REACTING to *The Northman* SO BRUTAL!! (First Time Watching) Medevial Movies

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James and Nobu are reacting to The Northman and this movie is so brutal!! This movie starring Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, and Willem Dafoe is a historical and mythological masterpiece! Enjoy this first time watching the Northman movie reaction!
#firsttimereaction #firsttimewatching #actionmovies #fantasybooks #fantasy #fantasymovies #thenorthman #alexanderskarsgard #anyataylorjoy
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[@whitenoisereacts]

What is your favorite period of history?

[@ArmandoTheWanderer]

Rome, of course, right boys?

[@williambranch4283]

Bronze Age, quality over quantity ;-)

[@dacsus]

You guys should check out The Last Kingdom. At least, for yourselves, if not for audience.

[@RexFuturi]

I couldn't pick, which is why, while my degree officially had an American history focus, I took even more classes on European history from ancient Greece, through Rome, Medieval Europe, the 30 Years War in Germany, and the Ages of sail and revolution in the Atlantic.

[@Darthkiller3118]

That question is difficult to answer, because there are so many that fascinates the imagination. When this film takes place might be up there in my top 5. May be biased since I have family that came from Norway. However, The Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1730 estimated) is amazing to read about.

[@celtofcanaanesurix2245]

Part of what I really loved about this movie is that it didn't just show the past more like how it actually was, but it also showed the past as people in the past perceived it. It literally takes you there in their eyes. Viking longships were used for both rivers and the ocean, which was part of what made their raids so affective. I wonder why they don't have subtitles for those scenes, they do when I watch it on vudu. Also a detail I found to be crazy specific that is awesome is the fact that the Valkyrie has swan feathers on her cloak. There is a myth that says that swans are just Valkyries in disguise or at least some of them are.

[@UmbraMilla]

Robert Eggers is a master of historical accuracy. If you ever have the chance to watch The Lighthouse or The VVitch, you’ll see that practically everything in those films were built based on the methods of that time period. I feel like Eggers was on the path to a history degree before he moved into film.

[@Aragonsdick5170]

The lighthouse was Shakespeare meets Greek mythology meets philosophy.. layered AF.. loved it.

[@villanlover58]

When do these two release at corn video they definitely bang

[@thestormylifeofbrian2636]

So, a few notes: There is a lot of symbolism in this film, much of which is related to the Norse religion. -Ravens, not crows. Odin has two ravens; Huginn and Muninn, or 'Thought' and 'Memory'. Odin sends them out to observe the world and report back to him. So, whenever a raven shows up, it is implied that Odin is either watching or intervening. This explains why the ravens pecked away at the ropes binding Amleth. -Amleth and his father prey to Odin; in fact Amleth's father (Ethan Hawke,) is referred to the War-Raven. Amleth's uncle and mother prey to Freyr; who is a fertility god. I believe Amleth refers to him as 'the god of erections' in the movie. The two gods are not rivals, but followers of different gods tend to like to kill each other. That's not a Norse thing, that's just a human being thing. But this explains why Amleth's mother (Nicole Kidman) was shooing away ravens at one point. -As far as I know, there's nothing about needing a heart for a dead person to precede to the afterlife. That might just be sort of preference of the characters, or just something they want for closure. -The tree you referred to earlier in the movie is the world tree Yggdrasil.

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

The raven thing pops up repeatedly on the farm, his mother is seen a couple times trying to scare the crows away, and the farm's patron God is Frey, who has conflict with Odin in myth. So Amleth and his Uncle's rival could be an analogy for that same rivalry, because Odin did steal and marry Freyja who is Frey's sister, very similar story of a family member being stolen and married and the other wanting revenge.

[@bradleymcavoy3432]

@thestormylifeofbrian2636 Its PRAY not Prey. 🙄😉

[@SilverScribe85]

Also, the Berserker scene is not only historically accurate it's also where we get the origin of our modern Werewolf legends

[@gabsrants]

14:15 - as far as I know, they did just step the mast and went on oars only when going inland upriver. The norse ships were famously shallow-drafted (meaning they took very little depth of water to stay afloat) which is why they could easlily row upriver to Paris or Basel to raid or trade. It's also one of the reasons they could easily raid any coastal city, because they could just run their ships up to the beach and land any place they chose, not needing an established harbour.

[@Satanalia13]

A Norse longboat was unique for its time because it was capable of both traversing the open ocean while also retaining the ability to travel through the shallow waters of a river system. The most common longship was a design called the Snekkja. It needed only 1.5 feet of water to float freely, and even the larger vessels would usually need less than 5 feet even when fully loaded so it's not a stretch to say that these boats are the reason the Viking Age happened. Their design was so sophisticated that even with modern shipbuilding knowledge it is almost impossible for us to improve on the design. There were also several different kinds of longship but the most common was the Snekkja, and it seems as though this is the type of ship they are using in the raid. It usually has at least 20 rowing benches and a crew of about 30-40 men, but as the Viking Age progressed we begin to see much larger, 120 man Drakkar longships. To really put into perspective how great a design the longship has - Leif Erikkson would have been able to sail his down a river on less than 2 feet of water, and then was able to sail that same boat across the ocean to become the first Europeans to arrive in North America. No other boats in that era had even close to that level of sophistication and versatility.

