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I have accidently seen this new Viking tv series, I'm a bit dismayed about how they potray them, no helmets, no big ringmail armor, but the fighting and bloodthirst is nice tho.

Least they could have potrayed how they were filled with vanity and would brush their hair very often, and bathe regulary, that be once a week contrary other people in Europe that would almost never bathe. This is why Vikings was actually popular with English women who liked their bathing habit.

..and no drinking horns?

Really? You think because they're omitting regular bathing and vanity its a bad show?

And not having a bunch of helmets and chainmail armor is historically accurate if you are portraying poorer soldiers. Armor is expensive, not everyone could afford it. They'd have to make do with armor they scavenged from the battlefield.

Its probably the most historically accurate Viking show ever.

...out of all the Viking shows there have ever been. While a decent show it really does bug me how they don't even try sometimes when it comes to historical accuracy, which would be alright, if it weren't on the fething History channel.

History channel is a misnomer at this point.

Watch Vikings with two caveats in mind: the fact that it's on the HISTORY channel means it has nothing to do with actual history, and that it's more a modernized Saga rewritten for television. So it's more about the drama and Big Damn Heroes than it is about historical accuracy. I like to think of it as a poor man's Game of Thrones.

And Templar's sort of got the right of it. Ragnar & Co. in Season 1 wouldn't have chain mail because that stuff was exspensive at the time and they were a bunch of farmers who couldn't afford it.

That being said, I'm very excited for season 3, which will * SPOILERS * be dealing with the attack on Paris and Rollo's establishment of early Normandy.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Really? You think because they're omitting regular bathing and vanity its a bad show?

When did I say that?

HexHammer wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Really? You think because they're omitting regular bathing and vanity its a bad show?

When did I say that?

You 100% implied it by saying this.

Least they could have potrayed how they were filled with vanity and would brush their hair very often, and bathe regulary, that be once a week contrary other people in Europe that would almost never bathe. This is why Vikings was actually popular with English women who liked their bathing habit.

 infinite_array wrote:
Watch Vikings with two caveats in mind: the fact that it's on the HISTORY channel means it has nothing to do with actual history, and that it's more a modernized Saga rewritten for television. So it's more about the drama and Big Damn Heroes than it is about historical accuracy. I like to think of it as a poor man's Game of Thrones.

It won't really impact the budget to show vikings brushign their hair, not do much for camera time. Essentially it's something for nothing.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Grey Templar wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Really? You think because they're omitting regular bathing and vanity its a bad show?

When did I say that?

You 100% implied it by saying this.

Least they could have potrayed how they were filled with vanity and would brush their hair very often, and bathe regulary, that be once a week contrary other people in Europe that would almost never bathe. This is why Vikings was actually popular with English women who liked their bathing habit.

You clearly read too much into my words.

 Grey Templar wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Really? You think because they're omitting regular bathing and vanity its a bad show?

When did I say that?

You 100% implied it by saying this.

Least they could have potrayed how they were filled with vanity and would brush their hair very often, and bathe regulary, that be once a week contrary other people in Europe that would almost never bathe. This is why Vikings was actually popular with English women who liked their bathing habit.

Templer is correct, since you prefaced that quote by saying you were dismayed at the series.

HexHammer wrote:

 infinite_array wrote:
Watch Vikings with two caveats in mind: the fact that it's on the HISTORY channel means it has nothing to do with actual history, and that it's more a modernized Saga rewritten for television. So it's more about the drama and Big Damn Heroes than it is about historical accuracy. I like to think of it as a poor man's Game of Thrones.

It won't really impact the budget to show vikings brushign their hair, not do much for camera time. Essentially it's something for nothing.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Grey Templar wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Really? You think because they're omitting regular bathing and vanity its a bad show?

When did I say that?

You 100% implied it by saying this.

Least they could have potrayed how they were filled with vanity and would brush their hair very often, and bathe regulary, that be once a week contrary other people in Europe that would almost never bathe. This is why Vikings was actually popular with English women who liked their bathing habit.

You clearly read too much into my words.

Well, they got the whole 'Line of men by importance washing themselves and snorting snot into the same bowel' thing correct

Would not the incredible variety and intricacy of the hairstyles not imply a considerable degree of vanity and hair care?

