of the ways in which Hollywood portray any religious people who aren't christian (because they often portray the Christians of the era badly as well). But Ocean Keltoi is a subset I haven't heard of before, certainly S didn't ever mention it so I wonder how accurate it really is, especially as S's practices were based on written records but he called it Odinism.
@@musicandbooklover-p2o Ocean Keltoi is the name of the *UA-camr* -- not the practice. I think UA-cam blocks replies with links in them, so just search for Ocean Keltoi channel. He put up a video this last February titled :"Asatru, Norse Pagan, or Heathen, Which one is right for you?" that talks about the nuances in different flavors of Norse neo-paganism (the various practices and the words used to describe them are constantly evolving, especially as more people join in).
I will give a warning that his intro and outro has a lot of flicker and glitch animation, so if that's a danger to you, you might want to skip the first and last minute or so.
@@CapriUni Thanks, I'll have a search. Having known S for years and, because I read all the Norse mythology as a child/young teen and had no problems with his religious beliefs, he taught me a fair bit more about their mythology and practices. Which I found fascinating to be honest (not being one who really cares what someone else believes in as long as they don't preach to others unless asked). Having studied the era, the people - his doctorate was done on the Germanic beliefs as given in Tacitus, all read in the original Latin - and having lectured in Sweden for years as well as writing books on the subject - reference and also fantasy - he was learned and definitely knew his stuff. He also had a certain amount of disdain for some claiming to practice the beliefs if only because they happily mixed up all sorts of different 'pagan' practices as it suited them and then claimed them to be ''authentic'' Norse religious practices. He recently died and was cremated as his beliefs dictated wearing his ceremonial Norse clothing complete with religious regalia (because they were cremated at one time, Up Helly aa still celebrates this custom up in the Shetlands to this day, and the 2022 celebration will be held on 25th January this year). But equally the practices in the different parts of the Norse world/trading empire would have been different as they assimilated whatever beliefs were in that particular area, hence the Germanic version in England and a more Russian version in what is now Russia but was then under Norse control and so on around the place. Really fascinating when you look deeper into it but, like most things now, people often just skim a couple of pages on the internet, take the bits that appeal and cobble together something they then claim is ''authentically'' Norse.
Take care, stay safe, happy new year.
That tree on the back really lights up the whole background 🎄
There's not so strange that it is Hamlet since there are a lot of theories that Shakespeare probably was inspired by the Amleth Saga and kept the outlines of it. ;)
I'm excited to see this too. In terms of, like, archeological awareness, and getting the material culture right, this blows all prior mainstream productions out of the water--which speaks more to the theatrical costuming tradition going it's own way than to this film being super accurate.
::waving madly:: Hi, Jimmy! Happy 2022, I hope you are feeling better by now (or soonest, if not yet).
edit: that Valkyrie looks like she has braces on the most straight upper teeth ever.
They’re so straight because the braces worked. Now she’s wearing a retainer 😁
Mystical retainer, love it!! 🤣
When I first saw the trailer, the Valkyrie just looked like an angry teenage girl with braces. Watched it on my phone, I had to rewind and double check what on earth I just saw, I still couldn't make out that it was tooth carvings until I saw stills from trailer blown up bigger and I could zoom in. Anyone else or just me?
Someone needs to make that screenshot into a keyboard warrior meme, cause that’s the vibe it’s channeling
Just nerdsniping here, but the story of Amleth (which this seems to be based on) is widely considered to be the basis for Hamlet, and was relatively popular in England still in the Tudor period. The names are similar because of this. So it is more Original Hamlet than 'let's make Hamlet-but VIKINGS'.
Coming back to this after watching the film, and sleeping on it, it went over much better than I expected. All the mystical stuff wasn't as out of place as I expected. In fact - it felt like watching a Saga (since it is based on a classic tale).
@GiRayne what's with the lefties so desperately trying to believe The Northman is "undermining masculinity"?
