Vikings: The Gods and Actors

In a previous post, I noted that for many people in my generation Star Wars is like our bible and in fact its themes and characters are based on ancient stories that somehow seem to be coded in our DNA or maybe even in the physical fabric of our reality.

Vikings is similarly based on the legendary stories of Ragnar Lothbrok, which in turn, are based on mythological stories. Most of the characters in the story are the gods and the team of artists that produce the series rely on mythological imagery and allusions, and hence imagery and allusions drawn from nature, to dramatize the gods. Some of the characters seem to be based directly on one god in the Norse pantheon, while others, maybe even Ragnar, are syntheses of multiple gods. Indeed, syncretism seems to be one of the major themes of the series as Christianity bumps into the ancient religion of the people.

Floki Slithering through Tall Grass

The task of the actors in the series, then is channeling or evoking the gods. Vikings uses some subtle, and some not so subtle cues to accomplish this.

Ragnar takes on the roll of Odin. Throughout the series Travis Fimmel moves his head in an odd way and eyes the camera to evoke a bird, maybe alluding to Odin's ravens. He wears a raven insignia on his shoulder. He sometimes hops up on furniture in a scene or sits on a perch. Floki in the series is obviously Loki. He wears eye make up that evokes a snake's eye patches and moves in a serpent-like manner.

Aslaug

The female characters in the series, Lagertha and Aslaug evoke the ancient goddess character(s). (Check out David Mathisen's post on Isis and Nephthys for the dual nature of the goddess.)

As mentioned in an earlier post, Lagertha's a version of the kick-ass-moon-girl, although in her case, she's a full grown woman, the female version of Ragnar.

Aslaug's the pretty, icy, unfaithful, magic oriented red haired Venus type character. She first appears in water (like Aphrodite's birth), then shows up wearing a net (cf. Net of Hephaestus), and holding an apple (cf Judgement of Paris) and walking a dog. (I don't know the meaning of that one.) It's notable that the female characters don't seem to adopt the animal imitating style of the male characters.