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A BBC television series based on the books is reportedly in the works.
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* AuthorOnBoard: Uhtred loathes the Church, and is more than happy to tell the reader how he feels about it. Likewise, most of the openly Christian characters are shown to be zealous and dogmatic to the point of stupidity (Aethelflaed being the main exception that is not a Bad Ass preacher). This mirrors Cornwell's own dislike of ''institutional'' religion, which stems from his being raised in a very devout, repressive, and tiny Christian sect called the Peculiar People, and his dislike of authoritarianism.
to:
* AuthorOnBoard: Uhtred loathes the Church, and is more than happy to tell the reader how he feels about it. Likewise, most of the openly Christian characters are shown to be zealous and dogmatic to the point of stupidity (Aethelflaed being the main exception that is not a Bad Ass preacher). His hatred of Christianity seems to become even more bitter and extreme as he ages, and realizes that the old pagan ways are slowly but surely dying out. This mirrors Cornwell's own dislike of ''institutional'' religion, which stems from his being raised in a very devout, repressive, and tiny Christian sect called the Peculiar People, and his dislike of authoritarianism.
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* FamilyThemeNaming: Uhtred's father, son, older brother and one cousin (and presumably most of his paternal ancestors) are all named Uhtred.
** As of PaganLord [[spoiler: both of Uhtreds sons have been named Uhtred.]] Has OneSteveLimit ever been more heavily averted?
** As of PaganLord [[spoiler: both of Uhtreds sons have been named Uhtred.]] Has OneSteveLimit ever been more heavily averted?
to:
* FamilyThemeNaming: Uhtred's father, son, older brother and one cousin (and presumably most of his paternal ancestors) are all named Uhtred.
**Uhtred. As of PaganLord [[spoiler: both of Uhtreds sons have been named Uhtred.]] Has OneSteveLimit ever been more heavily averted?
**
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* HeroicSociopath: Uhtred. When he appears to be very cheerful whilst with Alfred in the swamp, Alfred has this to say.
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* HeroicSociopath: Uhtred.HeroicComedicSociopath: Uhtred sometimes displays shades of this. When he appears to be very cheerful whilst with Alfred in the swamp, Alfred has this to say.
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* IronicNickname: Steapa is nicknamed "Snotor" which means "clever" in Old English. Ironic because Steapa is anything but.
** On the other hand he shows glimmers of not being as stupid as he first appears.
** On the other hand he shows glimmers of not being as stupid as he first appears.
to:
* IronicNickname: Steapa is nicknamed "Snotor" which means "clever" in Old English. Ironic because Steapa is anything but.
**but. On the other hand he shows glimmers of not being as stupid as he first appears.
**
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* JerkAss: Uhtred is arrogant, rude, and not above killing people who piss him off. Somewhat justified by the time period, as kindness and mercy were not considered good traits for Anglo-Saxon warriors. He does show signs of JerkWithAHeartOfGold, as he is disgusted with those who mistreat children and will generally give people chances to prove themselves.
** He seems to have mellowed throughout ''Sword Song''/''The Burning Land''/''Death of Kings'', moving firmly into JerkWithAHeartOfGold territory.
** He does show kindness and mercy in the earlier books, e.g. Guthred, he's just rather sparing with it. He's also almost universally decent to women, the only significant exception (Skade) was justified seeing as how he had just seen her torture a man ForTheEvulz.
** He seems to have mellowed throughout ''Sword Song''/''The Burning Land''/''Death of Kings'', moving firmly into JerkWithAHeartOfGold territory.
** He does show kindness and mercy in the earlier books, e.g. Guthred, he's just rather sparing with it. He's also almost universally decent to women, the only significant exception (Skade) was justified seeing as how he had just seen her torture a man ForTheEvulz.
to:
* JerkAss: Uhtred is arrogant, rude, and not above killing people who piss him off. Somewhat justified by the time period, as kindness and mercy were not considered good traits for Anglo-Saxon warriors. He does show signs of JerkWithAHeartOfGold, as he is disgusted with those who mistreat women and children and will generally give people chances to prove themselves.
** He seems to have mellowed throughout ''Sword Song''/''The Burning Land''/''Death of Kings'', moving firmly into JerkWithAHeartOfGold territory.
** He does show kindnessthemselves. However, ''The Pagan Lord'' sees him move more toward being a straight jerkass, as he beats, demeans, and mercy in the earlier books, e.g. Guthred, he's just rather sparing with it. He's also almost universally decent to women, the only significant exception (Skade) was justified seeing as how he had just seen her torture disowns his eldest son for becoming a man ForTheEvulz.priest.
** He seems to have mellowed throughout ''Sword Song''/''The Burning Land''/''Death of Kings'', moving firmly into JerkWithAHeartOfGold territory.
** He does show kindness
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* BadassFamily: The Lothbroks. Uhtred is frightened of all of them.
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* BadassFamily: BadassFamily:
** The Lothbroks. Uhtred is frightened of all of them.
** The Lothbroks. Uhtred is frightened of all of them.
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* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Uhtred and Alfred will work together to save England, but that sure as Hel doesn't mean they have to like each other.
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** Brida showed some signs of this in her childhood. Skade in the fifth book probably counts as this.
** ''Probably?'' Her preferred method of intimidation is [[spoiler: ''SKINNING PEOPLE ALIVE''. And she ''enjoys'' it.]]
** Brida is something of a Nimue Expy from the Warlord Chronicles. Nimue goes completely insane though.
** Skade is Nimue UpToEleven.
** Also Jarl Sigfried.
** ''Probably?'' Her preferred method of intimidation is [[spoiler: ''SKINNING PEOPLE ALIVE''. And she ''enjoys'' it.]]
** Brida is something of a Nimue Expy from the Warlord Chronicles. Nimue goes completely insane though.
** Skade is Nimue UpToEleven.
** Also Jarl Sigfried.
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** Brida showed some signs of this in her childhood. Skade in the fifth book probably counts as this.\n** ''Probably?'' Her preferred method of intimidation is [[spoiler: ''SKINNING PEOPLE ALIVE''. And she ''enjoys'' it.]]\n** Brida is something of a Nimue Expy from the Warlord Chronicles. Nimue goes completely insane though.
** Skade in the fifth book, full stop. Her preferred method of intimidation isNimue UpToEleven.
''skinning people alive'', and she enjoys it!
**Also Jarl Sigfried.Any of the more bloodthirsty Danish or Norse warlords, such as Ubba Lothbroksson, Sigifrid Thurgilsson, and Harald Bloodhair.
** Skade in the fifth book, full stop. Her preferred method of intimidation is
**
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* BarrierMaiden: After Alfred's reputation as a formidable opponent has been firmly cemented, the Danes decide to marshal their forces and simply wait until he dies. Essentially, throughout the last half of ''The Burning Land'' and the first half of ''Death of Kings'', Alfred was keeping the Danes at bay just by being alive. [[spoiler: After his death, of course, they attack with redoubled strength and ferocity]].
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* VillainOfTheWeek: In most of the books, the main events revolve around a large Viking invasion led by an exceptionally powerful warlord or group of warlords. Examples of these include the Guthrum the Unlucky, Svein of the White Horse, the Thurgilsson brothers, Harald Bloodhair, and Cnut Longsword.