[@kristinawrites238]

Glad to see you guys react to this. I saw this in theatres and it was so different to any movie I’d seen in recent memory. The tragedy of the cycle of violence and the heartbreak when Amleth realizes he can’t have his happy ending. I loved every part of it.

[@shainewhite2781]

One of the greatest epic action adventure movies ever made!

[@werdle92]

That bonfire scene of them screaming in the rain, brought back memories of shrooming with the boys on camping trips.

[@Keovey]

That's awesome

[@fjallabrjotur]

This is one of my favourite films, especially an action-epic film.

[@thesalanian]

The thing that sets this movie apart is that it isn’t concerned with making you understand. It just tried to emulate the way people at the time thought and spoke and had faith. That’s what makes it so immersive. It doesn’t try to make things cool, it just shows an honest attempt in making something Vikings would think is hype. Not what we think is hype about them.

[@Syfa]

The huge opponent in the ball game that Amleth beats is played by Hafthor Björnsson, the same guy who played Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane in later seasons of game of thrones and Strongman title holder in a ton of various competitions (former 'world' strongman IIRC but he holds a shitton of records). He's 6'9" and more than 350lbs in this movie, but during game of thrones he was closer to 400-450lbs.

[@sandrasweeney798]

And, he has a great name.

[@ryanhampson673]

There is so much symbolism with Norse mythology if you know what stuff means. The raven looking at him symbolizing Odin when he's thinking about revenge. When he's sneaking in the village and trying to get a knife he locks eyes with a wolf, who is symbolic with Loki, the trickster. The tree's name is Yggdrasill, the tree of life and encompasses all of the cosmos. This movie is just amazing.

[@RexFuturi]

This was a masterpiece. I saw it in theaters twice. Wish it had been more successful. Amleth isn't a berserkr but an ulfhednar. Whereas a berserkr channeled a bear spirit, ulfhednar channeled a wolf. And, where berserkr became something of a joke, ulfhednar were always highly regarded elite warriors.

[@patrickholt2270]

He claims to be both. He calls himself Bjornulfr, and he states outright that he is a Bear-Wolf. It worked for Beowulf, and Beorn in The Hobbit that Tolkien based on Beowulf, although they were both werebears.

[@RexFuturi]

@@patrickholt2270 He used the name, but I don't recall him claiming to BE a bear. At no point does he wear a bearskin or "change" into a bear. Are you sure bear-wolf isn't just a poetic terminology?

[@patrickholt2270]

I don't recall him claiming to BE a wolf either. In the cultural context, and the film is very good in showing what people believe and how it affects their actions, I think the poetic terminology is indicative of the belief. Bjornulfr means bear-wolf. He's not a werebear like Beowulf and like Beorn in Tolkien's The Hobbit, but in a sense he casts himself in the role of a were creature to be able to act with necessary brutality. @@RexFuturi

[@RexFuturi]

@@patrickholt2270 so you missed the part where he was wearing a wolfskin and acting like a wolf?

[@wraithryder]

not sure where you're getting your history from but Ulfhednar were berserkers (they're not exclusive to each other) and Amleth was a Berserker. In case you missed the scene, they do go into a trance-like frenzied rage using drugs and then after the battle Amleth and the other Berserkers are feeling the after effects of extreme weakness which was all typical of Berserkers. In fact the movie goes to extreme lengths to show you Amleth's extreme rage which is quite literally berserking

[@ansionnachbeagrioga5260]

I love this film. The guys in wolf skins are Ulfheidnar. Wolf wearers. Berserkers were Bear Shirters, literally. So much the same thing but a berserker wore a bear hide and an ulfheidnar wore a wolf hide. A KZbinr called Welsh Viking has sworn blind that ulfheidnar were mythical and that there's no actual evidence for them but he can feck off because he doesn't know what he's talking about sometimes. I sent him links to the National Museum of Denmark where they have clear evidence of ulfheidnar but my messages vanished, twice.

[@linknlog]

Cool tidbit about the excellent score: it’s composed only by instruments that would have been available to Vikings during that time period.

[@movieexpert18]

I say after this 13th Warrior with Antonio Banderas. Another great Viking film based off the Beowulf story

[@EChacon]

Very excited that you and Nobu are going to react to the Clint Eastwood Western films in the next 2-3 weeks including _The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly._ Finally, what happened to your _Maleficent_ Reaction that was supposed to happen and be uploaded today?!? I hope you’re not dealing with technical delays or copyright similar to what happened to your “Gravity" group reaction which got delayed for 2-3 weeks which concerns me.

