Vikings...season four part 2

[elamigodemiamiga]

with spoilers....









will Ragnar die this season?

 

[Unicron]

Did the season already start? I recall an advert about it coming up this month.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Two more days, Nov 30, we raid!

 

[The Old Mixer]

Watching the recap special now...so I can remember what the hell's going on.

 

[Forbin]

Interesting that one of the few times we see Lagertha with her hair straight, she's being gay!

 

[Smellincoffee]

I'd say I'm REALLY LOOKING FORWARD to this, but I watch the show on DVD so it will be a while.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Ragnar tried to pull an Odin. Even though it wasn't three days, I wonder if he got any wisdom from his brief hanging from the tree.

 

[Kahless the Unforgettable]

I'm pretty sure it's implied that it was Odin himself who said "NOPE!" to his attempt. Hence the ravens.

(And yes, I'm one of those people who think the gods are active on the show. Sue me!)

I have to say, I absolutely love Ivar. He is incredibly awesome so far. The scene where he showed up all three of his brothers in their weapons of choice? Totally bad ass.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I'm pretty sure it's implied that it was Odin himself who said "NOPE!" to his attempt. Hence the ravens.

(And yes, I'm one of those people who think the gods are active on the show. Sue me!)

Ah, that's a good point. And I agree with you about the gods actually active players (if only in specific, minimal ways).

I have to say, I absolutely love Ivar. He is incredibly awesome so far. The scene where he showed up all three of his brothers in their weapons of choice? Totally bad ass.

I thought he was a bit of an asshole when he briefly saw him after the time jump in the last episode, but this episode developed his character quite nicely. I look forward to his adventures with Ragnar in Wessex and butting heads with Ecbert.

Speaking of the time jump, it's interesting how the first time jump coincided with Ragnar and Lagertha dissolving their union while the second time jump coincided with the two reconciling (at least on a mutual respect and admiration level). Unless it happened last season and I forgot. I know it was leading up to it but I don't recall if it went as far as it did in this episode.

 

[Beagleman]

(And yes, I'm one of those people who think the gods are active on the show. Sue me!)

Yep, I'm one of those that think Kevin Durand's one-eyed traveler was Odin in human form.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Harbard had two eyes: http://vikings.wikia.com/wiki/Harbard

 

[Beagleman]

Oh, wow, my memory seems to be going downhill fast. I must have conflated the online theory that he was Odin with Odin having one eye in my mind.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I don't really think the gods are wandering around in the show. Rather, the show gives us situations of stress where from confused senses folks think they are seeing the gods. We're being shown how folks might come to have revelations rather than seeing folks meeting any particular deities.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I think it's very deliberately vague. What might be magic or the influence of the gods on this show is subtle, not demonstrative. It gives us the characters' benefit of the doubt that such forces may be at work, but leaves plausible deniability for non-mystical explanations.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I look forward to his adventures with Ragnar in Wessex

Wessex is not a good place for Ragnar, historically speaking.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Northumbria even less so.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Perhaps that's why I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Kahless the Unforgettable]

I don't really think the gods are wandering around in the show. Rather, the show gives us situations of stress where from confused senses folks think they are seeing the gods. We're being shown how folks might come to have revelations rather than seeing folks meeting any particular deities.

It's hard to argue how the three women in Kattegat dreamt of Harbard's arrival the day before he arrived, though.

 

[Gov Kodos]

It's hard to argue how the three women in Kattegat dreamt of Harbard's arrival the day before he arrived, though.

Much like leading questions to a witness which can cause a person to recall what they think the questioner wants to hear, each starts talking about a dream about someone coming and they end up creating a common image that they apply to Harbard when he shows up. The mind is a funny thing that is prone to creating quite a deal of what we recall as reality. That's what makes video cameras such better witnesses than people.

There is an early interview by Hirst here that goes into how he is approaching Viking beliefs. We are seeing things through their perspective on natural events which is one that is seeing and believing those events as the gods walking around and making things happen.

HitFix: You mentioned before the importance of the Viking belief system and religion. This obviously isn’t a show that contains supernatural elements, but it’s a show about people who believe in these supernatural things and it seems like the show’s MO is to honor those beliefs. Could you talk about the approach that you take to that aspect of the story?
Michael Hirst: Yeah, you’re completely right. I’ve never watched “Game of Thrones,” but I’m not interested in fantasy, because for me fantasy is ultimately meaningless, so I want to root it in reality, but I wanted to tell this story from the Viking point of view and I knew that from the Viking point of view, psychologically, they saw their Gods in the landscape. They saw their Gods walking around in their company. So I wanted to give a sense of that in the show, but I didn’t want it to tilt into something for people to think, “Oh, this is a fantasy and I can kind of reject it” or whatever. As far as we know, this is what the Vikings actually saw.

http://uproxx.com/hitfix/interview-vikings-creator-michael-hirst-talks-season-1-and-beyond/

Long before Harbard came along back in s1 when Largetha was doing Earl stuff while Ragnar was looting Northumbria a married couple came to the hall for judgement over the wife who got pregnant while the husband was away. Largetha came to the conclusion the wandering stranger was Heimdall, I recall, and the couple should feel blessed by the gods rather than condemning the woman for adultery.

 

[Kahless the Unforgettable]

Much like leading questions to a witness which can cause a person to recall what they think the questioner wants to hear, each starts talking about a dream about someone coming and they end up creating a common image that they apply to Harbard when he shows up. The mind is a funny thing that is prone to creating quite a deal of what we recall as reality. That's what makes video cameras such better witnesses than people.

Except we saw the dreams before they talked to each other and before Harbard showed up.