History Fridge / TheSecretOfKells

* As shown in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KellsFol007vMadonnaChild_V2.jpg Folio 7v]] green is actually one of the most common colors (along with purple, lilac, red, pink and yellow according to the OtherWiki) used in the real Book of Kells. Where truth differs is that the green is made from copper (verdgris), not berries. Of course that would be a bit tricky to fit into the plot.

* The Abbot's wall was designed to keep the Vikings out. Instead, once they broke through, it trapped the innocent people of Kells inside and made them easy targets. Without the wall, maybe some of them could have escaped to the forest.

** It gets worse when you read the prequel comic, and realize the Abbot fought his way through a Northmen attack to save Brendan as a baby-and lost his sister, his brother-in-law, and their ENTIRE village to the same attack. Seeing the Abbot's determination to save baby Brendan drives home even more how much he loves him and how devastating it was to be responsible for his death in the end.

** Oak galls- the 'berries' Brendan picked from the oak tree- were actually [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_gall_ink used to make BLACK ink]], but it's easy to understand why they tweaked it so it would be green. Firstly, because black was already associated in the film with [[spoiler: Crom Cruach]] and the marauding Norseman; secondly, green works better thematically, as it would be associated with the forest and Ireland. Call it artistic license.

** "Aisling" (pronounced like "Ashley", which is a modernized version) is an Irish girl's name meaning "dream" or "vision", but it's also the name of a genre of Irish poetry. In these poems, a woman appears as the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Ireland and speaks about the country's troubles, followed by a prediction of a better future. The writers for the movie decided to play with the concept by making the female figure a mischievous little girl instead of a serious older woman.

* FridgeHorror[=/=][[TearJerker Depressing]]: When the Vikings attacked Kells, the Abbot believed that they killed Brendan. Brendan was stuck in a building with Brother Aidan. ''And the Abbot had locked him in there.'' Considering this fact, and knowing that the Abbot spent years believing Brendan was dead, you realize that the poor man had to live for years under the belief that he ''indirectly killed his own nephew.'' No wonder he's so broken in the ending...

* In TheSecretOfKells, when Bendan tells Aisling that Crom Cruach is all Pagan nonsense, I realized this; Aisling is a fey, and ''she'' is Pagan nonsense too. Of COURSE she's terrified of Crom! ~ Miao93

**** I'll have to disagree with that. Syncretic Christianity? Passing Penance? Material focuses from Columbanus? Perhaps you mean that there was no unified opposition-strand of Christianity that could stretch over all of Western Europe, or even just the Celtic/Brythonic world. However, there were huge differences to those churches more sublimate to the Papacy, especially in the insular Isle. Given the high number of heresies that flourished until realignments occurred (if memory serves, it was the Synod of Rathbreasail in Ireland, with exceptions in Munster), it would appear that it was far more tolerant - or less aligned with, or simply less focused on assimilation of pre-Christian beliefs - than Roman Catholicism.
**** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Christianity I would also have to disagree.]]

***** I'll have to disagree with that. Syncretic Christianity? Passing Penance? Material focuses from Columbanus? Perhaps you mean that there was no unified opposition-strand of Christianity that could stretch over all of Western Europe, or even just the Celtic/Brythonic world. However, there were huge differences to those churches more sublimate to the Papacy, especially in the insular Isle. Given the high number of heresies that flourished until realignments occurred (if memory serves, it was the Synod of Rathbreasail in Ireland, with exceptions in Munster), it would appear that it was far more tolerant - or less aligned with, or simply less focused on assimilation of pre-Christian beliefs - than Roman Catholicism.

** The Abbot [[http://bp2.blogger.com/_nJKIDZJrO5E/RgZxrJ_O0tI/AAAAAAAAAJw/ewelhO_PJCg/s1600-h/06abbott+copy.jpg symbolizes the newer Roman Christianity]] that took hold in Ireland about a thousand years ago, in contrast to early Celtic Christian attitudes which were allowed to develop during Roman decline, a more tolerant, generous, and less rigid form than the prevailing Roman Christianity.