[@ven_skywalker7007]

Amleth's chant before he ascends the volcano is Old Norse. Very close to Swedish which is Alexander Skarsgård's native tongue I will avenge you I will honor our blood I will cut from the thread of fate

[@hettbeans]

The Vikings crossed the seas and went upriver using the same ships. This is part of what made them such a threat.

[@hjorturerlend]

One neat little detail is that the style of the helmet and sword in the burial mound is from the Vendel period, so a couple hundred years before this is set.

[@samieltheinfamous]

"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." -Robert E. Howard There is an appeal in the honesty of the barbarian over the poisoned smiles of the civilized man.

[@whitenoisereacts]

That’s a great quote and an interesting take

[@wraithryder]

id consider skull-splitting the epitome of discourtesy and impoliteness so im not sure that makes any lick of sense. Now if u mean "civilized" men are bolder because they do not fear retribution...again i'd consider skull-splitting beyond bold - ya...savages are pretty frickin discourteous and that quote is just frivolous nonsense from someone thats being pretentious. I love Rob Howard for Conan, but he's also spouts a lot of pretentious nonsense lol

[@wraithryder]

@@whitenoisereacts its just nonsense, and the writer knows that - he is the one who created Conan the Barbarian after all and as much as i love conan, it is tame fiction compared to the realistic brutality of actual history and the Dark Ages

[@Purple_Buffalo]

The Vikings were known for pillaging BECAUSE of their long boats, specifically because they were built with shallow hulls. They had they only ships that could take large groups of men up river to raid unnasuming villages.

[@Titan_TM]

Viking longships had flat keels to my knowledge so were able to traverse rivers famously some vikings used this to sail up the Seine to assault Paris.

[@miked2445]

I love this damn movie.

[@LenOliver-yz6os]

Same here!!! it is a damn good movie.

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

When they built the sets for this Covid hit, so filming was delayed, this actually improved the look as it aged the houses and helped make them look "lived in", plus all the beards the actors grew out during covid lockdown.

[@hettbeans]

Huge Norse mythology and Viking history enthusiast - this was easily my favorite movie of 2022. Saw it twice. Loved every second.

[@denniskinner]

By Norse standards, Amleth had an ideal life. He was a warrior, he avenged death of his relative, he died in battle. 'Deserved to die' in this final sequence has a totally different meaning. They both deserved a warrior's death, still, Amleth's god was nobler, as he told Fjolnir in that shed

[@lc8155]

Great choice here thanks for the reaction!

[@LauPulstar]

as you have finished all of Band of brothers, i feel like you should be watching something a bit more cheerful, but as far as war miniseries go, Generation Kill is amazing, beautifully scrypted, wonderful cast, and it shows a realistic view of modern warfare. Alexander Skarsgaard is one of the main soldiers and it is based on real events as they were told by a journalist from Rolling Stone that went with the marines at the tip of the spear of irak invasion. Maybe you could go there after the next tv show reaction is over.

[@alicestevens8291]

I still don't know how I feel about this. My stepfather watched it with me the last I seen him so it was more family time than film watching for me. The quality of production is up there. It is epic is what I would say of it or more "an" epic. Nearly Shakespearian and even borderline Lovecraftian.

[@williambouchard4077]

The beautiful shot of the Tree blew me away in theathers. The World Tree is also called Yggdrasil ;)

[@cynthiaschultheis1660]

VIKING BOATS WERE VARRIOUS SIZES. BUT THEIR SHALLOW HULL MADE IT EASY TO TRAVERSE RIVERS.

[@Slevencolevra]

The fantastically parts are "what the story will be told." Like fighting a 8ft Skelton for a sword.

[@movieexpert18]

The smaller boats was one of the keys of their success traveling up rivers into settlements along them.

[@Tr0nzoid]

Watching this movie earlier this year was a nice find for me, as I hadn't noticed it upon release. There were several reactions when it hit home video but there have not been many since.

[@daredevil272]

I really enjoyed watching “The Northman” with you guys🔥. The entire cast was great including Nicole Kidman, Alexandar Skarsgard, Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Anya Taylor Joy etc. I loved the myth/historical feel to the film, the action was intense and brutal which I liked and I loved the way the film was shot, the locations etc. Loved your reaction/analysis, take care, enjoy life, stay healthy and have a good one👍❤️

[@allaboutthecookies9642]

That was Bjork playing the witch!

[@lolitzmorgan105]

Would love you guys to react to The Lighthouse (2019) it’s truly Robert Eggers’ (the director’s) Magnum Opus!

