History Film / Pathfinder

A link somewhere on the Internet sent you here. It may have intended to refer to:
* ''Film/Pathfinder1987'', a Norwegian film about the conflicts between the Norse and the Saami in northern Scandinavia.
* ''Film/Pathfinder2007'', the American remake of the 1987 film which moves the conflict to North America and changes the sides to the Norse and the Inuit.

If you were looking for another work by that name, see our disambiguation page at Main.{{Pathfinder}}. If a link on the wiki took you here, please go back and correct it.

[[redirect:Film/Pathfinder2007]]

[[redirect:{{Pathfinder}}]]

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pathfinder_poster.png]]
[[caption-width-right:200:''[[{{Tagline}} Two Worlds, One War. The Ultimate Battle Begins.]]'']]

''Pathfinder'' is a 2007 film directed by Creator/MarcusNispel.

Around 1000 AD, a Viking tribe lands in what is not yet called North America, looking to establish a colony and wipe out the local "skraelings". Instead, they are themselves wiped out by a band of native warriors, all except one child, a little boy called "Ghost" by the tribesmen for his paleness.

Cut forward 15 years, and Ghost (Creator/KarlUrban) is an outsider in the tribe. A new band of Vikings, led by Gunnar (Creator/ClancyBrown) and Ulfar (Creator/RalfMoeller), arrives and wipes out most of Ghost's tribe. Ghost escapes, suffering an arrow wound in the shoulder as he flees. He winds up with the Pathfinder (Creator/RussellMeans), shaman of a neighboring tribe, and the Pathfinder's beautiful daughter Starfire (Creator/MoonBloodgood). Eventually Ghost leaves to take revenge on the Vikings, Starfire coming with him.

Remake of a 1987 Norwegian film, ''Film/{{Pathfinder|1987}}''. Neither film is related to [[Literature/{{Pathfinder}} the novel of the same name]] by Creator/OrsonScottCard, or the [[TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} series of role-playing game manuals and related fiction.]]

----
!!Tropes employed in...

* AlwaysChaoticEvil / BarbarianTribe: The Vikings.
* AnnoyingArrows: Downplayed as Ghost suffers from being struck with a single arrow, but he still manages to climb out of a canyon and drag himself to a cave where he is discovered by friendly natives.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Quite a few: Starfire, Wulfar, Wind In Tree, Blackwing...
* BarbarianHero: Ghost, who is visualized quite similarly to Conan the Barbarians, through leaner. The imagery takes some clear cues from Frank Frazetta, making it no small wonder the Nispel made a straight on Conan the Barbarian film a few years later.
* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: How the natives are portrayed.
* BlackSpeech: The Vikings speak Icelandic, but in a guttural manner and the intonation is all wrong.
* BrownFace: Averted! The film employed several native American actors such as Russel Means, Nathaniel Arcand and [[Film/TheRevenant Duane Howard]] to play the native Americans. Zig-zagged with Moon Bloodgood, who, despite her name and appearance, is not Native American. She is Dutch and Irish on her father's side and Korean on her mother's.
* TheChiefsDaughter: The love interest is the daughter of the current Pathfinder, she is obviously interested in the "exotic" European to the annoyance of rival love-interests.
* ClimbingClimax: The climax involves dangerous cliff scaling. Ghost purposely lead the invading Vikings up a mountain to ensure he had the advantage of the land.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Common throughout the film. From the ice cracking when Ghost is exploring to the dropped doll that is focused upon when a village escapes.
* HairTriggerAvalanche: Most of the Viking invaders are killed by an Avalanche caused by Ghost shouting he knows where he belongs.
* HealingHerb: the current pathfinder smokes a herb and blows it into Ghost's face to ensure he sleeps after a painfull removal of an arrow. He also smokes the herb himself to ensure a good night's sleep.
* HornyVikings: Frank Frazetta-style vikings, all clad in black and [[HornsOfBarbarism helmets with massive horns]].
* IHaveNoSon: Ghost's father disowns and beats a 10 year old Ghost for not ''[[WouldHurtAChild cutting down a baby]]''.
* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: Ralf Möller's character attempts to kill the hero and then wants revenge.
* TheMentor: [[TitleDrop Pathfinder]] in the remake.
* MightyWhitey: The one to defeat the evil vikings is, Ghost, a Norseman left behind by a previous raiding party.
* TheMountainsOfIllinois: Supposedly takes place around the area that will once be New York and there sure are a lot of mountains.
* NobleSavage: Native American's are the hero's of the story so naturally they are cast in the best light, with some even gaining [[{{Seers}} foresight]].
* RaisedByNatives: This is a movie about a man born to vikings but raised by Native Americans.
* RapePillageAndBurn: Is vikings after all. They do this to one village at the start and the film is a delaying tactic to prevent them doing it along the whole coast.
* TitleDrop: The titular Pathfinder is the shaman of the neighbouring village.
* TranslationConvention: Modern English stands in for the language the natives around modern New York would have spoken while modern Icelandic stands in for old Norse.

