Character page for The Northman.
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Amleth
Amleth
"I will avenge you, Father. I will save you, Mother. I will kill you, Fjölnir."
Portrayed by: Alexander Skarsgård, Oscar Novak (young)
Dubbed by:note
The story's protagonist. The son of Viking king Aurvandill, he swore vengeance upon his uncle Fjölnir for the murder of his father.- Anti-Hero: Can be as violent and merciless as his enemies, but he has a caring and decent side and avoids directly murdering innocents.
- The Berserker: During the attack on the Rus town, he and his fellow Vikings are depicted in line with current historical understanding of Berserkers as a warrior clad in animal pelts who enter a trance-like ritual state before the battle. Even when not performing such rituals, he still fights with ruthless ferocity.
- Big Brother Instinct: He feels no animosity towards his half-brother, Gunnar, and outright says he will rescue him alongside their mother, viewing him as kin even though they've never met. When the boy is knocked unconscious during the knattleikr game, Amleth immediately goes on the attack against the brute who did it, beating him to death to protect the lad.
- Blood Knight: Is seen going into a frenzy and enjoying the carnage during the raid on the Slavic village.
- Blood-Splattered Warrior: Gets drenched in blood during the village raid.
- Child by Rape: Gudrun tells Amleth that he was actually conceived through Aurvandill raping her when she was a slave, and it was only because she bore a son that he made her his queen.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Amleth dies in a Mutual Kill as a result of taking his revenge. In the legend, he pulls off his revenge completely, has some other adventures, and dies sometime later in a completely unconnected war.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: For a Norse berserker, in the best possible way. As a boy, he witnessed his father King Aurvandiil's murder at the hands of Aurvandiil's traitorous brother Fjolnir. Found out years later, after living in exile among a group of raiders, that his kingdom was lost as well when his uncle was defeated and exiled by another king. Was forced to become a slave in order to pursue his revenge, and barely survived the dangerous overseas passage to his uncle's new post, and spent most of his time there feeling nothing but contempt for his uncle as he plotted his revenge. Then, after spending many sleepless nights sowing terror and discord, he confronts his mother, who outright tells him she never loved him or his father and gave Fjolnir her blessing the day he usurped Aurvandiil's throne. Gives himself up the next day to stop his uncle, who was now seeking revenge against Amleth for Amleth murdering Fjolnir's son Thorir, from killing Olga, a slave-girl Amleth grew to love, and is near beaten to death for it. Olga later sneaks Amleth out of the homestead, but upon revealing her pregnancy, Amleth realizes that Fjolnir will kill their children in his own pursuit for vengeance, and leaves Olga behind to ensure her and their children's safety. Amleth later that night raids Fjolnir's homestead one last time, killing his own mother and little brother in self-defense, and is badly wounded in the process. Fjolnir only returns shortly after, and the two agree to a duel at the top of the nearby volcano. Despite Amleth's youth and superior skill, the wounds Amleth sustained the night before allowed his uncle to keep up in the fight, and the duel ends in a Mutual Kill. And yet, by avenging his father, upholding the vow he made to protect his family, and dying in an honorable duel with his sword in hand, he is spirited away by a Valkyrie to be warmly welcomed by the Allfather himself in Valhalla, and likely reunited with his father.
- Lack of Empathy: Admits himself that he hasn't connected with anyone on an emotional level since his childhood, not coming across as being particularly attached to even his fellow Vikings after the Time Skip. While still principled it allows him to enter battle and seek his revenge with considerable ruthlessness, and makes his relationship with Olga's all the more meaningful.
- Nominal Hero: Amleth is only the "hero" because Fjölnir is a horrible person who destroyed his life and Amleth is repaying him in kind. Beyond that, Amleth is just as much of a brutal warrior who engages in, at least, the "pillage and burn" parts of Rape, Pillage, and Burn, as well as slavery at first, and it could be argued that he only freed Fjölnir's slaves at the end merely to provide a distraction; and although he doesn't directly harm women or children, he's got no problem with his fellow berserkers doing it. The movie even glosses over the fact that he is partially responsible for his future lover Olga being sold into slavery (she is briefly seen during the village raid near the beginning). Even so, by the end, he has killed a woman and a child, who were also his kin, making him a kinslayer like Fjölnir too, albeit in self-defense. They have similar positive qualities too, making Amleth only A Lighter Shade of Black. In general, the movie consistently shows that Amleth and Fjölnir are similar; both products of their time and culture.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Both Heimir and Olga advise Amleth to downplay his cunning so that his enemies would underestimate him and fail to catch on to what he's planning until it's too late. He heeds their advice pretty well and it's only the mistake of confronting his mother that reveals his deception.