The story is on par with old sagas - the main character swears vengeance on his uncle, which seals his fate, something that was important to the norse in the 10th century. This isn't a 90s action flick, where the hero gets his revenge, gets the girl, and rides off into the sunset. This is the viking saga version of revenge, where the hero's oath of vengeance shapes his destiny, which he meets head on, unto the end.
@GiRayne lol. Wrong, wrong, and more wrong. The Northman is not a stunning, and brave commentary about the faliure of masculinity. It's a revenge story on par with other period sources, such as the poem of Beowulf, saga of Sigurd, etc.
Amleth's father is a successful buisnessman. After he is murdered, Amleth finds employment with another company, but eventually, his fate (a result of the oath of vengeance that he took) catches up to him, and drives him to a faraway land, to complete his quest. A quest that is 100% successful, and in the end, Amleth realises that he cannot run from his destiny, and goes to end the feud with Fiolnir - even at the cost of his life, to prevent further revenge (something his mother tried to do by having him killed - unsuccessfully, to stop Amleth from seeking revenge).
Exactly on par with what I'd expect from period sources.
Interesting, might give it a watch.
If this is a bit more blending of historical and myth/sagas, then I don't mind so much the more fantastical parts looking a bit...fantastical or out of place. Berserkers, valkyries, etc should probably look like something you don't see every day. Though maybe just a bit more hyped version of what's normal instead of out in left field.
I agree completely with the Valkyrie thing. Looks way too much like 19c Victorian romanticism of the Greek and Roman influence on the idea of the Germanic and Nordic deities.
I get the impression this is from a dream sequence (or maybe a substance-induced hallucination). It reminded me a bit of the Poseidon scene from his other film, The Lighthouse.
The main thing that stood out was Fjölnir's scale mail armor. That was probably the most inaccurate bits of armor from what I know about it at least. Other than that, I thought most of the other costumes were pretty spot on. Maybe a little more color and less mud, but not that big of a deal.
You know, men going shirtless is a common enough phenomenon in general, that I think it deserves a pass under even the most rigorous historical analysis.
Whenever lamellar comes up I give it a pass. I think it's fine, as long as it's not overused. If it's worn by a single figure, I can imagine that figure gained it from either trading or traveling in the East.
If more than two people wear it, that's when I start asking questions.
As long as they keep it for those with the wealth to excuse it like a Chief, Jarl, or King or a high ranking warrior.
I do however sometimes find the outright dismissal of lamellar armor as slightly irritating at times though. Lamellar helmets were used in Europe by the Germanic Lombards and while our findings of lamellar are incredibly scarce they aren't that much scarcer than our finds of helmets and mail armor.
@@CollinMcLean I mean, he didn't dismiss it or something, he said it was worn and existed, but we just don't have any evidence that the vikings wore it during the viking age. I think that's fair. Well, at least if you don't count the Rus as vikings, because they used it I think. When I remember correctly, lamellar was mostly popular among people living in the steppe and other nomadic or just often migrating groups - like the lombards. I guess it was easy to maintain while traveling. But yeah, it wouldn't be that bad when only one or two persons have that armor. I think there are even actual founds from Birka of lamellar armor which was identified as quite identical to the kind of lamellar made by steppe nomands, so it's quite sure that it was an import.
Dude... my mom is Native American... the priestess looks fine (you carried that a little too far) who the fuck knows how outrageous these oracles/seers/priestesses of Northern Europe looked exactly lol
I didn't carry it too far. I was quite restrained.
@@TheWelshViking * Yeah, and what I said still stands: "Who the fuck really knows how outrageous these oracles/seers/priestesses looked exactly." ...do some research on shamans and medicine men/women for a change. You'll be surprised :)
* Also; these shamans/seers/medicine men/women represent the spirit world.... why the fuck would they look normal and non-exotic if they're representing the weird supernatural vitality of the Otherworld... That don't make no sense lol
I suspect the shirtlessness is called 'if you have Alexander Skarsgard in your film, you make damn sure he's shirtless in at least one scene or the punters will object'
Jimmy, so nice to know you are feeling better. Take care of you. This was a really enjoyable and interesting review of this trailer. Can’t wait to see your review of the whole film.