[@patrickholt2270]

The thing about fate is an important part of it, because it's an idea which is solid, not vague like how we use the word. The Norns are like the Fates in Greek mythology, they spin out the story of each person and humanity as a whole, and it's almost impossible to change the fate that the norns have set for you, and trying may make things worse in tersm of kicking against the the limits of what you're capable of and the people around you can be on board with. By the way that's Icelandic singer-songwriter Bjork who tells him his fate after he's part of that raiding expedition to plunder and take slaves, with the three little shells hanging in front of her eyes. Knowing your fate can give you power, because if you go with it nothing will stop you until it's fulfilled, but it also creates fatalism and despair, but then he needs that to be reconciled to the death he's likely to face in doing what he's going to have to do to save his unborn progeny. Hoping he could survive, or trying to survive could get in the way of killing Fjolnir and who else he has to kill to get to Fjolnir. If you remember in The Hobbit, Tolkien has the character Beorn, and Tolkien took him straight from Beowulf, which the Hobbit is partially inpspired by. A Beowulf is a bear, a bee-wolf, a vicious animal that steals from bees, and reading between the lines of Beowulf, Beowulf is a werebear. Beorn also means bear, and Beorn is a werebear who puts up Bilbo and the Dwarves on their way from the Misty Mountains to Mirkwood and then takes part in the Battle of Five Armies, breaking through the Goblin king Bolg's Hobgoblin bodyguard. When Amleth names himself as Bjornulfr, he's giving the game away because that's "bear-wolf", which is absolutely the description of a berserk, like we see him and the others channelling wolf-spirits before attacking the walled village. So in their religion and their warrior-culture they are working with altered states of consciousness and active visualisation and believing in premonitions and prophesies as a way of preparing themselves for combat and other dangerous deeds. And that includes the Valkyries and Valhalla and Ragnarrok, the fatalistic idea that the world is fated to come to an end in ice and the return of the Titans to slay the gods and the warriors gathered in Valhalla to fight alongside them in the last battle, that even the afterlife itself is going to end in death and defeat. There are a couple of Dan Davis History videos which help explain what's going on in this movie - This Ancient Rite of Passage Changed the World, and The First Berserkers: The Bronze Age Koryos. Oh, and of course Amleth is Hamlet.

[@John_Locke_108]

Such an amazing movie. Glad you guys watched it.

[@PerfectHandProductions]

Awesome! I love this film. It's so underrated.

[@ansionnachbeagrioga5260]

The sport being played was an Icelandic sport called knattleikr but it developed from an Irish sport called hurling. Well spotted. I was impressed a non Irish person knew that.

[@SerbTerm]

I went to go see this in the movie theater and I Loovveee this movie. 3 reasons why 1. I love history (All history in school) especially Medieval history 2. This is set with Vikings and Norse Mythology which is very interesting as we all know the MCU version of Thor, Loki, Odin etc 3. The story in this and the characters Plus the action and Brutality of how life was back then for lots of people is amazing and the music. I hope we see more movies like this from Robert Eggers or other directors. Keep up the awesome work W.N. Btw u should react to Joaquin Phoenix's new movie Napoleon which is amazing

[@letsplayfan8891]

If I'm not mistaken, I first saw Alexander Skarsgård on the TV show True Blood back in 2008. The first movie I consciously noticed him in was The East (2013). As for Ethan Hawke, I did first see him in Explorers (1985) as a child actor, and the fantastic Robin Williams feature Dead Poets Society (1989) as a young adult. But the movies that really put him on my radar were Alive (1993), the truly awesome Reality Bites (1994) as well as the Before trilogy. He later also starred in Gattaca (1997), Great Expectations (1998), The Newton Boys (1998), Training Day (2001), Taking Lives (2004), as well as the Purge series. More recently, I really liked his performance in Stockholm (2018). He is such a prolific actor and truly one of the greats.

[@svenskhund3603]

Yes Amleth joined a wandering band of Berserkers. It more or less translates to bear skin as they would wear bear and wolf pelts over their bodies to battle. The ritual they were performing includes taking certain types of mushrooms i belive and they form their mental state into a kind of rage induced anger. They believed it helped them ignore pain and fight more ferociously. How he came to become one actually makes more sense than you would think as Berserkers were thought of as a kind of outlaw of sorts, as they were considered too aggressive by most clans to allow them to live in the towns and be integrated with their regular army so they were usually made up of people who have been practically disowned by their communities.

[@shotgundorothy]

'Yggdrasil' the Tree of Life. The Raven could be Hugin or Munin, one of Odin's two ravens that report back to him. Hugin represents 'memory' and Munin represents 'thought'.

[@McBrannon1000]

One thing I love was how they incorporate alliteration in the dialogue, we really are watching a Norse Saga on screen. Amleth's Norse chant near the end is "I will avenge you, I will honor my bloodline, I will cut thenthread of fate."