- One Head Taller: He positively towers over his love interest Olga.
- One-Man Army: He is an absolutely formidable warrior, being able to wage a war against Fjölnir and his dozens of retainers singlehanded.
- Papa Wolf: Amleth seems finally ready to let go of his revenge, up until the moment he realizes that Olga is carrying his children, whom he fears Fjölnir will hunt down if left alive.
- While he likely had ulterior motives, he still absolutely loses it when one of the men attack Gunnar during their ball game and kills him with extreme hatred. He even rushes over to the boy and checks to see if he's okay after.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Warrior of Odin, the Slaughter-Father. Lives to fight well and die gloriously in battle. Undeniably the greatest fighter in the film.
- Raised by Orcs: After the time jump, Amleth is revealed to have been adopted by a band of cruel Vikings who kill civilians for fun when not engaging in rape, pillage and burn. The senior berserker (who presumably is Amleth's adoptive father) praises him for being so cold-hearted.
- Screaming Warrior: When Amleth is angry, he gets loud. When he gets loud, he gets terrifying. Many of the most powerful moments in the film get punctuated by his furious, wrathful, rage-burning roars.
- One of the tamer instances of his furious bellowing comes when he wounds a man, pounces on him, then tears his throat with his teeth before howling like a wolf.
- Significant Anagram: Amleth is Hamlet with the H shifted- which should tell you right from the start he's out to avenge his father's murder at his uncle's hands.
- Though this is ultimately a subversion; the legend of Prince Amleth was first recorded by the Danish writer Saxo Grammaticus in the 13th century, four-hundred years before William Shakespeare used it as his inspiration for Hamlet. Hamlet is an anagram of Amleth, not the other way around.
- Tragic Hero: He was forced to witness his father's murder and the sacking of his village and had to fight and struggle every day of his life afterwards, closing himself off emotionally completely to fulfill his mission to avenge his father, kill his traitorous uncle and rescue his mother. While he became obsessed with vengeance, he does show that deep down he's not as barbaric as others in his time are and is genuinely distraught when his mother reveals she never loved him and was an active participant in the betrayal of his father, citing his reason for existing as her biggest disgrace, despite him loving her as any son would and devoting his life to rescuing her. While he does meet his end, he dies not simply for vengeance, but out of a genuine desire to break the awful cycle he's in and ensure his wife and children remain safe. At the end of the day, he is just a man who was punished for things that were completely out of his control.
- Warrior Prince: Amleth, if the gear some of his ancestors seem to have in his first vision during his awakening ceremony is any indication, is the scion of a line of warlord-kings stretching back to the Volkerwandrung.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Amleth claims that he would never hurt a woman. Unlike his Viking comrades, he does not take part in any abuse or violence against the captives (not that he tries to stop it either) and deliberately spares Fjölnir's priestess while killing her male assistant/husband. In the end he breaks this vow to kill his mother in self-defense.
Olga
Olga of the Birch Forest
Portrayed by: Anya Taylor-Joy
Dubbed by:note
A Slavic woman from the Rus who was enslaved by Norsemen and whose destiny crosses paths with that of Amleth.
- Ambiguously Bi: During the celebrations after the knattleikr game, Olga is shown dancing rather sensually with another woman. That said, she also sleeps with Amleth that very same night and is devoted to him ever after.
- Establishing Character Moment: One that doubles as a Meaningful Background Event: when Amleth walks around the recently conquered Slavic town, we get our first look at Olga in the background, offering some silver object to one of the Viking raiders, only to be immediately shown to have only been pretending to do so to get a shot at stabbing him, establishing her cunning right off the bat.
- Love Interest: She becomes the woman of Amleth's life over the course of the story.
- Ms. Fanservice: Slightly downplayed considering the first time we see her nude is major Fan Disservice. Every other time after that is played completely straight, especially the shot of her naked backside as she enters a hot spring with Amleth.
- White Magician Girl: She is referred to by Taylor-Joy and Robert Eggers as a white witch. Olga claims to be in contact with "earth-gods," and she is clearly seen casting a spell at one point.
Fjölnir
Fjölnir the Brotherless
Portrayed by: Claes Bang
Dubbed by:note
The brother of King Aurvandill and Amleth's uncle. He killed Aurvandill and usurped his throne, becoming the target of Amleth's revenge. He settled in Iceland with Gudrùn after being ousted by Harald Fairhair.