Maille for Vikings in that time period was about the end all and be all of armor. There is some highly contested evidence for lamellar leather armor, the Birka plates, but not much beyond that. For more fun, begin your descent into the intricacies of viking armor here
http://www.swordforum.com/forums/showthread.php?39721-Viking-lamellar-no-more

Admittedly, this one is slanted towards making armor legal for SCA combat.
forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=43165&hilit=i+wanna+be+a+viking

Helmets were really high class at this stage of history. It is kind of a shame they don't show the victorious Vikings wearing their victims' armor, but I see that as a sacrifice for the sake of visual clarity in viewing our heroes. Although, come to think of it, I'd probably forego the probable additional protection of a captured helmet to avoid the minor chance that one of my shield brothers could mistake me for an enemy in the heat of battle- or reasonably claim to have done so!


I really enjoy the show. Athelstan is a wonderful character, a traitor to all, but not hated by any who directly know him. So many characters end up with such twisted motives, and amorphous definitions of loyalty.

HexHammer wrote:
I have accidently seen this new Viking tv series, I'm a bit dismayed about how they potray them, no helmets, no big ringmail armor, but the fighting and bloodthirst is nice tho.

Least they could have potrayed how they were filled with vanity and would brush their hair very often, and bathe regulary, that be once a week contrary other people in Europe that would almost never bathe. This is why Vikings was actually popular with English women who liked their bathing habit.

..and no drinking horns?

Saw in an interview that a lot of the actors and actresses do not like to wear helmets or masks for extended periods of time (or at all) because they want their faces to get seen by viewers as much as possible.

Apparently this is common within their craft?

Relapse wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Really? You think because they're omitting regular bathing and vanity its a bad show?

When did I say that?

You 100% implied it by saying this.

Least they could have potrayed how they were filled with vanity and would brush their hair very often, and bathe regulary, that be once a week contrary other people in Europe that would almost never bathe. This is why Vikings was actually popular with English women who liked their bathing habit.

Templer is correct, since you prefaced that quote by saying you were dismayed at the series.

LOL? ..you must be trolling!
If I buy a Ferrai and it come with a dent in the paintjob, is it then a bad car? No! It's still an excellent car with a dent in the paint job, even if the dent won't slow me down or have any effect on the driving, it still means a World to me!


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 Piston Honda wrote:
Saw in an interview that a lot of the actors and actresses do not like to wear helmets or masks for extended periods of time (or at all) because they want their faces to get seen by viewers as much as possible.

Apparently this is common within their craft?

Darth Vader and Bobba Fett was louded and hailed as awesome characters. Vader didn't show his face for 2 episodes, and Bobba NEVER revealed his face (in the old sequels) but still was an awesome character.

This is excatly why heraldry is importaint when ones face is coverd by a helmet or smashed in during battle. The screen writer should have asked these vain actors to shut up and cover their faces.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 infinite_array wrote:
Well, they got the whole 'Line of men by importance washing themselves and snorting snot into the same bowel' thing correct

Yearh, it was an arab that with disgust wrote about viking morning rituals.

Couldn't get into the show due to the awful beards. Maybe it's because I grow a damnfine beard so my standards are high, but it was just sad.

I would like to add that chainmail was very uncommon back in the 7th century.

The only thing which really buggered me about the Vikings show was how it was supposedly a big deal that Ragnar sailed West, despite the fact that Scandinavians had been sailing to the West hundreds of years before Ragnar Lodbrok already.

It's the history channel, where the truth is history. Get over it

 Daemonhammer wrote:
I would like to add that chainmail was very uncommon back in the 7th century.

Might have been uncommon, but no total absent on regular warriors, leaders on the other hand usually had fish scale armor / splint mail.

 Daemonhammer wrote:
I would like to add that chainmail was very uncommon back in the 7th century.

This.

Think steel was more expensive then gold
Its the beginning of the Viking's pillaging the women and raping the land of England.....wait..

Indeed. You'd need to hit the 9th and 10th centuries to find chainmail armor being commonplace. And even then most people would be using scavenged armor or armor that had been passed down the family line. And had been repaired so many time it likely wouldn't have too many of the original rings remaining.