[@alexdeacon8622]

Great reaction fellas, not sure why the subtitles didn't come on for you but its brilliant nonetheless. Ulfhednars are fascinating group and its inspired me to go down norse pagenism.

[@silverb4ck192]

I agree with James that nowadays modern countries/culture like to sugarcoat and recontextualize the past. I totally disagree with the point that nowadays we are more civilized... We have more rules in place that are enforcing a certain behavior for a majority and that have been doing so for a few generations now. But it's as much of genuine behavior than it is a conditional formatting. Make no mistakes with the fact that in times of chaos, humans would find back very quickly their brutality and utter selfish behavior. Good reaction guys

[@legochickenguy4938]

the director (Robert Eggers) originally wanted the entire film to be in ancient Norse but the studio wouldn't let him. the studio also forced him to cut down the movie.

[@lifewriter7455]

As a Norwegian I do recognise some of these aspects in Nordic everyday life. Intriguing indeed it is. 😎🖤👍

[@aidanfarnan4683]

14:02 Viking longships aren’t that big to begin with, and are relatively flat bottomed for navigating shallow fjords, so they can go upstream in their regular ships. the scary thing is how far they travelled over rough sea, without compasses, in these tiny things. Yes, they are berserker, and the guy leading them in the ritual around the fire is based on cauldron art depicting some form of pre-battle or pre-feast ceremony. 19:19, yep, it’s a priestess. Played by Bjork. 22:20, yeah it’s a tiny ship. 23:35 Yggdrasil 32:06 I like that this I clearly a boat burial, and that everything that happens in this scene could be supernatural or just could be him tripping on black mould spores 32:47 the Helmet has a boar on it, a common Anglo Saxon (and other German migration period cultures) design, and the sword is a migration era ring sword. Rings were given in early Germanic cultures to symbolise the swearing of oaths (wedding rings are the last vestiges of this tradition). A lord would give out swords with rings permanently fixed to them, so by taking one from him you were de-facto swearing an oath of fealty to him. This all hints that the Mound dweller is member of an older (AD500-700), pre-Viking Germanic culture. 34:16 as well as being a posable mark of disrespect, burying someone with their head severed and between/by their legs was thought to disorientate their ghost and prevent them rising again. 36:34 you can see the ring on the hilt nicely in this scene 38:03 possibly an early form of Hurling? The actual main Icelandic sport we know about from this period was betting on Pony fights, where you’d get two (tiny Icelandic) stallions and let them fight in a ring over a Mare, but I guess that level of animal cruelty may be too brutal even for this film. 41:46 fly agaric. 52:54 you have to be buried whole to be whole in the next life: there are Viking burials with crude prosthetic legs and or genitals that would have served no function but were added as part of the grave goods. 54:56 some skulls that might be from the Jomsviking, a religious mercenary group, have groves cut in their front teeth with flint of metal tools, as a form of decoration/identification. That’s the look this Valkyrie is rocking. It might also be how Harald Bluetooth got his name, but that unclear.

[@bg7606]

The scene where he's hanging... he's rescued by exactly 9 ravens. 9 is Odin's number.

[@chancewallace47]

If it didn't feel like a modern movie to you there is a reason. This story is the epic that Hamlet was based on. Extremely similar stories even down to the name of the protagonist.

[@Aragonsdick5170]

That Valkyrie scene will always bring goosebumps on me. The lore does great with such inclusions to the story .

[@williambranch4283]

Viking ancestors were severely anti-social. They recently found an Anglo-Saxon king who was buried in a mound in a wooden box (kurgan) in Sussex. Transitional pagan burial, he had thin gold crosses over his eyes instead of coins. Full Christian burial has no grave goods.

[@Hairysteve20]

This is based on the story that Shakespeare's Hamlet was derived from. The lead is Prince Amleth. Amleth is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

[@arty560]

When they went up river they just took the masts down. Most boats actually had removable masts so they could go under bridges, or convert them into "tents" to ensure the boat didn't sink during a storm. Really cool stuff. They were a lot smarter than people give them credit.

[@cynthiaschultheis1660]

The Anglo-Saxon Sagas...are chronicles you can find and read.👍👍👍👍👍

[@oslafoirausuebutuoy5457]

1:01:35 The version I saw had subtitles in that part. That happens many times, depending on the file they use for subtitles there can be some scenes that don't have them, which sucks.

[@oleghrozman4172]

I love this movie. This movie is just like magical-realism. Thank you for reaction.