- All for Nothing: Fjölnir killed his brother and took his kingdom, only to have a rival king conquer it some time afterwards. He's now a completely irrelevant lord of a patch of land in Iceland, which is remarked upon by a random Viking warrior."Fjölnir killed his brother for nothing."
- Bastard Bastard: Fjölnir is the bastard brother of Aurvandill as well as a murderous usurper. He's also described as a 'half-breed', but they're more concerned about specific, ie: familial, descent than any notion of national or broad ethnic descent. Though his (uncharacteristic for his class, location and occupation) devotion to Freyr could imply that his mother may have been from Sweden.
- Big Bad: Fjölnir, as Aurvandill's murderer, is the main target of Amleth's vengeance.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's a loving husband to Gudrún and devoted father, despite being a usurper and kinslayer.
- Evil Uncle: Fjölnir kills Amleth's father (Fjölnir's own brother), usurps his kingdom, and orders Amleth's death. That certainly makes him evil from Amleth's point of view, although the viewer may choose to see him as not so different from Aurvandill or Amleth.
- Expy: Of king Fjölnir from the Ynglinga saga
who in that version was an outright son of Frey, not just a worshipper. - Impoverished Patrician: When Amleth catches up to him, Fjölnir has lost the kingom he stole from Aurvandill. Even if he's still a landowner in Iceland, with some warriors and slaves in his service, it's nothing compared to the splendor in which he used to live. He's even shown doing manual labor when the new batch of slaves arrives.
- Karmic Death: He beheaded his brother. His brother's son ends up beheading him.
- Old Soldier: After the timeskip his hair has gone quite grey, yet he is still possibly the only one in the film other than the Mound-Dweller who gives Amleth an actual challenge in combat.
- Pet the Dog: He's shown to keep dogs and seems to treat them well. There's a scene where he stabs and kills a dog, but it's done in self-defense.
- Screaming Warrior: Any notion that Fjölnir is a pushover or a coward gets immediately cast aside when he gets angry.
- When the funeral rites for Thorir complete, he is consumed with an ice-cold stare, and his rage truly begins to show.
"My hour... of grief... has passed. The time... for wrath kindled revenge... IS UPON US." - Tin Tyrant: Wears a Vendel-helmet and Birka lamellar armor during the assassination of Aurvandill lending further credence to a Swedish origin.
- The Usurper: He killed his brother and took his throne, though that didn't last very long.
- Villainous Valor: Though it's unlikely he would have done even half as well as he did had he not been already dying of several stab wounds, the fact that he lasted so long against Amleth is pretty damned impressive.
- Warrior Poet: He speaks to Aurvandil in alliterative verse, or at least an English-language approximation of it, before murdering him."You behold your brother's gaze in amazement. I knew well you would. Pity you never paid a bastard's eyes heed before. Now, behold how swiftly your brother swings his sword."
- Would Hurt a Child: Attempted to kill Amleth as a young boy.
Gudrún
Queen Gudrún
Portrayed by: Nicole Kidman
Dubbed by:note
Amleth's mother and (initially) King Aurvandill's consort. Fjölnir married her after killing Aurvandill.
- Abusive Parents: She was about to slap Amleth for barging into her room while she was changing and was fine with having him killed during the coup. She also makes sexual advances on him in the present.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Even though she wanted Amleth dead and tried to kill him herself, Amleth only kills her under duress and is sad when she dies by his hand.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She wanted Fjölnir to kill Amleth for being Aurvandill's Child by Rape—something that wasn't Amleth's fault—but she's a devoted wife to Fjölnir, a decent stepmother to Thorir, and protects her youngest son Gunnar with her life.
- Evil All Along: Amleth always thought that she loved him and his father, and believed that Fjölnir had carried her off against her will, but she reveals that she hated them and persuaded Fjölnir to kill them.
- Evil Matriarch: When Amleth comes to rescue her, she tells Amleth that his father was a horrible person who didn't love him (the first may have been true, but the second rings false), and then she tries to kill Amleth because she always hated him too.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: When Amleth tells her he's returned to rescue her from Fjölnir, she reveals that she actually hated Amleth's father Aurvandill as a bloodthirsty pirate and rapist, and it was she who begged Fjölnir to murder him. It also comes out that she wanted Amleth dead for being her child by rape.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: When she tries to kill Amleth, he runs her through the heart with his sword.
- Incest-ant Admirer: She really likes coming onto Amleth. He doesn't reciprocate.