* FridgeBrilliance: Why didn't Aisling just go into the tower herself instead of sending a spelled Pangur Ban? Even though it's been established she can move quickly and quietly, possibly without being seen? ''Because it's part of a church''. Older stories have it that the FairFolk can't enter religious buildings. It would also explain why she looks so nervous within the Abbey's courtyard.

** Both Aidan and Aisling (in Aisling's Song) refer to the world as old and misty. The most common connotations arise -- intangible, mysterious, haunting... but it just doesn't fit, because they are spoken as wise words when the harsh reality of the world has just made its presence known hard and sure. But this is exactly when it is misty -- as in obscuring, as in hiding, between you and where you need to be, as in you cannot see but for the mist. Just as mist obscures one's view, the Abbott, so lost in his building of a wall that can't hold back the Norsemen, he cannot see the beauty in his drawings of that very wall. If you are commanded to never leave, you will never see the Forest, know only the prison and you cannot sing for release, or understand that a book be more than sheaves of parchment with ink marks upon them.

** Both Aidan and Aisling (in Aisling Song) refer to the world as old and misty. The most common connotations arise -- intangible, mysterious, haunting... but it just doesn't fit, because they are spoken as wise words when the harsh reality of the world has just made its presence known hard and sure. But this is exactly when it is misty -- as in obscuring, as in hiding, between you and where you need to be, as in you cannot see but for the mist. Just as mist obscures one's view, the Abbott, so lost in his building of a wall that can't hold back the Norsemen, he cannot see the beauty in his drawings of that very wall. If you are commanded to never leave, you will never see the Forest, know only the prison and you cannot sing for release, or understand that a book be more than sheaves of parchment with ink marks upon them.

* FridgeHorror[=/=][[TearJerker Depressing]]: When the vikings attacked Kells, the abbot believed that they killed Brendan. Brendan was stuck in a building with Brother Aiden. ''And the abbot had locked him in there.'' Considering this fact, and knowing that the abbot spent years believing Brendan was dead, you realize that the poor man had to live for years under the belief that he ''indirectly killed his own nephew.'' No wonder he's so broken in the ending...

**** I'll have to disagree with that. Syncretic Christianity? Passing Penance? Material focuses from Columbanus? Perhaps you mean that there was no unified opposition-strand of Christianity that could stretch over all of Western Europe, or even just the Celtic/Brythonic world. However, there were huge differences to those churches more sublimate to the Papacy, especially in the insular Isle. Given the high number of heresies that flourished until realignments occurred (if memory serves, it was the Synod of Rathbreasail in Ireland, with exceptions in Munster), it would appear that it was far more tolerant - or less aligned with, or simply less focused on assimilation of pre-Christian beliefs - than Roman Catholicism.

* FridgeBrilliance: Why didn't Aisling just go into the tower herself instead of sending a spelled Pangur Ban? Even though it's been established she can move quickly and quietly, possibly without being seen? ''Because it's part of a church''. Older stories have it that the FairFolk can't enter religious buildings. It would also explain why she looks so nervous within the Abby's courtyard.

** Oak galls- the 'berries' Brendan picked from the oak tree- were actually [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_gall_ink used to make]] ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_gall_ink black]]'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_gall_ink ink]], but it's easy to understand why they tweaked it so it would be green. Firstly, because black was already associated in the film with [[spoiler: Crom Cruach]] and the marauding Norseman; secondly, green works better thematically, as it would be associated with the forest and Ireland. Call it artistic license.

** Oak galls- the 'berries' Brendan picked from the oak tree- were actually used to make a vivid black ink, but it's easy to understand why they tweaked it so it would be green. Firstly, because black was already associated in the film with [[spoiler: Crom Cruach]] and the marauding Norseman; secondly, because a bright green would be associated with the forest, and Ireland.

** Aisling's opening monologue is based on another very old Irish poem called The Song of Tuan Mac Cairill, one of the Tuatha De Danann who survived among humans by taking on the forms of a salmon, a deer and a wolf, rather like we see Aisling doing. Seems like there's a lot of references to Irish poetry here...
** A ''very'' small one that's really easy to miss: When picking the berries in the forest, Aisling notes in a small throwaway line to Brendan that they aren't really berries. What they actually picked were oak galls, a kind of growth of plant tissue, which used to be used back then to make ink.