Sorry to hear you were I’ll over Christmas - glad you’re feeling better now. Love this vid - quite fancy watching this film, really liked The Lighthouse. Someone mentioned The Northman on Jackson Crawford’s channel, so I’ve shared this vid with them.
heh... Nilleviking GIæsel was asked to give some advice about the costumes... and she has her knowledge. How much they have choosed to follow her advice, I don't know ;P
8:23 Can we all appreciate that those dudes look very much like a group of nasty nisayers we all probably know?
Glad I'm not the only one whose mind immediately wandered in that direction. :D
The sorcerer with the shrunken head ; yeah he wasn't a scripted character.
That's just Randy Quaid. Wandered in, wandered out and they kept it in.
The Valkerie helmet looked like a Victorian firemans helmet
I feel we aren't allowing creative licence, and I must say, if buff men wish to fight shirtless then we should allow that - and just admire the end results 😉
I'm fairly certain the shirtlessness is simply because the film includes Alexander Skarsgård. It's possibly contractual?
Probably the same contract Ewan McGregor has signed - without the full frontal nudity.
This isn't a historical movie, it's a viking folk tale. It's supposed to have divinity and magic in it because, well because it's a folk tale. That's the point.
Wait, you watch Ocean Keltoi? (That moment you realize how small the world is). Anyway, glad to hear you're feeling better and Happy New Year!!
Bless you Jimmy I'm glad you're doing better. Don't overdo it for is as you get better! This was a lot of fun
I am excited to see this. I would also love to hear your opinion on how a berserker should be portrayed. Bare of shirt? Wearing a bear shirt? Or perhaps just an elite, well armed warrior? How would you portray the berserker? I feel like there's an expectation to see them in any "Viking" movie.
Thanks again for another informative video.
Look it up. All the information is online about it.
jimmy get better, ok
This is a welcome response. Now I can go into it with appropriate expectations. Request/idea/question: Is there evidence of religious ritual passed through the families of metal smiths? The material I have found does not seem at all definitive. (I know that multiple requests are more weighty, so I hope I am not the only one with this interest.) Very good to hear that you are recovering from your illness.
I would be interested in this as well !!!!
Oh dear. "He who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three".
Speaking of hats, I'm trying to reconstruct the "Birka hat" - specifically, based on the cap end found in grave 644 (which had traces of silk in it). I was pointed to an eastern-style "pointed cap". Got any sources that might be helpful?
Nope! Hat end is all we got afaik! Let me know if you find anything that has more though!
Hamlet? Are you talking about Amlóði (english: Amleth) from the Prose Edda, you know, the one Hamlet is based on? ^^
Costumes actually look okay (atleast some of them), but why oh why do they insist on making the gribs of the swords so darn long :/
Interesting video, interesting comment section, and glad to hear you're feeling better. Stay well!
I'm already looking forward to your video about the entire film and just wanted to add that the Icelandic poet/novelist Sjón co-wrote the film. He has a very interesting style, which often goes into magic realism and surrealism, so I'm really excited to see how that translates in the film (and is maybe an explanation for the weird/unrealistic stuff in the trailer)!
@13:42 don't all shunking heads vaguely resemble William Defoe?
It is great to have you back, lovely boy, lovely boy.
I've just watched the trailer and was giggling over how the King and his retinue had apparently snuck up on the castle without anyone announcing their presence until the gates were opened.
Why is he shirtless? Seriously, they had Alexander Skarsgård get significantly bulked and buffed and they were absolutely going to find justification for showing it off. It will sell tickets. Despite any non-authentic moments that may/may not be there it's really exciting that the filmakers seem to have actually spent a good amount of time and attention to detail
He was buff as hell in Tarzan
I think it’s because there are some historical accounts of people doing that
So odd. Almost like there were 2 costume designers, one that knew what they were doing and one that didn't know and didn't care. As for the pagan priests and priestesses always being weird in movies I think it's just a way to draw attention to those characters and make it obvious that they are different than everyone else.
