YMMV / Norsemen

• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The whole "dragon rider" plot in Season 3.
• Broken Base: Some viewers were disappointed or confused when they found out that Season 3 was a prequel, rather than a continuation of the storylines of Season 2. Fans have encouraged those who weren't happy to re-watch the first and second seasons afterwards, as the backstories provided by Season 3 make those even more enjoyable. In general, fans recommend 3-1-2 as the order to watch the seasons, rather than 1-2-3.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Where to begin? It’s a comedy about Vikings, with frequent instances of Bloody Hilarious, Black Comedy Rape, and Deliberate Values Dissonance, all while Leaning on the Fourth Wall.
  • Liv and Arvid try to roleplay as a raider raping a farmer's wife, complete with a half-dozen slaves around the room playing dead, because Arvid's prior sexual experience consists mostly of that kind of thing. Arvid can't stay aroused, and apologizes to the slaves.
  • Jarl Varg threatening to rape Liv, her reaction, and his inability to perform with people watching.
  • Frøya wants to join Olav's raiders. One of the men scoffs and questions how she's supposed to rape anyone (raping is a very important component of raiding, you see). Frøya knocks him out with one punch and proceeds to violate him in front of all the others. A surprised Olav declares, "Welcome aboard!"
  • Olav and Hildur giving Orm a sex ed class, complete with live demonstration, before his wedding. Capped off with "And that's how you produce a fountain orgasm!"
  • It's implied that the Vikings consider being raped to be more problematic than raping someone (if you're a man, at least). Cue Orm attempting to prove that he was actually the one who raped Torstein by "counterhumping."
• Fridge Brilliance:
  • Rufus's "navigational trick" of following the Sun all day to go south would actually work (albeit quite inefficiently) at the latitude he's from. But in Norway, the Sun is up all or almost all of the day during the summer, so following it would cause you to go in circles.
  • The Vikings of Norheim don't seem to have a great deal of geographical knowledge about Europe, which is odd for people who have a Roman slave. However, Season 3 reveals that Rufus was captured while visiting Lindisfarne in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.
• Genius Bonus: "Jarl" (e.g. Jarl Varg) is a title for a highborn person in Old Norse, and is etymologically related to the English noble title "Earl."
• Harsher in Hindsight: Hildur attempting to sacrifice Kark in Season 1 becomes this when it's revealed that she is the only one who knows that Kark is actually Olav and Orm's older brother.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • You almost have to feel sorry for Orm, who's spent his whole life suffering for being a sensitive Non-Action Guy in a place where everything has to be manly, not to mention having to hide his homosexuality. However, his incompetence, self-obsession and determination to kick every dog in sight makes it a bit difficult.
  • Rufus is a spoiled, self-involved primadonna, but it must be admitted that he doesn't deserve being enslaved to a group of sadistic bastards who delight in tormenting him.
  • Torstein pretty much does whatever Jarl Varg tells him to, but in Season 3 his father and younger brother getting shot in the head with arrows right in front of him, as well as several of his friends getting killed and then mutilated by Frøya after their deaths, means Varg is pretty much all he has left; he is loyal to him no matter what.
• Moral Event Horizon: Jarl Varg crosses it when he burns an entire town alive.
  • Hildur may have crossed it when she whipped Kark's back to shreds in order to destroy the evidence that he's the rightful chieftain; she definitely crosses when she doesn't warn Frøya that Varg is about to stab her in the back.
• Tear Jerker: Frøya's death. Arvid looks absolutely crushed.

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