Life and Death

Vikings Season 1 Trailer
Rewatch Again

We've been watching Vikings and while it is a gory bloodfest, it's given me a few things to think about.

Early on Ragnar's 'tribe' makes a pilgrimage to Uppsala where they have a drug and alcohol fueled orgy. Then there is a religious ceremony where they sacrifice (slaughter) a bunch (several dozen) animals and also a group of humans. Now my immediate reaction is that this is barbaric, which is understandable, after all they are heathen / pagan savages, not god-fearing Christians and it is barbaric. Then I think about it a bit and now I wonder if maybe the sacrifice victims were just feeling suicidal and this gave them a socially acceptable means of ending their lives. Now, by our standards they were living pretty miserable lives up there in cold, rocky Norway where farming was a pretty precarious business. You can see how someone whose life has been pretty miserable might get discouraged and take the opportunity to exit this life and join their gods. Shoot, we've got it a heck of a lot better than they did and we have people committing suicide.

Many episodes later there is a scene where they are getting ready for a battle and Bjorn says 'life is on the edge between life and death' or words to that effect. I'm reminded of stories from soldiers about how they never feel more alive than when they are engaged in real combat - where their lives are at serious risk. There was a scene in a movie (Proof of Life) where a couple of guys who know what they are doing break in on meeting between the principal and a group who is angling to be the negotiator in a hostage situation. The two guys come into the meeting armed with assault rifles and run the erstwhile negotiators off. No shots are fired, but now we know that these two guys know what they are going. The face-off is all over and one says to the other 'that was some fun, eh?'

So now I'm thinking that Vikings went on these raids sheerly for the thrill of combat. Sure, they might capture some slaves, and haul off some loot, but I think the slaves were just to pay for the expedition, and the loot, well, they just buried it so they would have plenty of loot in Valhalla. Were they just adrenaline junkies?

Earlier today I was reading Bayou Renaissance Man and he's talking about people who cannot perform the simplest jobs. Whether it is stupidity, or being unwilling or unable to pay attention, the job doesn't get done and sometimes they just make a mess. 

Capitalism depends on people being able to work together towards one goal. Typically, you need one person leading the charge, directing the people. You don't want more than one, too many chefs spoil the soup and all that. If you have a bunch of people who will apply themselves to the leader's goal and can follow directions, you have a chance of reaching your goal.

Now I'm thinking you get a leader who wants to make war on the neighbors, he could make use of the same kind of people to wage an effective war. If there is business going on, the competent people might not be interested in going to war. However, there are always going to be people who are not going to be good employees but who might be thrilled by the prospect of going to war.

Different kinds of people, with different temperaments and different motivations.

Heard a rumor today that someone in Colombia is offering tourist packages to suicidal Japanese. The idea is that life in Japan is too safe and boring, whereas life in Colombia can be fraught with danger.

Lots of people commit suicide. Most I suspect are due to depression. Some may be due to chronic pain. Some drug overdoses are accidental by people suffering chronic pain.

When I was suffering from depression Stu recommended getting a motorcycle and going for a ride. In retrospect I think it was fine advice. I should have taken it. I managed to escape my depression but it took a long time. A couple of years anyway. Maybe ten. I dunno.

Vikings: Valhalla - Netflix Series

Vikings: Valhalla - Season 2 | Official Trailer | Netflix
Netflix
I'm not too sure about this show. It's a good story, and the production values are pretty good, but I think they bit off more than they can chew. For example, they have Viking long ships, but they look pretty small, but this was back around the 10th century, so maybe the size is accurate.

There are three story lines. We've got Queen Emma of England dealing with her minister Godwin and some sort of treachery. 

We've got Freydis who escaped from Hagar's raid on Kattegut. She ends up in Jomsburg in Pomerania (coastal area of Germany and Poland). Jomsburg is ruled by a tyrant but Freydis prevails, though it's a close run thing.

Leif Eriksson and Harold end up in Russia where Harald comes up with a plan to get rich by taking a boatload of furs to Constantinople. At first I thought they would sail west through the Baltic, past Denmark, through the English channel, around France and Spain to Gibraltar and thence through the Mediterranean. But no, they are heading due south via an ice covered river. It's 900 miles as the crow flies, but given how twisty and turny the river is, it's probably twice that. Plus, the rivers don't connect. There is one flowing north toward Vogrovod, and there is the Dneiper flowing south past Kiev to the Black Sea, but it doesn't look like they connect. Since the route didn't jump out at me, I posted a question on Quora and Boris Ivanov confirms my thinking.

Would it have been possible to take a boat from Novgorod, Russia via rivers to the Black Sea back around the year 1000 AD?

