Line #36 Film/ValhallaRising


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valhalla-rising-movie-poster-2009-1020554869_1964.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''He was brought up out of [[Myth/NorseMythology Hel]].'']]
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4	->''"He's driven by hate. It's how he survives, and why he never loses. He'll come because he has to come; to finish it."''
5	-->-- '''The Chieftain, on [[TheVoiceless One-Eye]]'''
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7	''Valhalla Rising'' is a 2009 film (released in the States in 2010), directed by Creator/NicolasWindingRefn, starring Creator/MadsMikkelsen. The film was shot entirely in Scotland, and takes place in 1000 AD.
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9	For years, One-Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the chieftain Barde. Aided by a boy, Are, he kills his captors and together they escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight, One-Eye and Are board a Viking vessel headed out for "the Holy Land", but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that misdirects them to an unknown land. As the new land reveals its secrets and the Vikings meet a ghastly fate, One-Eye discovers his true self.
10	----
11	!!Tropes featured in ''Valhalla Rising'' include:
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13	%% Zero Context Examples have been commented out. Please write up a full example before uncommenting.
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15	* AGodAmI: Eirik, the leader of the Christian Norsemen, begins to have increasingly grandiose delusions of building a new Jerusalem, even though he and his men are hopelessly stranded in the new world. While he stops short of actually declaring himself a god, his increasing egotism and weakening sanity leave no doubt in his mind that his cause is God's cause.
16	* AllThereInTheScript: Are and Barde are not named in dialogue, and the end credits just list the actors playing One-Eye, "Pagans", and "Christian Vikings." The film's official website also gives One-Eye's name as "Harald", but it is never mentioned in the film or credits.
17	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film makes very few historical claims, but even then they don't match up very well. UsefulNotes/TheCrusades were triggered in 1095, about a century later than the purported setting of the movie.-- While the period around 1000 AD saw indeed some violent confrontations between pagans and Christians in Norway, such religious struggles had little impact in the British Isles. Then again, it's never really specified whether the first part of the movie is supposed to take place in Scotland (where it's filmed), or possibly in Norway, the Orkney islands, or Iceland.
18	* TheAtoner: One-Eye accompanies the Christians on their crusade when he is told that he can cleanse his soul by committing to the cause
19	* AudibleSharpness: Not only with swords and knives being unsheathed, but even ''an axe being calmly moved through the air.''
20	* BoundAndGagged: Being a prisoner, One-Eye spends a lot of time in chains. Not gagged, but, well, he doesn't talk anyway.
21	* BreakingTheFellowship: By the end, the group has started to break up and turn on one another in panic.
22	* CombatPragmatist: One-Eye uses any means available to him when in a fight: rocks, arrowheads and so on.
23	* CoversAlwaysLie: The British DVD cover presents the film as a ''Film/ThreeHundred''-style action movie, rather than the bleak suspense thriller which the box actually contains. European covers were generally more loyal.
24	* CrapsackWorld: There are three distinct groups of people in the movie: Norse pagans, Norse Christians, and [[spoiler:Native Americans]]. All three of them are introduced either murdering people or having just finished murdering people.
25	%%* DeathOfTheOldGods
26	%%* DreamSequence: Often hard to distinguish from the real story. Strongly implied that One-Eye can [[spoiler:see the future in his dreams]].
27	* TheDreaded: One-eye is already known, and feared, by the time the movie begins, as one of the Christian Norsemen immediately recognizes him and knows not to mess with him.
28	* TheDrifter: It's mentioned that One-eye never stays in one place, among one people for more than five years.
29	* {{Gorn}}: Bludgeoning, disembowelment, and other forms of mutilation are all shown in excruciating detail.
30	* GladiatorGames: One-Eye's captors bet on the outcome of his fights.
31	* HandicappedBadass: One-Eye is missing an eye and mute, but none of this prevents him from being a formidable warrior.
32	%%* {{Hell}}: The men think they're actually there after a while, and not without good reason.
33	%%* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:One-Eye.]]
34	%%* InTheBack: One man ''does'' stab one of his allies in the back while hugging him!
35	* KidSidekick: After One-Eye kills the captors of the boy Are, Are accompanies him on his journey.
36	%%* LeFilmArtistique: Quite so.
37	* MudWrestling: One-Eye and his opponent do this during a flashback of a gladiatorial fight.
38	* MysteriousProtector: One-Eye becomes this to Are.