* BrownFace: Averted! The film employed several native American actors such as Russel Means, Nathaniel Arcand and [[Film/TheRevenant Duane Howard]] to play the native Americans.

* BrownFace: Averted! The film employed several native American actors such as Russel Means, Nathaniel Arcand and [[TheRevenant Duane Howard]] to play the native Americans.

* [[FakeNationality Fake Native American]]: Moon Bloodgood as Starfire. While she is amercan, she anglo-korean, not native. Also counting is Clancy Brown and Ralf Möller as Gunnar and Wulfar who are not Icelandic.

* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: How the natives are portraited.

* [[FakeNationality Fake Native American]]: Moon Bloodgood as Starfire. While she is amercan, she anglo-korean, not native. Also counting is Clancy Brown and Ralf Möller as Gunnar and Wulfar who are not Icelandic.

* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: Ralf Möller's charcter attempts to kill the hero and then wants revenge.
* RapePillageAndBurn: Is vikings after all. They do this to one village at the start and the film is a delaying tactic to prevent them doing it along the whole coast.

* TheChiefsDaughter: The love interest is the daughter of the current Pathfinder, she is obviously interested in the "exoict" European to the annoyance of rival love interests.
* NobleSavage: Native American's are the hero's of the story so naturally they are cast in the best light, with some even gaining [[{{Seers}} forsight]].

* TranslationConvention: Modern english stands in for the language the natives around modern New York would have spoken while modern Icelandic stands in for old norse.

* BarbarianHero: Ghost, who is visualised quite similarly to Conan the Barbarins, through more lean. The imagery takes some clear cues from Frank Frazetta, making it no small wonder the Nispel made a straight on Conan the Barbarian film a few years later.

* ClimbingClimax: The climax involve dangerous cliff scaling.

* HornyVikings: Frank Frazetta-style vikings, all clad in black and helmets with massive horns.

Around 1000 AD, a Viking tribe lands in what is not yet called North American, looking to establish a colony and wipe out the local "skraelings". Instead, they are themselves wiped out by a band of native warriors, all except one child, a little boy called "Ghost" by the tribesmen for his paleness.

''Pathfinder'' is a 2007 film directed by Marcus Nispel

Cut forward 15 years, and Ghost (Creator/KarlUrban) is an outsider in the tribe. A new band of Vikings, led by Gunnar (Creator/ClancyBrown) and Ulfar (Creator/RalfMoller), arrives and wipes out most of Ghost's tribe. Ghost escapes, suffering an arrow wound in the shoulder as he flees. He winds up with the Pathfinder (Creator/RussellMeans), shaman of a neighboring tribe, and the Pathfinder's beautiful daughter Starfire (Creator/MoonBloodgood). Eventually Ghost leaves to take revenge on the Vikings, Starfire coming with him.

'''Pathfinder''' is a 1987 Sami-Norweigan action film. It takes place in 1000 AD in Finmark in northern Norway and deals with a Sami boy named Aigin who's family is killed by a band of marauding [[BarbarianTribe Chudes]]. The film is loosely based on Sami-folktales. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

In 2007, a lose American remake was released, directed by Marcus Nispel. It kept the time period, but changed the setting to North America. The Sami where replaced by [[NobleSavage Native Americans]], and the Chudes by [[HornyVikings visiting Vikings]]. Throught the plot is different, there are some noteworthy correspondences in the adaptation.

Neither film is related to [[Literature/{{Pathfinder}} the novel of the same name]] by Creator/OrsonScottCard, or the [[TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} series of role-playing game manuals and related fiction.]]

* TranslationConvertion: Modern english stands in for the language the natives around modern New York would have spoken while modern Icelandic stands in for old norse.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Both films]]


* ClimbingClimax: The climax involve dangerous cliff scaling.

* TitleDrop: The titular Pathfinder is the shaman of the neighbouring village.
* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: Ralf Möller's charcter attempts to kill the hero and then wants revenge.

[[/folder]]


[[folder:The 2007 film]]

* AlwaysChaoticEvil / BarbarianTribe: The Vikings.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Quite a few: Starfire, Wulfar, Wind In Tree, Blackwing...
* BarbarianHero: Ghost, who is visualised quite similarly to Conan the Barbarins, through more lean. The imagery takes some clear cues from Frank Frazetta, making it no small wonder the Nispel made a straight on Conan the Barbarian film a few years later.
* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: How the natives are portraited.
* BlackSpeech: The Vikings speak Icelandic, but in a guttural manner and the intonation is all wrong.
* BrownFace: Averted! The film employed several native American actors such as Russel Means, Nathaniel Arcand and [[TheRevenant Duane Howard]] to play the native Americans.
* HornyVikings: Frank Frazetta-style vikings, all clad in black and helmets with massive horns.