- Lady Macbeth: By her account, she begged and urged Fjölnir to kill Aurvandill and Amleth so they could be together. After Amleth kills Thorir, she admonishes a grief-stricken Fjölnir that he needs to pull himself together and kill Amleth.
- Made a Slave: Gudrun eventually reveals to Amleth that she wasn't a Breton princess who was betrothed to Aurvandill, as she had told him when he was young; instead she was one of the slaves he captured, raped, and eventually married because she got pregnant and gave birth to a boy.
- Mama Bear: Attacks Amleth with a sword and meets her death while trying to protect her youngest son Gunnar.
- Moral Myopia: Gudrún justifiably hated Aurvandill for enslaving her, raping her, and making her bear his child, but as far as we can tell she's content to run Fjölnir's household with slaves under her command. She also probably knows that the female slaves are subject to Sex Slave treatment from Fjölnir, but just doesn't care. We can infer that she doesn't object to slavery in general, she just didn't like it being imposed on her. Additionally, she protects her youngest son with her life, yet has no maternal feelings whatsoever for Amleth and actively wants him dead, despite the fact that Amleth's only crime was being born. He had no control over who his father was or how he was conceived, but she doesn't care at all.
- Rape and Revenge: Her conspiracy to kill Aurvandill was her revenge for him enslaving and raping her.
Aurvandill
King Aurvandill War-Raven
Portrayed by: Ethan Hawke
Dubbed by: note
A Viking king and Amleth's father. He was betrayed, killed and usurped by his brother Fjölnir.
- Blood Knight: Goes on frequent raids to bring back loot and glory, and expresses an anxious wish to die in battle.
- Defiant to the End: His last words before his brother kills him are to sneer that Fjölnir's usurpation will ultimately win him nothing.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He may be a brutal Viking raider, slaver and according to Gudrún a rapist, but he's a devoted father who loves his son.
- The Good King: All evidence we're presented would indicate Aurvandil is a perfect model king for the period and region he lives in. He's shown owning multiple longships, and controls a large walled settlement meaning that he has amassed and administers a domain of considerable wealth, he is shown as being a capable war leader, as evidenced from both his martial byname (the War-Raven) and the fact he's shown as returning victorious from a huge raid at the beginning of the film, with massive spoils to show for it so he's obviously powerful enough to attack rich targets. All in all, everything Norsemen in this time period would ideally want in a king. Even the later accusations from his wife that he was a slaver and rapist wouldn't be a mark against him from a moral perspective in that time period, because firstly they didn't have a concept of marital rape as such, and secondly, enslaving people was more or less a vital pillar of the regional economy in this time period. He would more or less be seen as appropriately virile in regards to his husbandly duties in the former (by the standards of the time) and basically doing what everyone regarded as standard in the latter.
- Off with His Head!: Beheaded by his own brother, right in front of his own son.
- Papa Wolf: Aurvandill's first instinct upon being ambushed is to yell at Amleth to run away.
- Warrior Poet: In his final scenes he's actually speaking in alliterative verse, in a nod to the proper conventions of Old Norse poetry, and likely accurate to how an aristocrat from his culture and time would behave in his final moments.
Heimir
Heimir the Fool
Portrayed by: Willem Dafoe
Dubbed by: note
The jester of King Aurvandill's court.- Alas, Poor Yorick: Appropriately for his role as the equivalent of Yorick from Hamlet, his mummified skull is retrieved by the He-witch, who talks to it. Amleth even says "Poor Heimir" after the He-witch reveals the latter's mummified head.
- Canon Immigrant: He is meant to be an analogue of Yorick from Hamlet, a figure who was thought up by Shakespeare and did not appear in Saxo's story.
- Court Jester: His function (as the equivalent of Yorick). He uses his jokes to point out court intrigues (such as noting that Gudrùn is quick to offer a drink to Fjölnir, alluding to her attraction to the latter), and more unusually also serves as something of a Court Mage to Aurvandill, as he oversees Amleth's initiation ceremony.
- Expy: Pretty clearly one of Yorick, being the Court Jester Amleth/Hamlet knew from his childhood and having someone talk to his skull after his death.
He-witch
The He-witch
Portrayed by: Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson
Dubbed by:note
A mystic who kept the skull of Heimir after the latter's death and followed Fjölnir in Iceland. He knows of Amleth's destiny and guides him to find the sword.
- Expy: As he's the character that introduces Amleth to the mummified head of Heimir (himself a Yorick expy) and mocking Amleth, he fills a similar role to the first Gravedigger from Hamlet.
