#4 - Vikings on Screen
Grim, Grandiloquent Vikings: The #1 Stereotype Filmmakers Keep Getting Wrong
This is the fourth worst mistake modern media makes about the Middle Ages—part of my ongoing series on historical inaccuracies in film and TV. This time, we’re turning our gaze northward to the Vikings and the way pop culture has turned them into brooding, eloquent savages with a penchant for poetic rage.
The Real Viking Reputation
Medieval English and French chronicles describe Viking raids as apocalyptic events—ruthless, demonic warriors who pillaged, burned, and raped without mercy. It’s an image still reinforced today in gritty dramas like Vikings and countless blockbuster films. This caricature has been satirized brilliantly, from Eric the Viking (1989) to Monty Python sketches, and more recently the Norwegian comedy Norsemen (2016–2020).
Yet Old Norse sources tell a very different story. From the Vikings’ perspective, these expeditions were primarily about trade—yes, sometimes “trade” backed by military force—but closer in spirit to the East India Company than to 17th-century piracy. Because Vikings were openly non-Christian, they had no qualms about raiding monasteries, which just happened to be some of the wealthiest institutions in medieval Europe. The outrage from English and French writers had less to do with the violence and more to do with the fact that sacred spaces weren’t off-limits.
The Stoic Viking Personality
If you take modern Viking dramas at face value, you might expect them to be Shakespearean heroes—delivering fiery speeches and dramatic monologues. The truth? They were probably the most stoic people in recorded history. The sagas rarely depict emotional outbursts outside of poetry. Instead, understatement was a cultural ideal. Tears are “a drop of rain” on the cheek. Torture, like being hung by the Achilles tendon from an iron rod, is more an embarrassment than agony (see Hrafnkels Saga).
One of the most extreme examples of Viking stoicism comes from Volsunga Saga: Signý stitches gloves to her son Sinfjǫtli’s hands and then rips them off—skin and all—to test his strength. His calm endurance proves his worth, while his half-brothers’ screams prove their weakness.
Where the Modern Viking Myth Comes From
Our modern Viking stereotype owes more to Shakespeare’s tragic warriors and post-colonial “noble savage” tropes than to authentic Norse culture. The TV series Vikings in particular has cemented the image of the mohawk-wearing, perpetually scowling warrior in the public imagination.
Ironically, the best antidote to this might be Norsemen. Creators Jon Iver Helgaker and Jonas Torgersen blend sharp satire with genuine insight into Norse humor—humor that still echoes in modern Scandinavian culture. In fact, you could learn more about Viking social attitudes from Netflix’s Lilyhammer than from Vikings.
Why This Matters for Understanding Medieval History
This isn’t just about Vikings. It’s about how modern storytelling projects false narratives onto medieval cultures. The Viking myth is simply one of the most extreme examples—an exoticized and romanticized image that tells us more about our modern obsessions than about the actual people of the Middle Ages.
Next in this series: the great “Religion vs. Science” myth, and why it’s one of the most misleading historical misconceptions of all.