The Vikings(and all the Gaelic tribes) were certainly talented smiths, but mining is tough and painfully slow work. Especially when the ground itself is frozen for a good chunk of the year. Its hard enough to mine even without permafrost.

When Iron is that tough to extract, it tends to get reserved for weapons first. And weapons requiring relatively little iron at that. Spears and axes. Thats why swords were a mark of nobility and wealth, only the rich could afford them. Axes could be made with poorer quality metal, and were also a vital tool for chopping wood. And forget anything resembling scale or plate armor at this point.

HexHammer wrote:

 Piston Honda wrote:
Saw in an interview that a lot of the actors and actresses do not like to wear helmets or masks for extended periods of time (or at all) because they want their faces to get seen by viewers as much as possible.

Apparently this is common within their craft?

Darth Vader and Bobba Fett was louded and hailed as awesome characters. Vader didn't show his face for 2 episodes, and Bobba NEVER revealed his face (in the old sequels) but still was an awesome character.

Which has nothing to do with what Piston Honda said.

Actors don't like hiding their face, because theirs is an occupation where you get more money for being more recognised.

Regarding Vader, David Prowse wasn't happy that he portrayed Vader for all three movies, then they chose Sebastian Shaw as the face of the character at the end (after being told by Lucas that it would be him that was shown).

HexHammer wrote:

Relapse wrote:
Apparently this is common within their craft?

Darth Vader and Bobba Fett was louded and hailed as awesome characters.

What are the names of the actors who played Boba Fett and Darth Vader*?

Exactly.

*hint: "James Earl Jones" is an incorrect answer.

 BlaxicanX wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

Relapse wrote:
Apparently this is common within their craft?

Darth Vader and Bobba Fett was louded and hailed as awesome characters.

What are the names of the actors who played Boba Fett and Darth Vader*?

Exactly.

*hint: "James Earl Jones" is an incorrect answer.

Those two characters though (Fett and Vader) are basically imprinted at birth on us.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Indeed. You'd need to hit the 9th and 10th centuries to find chainmail armor being commonplace. And even then most people would be using scavenged armor or armor that had been passed down the family line. And had been repaired so many time it likely wouldn't have too many of the original rings remaining.

The Vikings(and all the Gaelic tribes) were certainly talented smiths, but mining is tough and painfully slow work. Especially when the ground itself is frozen for a good chunk of the year. Its hard enough to mine even without permafrost.

When Iron is that tough to extract, it tends to get reserved for weapons first. And weapons requiring relatively little iron at that. Spears and axes. Thats why swords were a mark of nobility and wealth, only the rich could afford them. Axes could be made with poorer quality metal, and were also a vital tool for chopping wood. And forget anything resembling scale or plate armor at this point.

They didn't tend to mine for iron, they typically used a technique that collects iron deposits from beds of peat moss which are burned and refined to extract the iron. As the moss burns away in the process it infuses the iron with carbon and produces a really good quality metal that is closer to steel, which is something that had perplexed a lot of historians as to where they were getting their metals as quality iron mines weren't super common in Sweden/Norway at the time.

There's a set of inlaid and etched swords that were said to be magic and indestructible, as a result a lot of smiths copied the runic writing on them hoping to capture some of that "magic". Due to the process of how their iron was collected they were likely an early form of steel making them a lot tougher and stronger then other swords of their day. The blacksmith that made them was very talented as their craftsmanship was exquisite but it's hard to say he knowingly was creating steel or if it was a form of a happy accident. It was several centuries ahead of the rest of Europe in crafting, but they haven't found any later versions of those swords so it's assumed to have come from a single smith and that the techniques weren't passed one although many tried to imitate the style of his work.

 Jihadin wrote:

 BlaxicanX wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

Relapse wrote:
Apparently this is common within their craft?

Darth Vader and Bobba Fett was louded and hailed as awesome characters.

What are the names of the actors who played Boba Fett and Darth Vader*?

Exactly.

*hint: "James Earl Jones" is an incorrect answer.

Those two characters though (Fett and Vader) are basically imprinted at birth on us.

Still has nothing to do with the intital point that actors dislike hiding their faces for legitimate reasons. People may love the characters, but very few know who actually played them.