* IHaveNoSon: Ghost's father disowns and beats a 10 year old Ghost for not ''[[WouldHurtAChild cutting down a baby]]''.
* TranslationConvertion: Modern english stands in for the language the natives around modern New York would have spoken while modern Icelandic stands in for old norse.

[[/folder]]

* AlwaysChaoticEvil / BarbarianTribe: The Chudes in the original and the Vikings in the remake.
* BlackSpeech: The Chudes speak a made up language. In the 2007, the Vikings speak Icelandic, but in a guttural manner and the intonation is all wrong.
* ClimbingClimax: The climaxes involve dangerous cliff scaling.
* [[FakeNationality Fake Native American]]: Moon Bloodgood as Starfire. While she is amercan, she anglo-korean, not native. Also counting is Clancy Brown and Ralf Möller as Gunnar and Wulfar who are not Icelandic. In the original, the Icelandic [[TheRavenTrilogy Helgi Skulason]] plays a Chud, who where probably a Finnic people.
* TheMentor: Raste in the the original and [[TitleDrop Pathfinder]] in the remake.
* TitleDrop:
** In the original, the Chudes need a ''pathfinder''
** In the remake, the titular Pathfinder is the shaman of the neighbouring village.
* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: The Scarred Chud, who corresponds to Ralf Möller's charcter in the remake. Both characters attempt to kill the hero and then wants revenge.

[[folder:The 1987 film]]

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: To avoid UnfortunateImplications, Gaup had the Chudes speaking in a made up language so they would not be equated to any modern ethnic group.
* BearsAreBadNews: One tribesman casually jumps into a hole in the snow, only to come out in a big damn hurry when it turns out that a bear was sleeping in that hole. An action scene follows where the tribesmen kill the bear--possibly turning this trope into Bears Are ''Good'' News as they then have a lot of food to eat.
* TheBladeLandsPointEndIn: After Sierge delivers the bad news that wolves have already scavenged all the animals the clan caught in traps, another tribesman angrily and dramatically flings his knife into a wooden post.
* DeathGlare: This comes with having Helgi Skulason as the main villain.
* TheDeterminator: Aigin and The Scarred Chud.
* DragonInChief From the get go, the [[NoNameGiven Scarred Chud]] is clearly the main antagonist. While he answers to the Chud cheif, he is clearly the most dangerous one and the other Chudes seem to be afraid of him.
* FaceCam: Used for a comic relief scene when Dorakas is skiing out of control downhill towards the camp.
* SceneryPorn: Northern Norway is shown off in all it's frozen glory.
* TrailOfBlood: The Chudes follow Saigin by the blood he left in the snow, after one of them winged him with an arrow.
* TheVoiceless: The Scarred Chud.
* WatchOutForThatTree: Dorakas's wild ride down the hill ends with him crashing right into a tree. His riderless skis slide into camp without him, while the other villagers point and laugh.

[[/folder]]

The blade lands pointy end in Sierge wolves ate meat
Face cam Dorakas skiing to camp
Watch out for that tree dorakas skis

Neither film is related to [[Literature/{{Pathfinder}} the novel of the same name]] by Creator/OrsonScottCard, or the [[TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} the series of role-playing game manuals and related fiction.]]

In 2007, a lose American remake was released, directed by Marcus Nispel. It keept the time period, but changed the setting to North America, and the Sami where replaced by [[NobleSavage native Americans]] and [[HornyVikings vikings]]. Throught the plot is different, there are some noteworthy correspondences in the adaptation.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil / BarbarianTribe: The chudes in the original and the vikings in the remake.
* BlackSpeech: The Chudes speak a made up language. In the 2007, the vikings speak Icelandic, but in a gatural manner and the intonation are all wrong.
* ClimbingClimax: The climaxes involves dangerous cliff scaling.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Quite a few: Starfire, Wulfar

* TheMentor: Raste in the the original and [[TitleDrop Pathfinder]] in the remake. In both cases they are

* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: The Scarred Chud, who corresponds to Ralf Möller's charcter in the remake.

* DragonInChief* From the get go, the [[NoNameGiven Scarred Chud]] is clearly the main antagonist. While he answers to the Chud cheif, he is clearly the most dangerous one and the other Chudes seem to be afraid of him.

* BrownFace: Averted! The film employed several native American actors such as Russel Means, Moon Bloodgood, Nathaniel Arcand and Duane Howard to play the native Americans.