[@jonhstonk7998]

Hi, little side notes for you guys so I can clear a few doubts you had about the movie: -The Viking Longship or ¨Dragon-ship¨ was groundbreaking for its time is very fast compared to most other ships of its period and its elongated design allowed it to be used for river navigation, it was also light enough to be picked up by its crews and carried between river routes for both trading and raiding adventures or ¨Viking¨ which was the profession that loosely meant ¨adventuring¨ but generally had to do with going on raids, war or trading voyages, at the start of the movie we see a Norsemen raid on a Slavic settlement in the land known then as ¨Rus¨ and now as ¨Russia¨ that land was conquered and settled by germanic Northmen who became the high aristocracy of the region while the bulk of the population remained Slavic, these conquest voyages would eventually create many Rus Principalities which would later lead to the creation of the Principalities of Muscovy and Kyev which would eventually be united in the kingdom of Russia and eventually give way to a distinct Cossack identity later creating the cultures and countries known as Ukraine and Russia in our times. -The Berserker or Uefdhinar were a sort of warrior brotherhood/warband model that many Northern Germanic cultures of this period had, they weren´t really organized in orders but rather warbands although they did have a religious character to them with the dances you saw them perform before a battle with their shields and spears while also wearing bear and wolf skins so they could embody the characteristics of the animal, they were also heavily associated to Wotan/Odin who was the God King of the Norse pantheon and his cult was generally followed by royalty and nobility as well as by warriors, Thor was also a very popular God among warrior and freemen class peoples. -The moment you saw Amleth catch a spear thrown at them from the wall was actually a reference to something that happened in one of the epic sagas we have from the Norse/Northern Germanic peoples when the hero/protagonist performs that exact same deed it being a sort of ¨easter egg¨ in the movie or a small homage. - A lot of the Movie has heavy symbolism related to Norse religion, Wotan/Odin is a regal war God, and Amleth as the son of a King is part of his dedicated cult, Freyer, on the other hand, was a more popular but ¨lower¨ God related to Fertility, nature, births, and farmsteads being often widely worshiped by members of low nobility and ¨Freemen class¨, Freyer is a Vanir God which is a God´s related to nature and other such associations who waged wars with the Aesir Gods which are associated with concepts of regality and conflict, the war ended with an amicable exchange of prisoners and Freyer and his sister ¨freya/freija¨ went to live in Asgard or the ¨seat of the Gods¨ some speculate that the war between Aesir and Vanir may have a historical legend aspect of a story of how Scandinavia was settled by Germanics who defeated and displaced many previous people who therein lived. -Iceland was an interesting case, especially for its period, the reason being that while most Germanic kingdoms were organized around Monarchies and/or aristocracies however Iceland was founded under the idea of ¨freedom and property¨ making it a very interesting case because and while there were class differences in the form of slaves as well as wealthy and poor people in Iceland...there was no King or Nobility, instead they had a yearly and emergency assembly where every landowner could freely speak and freely vote on laws, this assembly also mediated disputes, this was one of the only direct democracies in medieval Europe(not that direct democracies are great just pointing out an interesting anomaly), it is the closest mankind ever got to an ¨ANCAP¨ state which makes it interesting to study about for the mere fact this society existed, in these local assembly´s it was common to hold sporting contests such as was shown in the movie but things such as wrestling and Glima which is a type of martial art were also common. -As someone already explained the Ravens are associated with Odin/Wotan as he has two of them ¨Huggin and Munnin¨ (thought and memory) on his shoulders at all times except when he sends them into the world to learn things for him, In Norse religion Ravens are said to be his eyes and ears as well as his servants which is why they help Amleth, Oaths are also very important in Viking culture and oathbreaking is a grave crime that has religious connotations akin to blasphemy, also Kinslaying is almost completely unjustifiable in Norse law except to correct another Kinslaying, to kill one's own family is the worse possible sin since that in Norse culture the family and not the individual is the most basic political unit(as in any healthy society), Wotan/Odin is also a God who punishes Oathbreakers and Kinslayers...like Amleths mother and his uncle. - Draugr is indeed the word for Undead in Norse mythology and religion as anyone who played Skyrim will be able to tell you, however, you may be confused as to why Amleth put his decapitated head in his buttocks...well it´s because in Norse lore and myth that´s how you exorcise an undead ghost or Wraith, yes this is in the Sagas. -The pagan notion of ¨fate¨ or ¨doom¨ which is an inescapable force that rules the time of your death and the way things will turn out throughout your life is a very strong theme of many Sagas and the concept is common in many Greek pagan stories as well, the idea your life is set in stone before you are born and that the best you can do is to live diligently according to that is a recurring theme of Greek and Norse paganism, this contrasts the Belief of Christianity which holds that free will is present within all humans and God merely presents us with many choices and outcomes all of which he knows the result, but the choice of what to do is ultimately that of the human, it is interesting to see the contrast between these ideas. - Remember how I said Kinslaying was a harsh sin in the Norse pagan religion? yeah even when it is justified like taking revenge for a slain kinsman such as in this story, generally speaking, those revenge stories always end badly for everyone involved and even the ¨hero¨ who is punishing the kin slaying is himself being tainted by committing it, he may receive the eternal reward of the religion in the form of the warrior afterlife of ¨Valholl¨ being carried there by a Valkyrie after one´s honorable death(such as happens to Amleth) but generally speaking it was seen as a cursed fate to have to enact the duty(it was seen as a duty) of avenging kin slaying committed by another kinsman. hope I helped you guys have a better understanding of the themes of the movie and of Norse society, culture, and ideas in general, I must also give the disclaimer that I am no authority in this matter and am merely giving a layman's opinion, neither am in religious, ethnically or culturally linked to Norse peoples being myself a Catholic that is a descendant of Iberian and Italian peoples, however, I do study many themes and topics and I do speak some old norse among other languages so I'm happy if I helped!