I only saw a few episode from the series on other people's laptop in the train ( ), but I thought it seemed like horrible Christian propaganda and this set me off of it forever. Was I wrong about it?

 Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
I only saw a few episode from the series on other people's laptop in the train ( ), but I thought it seemed like horrible Christian propaganda and this set me off of it forever. Was I wrong about it?

In a word- yes. Vikings has Christianity coexisting and battling with paganism in a complex way. The best way I can show it without any major spoilers is this quote by Brother Athelstan, a Christian monk.

Athelstan: "I wish it was so simple. In the gentle fall of rain from Heaven I hear my God. But in the thunder I still hear Thor. That is my agony."

 Gitzbitah wrote:
The best way I can show it without any major spoilers is this quote by Brother Athelstan, a Christian monk.

Well, I guess you can provide major spoilers, just use the appropriate tag. From what I seemed to understand, all the good guys turn Christians in the end and the bad guys stay asatruer.

 -Loki- wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

 Piston Honda wrote:
Saw in an interview that a lot of the actors and actresses do not like to wear helmets or masks for extended periods of time (or at all) because they want their faces to get seen by viewers as much as possible.

Apparently this is common within their craft?

Darth Vader and Bobba Fett was louded and hailed as awesome characters. Vader didn't show his face for 2 episodes, and Bobba NEVER revealed his face (in the old sequels) but still was an awesome character.

Which has nothing to do with what Piston Honda said.

Actors don't like hiding their face, because theirs is an occupation where you get more money for being more recognised.

Regarding Vader, David Prowse wasn't happy that he portrayed Vader for all three movies, then they chose Sebastian Shaw as the face of the character at the end (after being told by Lucas that it would be him that was shown).

A skullcap with nose guard doesn't really cover much of their faces, nor do I think in 300 it was a big deal when they defended the Hot Gates. That helmet phobia is nothing but hysteria, they should get over it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BlaxicanX wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

Relapse wrote:
Apparently this is common within their craft?

Darth Vader and Bobba Fett was louded and hailed as awesome characters.

What are the names of the actors who played Boba Fett and Darth Vader*?

Exactly.

*hint: "James Earl Jones" is an incorrect answer.

What was the name of that angry spartan? Gerad Butler!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 -Loki- wrote:
Still has nothing to do with the intital point that actors dislike hiding their faces for legitimate reasons. People may love the characters, but very few know who actually played them.

They have plenty of face time between fights, the fights are short and various viking helmets doesn't have full face cover only extremely few.
The simple version of a viking helmet that is a skullcap with nose guard doesn't cover up too much.
Their arguments are invalid.

Gimli has a helmet on all the time if memory serves me well, and yet we can see his face enough to recognize him as John Rhys-Davies.

HexHammer wrote:

 -Loki- wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

 Piston Honda wrote:
Saw in an interview that a lot of the actors and actresses do not like to wear helmets or masks for extended periods of time (or at all) because they want their faces to get seen by viewers as much as possible.

Apparently this is common within their craft?

Darth Vader and Bobba Fett was louded and hailed as awesome characters. Vader didn't show his face for 2 episodes, and Bobba NEVER revealed his face (in the old sequels) but still was an awesome character.

Which has nothing to do with what Piston Honda said.

Actors don't like hiding their face, because theirs is an occupation where you get more money for being more recognised.

Regarding Vader, David Prowse wasn't happy that he portrayed Vader for all three movies, then they chose Sebastian Shaw as the face of the character at the end (after being told by Lucas that it would be him that was shown).

A skullcap with nose guard doesn't really cover much of their faces, nor do I think in 300 it was a big deal when they defended the Hot Gates. That helmet phobia is nothing but hysteria, they should get over it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BlaxicanX wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

Relapse wrote:
Apparently this is common within their craft?

Darth Vader and Bobba Fett was louded and hailed as awesome characters.

What are the names of the actors who played Boba Fett and Darth Vader*?

Exactly.

*hint: "James Earl Jones" is an incorrect answer.

What was the name of that angry spartan? Gerad Butler!

Gerard Butler* Also, he almost never wore his helmet so your point is moot.