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* VillainOfTheWeek: In most of the books, the main events revolve around a large Viking invasion led by an exceptionally powerful warlord or group of warlords. Examples of these include the Guthrum the Unlucky, Svein of the White Horse, the Thurgilsson brothers, Harald Bloodhair, and Cnut Longsword.
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* VillainOfTheWeek: In most of the books, the main events revolve around a large Viking invasion led by an exceptionally powerful warlord or group of warlords. Examples of these include the Guthrum the Unlucky, Svein of the White Horse, the Thurgilsson brothers, Harald Bloodhair, and Cnut Longsword.
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** Ragnar. [[spoiler:It's pretty much the reason why Kjartan planned a hallburning instead of taking him on in single combat. He knew he'd lose, and badly at that.]]
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* BloodKnight: The Danes, most prominently. Uhtred himself is rather psychotically valorous too. His battle with the Welshmen in Last Kingdom, the very first real fight he gets into, pretty much reads like an extra bloody Conan story.
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** This probably also applies to his immense love of the Danes.
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** Guthrum the Unlucky in the first book, also.
-->'''Uhtred''': (in reference to the nickname) With that many rings?
-->'''Ravn''': You could give Earl Guthrum the world, and he'd somehow think you cheated him.
-->'''Uhtred''': (in reference to the nickname) With that many rings?
-->'''Ravn''': You could give Earl Guthrum the world, and he'd somehow think you cheated him.
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->''But [[IAmXSonOfY I am Uhtred, son of Uhtred]], and this is the tale of a bloodfeud. It is the tale of how I will take from my enemy what the law says is mine. And it is the tale of [[{{Aethelflaed}} a woman]] and of her father, [[AlfredTheGreat a king]].''
->''He was my king and all that I have I owe to him. The food that I eat, the hall where I live and the swords of my men, all came from from Alfred, my king, who hated me.''
--> -From the prologue of ''The Last Kingdom'' (2004)
''The Saxon Stories'' is a series of HistoricalFiction novels by Creator/BernardCornwell, set during the reign of King Alfred the Great, who is fighting to keep England from being overrun by the Danes. The stories follow Uhtred of Bebbanburg, who is captured by the Danes during a raid and adopted by the warlord Ragnar the Fearless. Uhtred lives among the Danes until Ragnar is slain by one of his shipmasters, Kjartan. Uhtred ends up serving King Alfred, ruler of Wessex, who controls the only English kingdom yet to be conquered by the Danes. Much of the story revolves around Uhtred's conflicting loyalties to the Danes and King Alfred, as well as his personal desire to reclaim Bebbanburg from his uncle, who claimed it after Uhtred was taken captive.
->''He was my king and all that I have I owe to him. The food that I eat, the hall where I live and the swords of my men, all came from from Alfred, my king, who hated me.''
--> -From the prologue of ''The Last Kingdom'' (2004)
''The Saxon Stories'' is a series of HistoricalFiction novels by Creator/BernardCornwell, set during the reign of King Alfred the Great, who is fighting to keep England from being overrun by the Danes. The stories follow Uhtred of Bebbanburg, who is captured by the Danes during a raid and adopted by the warlord Ragnar the Fearless. Uhtred lives among the Danes until Ragnar is slain by one of his shipmasters, Kjartan. Uhtred ends up serving King Alfred, ruler of Wessex, who controls the only English kingdom yet to be conquered by the Danes. Much of the story revolves around Uhtred's conflicting loyalties to the Danes and King Alfred, as well as his personal desire to reclaim Bebbanburg from his uncle, who claimed it after Uhtred was taken captive.
to:
->''He was my king and all that I have I owe to him. The food that I eat, the hall where I live and the swords of my men, all came from from Alfred, my king, who hated me.
--> -From
-->--From the prologue of ''The Last Kingdom'' (2004)
''The Saxon Stories'' is a series of HistoricalFiction novels by Creator/BernardCornwell, set during the reign of King
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* AngloSaxons: Kind of a given.
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* AngloSaxons: UsefulNotes/AngloSaxons: Kind of a given.
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<<|{{Literature}}|>>
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** Arguably, Uhtred himself. Count the times he's suggested to Alfred that MurderIsTheBestSolution
*** In the time era, this was less AxCrazy, more perfectly normal. And most of the people he suggests be murdered probably deserve it, as well as it solving a lot of problems.
* BadAss: Uhtred
*** In the time era, this was less AxCrazy, more perfectly normal. And most of the people he suggests be murdered probably deserve it, as well as it solving a lot of problems.
* BadAss: Uhtred
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** Arguably, Uhtred himself. Count the times he's suggested to Alfred that MurderIsTheBestSolution
*** In the time era,MurderIsTheBestSolution. However, Uhtred generally tends to suggest this was less AxCrazy, more perfectly normal. And most of the people he suggests be murdered probably deserve it, as well as it solving in instances when murdering somebody would actually solve a lot of problems.
problems. These instances just happen to come about fairly often.
*BadAss: UhtredBadAss:
** Uhtred, obviously.
*** In the time era,
*
** Uhtred, obviously.
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* AngloSaxons
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* AngloSaxonsAngloSaxons: Kind of a given.
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* ADayInTheLimelight: While Ragnar the Younger is Uhtred's adoptive brother and close friend, he's normally a periphery character. However, ''Lords of the North'' his efforts take revenge on Kjartan the Cruel, who had murdered his father in the first book.
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* ADayInTheLimelight: While Ragnar the Younger is Uhtred's adoptive brother and close friend, he's normally a periphery character. However, ''Lords of the North'' focuses on his efforts take revenge on Kjartan the Cruel, who had murdered his father in the first book.
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As of now, there are seven books in the series:
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As of now, there are seven books in the series:series, with an eighth forthcoming:
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* AffablyEvil: Haesten is either this or FauxAffablyEvil.
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* AffablyEvil: Haesten ADayInTheLimelight: While Ragnar the Younger is either this or FauxAffablyEvil.Uhtred's adoptive brother and close friend, he's normally a periphery character. However, ''Lords of the North'' his efforts take revenge on Kjartan the Cruel, who had murdered his father in the first book.
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* ArchEnemy: Uhtred goes up against a lot of enemies, but both [[EvilFormerFriend Haesten]] and [[EvilUncle Aelfric]] could probably be considered this.
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* ArchEnemy: ArchEnemy:
** Uhtred goes up against a lot of enemies, but both [[EvilFormerFriend Haesten]] and [[EvilUncleAelfric]] Ælfric]] could probably be considered this.this.
** Kjartan the Cruel is this for Ragnar the Younger.
** Uhtred goes up against a lot of enemies, but both [[EvilFormerFriend Haesten]] and [[EvilUncle
** Kjartan the Cruel is this for Ragnar the Younger.
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* CharacterFilibuster: Through the first-person narration, Uhtred is prone to go on brief inner monologues about how YouCantFightFate, about how great the Romans were, and about his dislike of Christianity. The last one probably overlaps with AuthorFilibuster to an extent.
to:
* CharacterFilibuster: Through the first-person narration, Uhtred is prone to go on brief inner monologues about how YouCantFightFate, about how great the Romans were, and about his dislike of Christianity. The last one probably overlaps with AuthorFilibuster to an extent.various topics.
