Vikings: Valhalla | Season 3 Official Trailer | Netflix
Netflix
Great stuff. Season 2 saw Leif and Harald going south across the Rus to Constantinople. Now they have been in the employ of the Emperor for seven years.
Season 3 starts off with the siege of Syracuse by the Byzantine Emperor:
Maniakes was a Greek general of the Byzantine Empire . . . . His greatest achievement was the partial reconquest of Sicily from the Arabs beginning in 1038. He was aided by the Varangian Guard, then led by Harald Hardrada, who later became King of Norway.
The Byzantines prevail thanks to the explosives concocted from Sulfur by Leif Ericson. They dig tunnels deep beneath the walls and in a scheme that would make Rube Goldberg proud, use the explosives to bring down a section of the wall. This allows the Emperor's soldiers to storm the city. The central castle holds out, but the Emir in charge calls for single combat to decide his fate. Leif's fellow Viking, Harald Haraldson has become one of the Byzantine generals and gets picked to fight the Emir.
So we have numerous historical characters, plenty of action, intrigue and people murdering their fellow man in all kinds of horrific ways. Much of the plot involves people scheming to get themselves or their children on the throne of one country or another.
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.
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 | Official Trailer | Netflix
Netflix
Historical drama set in England with a bunch of historical characters including Leif Erikson and Æthelred the Unready. It starts with:
The St. Brice's Day massacre was the killing of Danes on the 13th of November 1002, ordered by King Æthelred the Unready of England in response to frequent Danish raids. - Wikipedia
I remember hearing about Leif Erikson when I was in school about a zillion years ago, and Æthelred the Unready, that's a name that sticks in the memory.
His epithet does not derive from the modern word "unready", but rather from the Old English unræd meaning "poorly advised"; it is a pun on his name, which means "well advised". - Wikipedia
Danes had been living in England for a long time. The English noblemen advised the King to exterminate them. Not everyone thought this was a good idea as they suspected this would enrage the Vikings and they would want revenge and that's just what happened. That's my quick guess as to the origin of his nickname.
This show is like a follow on to The Last Kingdom which starts in 877, and we've still got Normans, Saxons and Danes hacking on each other with swords and axes.
The production values are pretty good, meaning the clothing, weapons, boats and buildings all seem reasonable for the period. They do slip in a number of women and brown people into roles where you might not expect them, but who knows? This is hundreds of years after the Romans left and slavery is still a thing. Some people seem to get bent out of shape over this kind of thing, but it doesn't bother me. Sometimes having a black person in a drama really throws some light on the situation, like when we had a black person playing Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton.
Real historical characters from the show:
We even have some dates for some of them. The names in blue are links to Wikipedia which prove (prove) that they really, truly existed.
We started watching Vikings: Valhalla on Netflix last night. It's pretty great. I noticed Jeb Stuart was credited as the writer and the producer, so I got to wondering who is this guy? Wikipedia knows all:
Jeb Stuart (born 1956) is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer best known for writing blockbuster action films like Die Hard and The Fugitive and the Netflix television series Vikings: Valhalla.
Criminently, Die HardandThe Fugitive, two of the bestest movies ever? Gee wilikers, he's a real American hero.
A couple of days ago I asked a question about the TV series Vikings: Valhalla, and Boris Ivanov on quora tells me about the Russian Primary Chronicle, ". . . an Old East Slavic chronicle of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110 . . ." (Wikipedia).
Today Yesterday Bayou Renaissance Man gave us a quote from an article on Richochet by Martti J. Kari, former intelligence Colonel in the Finnish Defence Forces. Peter's excerpt gives us a broad overview.
Set on a modern day cattle station in northern Australia, it's like a return to the old west. It's an entertaining show. We've got plenty of panoramic shots of the expansive landscape, and lots of scenes of modern day cattle ranching. There are several competing cattle stations (ranches) in the area, and their competition often involves what some people might call unfair methods and sometimes includes outright stealing of cattle.
The show opens with a man riding on his horse when the horse unexpectedly rears up, dumping the man off. He suffers a compound fracture of his leg. Out in the bush, no gun or radio or water. The smell of blood attracts dingos (wild dogs) and they pile on and kill him. This has got to be the very worst way to die. Much later we find that another character shot the horse, which is what started this catastrophe. Even worse, that person didn't lift a finger to save this guy. They must have hated him something awful.
So yeah, we have a completely disfunctional family run by an old bear. None of the other ranch bosses are any better. A complete collection of slimeballs. Some of the kids seem to be all right, but most of the old hands are real shitheads.
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.
Roman is a historian who sometimes writes for RT. I read a couple of his stories today. I think they are well done. Now I'm wondering if there is American news site that is produced in Russian, and if there is, what does it sound like? Does it sound reasonable like RT does to me, or is it like the Washington Post and The New York Times, full of bullshit and lies? I suppose it matters which stories you choose to read. I don't read anything about Ukraine or Gaza because everyone writing about those two war zones has an ax to grind. Yes, wars are horrible, but that's the way of the world these days, there is always a war going on somewhere. I think it's because people just like to fight and there are 'leaders' who are willing to take advantage of this natural inclination and are able to organize those people into a coherent force.
Beyond their 790-mile shared border and 108 years of being part of the same state, Moscow and Helsinki have other things in common: their complicated attitudes toward Carl Gustav Mannerheim. Once hailed as a hero in both countries, Mannerheim was a Russian army officer who became Finland’s president during the Second World War. His legacy is fraught with ambiguity and marked by countless lost lives, both Russian and Finnish. This article explores who Mannerheim was and why monuments dedicated to him are frequently splashed with red paint on both sides of the Finland-Russia border.
This paragraph rang a bell: "In the 9th century, a country emerged which would come to be known as Kievan Rus, the homeland of the ancestors of modern-day Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians. The backbone of this state was a network of river trade routes. These routes began in Scandinavia, traversed the Baltic Sea to the Gulf of Finland (near present-day St. Petersburg), and split in two. One route headed east to the Volga River and then to the Caspian Sea, skirting Iran and Azerbaijan before reaching the Arab lands. The other route went south through Novgorod and down the Dnieper to the Black Sea, leading to Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire’s capital. Iron, wax, furs, linen, weapons, and slaves were sent south; north came intricate metalwork, books, and, most crucially, silver." - Reminds of Vikings: Valhalla
(in ancient Greece or Rome) a great public sacrifice, originally of a hundred oxen." After Pythagoras discovered his fundamental theorem he sacrificed a hecatomb of oxen"
an extensive loss of life.
P. S. Map of places mentioned in the story about Carl Mannerheim:
