Vikings is a historical drama television series, written and created by Michael Hirst for the Canadian television channel History,[1] on which it premiered on March 3, 2013.
Filmed in Ireland, the series is inspired by the tales about the Viking Ragnar Lodbrok, one of the best-known Norse heroes and notorious as the scourge of France and England. It portrays Ragnar as a Viking farmer who pioneers the first daring raids into England with the support of fellow warriors, his brother, and his wife, the shieldmaiden Lagertha. The series has received generally favorable reviews.
Contents |
The series is inspired by the epic sagas about the raiding, trading and exploring Norsemen of early medieval Scandinavia. It follows the exploits of the semi-legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lodbrok and his crew and family.
It portrays Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) as a young Viking warrior who longs to discover civilizations across the seas. With his friend, the gifted craftsman Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård), he builds a new generation of faster longships[2] and challenges the local ruler, Earl Haraldson (Gabriel Byrne), a man of little vision, to allow raids into the unexplored West, to Anglia. He is supported by his brother Rollo (Clive Standen), who secretly covets Ragnar's wife, the shieldmaiden Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick).
Vikings covers events and characters that are principally described in various sagas, that is, partially or wholly fictional Old Norse tales that were written down in the 13th century, about 200 to 400 years after the events they describe. The series is set at the beginning of the Viking Age, marked by the Viking raid on Lindisfarne (depicted in episode 2) in 793. Ragnar's death is dated to 840 or 865.
Lars Walker, in the magazine The American Spectator, criticized Vikings for historical inaccuracies, including the Vikings' supposed ignorance of the British Isles, and a portrayal of Viking government (in the person of Earl Haraldson) as autocratic rather than essentially democratic.
Gabriel Byrne as Earl Haraldson, the local Viking chieftain
Clive Standen as Rollo, Ragnar's brother
Katheryn Winnick as Lagertha, Ragnar's wife, a shieldmaiden
Jessalyn Gilsig as Siggy, Earl Haraldson's wife
Gustaf Skarsgård as Floki, a gifted shipbuilder and friend of Ragnar's
George Blagden as Athelstan, an Anglo-Saxon monk captured by Ragnar on his first raid in England