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* CrapsackWorld: The Dark Ages were not a pleasant period to be alive in. Alfred tries his hardest to impose order over the chaos, but Uhtred thinks it's futile.
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* CrapsackWorld: The Dark Ages were not Life in Anglo-Saxon England is a pleasant period to be alive in.harsh existence, and the brutal Viking invasions have largely thrown the kingdoms into disarray. Alfred tries his hardest to impose order over the chaos, but Uhtred thinks it's futile.
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* NotSoDifferent: While Uthred resents the priesthood's cynical exploitation of faith for wealth and power, antagonists sometimes use his own belief against him, convincing him that his fate is to follow them. Eventually he even fights fire with fire.
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* AdaptationalWimp: Not an extreme example, but Alfred the Great is portrayed as more or less dependent on Uhtred in military matters. A good deal of his strategies involve blackmailing a renegade Uhtred back to Wessex, who then does the actual legwork of defending the kingdom.
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* AdaptationalWimp: Not an extreme example, but Alfred the Great is portrayed as more or less dependent on Uhtred in military matters. A good deal of his strategies involve blackmailing a renegade Uhtred back into returning to Wessex, who then does the actual legwork of defending the kingdom.
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* FightingIrish: Finan the Agile is one of the very few Irish characters in the series, and also one of Uhtred's most lethal warriors.
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* AntiHero: Uhtred
* AntiVillain: Erik.
* AntiVillain: Erik.
to:
* AntiHero: Uhtred
Uhtred is ultimately committed to defending Wessex, even though he'd rather be off raiding and pillaging with the Vikings.
* AntiVillain:Erik.Erik Thurgilsson, Jarl Sigefrid's much less brutal younger brother who falls for Aethelflaed.
* AntiVillain:
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* ArchEnemy: Uhtred goes up against a lot of enemies, but both [[EvilFormerFriend Haesten]] or [[EvilUncle Aelfric]] could probably be considered this.
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* ArchEnemy: Uhtred goes up against a lot of enemies, but both [[EvilFormerFriend Haesten]] or and [[EvilUncle Aelfric]] could probably be considered this.
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* AdaptationalWimp: Not an extreme example, but Alfred the Great is portrayed as more or less dependent on Uhtred in military matters. A good deal of his strategies involve blackmailing a renegade Uhtred back to Wessex, who then does the actual legwork of defending the kingdom.
* ArchEnemy: Uhtred goes up against a lot of enemies, but both [[EvilFormerFriend Haesten]] or [[EvilUncle Aelfric]] could probably be considered this.
* BerserkButton: Given the amount of importance that Uhtred attaches to oath-keeping, he naturally has a special hatred for oath-breakers. The main reason fro Uhtred's fierce enmity for Haesten is that the latter had broken an oath to serve him.
* TheFettered: Uhtred takes oaths very seriously; the oath he swore to Alfred early on in the series is essentially the only thing that has kept him from running off to the Danes a long time ago.
* TheLastDJ: Uhtred's "career" as it were is constantly stalled out due to his being a pagan.
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* TheLastDJ: Uhtred's "career" as it were is constantly stalled out due to his being a pagan.
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* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Both played straight and averted with Uhtred. His staunch paganism and HeelFaceRevolvingDoor tendencies make him widely disliked and mistrusted in Wessex, but Danes (many of whom he grew up with) seem to respect him as a warrior, and often try to entice him into joining them.
to:
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Both played straight and averted with Uhtred. His staunch paganism and HeelFaceRevolvingDoor tendencies make him widely disliked and mistrusted in Wessex, but the Danes (many of whom he grew up with) seem to respect him as a warrior, and often try to entice him into joining them.
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* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Outside his circle of friends and retainers, Uhtred's staunch paganism and HeelFaceRevolvingDoor tendencies make him widely disliked and mistrusted in Wessex.
* TheCasanova: Alfred was this before he had a religious awakening. Uhtred probably counts as well, at least when he's not married.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Both played straight and averted with Uhtred. His staunch paganism and HeelFaceRevolvingDoor tendencies make him widely disliked and mistrusted in Wessex, but Danes (many of whom he grew up with) seem to respect him as a warrior, and often try to entice him into joining them.
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* TheCasanova: Alfred was this before he had a religious awakening. Uhtred probably counts as well, at least when he's not married.
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* CharacterFilibuster: Through the first-person narration, Uhtred is prone to go on brief inner monologues about how YouCantFightFate, about how great the Romans were, and about his dislike of Christianity. The last one probably overlaps with AuthorFilibuster to an extent.
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* ForeignCultureFetish: Despite his limited knowledge of them, Uhtred expresses great admiration of the Romans.
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* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: While Uhtred is oath-bound to defend Wessex, he still greatly prefers the Danish way of life,and feels a much stronger connection to them. More than once throughout the series, these conflicting loyalties have caused him to defect to the Danes, though he never stays among them for long.
to:
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: While Uhtred is oath-bound to defend Wessex, he still greatly prefers the Danish way of life,and feels a much stronger connection to them. More than once throughout the series, these conflicting loyalties have caused him to defect to the Danes, though he never stays among them for long. His indecision is finally put to rest in ''Death of Kings'', when he firmly resolves to become "the sword of the Saxons" despite his various misgivings about Wessex.
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->''But I am Uhtred, son of Uhtred, and this is the tale of a bloodfeud. It is the tale of how I will take from my enemy what the law says is mine. And it is the tale of [[{{Aethelflaed}} a woman]] and of her father, [[AlfredTheGreat a king]].''
to:
->''But [[IAmXSonOfY I am Uhtred, son of Uhtred, Uhtred]], and this is the tale of a bloodfeud. It is the tale of how I will take from my enemy what the law says is mine. And it is the tale of [[{{Aethelflaed}} a woman]] and of her father, [[AlfredTheGreat a king]].''
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to:
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* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Outside his circle of friends and retainers, Uhtred's staunch paganism and HeelFaceRevolvingDoor tendencies make him widely disliked and mistrusted in Wessex.
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* AuthorOnBoard: Uhtred loathes the Church, and is more than happy to tell the reader how he feels about it. Likewise, most of the openly Christian characters are shown to be zealous and dogmatic to the point of stupidity (Gisela being the main exception that is not a Bad Ass preacher). This mirrors Cornwell's own dislike of ''institutional'' religion, which stems from his being raised in a very devout, repressive, and tiny Christian sect called the Peculiar People, and his dislike of authoritarianism.
to:
* AuthorOnBoard: Uhtred loathes the Church, and is more than happy to tell the reader how he feels about it. Likewise, most of the openly Christian characters are shown to be zealous and dogmatic to the point of stupidity (Gisela (Aethelflaed being the main exception that is not a Bad Ass preacher). This mirrors Cornwell's own dislike of ''institutional'' religion, which stems from his being raised in a very devout, repressive, and tiny Christian sect called the Peculiar People, and his dislike of authoritarianism.
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* ReliableTraitor: Uhtred can always be counted on to act in his own self-interest, which is essentially how Alfred keeps him in check -- because Alfred has ways of making Uhtred's life very uncomfortable indeed whenever Uhtred tries to go against him.
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** As of PaganLord [[spoiler: both of Uhtreds sons have been named Uhtred.]] Has OneSteveLimit ever been more heavily averted?
