A Viking never gives up on his revenge. This is who they are. The period drama Vikings explores the ancient, historic world of Ragnar Lothbrok, a farmer turned warrior. When a historical drama airs on History TV, its credibility increases ten folds.
But throughout is five seasons, there have been instances when some myths or inaccuracies have been shown as facts. Today we shall be sharing ten such moments when Vikings ignored its own canon.
Not Wearing Helmets
In contrast with what people usually think about the raiders, they did not wear little horned helmets during their raids or wars. It has even been proven from the artifacts that the Norseman did not use those kinds of helmets. This detail has been well taken care of in the Vikings series.
While it's a relief that the warriors don't wear those helmets, it is equally inaccurate not to have Viking warriors wear any helmets at all in the battles. Head wounds are almost always fatal and no wars were fought without protective headgear during that time. In contrast, on the show, no warriors have been shown wearing any kind of helmets.
The Fighting Technique
The series shows the Vikings lining up during the war and running at their enemies from the front. This was not how the real Norsemen or Vikings fought. This is the actual style of combat of the Romans and ancient Greek. The Nords had a unique technique of fighting.
They loved to ambush and take their enemies by surprise. The technique of fight most commonly used by them, was to raid on their enemies at the most unsuspected hour and locations. Pitched battles were extremely rare.
The Timeline
The first season showed Ragnar, Rollo, and Floki raiding the Lindisfarne monastery with his group of 30 men. They robbed all the gold artifacts and butchered the monks, thereby sacking the whole Christian monastery. This was a real event that had happened in 793 CE in England of current times.
This proved to be a great success for Vikings and thus began their age. In the third season of the show, they (Ragnar and the same group of men) are shown attacking Paris, which is again a real and historic event. This actually took place in 911 CE, almost a century after the Lindisfarne raid happened.
The Actual Locations
The geographical premise of the show is completely off. The real Ragnar Lothbrok was the legendary king of Sweden and Denmark. He was the child of the king of Sweden, Sigurd Hring and a close relative of the king of Denmark, Gudfred too. So, going by this information, he would have lived his life either in Sweden or Denmark.
The sagas say the same too, but, the series shows him living in deep fjords that exist on the west coast of Norway. Interestingly, neither Denmark nor Sweden has fjords of the sort, shown in the show. Also, Kattegat is a sea between Sweden and Denmark, not a place as depicted.
The Title
The title of the show is Vikings which can be explained since the audience belongs to the present times, but, in the series, they address themselves as Vikings which is completely wrong. The Vikings did not call each other Vikings. Commonly used language of that time was Old Norse throughout Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
People used to call them Norsemen, Danes or Nords during that age. There are not any historical sources that prove the credibility of the name Vikings.
The Storyline
Ragnar and Rollo were not brothers and there is no evidence to prove they actually even met. Also, the actual Vikings never had those hipster haircuts. Saint Ansgar from the third season was in fact, a highly respected and influential saint born in 801.
He had actually worked in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Northern , and had a huge historical impact in overcoming rebellion and flourishing Christianity. The writers have altered many actual events and facts into morphed stories as Ragnar once said (people are all nothing but stories).
Costumes
There are very few written descriptions on the daily fashion habits and color choices of Vikings from the era. Even the archaeological findings are very limited with different archaeologists and historians having different views on the dresses of those times.
But, it is largely accepted that the Vikings did not dress in biker outfits. Neither did they wear just black or brown or grey. They used to love bright colors like blue or red. They used to cut and sew complicated and intricate outfits from wools and specific fabrics.
Modern Countries
Russia has been mentioned several times throughout the series. In fact, the sixth season has a few characters moving to the country. Russia of today did not exist then and it always has been having extremely mild winters (opposed to the snowing cities they showed).
Also, there were definitely no hot air balloons in the air in those cities during the time. England was also not called so during the Vikings' age. Also, during the Vikings rule, Rus was pagan, not Christian.
Italian Helmets
Strangely the helmets that Wessex soldiers wore are from the future. They are Italian helmets and were not built after at least 8 centuries from the show’s timeline. These helmets were never designed in England.
These elegantly shaped helmets were actually Italian burgonets and were designed for the first time in the 16th century as pre-modern combat armor. They had become widely popular during the Italian Renaissance.
Female Warriors
One of the show’s most popular faces, Lagertha, might never have existed. Although there has been evidence of female warriors among Vikings, not one has been found to be as violent and skilled as Lagertha. The term Shieldmaiden is in itself a Scandinavian term from local folklore.
There has been no historical evidence of the mythical term or such highly skilled fighters. Some women took part in the raids and battles, but they were extremely rare and had a very small role.