#115 Sat (10/15/22) - The Northman (2022)

 In the 2022 film The Northman, the main character Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) is raised as part of a group of berserkers. A berserker ritual is also featured in the film.^[54]

 ^{Screenrant review:}

The Northman is a gruesome drama that sees its titular character wanting nothing but revenge. The film is packed with Norse mythology, a Viking legend that directly influenced William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and brutal battles that are waged in the name of vengeance. To be sure, the film has something in it for everyone.

The Northman takes its cues from the legend of Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård), the Viking prince who vowed to avenge his father after he’s murdered by Amleth’s uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang). The story itself is fueled by Amleth’s open rage; he’s a man on a mission, aided by the supernatural to finish his job. It’s one he will stop at nothing to complete.

 The Northman ends with Amleth killing Fjölnir and ascending to Valhalla himself, having been fatally stabbed by his uncle in their fight. Though the film ends in a rather expected way, it’s the layers of the story that are also worth exploring. Here is The Northman ending explained, the history of the Berserkers, Gudrún and Olga’s parallel stories, and the ending’s real meaning.

The Berserkers are a group of elite Viking warriors Amleth joined in the years after he fled his village and before he got his revenge on Fjölnir. In the film, they’re fairly violent, storming a village and plundering their way through. They kill, steal children, and burn things down, brutally attacking nearly everyone. While audiences don’t get too much of them in The Northman, Berserkers did actually exist. They wore animal skin rather than traditional armor in battle, charging into villages to rape and kill, completely unhinged. Their name is essentially where the modern word “berserk” comes from because Berserkers would be out of control in their rage and violence. Historians have attributed some of this to Berserkers possibly using psychoactive drugs.

 Amleth and Olga tried to flee Iceland because Fjölnir was onto Amleth’s plot. After rescuing Amleth from near death, he has a vision of Valkyrie flying him to Valhalla on a winged horse. Valkyrie escorting someone to Valhalla is a sure sign of death, but in this scene it is more of an omen. Seeing Valkyrie confirms Amleth would not survive the events of the film, but it was not yet his time to ascend to Valhalla. Crucially, he saw Valkyrie because he was near death before, but the premonition showed him that he needed to complete his mission if he was to get to Valhalla at all. The next time Amleth ascends to Valhalla, he has actually died, stabbed in the heart by Fjölnir, but he’s greeted with the vision of Olga and their twin children rather than Valkyrie. In many ways, seeing that his new family survives is reward enough for him.

 The Northman is openly about avenging Amleth’s father’s murder. However, the film is a bit deeper than what is on the surface. Amleth might be fueled by his hatred for his uncle and his actions, but he is also trying to find his own purpose in life. His journey, in many ways, is about reclaiming what was once lost to him, finding a new family amidst the one he never really got to have, and to fulfill the destiny he was always meant for. Ultimately, however, Amleth’s ending was about him making peace with his death, especially knowing that his bloodline would live on with his children. Amleth was so angry for so long and he was able to finally shed some of that rage in his fight with Fjölnir. He may not have been able to be the Viking king he was shaped to become, but he always knew that embracing his demise in order to exact his revenge would land him on death’s door. Understanding that and doing everything in his power to restore his family and avenge his father allowed him to die in peace, with Valhalla accepting and embracing him.

 

Henry Treece adapted the story of Amleth from Saxo for his 1966 novel The Green Man.