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->''But I am Uhtred, son of Uhtred, and this is the tale of a bloodfeud. It is the tale of how I will take from my enemy what the law says is mine. And it is the tale of [[{{Aethelflaed}} a woman]] and of her father, [[AlfredTheGreat a king]].''
->''He was my king and all that I have I owe to him. The food that I eat, the hall where I live and the swords of my men, all came from from Alfred, my king, who hated me.''
--> -From the prologue of ''The Last Kingdom'' (2004)
''The Saxon Stories'' is a series of HistoricalFiction novels by Creator/BernardCornwell, set during the reign of King Alfred the Great, who is fighting to keep England from being overrun by the Danes. The stories follow Uhtred of Bebbanburg, who is captured by the Danes during a raid and adopted by the warlord Ragnar the Fearless. Uhtred lives among the Danes until Ragnar is slain by one of his shipmasters, Kjartan. Uhtred ends up serving King Alfred, ruler of Wessex, who controls the only English kingdom yet to be conquered by the Danes. Much of the story revolves around Uhtred's conflicting loyalties to the Danes and King Alfred, as well as his personal desire to reclaim Bebbanburg from his uncle, who claimed it after Uhtred was taken captive.
As of now, there are seven books in the series:
* ''The Last Kingdom'' (2004)
* ''The Pale Horseman'' (2005)
* ''The Lords of the North'' (2006)
* ''Sword Song'' (2007)
* ''The Burning Land'' (2009)
* ''Death of Kings'' (2011)
* ''The Pagan Lord'' (2013)
Originally, Cornwell intended ''The Saxon Stories'' to be a trilogy, yet decided to keep writing after ''The Lords of the North''. He has stated that there may be seven or eight stories in the series eventually.
----
!!This series of books provides examples of:
* AffablyEvil: Haesten is either this or FauxAffablyEvil.
* AngloSaxons
* AntiHero: Uhtred
* AntiVillain: Erik.
* ArrangedMarriage: Uhtred finds himself in one. Not only does his bride have a substantial debt to her name, she's also a pious Christian while he's a staunch pagan. They get along about as well as you'd expect.
* AuthorOnBoard: Uhtred loathes the Church, and is more than happy to tell the reader how he feels about it. Likewise, most of the openly Christian characters are shown to be zealous and dogmatic to the point of stupidity (Gisela being the main exception that is not a Bad Ass preacher). This mirrors Cornwell's own dislike of ''institutional'' religion, which stems from his being raised in a very devout, repressive, and tiny Christian sect called the Peculiar People, and his dislike of authoritarianism.
* AxCrazy:
** Ragnar's sister Thyra becomes this at the end of the third book.
** Brida showed some signs of this in her childhood. Skade in the fifth book probably counts as this.
** ''Probably?'' Her preferred method of intimidation is [[spoiler: ''SKINNING PEOPLE ALIVE''. And she ''enjoys'' it.]]
** Brida is something of a Nimue Expy from the Warlord Chronicles. Nimue goes completely insane though.
** Skade is Nimue UpToEleven.
** Also Jarl Sigfried.
** Arguably, Uhtred himself. Count the times he's suggested to Alfred that MurderIsTheBestSolution
*** In the time era, this was less AxCrazy, more perfectly normal. And most of the people he suggests be murdered probably deserve it, as well as it solving a lot of problems.
* BadAss: Uhtred
** Steapa. In preparation for their fight Uhtred spends all his time practicing and thinking of ways to defeat him. When it comes down to it, even using his trick Uhtred realises he is never going to be beat the giant Saxon.
** In fact, [[WorldOfBadass most of Uhtred's friends and enemies are this,]] to some extent or another.
* BadassBoast: Finan, even when a slave on Skerri's ship ''Trader'', makes a fantastic one, which doubles as a promise:
-->'''Finan''': Finan the Agile, they called me, because I would dance around my enemies. I would dance and kill. Dance and kill. There was a time when I owned five spears, six horses, two swords, a coat of bright mail and a helmet that shone like fire. I had a woman with hair that fell to her waist and a smile that could dim the noonday sun. Now, I gut herrings. But one day I shall come back here, and I shall kill Sverri, hump his woman, strangle his bastard children and steal his money.
* BadassBureaucrat: Alfred may not be a warlike man, but his political genius in many ways ensures the long-term survival of Wessex. While Uhtred leads the field armies, Alfred runs the kingdom, making and maintaining vital alliances, implementing new defensive strategies, and basically laying the groundwork for the unification of England. While their vastly differing worldviews prevent them from ever actually liking each other on a personal level, Uhtred and Alfred eventually come to respect one another.
* BadassFamily: The Lothbroks. Uhtred is frightened of all of them.
** the Uhtredsons are no slouches either. [[WeHardlyKnewYe Uhtred's father]], Uthred himself and his son Uhtred are all badasses.
** Ragnar's family too - lets just say in a time when you either spend your time fighting vikings or being one yourself this trope seems fairly common
* BadassGrandpa: By the time of ''The Pagan Lord'', Uhtred is 50 years old in an age where most men die at around 40.
* BadassPreacher: Father Pyrlig. Father Beocca, when he [[spoiler: strides into a pack of man-eating dogs and exorcises Thyra's personal demons with a heartfelt prayer.]]. Also Father Willibald who went into battle armed only with a stave of wood.
* {{BFS}}: Steapa's sword.
* BigGood: Alfred plays this role, especially later on in the series.
* BigNo: [[spoiler: Uhtred when he hears that Gisela has died in childbirth, along with the child]].
* BraveScot: The Scots are noted to be psychotically courageous, cruel, fond of the FullFrontalAssault, and almost impossible to deal with. Indeed, they are one of the few groups of people that terrify Uhtred.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Haesten.
* CoolBoat: The ''Wind Viper'', later the ''Seolforwulf''. Justified in that the Norseman were renowned for their shipbuilding skill.
* CoolOldGuy: Ravn.
* CoolSword: Both of Uhtred's swords, ''Serpent-Breath'' and ''Wasp-Sting''.
** And some of the other named swords, such as Ragnar's ''Heart breaker''. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin It literally breaks hearts]].
* CrapsackWorld: The Dark Ages were not a pleasant period to be alive in. Alfred tries his hardest to impose order over the chaos, but Uhtred thinks it's futile.
* DarkActionGirl: Skade
* DeadpanSnarker: Uhtred. And Pyrlig, and Finan, and Ragnar the Younger, and Ragnar the Elder, and...pretty much every warrior in the book except for Steapa.
* DeathByChildbirth: [[spoiler: Uhtred's wife Gisela in the fifth book. Justified in that it was far more common in the period in which the story takes place.]]
** Just at the beginning we are told that both Uhtred's and his older brother's mothers both died in childbirth, too. Gytha was Uhtred's father's third wife, and died shortly after the birth of a healthy baby, too [[spoiler: after being married to Uhtred's uncle]].
* DeadpanSnarker: Alfred.
** Ravn.
** Uhtred.
-->'''Uhtred''': *in response to a request to name himself and his companions* I'm Matthew, he's Mark, he's John and the other fellow couldn't make it.
* DirtyCoward: Haesten again. Though he actually can fight when he has to.
* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Uhtred frequently remarks before he tells how he did something awesome that it was actually really stupid and risky and it only worked because of luck/fate.
