History Theatre / TheWarriorsAtHelgeland

* TheArcher: Hjørdis, killing Sigurd with an arrow.

Meanwhile, Sigurd`s friend Gunnar, who married Hjørdis, Dagny`s fostered sister and childhood friend, also arrives at the scene, and old conflicts arise. Apparently, Hjørdis would rather have married Sigurd the warrior, than the more peaceful Gunnar. In the process, and because of poor communication, Ørnulf loses all his seven sons, Hjørdis kills Sigurd, then commits suicide, and the rest reconcile.

This is the last play of Ibsen`s early phase, finished right before his CreatorBreakdown. The tone of the play is dark and fatalistic, and he didn`t publish another play for four years.

* TheAce: Sigurd, commented on as the greatest achiever in any feats. He is in fact so awesome Ørnulf finds it honorable to be ''wounded'' by him.
** Of course, he is an expy of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. Also possibly of Balder.
** The only way to kill him is by using a magic arrow.

* AlphaBitch: Hjørdis. From beginning to end. She intimidates Dagny rather quickly.

* BadassBoast: The first line of Sigurd, stating that he has never retreated from any challenge.
* BadassFamily: Ørulf from the Fjords and his seven sons. They are not to be messed with.
* BigEntrance: The entrance of Ørnulf at the start of the play. The following exchange follows:

* BigNo: When Sigurd tells Hjørdis he is baptized in England, Hjørdis invokes it.

** The first combat in the play, between Sigurd and Ørnulf, also qualifies, but is subverted as the two men backs off the moment blood is spilled.
** Actually, the entire plot hinges on this. Ørnulf killed Jøkul, the father of Hjørdis, in single combat. And a lot of problems, if not all of them, arose from this, since Hjørdis was fostered by Ørnulf afterwards.

* CaptainObvious: Gunnar, stating that Hjørdis is "dead indeed" at the end of the play.
** Prior to that, he states the same on behalf of Sigurd.
* CataclysmClimax: Hjørdis riding off with {{the wild hunt}}, after jumping off a cliff in a climactic thunder storm.
** And if that isn`t enough: the homestead of Gunnar burns to the ground, and all his men are killed at the same time.
* ChewingTheScenery: It is difficult not to - at least not in this particular play. It can hardly be read out loud without chewing. It seems like Ibsen intended the play to be acted out as hammy as possible.

* TheDarkArts: Hjørdis is into the norse equivalent, the ''seid'', chanting and summoning.

* DueToTheDead: Ørnulf grieving his dead sons on the beach. Then making an elegic poem on the spot (''Ørnulf´s drapa''), and moving on.
* DramaQueen: Hjørdis.
* DramaticThunder: The final scene, topped by {{the wild hunt}}.
* DrivenToSuicide: Hjørdis, after killing Sigurd.
* DysfunctionalFamily: All of the main characters are related through fostering and true genetics: Ørnulf is the father of Dagny. Gunnar and Sigurd was fostered together, and Hjørdis was fostered alongside Dagny. They all seem to have known eachother from childhood.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: For those familiar with the later and more realistic works of Ibsen, this play may seem quite odd. It stands out as one of a kind, but considering it an {{old shame}} is not fair. Ibsen`s old shames does not appear in his "collected works", but this does.

** Ibsen got some criticism for this. He might as well make a historical play based on the actual Volsunga story, or the story of Egill, but he chose to combine the two for the {{rule of cool}}. It seems to have worked.

* EvilSorcerer: Hjørdis comes pretty close.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Hjørdis will rather die than live to see Norway christianized.

** It is hard for a modern audience not to ridicule this scene, when ten actors cry out in astonishment and at the same time: "Ørnulf from the Fjords!" (Post Creator/MontyPython, this is impossible - note the "bicycle repair man skit").

* GothGirlsKnowMagic: Hjørdis is an early version of this trope.

* HamToHamCombat: Literally. With ''swords''!

* HornyVikings: Trope codifier, at least in Norway.
* HonorBeforeReason: Could arguably be the subtitle of the entire play.
* IdiotBall: Sigurd telling Dagny he was the one who killed the polar bear guarding Hjørdis. Dagny couldn`t resist bragging to Hjørdis about it, and Hjørdis went batshit because Gunnar was not the totally awesome guy she thought he was.
* IfICantHaveYou: And that is why Hjørdis kills Sigurd.

* InstantDeathBullet: Sigurd is shot and mortally wounded by ''one single arrow''. He does get some lines after that, though.
** Justified by the fact that the arrow is enchanted for the purpose of killing Sigurd.
* InTheBack: Ørnulf reasons that Thorolf was better off killed while facing Gunnar, and accepts the murder as a man`s deed because Gunnar did it this way. If Gunnar had killed Thorolf from behind, the murder would have been done cowardly, and blood vengeance would have to be instigated.

** This play actually makes a good Norwegian answer to Theatre/{{Macbeth}}, sans the curses, of course.
* LadyOfWar: Hjørdis.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Hjørdis qualifies.
* LoveTriangle: Sigurd`s main interest was Hjørdis, but he eloped with Dagny, who actually was meant for Gunnar. He ended up marrying Hjørdis, but she never forgot Sigurd.
* {{Melodrama}}. Oh yes.
* MistakenIdentity. Gunnar and Sigurd switched places in their youth, because Gunnar didn`t have the guts to kill a polar bear. This resulted in Hjørdis marrying Gunnar because she actually believed he was the one who did it. Dagny reveals the true circumstances, and tragedy ensues.
** TruthInTelevision: Polar bears do in fact show up in Iceland, though they are not a common sight. Annals dating back to the viking ages state that they were found there at an early stage of human settling (mostly coming over from Greenland on drifting ice).
** This plot expies the Brynhild/Gudrun-quarrel over Sigurd in the Literature/SagaOfTheVolsungs.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Gunnar, when realizing the mistake of killing Thorolf, the youngest of Ørnulf`s seven sons. To drive the point home, Thorolf was the apple of his father`s eye. The trope is invoked literally, but in the pagan phrazing: "Woe, what have I done".
** It gets worse when Ørnulf shows up with Gunnar`s son alive and well, making the murder of Thorolf meaningless.

* NorseByNorsewest: both Norway ''and'' Iceland, of course.
* OhCrap: Hjørdis when discovering that Sigurd is unable to follow her to Valhalla. He was baptized in England.

* PeriodPiece: Obviously.

* SweetPollyOliver: Hjørdis would like to be one, eloping on a swashbuckling adventure with Sigurd.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Hjørdis and Dagny.

--> Gunnar: so, she did love me after all...
* VillainousBreakdown: When Hjørdis faces defeat and throws herself off the cliff.
* WarriorPoet: Ørnulf.
* TheWildHunt: at the end of the play, Hjørdis joins it after jumping off a cliff.

** Consider, just for a moment, an English production of the play casting Creator/BrianBlessed as Ørnulf.

* RatedMForManly: on the verge of {{testosterone poisoning}}.