[@lungfulldrummer8921]

You guys should check out Valhalla rising. A "viking" style arty bit of goodness from the director of drive. Starring mads Mickelson.

[@samshootman6510]

The best euphemism I've heard for the Norse is "aping out in a tundra shithole". Hammer meet head of nail

[@chrismcfetridge620]

This movie is Epic!, shame it didn't get the credit that it deserved..Great Reaction guys 👍🇬🇧

[@kylebucheri9370]

This is the tale Shakespeare based hamlet on, hence talking to the jester’s skull 30:38

[@Sean-uu8wz]

Highly recommend survive the jives video on the northman, stumbled upon it just recently and it explained a lot of the mythology and how spot on this movie is on old-norse mysticism and mythology.

[@pliny8308]

Rome was brutal in war, but it also brought civilization. Within a few generations the people were all Romans. Dozens and dozens and dozens of books have been written about it. It's called Romanization. The Nordic peoples made their money not from taxation, but from looting, razing not just cities but also churches, and slave running. They sold slaves all over Europe. They weren't any better than the Saracen pirates who raided the coasts, pillaging, raping, and slaving. The Roman city in my almost literal backyard, Luni, was sacked and pillaged by both. Under the Romans, it was a civilized place to live and its people were prosperous, even local middle class and working class people. The 600 years after the fall of Rome were horrific, but in actuality, the standard of living didn't approach Roman standards until the late 1800s.

[@thejamppa]

Vikings and their culture was immensely diverse and complex. You shouldn't take all they write vikings in popular culture or comics seriously. Viking's also had written languange, own belief system. All marks of high society was checked on Vikings. Also, there are clear evidence that Vikings had surprisingly equal society. Female were warriors and had burried with treasures of warrior kings. Their law in inheritance also recognized women's right for inheritance most cases and rape of free viking woman was big no in viking culture (punishment was castration or execution of offender if marriage couldn't be arranged or otherwise appropriately negotiated between families). Vikings treated others like Spartan's treated non-spartans. I wouldn't call them better than saracen pirates. At least there were chance of from viking servitude to rise in powerful position. Only reason why vikings targeted churches and monastaries was: They usually had immense wealth with little to no defence. Certainly they were barbaric, but then so were Christians against pagans and even other christians during those days. Big part of Ireland and Northern England's inheritance is based on viking culture. Vikings established Dublin and basically Normans (like Wilhelm the conqueror were off descendants of vikings. I do recommend Viking's TV series. Its brutal and dark but as fantasy it also gives surprisingly accurate belief system, clans, village and societal hierarchy.

[@JulioLeonFandinho]

​@@thejamppa Viking society wasn't either diverse nor complex, they were getting out from the bronze era when they were romanized. You shouldn't trust total inaccurate tv shows to think how History was. That show you named is appalling

[@JulioLeonFandinho]

I disagree in one thing, the post-roman world was tough... in Europe. I remind you that Byzantine Empire endured strong and prosper until at least the 15th century. Same in other Eastern kingdoms and places

[@derworfnet]

For another Northman-related movie, I strongly recommend _The 13th Warrior_ from 1999. Its basically a Variation of the Beowul-Saga.

[@thejamppa]

I love how this film portrays berserkers. As much we know of runic inscription and history, that is how berserkers were. They used herbs and drinks to induced immense blood lust and trance like mental state. They wore animal skins and no armor and fought like fierce wilder beast armed with weapons. and I do love how Drauggur fight is huge homage to original Conan film. Way Draugur is portrayed, sword. Scene is spine chilling. Viking long ships are considered one the best designed vessels in nautical history. It took centuries develop better ships that could also cross sea that were caravels. Vikings were literally centuries a head of other cultures in northern hemisphere when it came to Sea navigation. It took centuries before Portugese and Spanish could do the same vikings did centuries earlier.