* TheDragon: Uhtred is this to Alfred's BigGood, and is frequently sought by the Danes to be this or part of a BigBadDuumvirate.
* DumbMuscle: Steapa Snotor
* EvilUncle: Uhtred's uncle Ælfric takes Bebbanburg for himself, even though Uhtred is the rightful heir.
** Uhtred more or less admits that if Ælfric weren't his uncle he would probably admire him as he's more or less doing in the North what Uhtred is doing in the South, holding off the Danes from conquering England by beating them at their own game. Given how often Uhtred proposes the MurderIsTheBestSolution, it's highly doubtful he would have done anything different from Ælfric.
* FamedInStory / TheDreaded: Uhtred becomes both of these quite quickly. Killing a dangerous Viking warlord in single combat will do that. He becomes more and more famous as time goes on.
* FamilyThemeNaming: Uhtred's father, son, older brother and one cousin (and presumably most of his paternal ancestors) are all named Uhtred.
* FateWorseThanDeath: For the Norsemen, being killed without a weapon in their hand, because it means they won't reach Valhalla and thus won't be able to feast in Odin's hall with their old enemies. Uhtred, for this reason, usually gives Danes the opportunity to put their hands on their weapons before he kills them. Notably, the only Danes he lets die without a weapon are those he truly loathes, such as [[spoiler: his old enemies Sven One-Eye and Kjartan the Cruel]] and [[spoiler: Sigefrid, who murders his brother.]] He has no compunction about killing Christians without weapons, however.
-->'''Uthred''': After I die, [[spoiler: your brother]] and I will drink mead in Odin's hall, and neither of us wishes your company.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Jarl Sigfried.
* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Uhtred
** TheLancer: Leofric in Books 1 and 2, Finan afterwards.
** TheBigGuy: Steapa
** TheSmartGuy: Pyrlig in Books 1,2 and 4. Osferth in 5 and 6
** TheChick: Aethelflaed
** TheDarkChick: [[spoiler: Skade]] briefly in book five. Also a SixthRangerTraitor.
* FourStarBadass: By ''Sword Song''/''The Burning Land''.
* FriendlyEnemy: Haesten and Uhtred despise each other, though it can be tough to tell with all the seemingly good-natured snarking they slip in between the death threats.
* GalleySlave: Uhtred becomes one in the third book. Unsurprisingly, he gets [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge revenge]].
* HatesEveryoneEqually: Uhtred likes to give of this impression along JerkWithAHeartOfAJerk.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: While Uhtred is oath-bound to defend Wessex, he still greatly prefers the Danish way of life,and feels a much stronger connection to them. More than once throughout the series, these conflicting loyalties have caused him to defect to the Danes, though he never stays among them for long.
* HeroicSociopath: Uhtred. When he appears to be very cheerful whilst with Alfred in the swamp, Alfred has this to say.
-->'''Alfred''': Does that mean you've just killed somebody?
* HiddenDepths: Uhtred loves architecture and building, though he's not particularly skilled at it. He also tends to get philosophical whenever he thinks about how much better the Romans were at everything.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Æthelred of Mercia. In the historical notes of the fifth book, Cornwell admits there is no evidence that he ever displayed the bastardry he does in the novels.
** Subverted with Bishop Asser. He always acts like a total dick to Uhtred, but the narration frequently points out that he has an excellent reason for doing so.
* HonorBeforeReason: Alfred tends to show clemency to his defeated enemies, even when his kingdom would probably be safer if he just had them killed.
* HornyVikings: Duh.
* IronicNickname: Steapa is nicknamed "Snotor" which means "clever" in Old English. Ironic because Steapa is anything but.
** On the other hand he shows glimmers of not being as stupid as he first appears.
* IdenticalGrandson: Ivarr the Boneless' relatives. Also a fan theory as to a possible connection between Derfel and Uhtred. It helps both are big, blonde and clever warriors who love their adopted people and dislike bards intensely. Occasionally extended to Sharpe, since Sean Bean plays him as a big, blonde...yeah a familiar pattern emerges.
* JerkAss: Uhtred is arrogant, rude, and not above killing people who piss him off. Somewhat justified by the time period, as kindness and mercy were not considered good traits for Anglo-Saxon warriors. He does show signs of JerkWithAHeartOfGold, as he is disgusted with those who mistreat children and will generally give people chances to prove themselves.
** He seems to have mellowed throughout ''Sword Song''/''The Burning Land''/''Death of Kings'', moving firmly into JerkWithAHeartOfGold territory.
** He does show kindness and mercy in the earlier books, e.g. Guthred, he's just rather sparing with it. He's also almost universally decent to women, the only significant exception (Skade) was justified seeing as how he had just seen her torture a man ForTheEvulz.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Occasions where Uhtred outright murders someone are almost always this.
* LadyOfWar: Aethelflaed
* LightningBruiser: Finan.
* LongBusTrip: [[spoiler: Uhtred's first wife Mildrith, who joins a nunnery and is never mentioned again.]]
* MadeASlave: Uthred, in ''The Lords of the North'', in exchange for his uncle's supporting Guhtred's claim to be King of Northumbria. He can't really get angry at Guhtred's betrayal, considering he urged Guhtred to be ruthless in upholding his claim, and Aelfric's support was worth more than his own.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A standard feature of Cornwell's writing.
* McNinja: In the earlier books, Uhtred solves more than one sticky situation by ninja'ing his way in the dark, ''sceadugenga'' ("shadow-walker") style.
* MeaningfulRename: Uhtred, on several occasions.
** First, is birth name was actually Osbert. His father, the elder Uhtred, renamed him after his brother, who was killed fighting the Danes, along with making him the heir to Bebbanburg.
** At various points, Uhtred flip-flops behind identifying himself as "Uhtred of Bebbanburg" and "Uhtred Ragnarsson," depending on whether he personally is leaning more towards his kinship with the English and the Danes respectively.
** Uhtred pulls this on both his sons
* MightyGlacier: Steapa's fighting style, at least as compared with Uhtred's LightningBruiser. It should be noted that Steapa is considered the better fighter, even by Uhtred.
* NamedWeapons: Uhtred names his sword "Serpent-Breath" and his seax "Wasp-Sting". Justified, as everyone else in the books names their weapons, and it was a common thing in the time period.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Ivar the Boneless and Harald Bloodhair, to only name a couple.
** Ragnar the Fearless, Kjartan the Cruel...
* OddFriendship: Despite Uhtred being an ardent pagan, he tends to get along surprisingly well with some of the less dogmatic Christian priests, even going so far as to call Father Beocca "one of the best men I knew".
* OneSteveLimit: Averted because of the culture, but in the case of the [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Historical Domain Characters]] [[Literature/RagnarLodbrokAndHisSons Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons]], Cornwell saw fit to refer to them as "Lothbrok" and "Lothbrokson" (an invented term) because he used "Ragnar" and "Ragnarson" for his fictional characters. Since "Lothbrok" is really an epithet referring to the historical Ragnar's outfit, the characters are essentially called [[{{Narm}} "Furry-Pants" and "Son of Furry-Pants"]].
* PerspectiveFlip: To Cornwell's earlier novels ''Literature/TheWarlordChronicles'', which were about Britons (Welsh) fighting the Anglo-Saxons (English), [[ForegoneConclusion who eventually win]]. The Welsh are only minor antagonists to the English in this series. It's as if Cornwell wrote [[Literature/{{Sharpe}} a series about French dragoons]], sort of.
