Staff Writer| The Columbus Dispatch
The clash of religion, politics and conquest in History’s hit series "Vikings" slowly maps out how the Nordic warriors gave up their gods and adopted Christianity after centuries of warring and raiding.
The tensions ooze amid bloody battles depicting early Scandinavian culture in the first three seasons, which has made Vikings a top-rated cable show, with 4.3 million average viewers, Emmy nominations and a fourth season that launched last week.
In the third season, a Christian missionary who shows up in Kattegat, Denmark, is hauled before Queen Aslaug (Alyssa Sutherland) for preaching against “false gods” and is put to the test: He must carry a metal bar that glows red hot to prove that his god is stronger than the Norse gods. After he crumples to the ground screaming in pain with bloody, blistered hands, the Vikings laugh uproariously, and the queen tells her guard to kill the Christian.
The drama is loosely based (or largely imagined) on the life of a Nordic farmer-turned-explorer named Ragnar Lothbrok. It’s partly a study in leadership as Lothbrok gains power and must maneuver carefully (and violently) among Viking chieftains and European kings to keep that power.
Wars fill the show with ax and shield battles and gory torture scenes. But amid that violence, we find plot twists involving fraternal feuds, strong characters, including sword-wielding blond women with fearsome haircuts, and beautiful cinematography from Ireland of stark fjords, fauna and flora.
Admirers of Oxford philologist J.R.R. Tolkien’s homage to European epics, myths and languages in his classic literary works "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" series might find "Vikings" greater historical catnip than, say, HBO’s hit fantasy program "Game of Thrones."
Director Michael Hirst has built his reputation on period pieces in "The Tudors," "The Borgias" and "Elizabeth." A student of history who spent time at Oxford and the London School of Economics, he writes the episodes based on his research.
Hirst ponders one of the most fascinating elements of Viking history — how the marauders went from pagans to Christians around the year A.D. 1,000 at the tail end of the Viking age.
Some viewers are upset that some Christians portrayed in the series appear cowardly in the face of the violent pagans. But the show portrays — among other things — the civilizing and inhumane practices of both the Norse men and the early English.
We know England was nearly overtaken by Scandinavian Vikings, except for the resistance of one region called Wessex. That thread in the series, while out of sync with historical timelines, is portrayed strongly. It was the resistance of Alfred the Great of Wessex who inspired Hirst to produce the series.
Also, around A.D. 1,000 — perhaps after years of interacting with and capturing monks and women from Christian lands — the men and women occupying Norway, Iceland and the rest of Scandinavia converted to Christianity . Their people eventually spread throughout Britain, continental Europe and the United States, influencing the English language and culture.
As the Vikings return to Scandinavia, they leave Lothbrok’s bearlike brother, Rollo (played by Clive Standen), behind with an army to camp near Paris. The French King Charles, Charlemagne’s grandson, has the idea to marry his daughter, the pious Gisla, to Rollo.
In season four, we will see that drama begin to play out.
The show doesn’t present us with perfect Christians or sanitized Vikings. It shows us the messy, bloody, deceitful way of humans in a quest for power. In that process, it also shows us how the idea of Christianity eventually won out over the pagan religions of the North, changing a fierce community of warriors into some of the most civilized and peaceful people on the planet.
Vikings is shown at 10 p.m. Thursdays on History.