No, that was impossible. The real route was more complicated, and it included travels by land. Here is a description from the Russian Primary Chronicle:

There was a way from the Varangians to the Greeks and from the Greeks along the Dnieper, and from the upper reaches of the Dnieper you can portage boats to Lovot [the Lovat river in Russia and Belarus], and along Lovot you can enter Ilmen, the great lake; Volkhov flows out of the same lake and flows into the great lake Nero [Lake Ladoga], and the mouth of that lake flows into the Varangian Sea.

The Dnieper Rapids were also usually crossed by portaging, because they were too treacherous to sail through them.

1,800 miles (two times 900) at 18 miles a day would take a hundred days. At one point in their journey someone mentions that they have been traveling for two months, so okay. You could probably make a entire show just about this journey, but we only get the highlights, like when the ice dam breaks and when the go over the water fall. Then there is the run-in with the savage Penchengs who capture our two heroes and decide to amuse themselves by cutting them.

 

Novograd to the Black Sea

The black lines trace the easily visible rivers. The rivers extend further but they get very small and very windy. Very small is a relative term. At Mogilev, which is about half way between the ends of the two black lines, the Dnipro (aka Dnieper) river is 250 feet wide.

They went to a lot of trouble to shoot the ice boat scenes:

Vikings: Valhalla Season 2 | Behind the Scenes: Ice River | Netflix
Netflix: Behind the Streams
Wikipedia page here.
Season 1 post here.

Paladin

BOSCH Season 7 - Official Trailer | Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video

We're watching season 7 of Bosch. Somewhere past the middle (episode 6 maybe?) they are talking about a hitman and Jimmy Robertson (played by Paul Calderon), the aging Latino detective, mentions Paladin, Have Gun Will Travel, and Richard Boone and draws blank looks from everyone else, including my wife. How could they not know about this fixture of American culture? Don't they teach nobody nuttin' in school no more? I guess not, and not too many people delve into history. It's really not surprising none of the characters recognized the phrase since all these whippersnappers were born after the show ended in 1963, but I bet all of the actors did.

TV Intro | Pilot | Have Gun – Will Travel
John Daniels

Wikipedia gives us a little background:

The Paladins (or Twelve Peers) are twelve fictional knights of legend, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. 

Statue of Roland in the town hall square of Riga, Latvia.
Image courtesy Patrick Mayon

Roland was the leader of the pack.

Bosch, 8 episodes, 50 minutes each, on Amazon Prime

Have Gun - Will Travel, 225 episodes, 25 minutes each, at least some of which are on YouTube

Charles 'One Weird Trick' Martel

Charles Martel (C688-741)
Defeating The Caliph's Army Under Abd-Er-Rahman At Tours France 732

Borepatch has a few cogent words to say about campaigning.

P.S. Charles Martel has appeared here before.

Redbad

REDBAD - TRAILER #1 (2018)
Modern Dutch movie about an old time Dutch dude.

Redbad was the king (or duke) of Frisia from c. 680 until his death in 719. He is often considered the last independent ruler of Frisia before Frankish domination. He defeated Charles Martel at Cologne. Eventually, however, Charles prevailed and compelled the Frisians to submit. Redbad died in 719, but for some years his successors struggled against the Frankish power. - Redbad, King of the Frisians

Mostly it's a movie of guys fighting with swords and people being violently horrible to each other, as is traditional. So, lot's of action. Plus we have definite good guys (the pagans) and definite bad guys (Charles Martel and his Christian soldiers). The movie marries off Redbad's sister to the evil Martel. They lay it on a bit thick. In real life, it was Redbad's daughter who gets married off to Martel's brother.

The marriage was political. I suppose such a marriage could be a hostile relationship, but I would think you would try to make the best of it, being as you are kind of stuck. But people don't always do what they should, sometimes inbred animosity overwhelms any rational control and you get shit like you see here, or on Jerry Springer.

There is one pointless and inexplicable little adventure. Redbad takes his wife and their baby to reconnoiter the castle where his sister is being held. He sees his sister being baptized, but he is surprised by some guards, whom he kills with his mighty sword. He, his wife and child barely escape with their lives. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

This scene was in the movie, and the logic is pretty wonderful:

It is said that Redbad was nearly baptised, but refused when he was told that he would not be able to find any of his ancestors in Heaven after his death, since he preferred spending eternity in Hell with his pagan ancestors than in Heaven with his enemies, especially the Franks. - Redbad, King of the Frisians

The movie was supposed to be a great film about a great Dutch hero, like Admiral, but it fails to deliver any more than generic sword fighting entertainment. Okay, it did prompt me to do a little reading.

All the places mentioned are in relatively small portion of Europe.

Redbad Locations

From top to bottom the locations on the map are:

• Heligoland, Redbad retreated here in 697
• Frisia, Redbad's home territory
• Utrecht, area containing Dorestad
• Dorestad, Redbad was defeated by Pepin in 689
• Cologne, Redbad defeated Martel in 714
• Reims, mentioned in the movie.

Redbad lived about a century before King Alfred ruled in Wessex, England (The Last Kingdom).