* ProudWarriorRace: Most of the people groups Uhtred comes into contact with are this, to varying degrees. Special mention goes to the Scots, who take it UpToEleven.
* RapePillageAndBurn: Happens all the time. Indeed, the verb for going raping, pillaging, and burning in Danish: ''viking'', as in "I'm just off viking", is where we get the term Vikings.
* ReligionIsMagic: The Danes have this attitude, something the Christians consistently fail to grasp. Indeed, when Guhtred and Guthrum "convert" to Christianity, they simply add Iehovah to their current pantheon. Ivarr the Boneless is genuinely curious as to whether the "Christian magic" is stronger than that of the Danish gods after St Edmund boasts of St Sebastian's survival of the Roman arrows...so he decides to conduct a little experiment. With St Edmund as test subject. RealityEnsues, much to the amusement of the Danes.
* ShoutOut: References to KingArthur become this since ''he'' is the Warlord of ''The Warlord Chronicles''.
* SmugSnake: Though Haesten would probably count as a MagnificentBastard if he didn't always lose, often through bad luck or incompetent allies.
* StormingTheCastle: Uhtred does this on several occasions. It's awesome.
* TheCasanova: Alfred was this before he had a religious awakening. Uhtred probably counts as well, at least when he's not married.
* TheLastDJ: Uhtred's "career" as it were is constantly stalled out due to his being a pagan.
* TheStrategist: Uhtred, Alfred as well except that he's more of a political than a military strategist.
* TokenEnemyMinority: Uhtred's paganism and Danish upbringing make him this to Wessex.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Uhtred is generally seen by those who dislike him as Alfred's useful dog of war and pet psychopath.
** They're not entirely wrong either, considering his ideas of dealing with people generally boil down to MurderIsTheBestSolution.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Father Beocca, often described by Uhtred is a very unattractive man, ends up like this.
** To be fair he also saved his wife from madness, implied to be as a result of capture and possibly demonic possession. As with all his books, Cornwell leaves this one very ambiguous.
*** It's not that ambiguous; any cases where it might be the gods have fairly obvious modern explanations, or are just luck. Sometimes it's glaringly obvious, like when Uhtred is convinced of everything the [[spoiler: witch in Death of Kings tells him, despite her being a huge fraud.]] This may come under Unreliable Narrator.
* UnreliableNarrator: The whole series is narrated by Uhtred many years after the fact, so some of his deeds may be exaggerated. Also a reason why Uhtred doesn't really like bards.
* ViolentGlaswegian: Guhtred's backstory involves being captured by one, King Eochaid of Strath Clota (now Strathclyde), who made him empty his shit-pail. Indeed, raids from Strath Clota and Glas Cau are a perennial problem for the men of Cumbraland (Cumbria).
* WildCard: Uhtred is ultimately looking out for himself above all, although he does hold both his natural and adoptive fathers in high regard and wants to return to Bebbanburg as its rightful master and avenge the elder Ragnar's death some day.
* YouCantFightFate: Uhtred believes this to be so, and often quotes ''wyrd bi∂ ful ārǣd'' ("fate is inexorable"), a line from the Anglo-Saxon poem ''The Wanderer''.
* YouKilledMyFather: Ragnar the Younger, son of Ragnar the Fearless who adopted Uhtred, [[spoiler: slays Kjartan in revenge for his father's death.]]
** Subverted with Uhtred himself, he seems to bear no ill will at all towards the Vikings who killed his father and brother and prefers Ragnar the Elder to his own father.
** He did attack Ragnar the Elder head on first time he met him, but he was about 9 and had a crap sword. From Ragnar's point of view, HilarityEnsues.
----
<<|{{Literature}}|>>
->''He was my king and all that I have I owe to him. The food that I eat, the hall where I live and the swords of my men, all came from from Alfred, my king, who hated me.''
--> -From the prologue of ''The Last Kingdom'' (2004)
''The Saxon Stories'' is a series of HistoricalFiction novels by Creator/BernardCornwell, set during the reign of King Alfred the Great, who is fighting to keep England from being overrun by the Danes. The stories follow Uhtred of Bebbanburg, who is captured by the Danes during a raid and adopted by the warlord Ragnar the Fearless. Uhtred lives among the Danes until Ragnar is slain by one of his shipmasters, Kjartan. Uhtred ends up serving King Alfred, ruler of Wessex, who controls the only English kingdom yet to be conquered by the Danes. Much of the story revolves around Uhtred's conflicting loyalties to the Danes and King Alfred, as well as his personal desire to reclaim Bebbanburg from his uncle, who claimed it after Uhtred was taken captive.
As of now, there are seven books in the series:
* ''The Last Kingdom'' (2004)
* ''The Pale Horseman'' (2005)
* ''The Lords of the North'' (2006)
* ''Sword Song'' (2007)
* ''The Burning Land'' (2009)
* ''Death of Kings'' (2011)
* ''The Pagan Lord'' (2013)
Originally, Cornwell intended ''The Saxon Stories'' to be a trilogy, yet decided to keep writing after ''The Lords of the North''. He has stated that there may be seven or eight stories in the series eventually.
----
!!This series of books provides examples of:
* AffablyEvil: Haesten is either this or FauxAffablyEvil.
* AngloSaxons
* AntiHero: Uhtred
* AntiVillain: Erik.
* ArrangedMarriage: Uhtred finds himself in one. Not only does his bride have a substantial debt to her name, she's also a pious Christian while he's a staunch pagan. They get along about as well as you'd expect.
* AuthorOnBoard: Uhtred loathes the Church, and is more than happy to tell the reader how he feels about it. Likewise, most of the openly Christian characters are shown to be zealous and dogmatic to the point of stupidity (Gisela being the main exception that is not a Bad Ass preacher). This mirrors Cornwell's own dislike of ''institutional'' religion, which stems from his being raised in a very devout, repressive, and tiny Christian sect called the Peculiar People, and his dislike of authoritarianism.
* AxCrazy:
** Ragnar's sister Thyra becomes this at the end of the third book.
** Brida showed some signs of this in her childhood. Skade in the fifth book probably counts as this.
** ''Probably?'' Her preferred method of intimidation is [[spoiler: ''SKINNING PEOPLE ALIVE''. And she ''enjoys'' it.]]
** Brida is something of a Nimue Expy from the Warlord Chronicles. Nimue goes completely insane though.
** Skade is Nimue UpToEleven.
** Also Jarl Sigfried.
** Arguably, Uhtred himself. Count the times he's suggested to Alfred that MurderIsTheBestSolution
*** In the time era, this was less AxCrazy, more perfectly normal. And most of the people he suggests be murdered probably deserve it, as well as it solving a lot of problems.
* BadAss: Uhtred
** Steapa. In preparation for their fight Uhtred spends all his time practicing and thinking of ways to defeat him. When it comes down to it, even using his trick Uhtred realises he is never going to be beat the giant Saxon.