[@chance757]

he isn’t a berserker, that’s a bear spirit. he’s the lesser known wolf one… edit: i looked it up lol he’s an ulfhednar not a berserker

[@SnailHatan]

There wasn’t a single berserk in this entire film. Amleth was with Ulfhednar, not berserkers. They had wolf pelts, and were known to be extremely elite warriors, unlike berserkers which became somewhat of a joke

[@KERRYPIKE]

The Northern movie is a great medevial movie.

[@Justwalks]

Can't believe you lads haven't reacted to neither The Witch or The Lighthouse. Robert Eggers is such a brilliant director. You would love them and the reactions would be banging! Top films.

[@cynthiaschultheis1660]

Lots of Shamans, witches, Seers, male witches, warlocks in their beliefs!!👍👍👍👍

[@jarmo8134]

The masts can be taken down, at least in some ship designs. And you do have smaller and bigger boats and ships, but the vikings were feared for their ship design, because all of them could go up river.

[@terryjohnson5579]

All due respect but the shit Norse sailors could do with they ships. If youve seen viking the part where they essentially carry the ships over the terrain and drop them back in the other side was apparently a moment that actually happened.

[@ayaballout7213]

What i love is that you though that Alexander isn't slavic😂. I mean he is Swedish. That us as slavic as it gets. And he looks like one. With the pale complex eyes and hear. Even the "uncle" clea bang is Slavic.

[@mezzem6134]

Please watch starkid's VHS Christmas Carol with the girls. I think Stella would enjoy it!

[@UlfhednarAxe]

He was raised by a berserker tribe as a boy trained to live for the god of death and give his life for the all father because he was destined for Valholl

[@tylerhackner9731]

Epic film

[@nathanaelevans1949]

You guys should watch another two A24 masterpieces, The Witch (2015), and The Lighthouse (2019).

[@oliviawilliams6204]

It’s implied that his daughter will become St Olga of Kiev who was a queen yep

[@robovike]

Amleth is an anagram of Hamlet. HTH.

[@tishafay]

I didn't trust the queen from the start because she offered herself to her husband even though it's considered bad luck to bed your wife before battle. It's almost like she wanted him to die.

[@cynthiaschultheis1660]

KING HAROLD OF NORWAY IS IN "VIKINGS" Great character, real King.👍👍👍👍❤❤❤❤❤

[@Bunnix487]

Another historic type of animation I would like to recommend, it’s the blue eyed samurai. It’s just released a few days ago

[@jaimepe4765]

They casually laughing at the savages shooting the fisherman and his son.... O_o

[@carlrs15]

Ethan Hawke wasn't in The Mask lol

[@EChacon]

Speaking of the Mask it would be awesome if all four of them react to this movie.

[@apotheosis1660]

Easily 9.5/10 movie

[@thedragon133]

15:02 berserkers.

[@AdorianDelmore]

Please please see Cinderella 3 A twist in time one of the best Disney sequel ever!

[@mmsizzlak]

No one's gonna mention that the Valkyries' teeth were tatted? Those aren't braces

[@Drownedinblood]

Pretty sure the whole point was that it was melding reality and a viking saga. That's why you have the real fantastical elements even feats of strength. It's still a bit exaggerated. You can always show brutality as either something negative or positive. In this case it was positive, negative would be something Come and See or how many non-Euro cultures are depicted. Brutality without a noble cause but pure pleasure.

[@wraithryder]

If you liked this movie, watch the Epic Original Barbarian: Conan the Barbarian w/ Arnie - its fantastic and full of glorified violence, high adventure, and an epic score and orgies! What more would you ask for!?

[@tylerthompson1842]

Movie started really strong but his character frustrated me. He suddenly realizes after they get away from a life of slavery that he must finish the fight, jumps in the sea swimming god knows how long to go all the way back to where he just was lol. Then an over the top fight scene at this hellish location that he picked. Yes, let’s fight to the death surrounded by molten lava lol

[@boboboy8189]

This movie is still accurate though, its about his psychology not because of revenge. The revenge is his motivation, when he lose motivation, he keep asking Will he do the right thing or not

[@Skrubb_Lord]

If I could describe this movie in one word it would have to be.... Primal.😈

[@louispaulter8733]

Totally Off reaction to this movie, after watching your “Real Steel” your gang NEEDS to revisit a sports- boxing genre by reacting to a true “real-feel” human story starring Russel Crowe, - “Cinderella Man.” You folks will LUV IT !!!

[@karolwilczynska9094]

Continue the Europe/Artic Theme . . .. Can you react to a couple of Russian Fantasy - Night Watch (2004) + Day Watch (2006). Would be interesting to watch your reaction. 👋🏼

[@itsatomicwolf1733]

I hope you guys react to season 2 of Loki

[@natl5692]

I went to see this movie alone in cinema. I rarely go and never alone. When getting out of the room, I was so confused on what i just saw. It was beautiful but weird

[@SnailHatan]

I don’t see what’s confusing about it. Pretty darn straightforward.