- Necromancer: The He-Witch facilitates a conversation between Amleth and the spirit of Heimir.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: The He-Witch is dressed in women's clothing, befitting a seiðmaðr. Although disrespectful towards Amleth, he is still helpful and gives him a pretty sound warning that his quest might not be as straightforward as he thinks.
- Wizard Beard: The He-Witch looks pretty unconventional by modern conceptions, but has a classic long beard.
Thorir
Thorir the Proud
Portrayed by: Gustav Lindh
Dubbed by:note
Fjölnir's son by his first wife.
- Boisterous Weakling: Thorir, who makes himself out to be a warrior-aristocrat par excellence, is shown to be ineffectual as both a warrior and a man by the standards of his time. Made all the worse by his arrogant, sneering nature. Best exemplified by his attempts to punch Amleth in the stomach as punishment for 'looking him in the eye' while being a slave; not only does the blow barely make a sound but Amleth doesn't even register it.
- Canon Foreigner: Has no direct equivalent in Hamlet.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's a cruel and entitled asshole for sure, but he's genuinely distraught when he finds his closest friends brutally murdered and ritualistically displayed on a hut by Amleth, swearing revenge on the perpetrator and collapsing to his knees in grief. He also shows a close bond with his father and younger brother, though how deep the latter goes considering how proud he is to be his father's heir is anyone's guess.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: His cousin Amleth ends up running him through with his sword in his quest for vengeance.
- In his first appearance of the film, Thorir is seen training in the background with some of his father's men. It's clear he's not getting the lesson, but to drill their point, the men knock him on his back, and feign stabbing him while he is lying down. As it happens, later in the film while he is bedridden and recuperating, Amleth enters the room...
- Jerkass: While he isn't shown to be as brutal or sociopathic as some of the others, Thorir is shown to be a smug, unpleasant fellow.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: While many of the manly-men around him also have long hair, Thorir's got the whole pretty boy package: he's got long, glossy hair; a neatly trimmed mustache and beard; a boyish face; a skinny build; and an attitude of vanity about his looks.
- Smug Snake: He's haughty and snobbish towards other people, particularly the servants and slaves, and ends up getting killed by Amleth after considering him Beneath Suspicion.
- Spoiled Brat: Has a big sense of entitlement from being a (former) king's son.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: He approaches Amleth during the celebration and gives a sincere thanks to him for protecting his brother from the Asshole Victim who attacked the latter during their ball game, gives him a higher position within the slaves for his hard work and even gives his blessing to allow Amleth to marry Olga and claim her for his own. By itself, it's an all-out Pet the Dog moment... but then he smugly informs him with a sinister grin that even with those privileges, he'll never be anything but a Northman slave who has to bow down to him and will never be free or have any real joy in life.
Gunnar
Gunnar
Portrayed by: Elliott Rose
Dubbed by:note
The son Fjölnir had with Gudrùn.
- Child by Rape: Subverted. If Gudrún is to be believed, she loved Fjölnir and was in full support of his coup, his union to her, and their conception of Gunnar.
- Fiery Redhead: He's red-haired and is quite spirited, impulsively jumping into the ball game and finally meeting his end when he leaps to avenge his mother.
- Spoiled Brat: Whines to his dad about the indignity of doing "slave's work" while they're splitting a log.
- Too Dumb to Live: Joining a Blood Sport where numerous grown men have already died in wasn't the brightest idea. Had Amleth not intervened, Gunnar most certainly would gotten killed.
- You Killed My Mother: After Amleth kills Gudrùn in self defense, Gunnar leaps onto his half-brother's back and starts stabbing him with a dagger. Amleth throws him off and and kills the boy on instinct.
The Seeress
The Seeress
Portrayed by: Björk
Dubbed by: note
A mysterious woman who appears to Amleth in a vision to redirect him towards his vengeful destiny.
- Blind Seer: She's a mystical woman with no eyes to speak of, but she can still "see" just fine.
- Enemy Mine: She has no love for the Amleth or his kind, who killed her people and took her eyes, but she lends assistance to Amleth and sets him back on his path of revenge for the sake of a "Maiden King" whose story begins with him. Said "Maiden King" is the daughter he conceives with Olga.
- Eye Scream: There are only empty black pits where her eyes were supposed to be, for they were taken by, according to her, Amleth's "brothers."
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Whether she exists at all is unclear, moreso whether or not she's a magical or divine being. Either way, Amleth believes every word she tells him and begins his plan believing it to be his fate.
- Small Role, Big Impact: She's in a single scene but the vision she shares with Amleth is what convinces him that it's time to return home and commit to his vengeance.