39	* NeverHurtAnInnocent: One-Eye quickly dispatches of the man who means to kill Are, thinking him a curse. In fact, One-Eye never fights somebody who has not attacked or mistreated him in anyway.
40	%%* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: One-Eye is forced to deliver many of these.
41	* NoNameGiven: The main character's real name is never given, mostly because he doesn't talk, and is christened "One-Eye" by the kid (for obvious reasons).
42	* NothingIsScarier: Most notable in the OminousFog sequence. The movie doesn't get its horror factor from violence alone, but from its consistently bleak and dreading atmosphere, some surreal imagery, and the [[PsychoStrings sound]][[ScareChord track]].
43	* OceanMadness: One of the Vikings, while stranded at sea, breaks down and drinks sea water.
44	* OffWithHisHead: The fate of [[spoiler:the Chieftain who imprisoned One-Eye]], as well as others.
45	* OminousFog: An almost supernatural mist gets the group horribly lost while at sea.
46	%%* PetTheDog: One-Eye's relationship with Are.
47	* PrecisionFStrike: When a guy gets shot by an arrow, the rest of the team start screaming and swearing profusely. It's quite a shock considering most of the rest of the film involves very little talking in general. In fact, even when the man at the beginning is having his ''entrails removed'', there is no swearing at all!
48	%%* ProtectedByAChild: Are cares for One-Eye, who in turn protects him on their journey.
49	%%* PsychoStrings
50	* RealMenLoveJesus: Christian. Vikings. It speaks for itself.
51	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:At the end of the film, One-Eye drops his weapon and calmly walks up to a group of Native American warriors, who bludgeon him to death in front of Are.]]
52	* ReluctantWarrior: One-Eye is enslaved and forced to fight in deadly gladiatorial games. One-Eye never attacks anyone that did not attack him first or the Boy. He seems to only fight in self-defense.
53	** He does join the other Crusaders as they jump off their ship to fight the unseen Indians that opened fire on them, which is again another act of defending himself and the Boy.
54	* RiddleForTheAges: Who was One-Eye? Were did he come from? The film leaves it open. A popular theory is that he is Odin, with the obvious parallel is his missing eye. Other hints is that the entire opening is a loose adaptation of ''Grímnismál'' with Barde standing in for Geirröth and Are as Agnarr, as well as his strange visions.
55	%%* RiverOfInsanity: In the middle part of the movie.
56	* TheSavageIndian: [[spoiler:They end up in somewhere in the North Americas and One-Eye eventually gets almost ritualistically beaten to death by the Natives. They are not any more savage than the Norsemen, however; and their aggression is possibly caused by the Norsemen desecrating a burial ground earlier by erecting a Christian cross near it and stealing some psychotropic moonshine left on the aerial sepulture scaffolds.]]
57	* SceneryPorn: Many beautiful shots of the Scottish highlands, yes even the supposed Newfoundland forests in the latter half of the film are in fact landscapes that can be found in Scotland.
58	* SilenceIsGolden: As a recurring trait of Nicholas Winding Refn's films, the movie has a very sparse script.
59	* SpiritualSuccessor: The film clearly draws a great deal of influence from ''Film/AguirreTheWrathOfGod'', with its European warriors blundering through the New World, adrift on a river, beset by [[InjunCountry hostile inhabitants]], slowly going insane, and ultimately meeting a variety of grisly ends.
60	* TokenGoodTeammate: Gary Lewis' character is probably the closest thing that the Christian Vikings have to one of these. He doesn't have any particular problem with carrying out a holy war, but he's also the most compassionate and level-headed character in the movie.
61	* TranslationConvention: The Vikings all speak modern Scottish English, while historically they would have spoken the Caithness dialect of Old Norse. Then, the only non-Scottish actor plays a mute and Nicolas Winding Refn did not want the character to speak with various accents.
62	* TheSpeechless: It's never clarified if One-Eye ''can't'' speak or just ''doesn't.''
63	* WithMyHandsTied: In the beginning, One-Eye is dragged into the gladiator fight before the Boy can untie his hands. This does not stop One-Eye from killing the other gladiator one bit.
64	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Of the crusaders, 9 are alive (excluding One-Eye and the Boy) when the ship finally reaches land. One vanishes and later returns insane, one is shot with an arrow, [[spoiler: 3 are killed by One-Eye]], the leader [[spoiler: stabs the priest and is then killed by the Indians and the son of the leader's fate is left unknown]]. But what happened to the 9th member?
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Context Film / ValhallaRising