If the set is anything like the one for The Vikings you are sort of right. A friend did the tablet woven trim for the cast in The Vikings and while the costume designer was happy for her to make genuine patterns/wool/not sparkly trim (fairly authentic in other words) it was only suitable for the characters not meant to be of major importance. They had to have trim made with metallic thread in them because that was what the director/producer wanted, partly apparently because it looks better on camera and partly because that is how many - especially in Hollywood - think they dressed. My friend did argue her case right up to the producer (her area of expertise is Norse textiles so she knows of what she speaks) but she couldn't convince him. She ended up asking my daughter to do the metallic trims because she couldn't bring herself to do the herself, they were so inaccurate. It might well be something similar here where the costume designer is overridden by those higher up because it looks better/suits their vision/fits in with previous films and the fans expect it.
Take care, stay safe and happy new year.
hamlet is based off of this story, take the h and but it at the end. Amleth.
I'm gonna be that annoying a$$hole who says: Aaaaaactually, this isn't so much a "Viking Hamlet" as it's a film version of the story that William Shakespeare ripped off/adapted for "Hamlet", because "Hamlet" wasn't an original story he came up with. You may now pelt me with vegetables!
The Saga of Prince Amled is so legitimate, that it has even been done before on film, during the 90s. Check out "The Prince of Jutland", with Christian Bale as Amled, Tom Wilkinson as the King, the glorious Helen Mirren as the Queen and Gabriel Byrne as the evil devious uncle (among other top notch English actors). Later it was released for DVD as "Royal Deceit", criminally chopped off and without 15 minutes that almost ruins the movie, but it is still watchable, for it is sooo good.
Unsure if this is what the design artist was going for, but the shells on the priestess’s face does make it look as if she has three eyes with split pupils. Doesn’t make their use of them any better if they wouldn’t have been used at the time. But probably better then them using white paint if their aim was to make it look as if she had three eyes.
spoiler cuz i saw you didnt make a video after you saw the movie:
lots of naked fighting, whats with the wolve rituals? seems pure fiction. what about the transportation o f slaves to small farming comunities? the two brothers killed and hang like a centaur? is that ever mythology know by vikins? how accurate is the posture of Amleth when walking with a hunchback? how historic are the names? and why can olga speak norweigan/icelandic? was being bilingual common at all?
I think most if not all of these are answered in my video! :)
4 month later, we know that the Bjork character actually exists in sort of a dream state, mythical other world, so we can excuse it, no?
And that Roman looking chick has carved teeth? I thought they were braces and it really annoyed me.
It gets a pass for "Eggers weirdness"
About that single-edged sword, how early does this design appear? Migration era blades are far removed from my area of expertise. I am under the impression that the double-edged sword developed from the spatha, but have never heard about the first single-edged blades. Though some studies of blades from the adjacent Avar Khanate demonstrate that the Avars actually switched from double-edged blades to single-edged ones which came from further east sometime during the 7th century. Is this the origin of the "Albion Berserker" style backsword?
There actually are a decent amount of single edged swords found in Norway that are dated to around the 9th and 10th century. They don't appear as common or widespread as double edged swords but they're by no means an anomaly.
Spoiler don't read if you havet seen: Nicole Kidman story is she was a taken slav slave she wasn't supposed to be a viking. So her costume makes even more sense
Kinda not really? She's wearing very, very Norse kit except the danglies?
I will admit to very much loving Robert Eggers movies for his historical passion projects which makes me willing to forgive a bit more silliness that I usually wouldn’t but Eggers has a few things going for him that I’m sure will play into the film: when he deviates from the history it’s usually for the sake of storytelling rather than any kind of pandering to modern sensibility and also a lot of how much the period is understood comes across in his screenwriting. In the trailer Anna Taylor-Joy’s characters talks about using magic to break men’s minds, one of the very real fears of messing about with magic at the time being that it drive you insane and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a historical media about vikings where magic is about Blood Eagles and orgies.
