Vikings

For the longest time I honestly thought Charlemagne was dead by this point in the timeline, possibly because I was thinking of Charles Martel, (and there might be some add on from the show saying that Ecbert was in the court of Charlemagne as a youngster) but old Charlie was around in the early 800s, so because the creators of the show stuck Ragnar and Rollo back far enough to raid Lindisfarne, they get to go up against the early Carolingian Empire too.

That will be interesting, and probably throw fuel on the fire for some of the religious conflict, since Charlemagne was known to do a few "convert or die" shenanigans with pagans, including the Norse...

edited 26th Jan '15 2:27:03 PM by TheWanderer

Nah, they fibbed a little bit with the timeline. I doubt that Charlemagne will turn up. Currently the show is officially at the start of 800, but are dealing with the powerful Ecbert of the 820s/830s and when they attack Paris, we will go every further in time. I doubt that they complicate thing by throwing Charlemagne into the mix.

Behind the scenes trailer is up and soon they will start the webseries leading up to the show. History channel really knows how to please the fans. They give us new tibits every day, it is just awesome.

Yeah, but technically Ragnar's supposed to die like fifty years from the show's current timeline and Normandy isn't founded until way later.

And they seem to be going with the theme of Ragnar facing progressively more powerful opponents, and it doesn't get any bigger than Caesar Augustus Charlemagne.

And if the show is in 800 now, then Charlemagne has just gotten the title of Holy Roman Emperor.

He died in 814. And if he were still alive in the shows timeline, he would be the King of France, not Charles.

I doubt they're going to do a radical 10+ year timeskip. Bjorn doesn't seem that much older, and none of Ragnar's other kids are mentioned, which means that they probably aren't very old.

Even if they invade Paris in, say, 806 (a 5 year timeskip seems much more acceptable if we account for Ragnar consolidating his power), Charlemagne is still the Holy Roman Emperor.

Of course, it could be that the show continues its complete Anachronism Stew.

edited 27th Jan '15 3:29:22 PM by math792d

No, they won't do a timeskip, they will simply pretend that history happened a little bit earlier...but if they go for Rollo's story they can't add charlemagne into the mix, because that would be one king too many. Plus, I don't think that there are any interesting stories about Charlemagne. I think the next step after Paris is Bjorn's big voyage.

Frankly, I'm wondering if the show will keep Ragnar as it's main character all the way through the end and his death will be the end of the series, or if they'll actually keep going after he dies and simply elevate his kids to top billing.

The latter would follow the saga quite well. It simply kept going after Ragnar's death.

I guess it depends on how well the show does. But there will be at least another season before killing him off will be a theme. There is still a lot of stuff which has to happen first.

Yeah, but that depends on whether they want to tell the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok and His Sons or if they want to tell the story of the ENTIRE Viking Age through the perspective of the only people who apparently mattered (???)

I guess it depends on the ratings. Originally Ragnar was supposed to die by the end of the first season, but I guess Hirst then figured out that he had an interesting character on hand.

Totally random observation: I just noticed how nicely conflict free the Vikings Fandom is. There are no shipwars (mostly because everyone is shipped with more or less everyone, and there is always the possibility of a threesome), barely any character haters - if the biggest conflict is the level of historical accuracy, a fandom is really peacefull indeed.

It's currently a small show and, again, there's the possibility of threesomes. Shipping being the biggest issue most fandoms have, we've got it pretty easy. Not to mention the show's based on lots of Viking myths. We just have to watch and see where it meanders next.

Looks like they're keeping the episodes close to the vest this time. Thursday is the premier and there's no video up for it yet. So that just means we have time to catch up!

Nope, you are just not up-to date. There are already multiple sneak peeks available, including a 5 minute battle video, and the scene when Ragnar and Ecbert meet again.

I meant the actual episodes, not sneak peaks. Was wondering if they were putting it out early like they used to. But it's only a two day wait, so I can be patient.

Nah, I think they go for a parallel airing in as many countries as possible this time around.

Good way to go, I'd say. As long as there's a lot of raiding, and Lagertha remains an important character, I'll be a happy audience member. I don't like Ragnar quite as much as I like her. Katheryn Winnick's a good actress.

edited 17th Feb '15 9:58:17 AM by Journeyman

Strangely in a show called "Vikings", my favorite character is King Ecbert, a saxon.

I have also a fondness for King Aelle ("ARE THEY NOT HUMAN? DO THEY NOT BLEEEEED WHEN THEY'RE CUT!?)

Above all they have an actor who is a really good rider for Ragnar and an actress who is a trained bodyguard for Lagertha.

One who holds several black belts including one in Tae Kwon Do, even.

So it'd be silly to have her leave the show, unless she finds her own reason to leave.

Well, they have all freedom of the world concerning Lagertha. There is no story about how she died, she just kind of fades out of the story after killing her second husband. And let's be honest here, they would be stupid to write perhaps the most popular character out of the show unless they have to.

Rewatching Season 2 now to get ready for Thursday. Won't take very long. Should be finished tomorrow.

Somehow this first episode was really amusing...especially Ecbert.

Yes, yes it was! "Why is he coming with us? He's King." "Yes, I am King. So what?" I love how this show handles the different languages. It's great that they put that much attention into detail there.