Éadríc said:
They’re all bastards though and all the boys on the web rooting for them as they kill monks are psychopaths.
Now, I haven't seen the series and I don't know how things are depicted there, but I can say with confidence that the Norse raiders of Britain and Ireland did not plunder monasteries and churches for the "fun" of killing monks and priests. They couldn't care less about them - all they wanted was to relieve them of their plentiful silver; and in some cases kidnap important persons for ransom. Occasionally they enslaved them and brought them back to their homelands or indeed the northern isles, or they found someone locally who would pay to free enslaved monks. If they ever did kill the monks it would have been because they refused to give up their worldly silver.
Hmm.. Now I have to watch this, though it didn't impress me much the first half hour...
EDIT: Uff.. Having watched the first episode, I must say it was appalling to see all the mistakes. The earl (meh?) acts like a late medieval feudal king, not like a chieftain of eight century Norway (and to add to it, the crowd acts like the all too well known happy mob of medieval Europe). Then we have the poor farmer, Ragnarr Loðbrók (-.-), having a boat built by some mentally ill guy (played by Stellan Skarsgård's son). Then they kind of confused the term starboard i.e. the right side of the ship (where the steering oar was) having put the steering oar on the left side... And last but not least, Ragnarr tells his son about how the executed man has to "atone for his sins". And what are those silly headbands they're all wearing?...Oh yes, and let's go to the east - to "Russia" in the eight century!
Now, the second episode wasn't better... And I see what you mean about the psychopaths, Éadríc; let's go look for the missing monks, never mind the silver, we just want to kill these "odd" men - meh.
Dragomir said:
And what causes the superstition about vikings wearing leather all the time? Does it make them \m/ MORE METAL \m/?
Yes, I see what you mean. Ragnarr with the hipster hair and his metal friends.