She says that her cunning will break people’s minds. I don’t see any magic there. :/
@@moni2415 cunning is often a term used for magic like in the term cunning folk who were/are practitioners of folk medicine and magic.
@@jodieg6318 OK, thank you for your reply. I’m not a native speaker of English. However, we can’t be sure which meaning of “cunning” she has in mind until we watch the film.
Amleth was written abot by Saxo G, was the inspiration for Hamlet, so calling Him hamlet is actually a bit backward ,Amleth being the original figure.
Paper mache hat guy looks like the bridge keeper from the end of Monty Python and The Holy Grail! 😂
I think that this is very instructive and interesting. Thank you! We will reserve full judgment for the film. I tend to give films a few degrees of artistic freedom, especially this which is a myth and not a historical reenactment. I don't get the sense that they abused those few degrees, shirtless men and relics from other time periods notwithstanding. This seems much more thoughtful than the average Hollywood fare, is all I'm saying. If Eggars inspires Hollywood to create more jobs for History Majors that's also a nice bonus down the line, for them and for audiences. I won't hold my breath TOO much for that, though.
Hamlet is literally Amleth. Shakespeare basically stole the concept from the original Norse story of Amleth and just moved the H, changed the setting, and made the sword poison at the end.
Loved the video Jimmy!
I think the papier-maché thingy on that old dude's forehead is actually a piece of birch bark.
Also, this might be a stretch, but the shirtless men wearing wolf pelts may be in reference to the Völsunga saga, in which Sigmund trains Sinfjotli for future combat by dressing in wolfskin and essentially engaging in guerilla warfare. Pillaging and stealing while wearing nothing but wolfskin is a motif found in a number of Indo-European mythologies known as the "Männerbund" or Proto-Indo-European *kóryos, meaning something like 'warband' (also the origin of the Germanic word for army, *harjaz).
Overall, I kinda love the look of this film and the way Viking Hamlet catches that spear and yeets it back at its thrower reminds me of a really cool moment in the Anglo-Saxon poem The Battle of Maldon, in which a dude pulls a spear out of his dead lord and with it kills the guy that threw it.
I love watching you go over movies like this! Unfortunately part of me would also love to see you rip into The 13th Warrior because its just.... has so many things that were as interesting as others were wrong. XD
*STARES IN EGGERS*
Cant wait for this film. Can. Not. Wait.
Super excites
The braid is actually woven by a lady who does her phd on fabrics and tablet weaving
Fabulous! An excellent thing
This looks like it was a real emotional rollercoaster for ya Jimmie, I hope you did self care! 😂🖤 I'm sure I'll still dig it. Hamlet is great that's why we keep remaking it 😁
Could you please review the trailer for 'Margrete Queen of the North' It looks like it will be a really good movie and I would love to know how accurate the costuming is.
Oooo, thanks for mentioning! I hadn't heard of this film !
I'll go and take a look!
Is the film about the Queen of the Kalmar union? Interesting, hadn't heard of it before!
Shame it couldn't have been as accurate as Thor Ragnarok.
Er yeah
Dad KNOWS that an attempt will be made on him, that's why he's wearing maille in his house! :D
Oh, and the girl in the off-pinkish-brown dress also seems to have yellow-ish borders around the neck and sleeve openings.
Glad to hear you're feeling better.
that papier-mache hat thing looks like it could be a piece of birch bark? not sure what that would mean symbolically or historically but that's what it looks like to me
You should review the movie now that it’s out and it’s surprisingly more accurate then you’d think. Robert Eggers had Viking historians and such work with him on the film of course for film sake there’s still some flash and fantasy.
Happy New Year Jimmy! Glad you're doing better, hope you continue to improve.