** In fact, [[WorldOfBadass most of Uhtred's friends and enemies are this,]] to some extent or another.
* BadassBoast: Finan, even when a slave on Skerri's ship ''Trader'', makes a fantastic one, which doubles as a promise:
-->'''Finan''': Finan the Agile, they called me, because I would dance around my enemies. I would dance and kill. Dance and kill. There was a time when I owned five spears, six horses, two swords, a coat of bright mail and a helmet that shone like fire. I had a woman with hair that fell to her waist and a smile that could dim the noonday sun. Now, I gut herrings. But one day I shall come back here, and I shall kill Sverri, hump his woman, strangle his bastard children and steal his money.
* BadassBureaucrat: Alfred may not be a warlike man, but his political genius in many ways ensures the long-term survival of Wessex. While Uhtred leads the field armies, Alfred runs the kingdom, making and maintaining vital alliances, implementing new defensive strategies, and basically laying the groundwork for the unification of England. While their vastly differing worldviews prevent them from ever actually liking each other on a personal level, Uhtred and Alfred eventually come to respect one another.
* BadassFamily: The Lothbroks. Uhtred is frightened of all of them.
** the Uhtredsons are no slouches either. [[WeHardlyKnewYe Uhtred's father]], Uthred himself and his son Uhtred are all badasses.
** Ragnar's family too - lets just say in a time when you either spend your time fighting vikings or being one yourself this trope seems fairly common
* BadassGrandpa: By the time of ''The Pagan Lord'', Uhtred is 50 years old in an age where most men die at around 40.
* BadassPreacher: Father Pyrlig. Father Beocca, when he [[spoiler: strides into a pack of man-eating dogs and exorcises Thyra's personal demons with a heartfelt prayer.]]. Also Father Willibald who went into battle armed only with a stave of wood.
* {{BFS}}: Steapa's sword.
* BigGood: Alfred plays this role, especially later on in the series.
* BigNo: [[spoiler: Uhtred when he hears that Gisela has died in childbirth, along with the child]].
* BraveScot: The Scots are noted to be psychotically courageous, cruel, fond of the FullFrontalAssault, and almost impossible to deal with. Indeed, they are one of the few groups of people that terrify Uhtred.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Haesten.
* CoolBoat: The ''Wind Viper'', later the ''Seolforwulf''. Justified in that the Norseman were renowned for their shipbuilding skill.
* CoolOldGuy: Ravn.
* CoolSword: Both of Uhtred's swords, ''Serpent-Breath'' and ''Wasp-Sting''.
** And some of the other named swords, such as Ragnar's ''Heart breaker''. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin It literally breaks hearts]].
* CrapsackWorld: The Dark Ages were not a pleasant period to be alive in. Alfred tries his hardest to impose order over the chaos, but Uhtred thinks it's futile.
* DarkActionGirl: Skade
* DeadpanSnarker: Uhtred. And Pyrlig, and Finan, and Ragnar the Younger, and Ragnar the Elder, and...pretty much every warrior in the book except for Steapa.
* DeathByChildbirth: [[spoiler: Uhtred's wife Gisela in the fifth book. Justified in that it was far more common in the period in which the story takes place.]]
** Just at the beginning we are told that both Uhtred's and his older brother's mothers both died in childbirth, too. Gytha was Uhtred's father's third wife, and died shortly after the birth of a healthy baby, too [[spoiler: after being married to Uhtred's uncle]].
* DeadpanSnarker: Alfred.
** Ravn.
** Uhtred.
-->'''Uhtred''': *in response to a request to name himself and his companions* I'm Matthew, he's Mark, he's John and the other fellow couldn't make it.
* DirtyCoward: Haesten again. Though he actually can fight when he has to.
* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Uhtred frequently remarks before he tells how he did something awesome that it was actually really stupid and risky and it only worked because of luck/fate.
* TheDragon: Uhtred is this to Alfred's BigGood, and is frequently sought by the Danes to be this or part of a BigBadDuumvirate.
* DumbMuscle: Steapa Snotor
* EvilUncle: Uhtred's uncle Ælfric takes Bebbanburg for himself, even though Uhtred is the rightful heir.
** Uhtred more or less admits that if Ælfric weren't his uncle he would probably admire him as he's more or less doing in the North what Uhtred is doing in the South, holding off the Danes from conquering England by beating them at their own game. Given how often Uhtred proposes the MurderIsTheBestSolution, it's highly doubtful he would have done anything different from Ælfric.
* FamedInStory / TheDreaded: Uhtred becomes both of these quite quickly. Killing a dangerous Viking warlord in single combat will do that. He becomes more and more famous as time goes on.
* FamilyThemeNaming: Uhtred's father, son, older brother and one cousin (and presumably most of his paternal ancestors) are all named Uhtred.
* FateWorseThanDeath: For the Norsemen, being killed without a weapon in their hand, because it means they won't reach Valhalla and thus won't be able to feast in Odin's hall with their old enemies. Uhtred, for this reason, usually gives Danes the opportunity to put their hands on their weapons before he kills them. Notably, the only Danes he lets die without a weapon are those he truly loathes, such as [[spoiler: his old enemies Sven One-Eye and Kjartan the Cruel]] and [[spoiler: Sigefrid, who murders his brother.]] He has no compunction about killing Christians without weapons, however.
-->'''Uthred''': After I die, [[spoiler: your brother]] and I will drink mead in Odin's hall, and neither of us wishes your company.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Jarl Sigfried.
* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Uhtred
** TheLancer: Leofric in Books 1 and 2, Finan afterwards.
** TheBigGuy: Steapa
** TheSmartGuy: Pyrlig in Books 1,2 and 4. Osferth in 5 and 6
** TheChick: Aethelflaed
** TheDarkChick: [[spoiler: Skade]] briefly in book five. Also a SixthRangerTraitor.
* FourStarBadass: By ''Sword Song''/''The Burning Land''.
* FriendlyEnemy: Haesten and Uhtred despise each other, though it can be tough to tell with all the seemingly good-natured snarking they slip in between the death threats.
* GalleySlave: Uhtred becomes one in the third book. Unsurprisingly, he gets [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge revenge]].
* HatesEveryoneEqually: Uhtred likes to give of this impression along JerkWithAHeartOfAJerk.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: While Uhtred is oath-bound to defend Wessex, he still greatly prefers the Danish way of life,and feels a much stronger connection to them. More than once throughout the series, these conflicting loyalties have caused him to defect to the Danes, though he never stays among them for long.
* HeroicSociopath: Uhtred. When he appears to be very cheerful whilst with Alfred in the swamp, Alfred has this to say.
-->'''Alfred''': Does that mean you've just killed somebody?
* HiddenDepths: Uhtred loves architecture and building, though he's not particularly skilled at it. He also tends to get philosophical whenever he thinks about how much better the Romans were at everything.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Æthelred of Mercia. In the historical notes of the fifth book, Cornwell admits there is no evidence that he ever displayed the bastardry he does in the novels.
** Subverted with Bishop Asser. He always acts like a total dick to Uhtred, but the narration frequently points out that he has an excellent reason for doing so.
* HonorBeforeReason: Alfred tends to show clemency to his defeated enemies, even when his kingdom would probably be safer if he just had them killed.
* HornyVikings: Duh.
* IronicNickname: Steapa is nicknamed "Snotor" which means "clever" in Old English. Ironic because Steapa is anything but.
** On the other hand he shows glimmers of not being as stupid as he first appears.
* IdenticalGrandson: Ivarr the Boneless' relatives. Also a fan theory as to a possible connection between Derfel and Uhtred. It helps both are big, blonde and clever warriors who love their adopted people and dislike bards intensely. Occasionally extended to Sharpe, since Sean Bean plays him as a big, blonde...yeah a familiar pattern emerges.
* JerkAss: Uhtred is arrogant, rude, and not above killing people who piss him off. Somewhat justified by the time period, as kindness and mercy were not considered good traits for Anglo-Saxon warriors. He does show signs of JerkWithAHeartOfGold, as he is disgusted with those who mistreat children and will generally give people chances to prove themselves.
** He seems to have mellowed throughout ''Sword Song''/''The Burning Land''/''Death of Kings'', moving firmly into JerkWithAHeartOfGold territory.
** He does show kindness and mercy in the earlier books, e.g. Guthred, he's just rather sparing with it. He's also almost universally decent to women, the only significant exception (Skade) was justified seeing as how he had just seen her torture a man ForTheEvulz.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Occasions where Uhtred outright murders someone are almost always this.
* LadyOfWar: Aethelflaed
* LightningBruiser: Finan.
* LongBusTrip: [[spoiler: Uhtred's first wife Mildrith, who joins a nunnery and is never mentioned again.]]
* MadeASlave: Uthred, in ''The Lords of the North'', in exchange for his uncle's supporting Guhtred's claim to be King of Northumbria. He can't really get angry at Guhtred's betrayal, considering he urged Guhtred to be ruthless in upholding his claim, and Aelfric's support was worth more than his own.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: A standard feature of Cornwell's writing.
* McNinja: In the earlier books, Uhtred solves more than one sticky situation by ninja'ing his way in the dark, ''sceadugenga'' ("shadow-walker") style.
* MeaningfulRename: Uhtred, on several occasions.
** First, is birth name was actually Osbert. His father, the elder Uhtred, renamed him after his brother, who was killed fighting the Danes, along with making him the heir to Bebbanburg.
** At various points, Uhtred flip-flops behind identifying himself as "Uhtred of Bebbanburg" and "Uhtred Ragnarsson," depending on whether he personally is leaning more towards his kinship with the English and the Danes respectively.
** Uhtred pulls this on both his sons
* MightyGlacier: Steapa's fighting style, at least as compared with Uhtred's LightningBruiser. It should be noted that Steapa is considered the better fighter, even by Uhtred.
* NamedWeapons: Uhtred names his sword "Serpent-Breath" and his seax "Wasp-Sting". Justified, as everyone else in the books names their weapons, and it was a common thing in the time period.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Ivar the Boneless and Harald Bloodhair, to only name a couple.
** Ragnar the Fearless, Kjartan the Cruel...
* OddFriendship: Despite Uhtred being an ardent pagan, he tends to get along surprisingly well with some of the less dogmatic Christian priests, even going so far as to call Father Beocca "one of the best men I knew".
* OneSteveLimit: Averted because of the culture, but in the case of the [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Historical Domain Characters]] [[Literature/RagnarLodbrokAndHisSons Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons]], Cornwell saw fit to refer to them as "Lothbrok" and "Lothbrokson" (an invented term) because he used "Ragnar" and "Ragnarson" for his fictional characters. Since "Lothbrok" is really an epithet referring to the historical Ragnar's outfit, the characters are essentially called [[{{Narm}} "Furry-Pants" and "Son of Furry-Pants"]].
* PerspectiveFlip: To Cornwell's earlier novels ''Literature/TheWarlordChronicles'', which were about Britons (Welsh) fighting the Anglo-Saxons (English), [[ForegoneConclusion who eventually win]]. The Welsh are only minor antagonists to the English in this series. It's as if Cornwell wrote [[Literature/{{Sharpe}} a series about French dragoons]], sort of.
* ProudWarriorRace: Most of the people groups Uhtred comes into contact with are this, to varying degrees. Special mention goes to the Scots, who take it UpToEleven.
* RapePillageAndBurn: Happens all the time. Indeed, the verb for going raping, pillaging, and burning in Danish: ''viking'', as in "I'm just off viking", is where we get the term Vikings.
* ReligionIsMagic: The Danes have this attitude, something the Christians consistently fail to grasp. Indeed, when Guhtred and Guthrum "convert" to Christianity, they simply add Iehovah to their current pantheon. Ivarr the Boneless is genuinely curious as to whether the "Christian magic" is stronger than that of the Danish gods after St Edmund boasts of St Sebastian's survival of the Roman arrows...so he decides to conduct a little experiment. With St Edmund as test subject. RealityEnsues, much to the amusement of the Danes.
* ShoutOut: References to KingArthur become this since ''he'' is the Warlord of ''The Warlord Chronicles''.
* SmugSnake: Though Haesten would probably count as a MagnificentBastard if he didn't always lose, often through bad luck or incompetent allies.
* StormingTheCastle: Uhtred does this on several occasions. It's awesome.
* TheCasanova: Alfred was this before he had a religious awakening. Uhtred probably counts as well, at least when he's not married.
* TheLastDJ: Uhtred's "career" as it were is constantly stalled out due to his being a pagan.
* TheStrategist: Uhtred, Alfred as well except that he's more of a political than a military strategist.
* TokenEnemyMinority: Uhtred's paganism and Danish upbringing make him this to Wessex.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Uhtred is generally seen by those who dislike him as Alfred's useful dog of war and pet psychopath.
** They're not entirely wrong either, considering his ideas of dealing with people generally boil down to MurderIsTheBestSolution.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Father Beocca, often described by Uhtred is a very unattractive man, ends up like this.
** To be fair he also saved his wife from madness, implied to be as a result of capture and possibly demonic possession. As with all his books, Cornwell leaves this one very ambiguous.
*** It's not that ambiguous; any cases where it might be the gods have fairly obvious modern explanations, or are just luck. Sometimes it's glaringly obvious, like when Uhtred is convinced of everything the [[spoiler: witch in Death of Kings tells him, despite her being a huge fraud.]] This may come under Unreliable Narrator.
* UnreliableNarrator: The whole series is narrated by Uhtred many years after the fact, so some of his deeds may be exaggerated. Also a reason why Uhtred doesn't really like bards.
* ViolentGlaswegian: Guhtred's backstory involves being captured by one, King Eochaid of Strath Clota (now Strathclyde), who made him empty his shit-pail. Indeed, raids from Strath Clota and Glas Cau are a perennial problem for the men of Cumbraland (Cumbria).
* WildCard: Uhtred is ultimately looking out for himself above all, although he does hold both his natural and adoptive fathers in high regard and wants to return to Bebbanburg as its rightful master and avenge the elder Ragnar's death some day.
* YouCantFightFate: Uhtred believes this to be so, and often quotes ''wyrd bi∂ ful ārǣd'' ("fate is inexorable"), a line from the Anglo-Saxon poem ''The Wanderer''.
* YouKilledMyFather: Ragnar the Younger, son of Ragnar the Fearless who adopted Uhtred, [[spoiler: slays Kjartan in revenge for his father's death.]]
** Subverted with Uhtred himself, he seems to bear no ill will at all towards the Vikings who killed his father and brother and prefers Ragnar the Elder to his own father.
** He did attack Ragnar the Elder head on first time he met him, but he was about 9 and had a crap sword. From Ragnar's point of view, HilarityEnsues.
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