Historical dramas are often loved by fans who can’t get enough of the detailed costumes and the intrigue of a completely different time and place.
Vikings is compelling because it’s based on the ancient past, and there are actually many little details in the show fans didn’t catch.
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Here are 10+ little details from Vikings you probably missed.
The armor used on the show is handmade.
Fans already know that the costumes and armor used for the series are really detailed, so it’s not surprising that the armor is handmade.
“We molded wet leather onto [the actors’] bodies, then dried it. When you look at female armor, you’re looking at the shape of their bodies being reflected. We didn’t want them to look like superheroes,” costume designer Helen McCusker told Variety.
The opening credits were inspired by a folktale.
In an interview with Rama Allen, who directed the title sequence, he revealed that they were based on a folktale found in The Sagas.
The opening sequence tells the story of the goddesses of the waves that would take Vikings from their ships and pull them to their watery deaths.
Lagertha’s accent draws from Sweden.
Since no one really knows what Vikings would have sounded like, there was some interpretation left up to the creators and the actors.
Katheryn Winnick, who plays Lagertha, revealed that the accents done on the show were mainly drawn from the Swedish language.
A famous wrestler played a guest role.
Known for being on the WWE, Adama “Edge” Copeland played a guest role in the show in season five episode five.
He played a Viking named Kjetill Flatnose. The actor and wrestler was excited to join the cast as he’s a big fan of the series.
There is some historical evidence of female vikings.
This isn’t exactly a hidden detail on the show, but it is a really cool fact that brings validity to the female Vikings in the series.
There has been recent evidence unearthed and then confirmed by DNA suggesting that there were really were women who were Vikings.
The actor who played Ragnar actually got bitten by a snake.
While filming Ragnar’s final moments, actor Travis Fimmel had to deal with handling live snakes.
“I was covered in snake poop at the end. I got bitten a few times, but that was fine — it was them pooping on me that annoyed me more than anything,” Fimmel told The Hollywood Reporter.
Floki is played by a Skarsgård.
The actor who plays Floki is Gustaf Skarsgård, but many fans might not have realized this actor comes from the famous Hollywood family.
Gustaf’s brother is Alexander Skarsgård, and their father is Stellan Skarsgård who is known for roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Mamma Mia.
An Easter egg linking Lagertha and the actress who played her.
During the 2020 Comic-Con @Home panel for the series, actress Katheryn Winnick talked about a connection between her life and the last line Lagertha, the character she played, delivers.
There’s a moment from season six where the character’s body falls in water and lands by her husband who had passed away in season four. Lagertha says “In my dreams, we are always together.”
These are also the words that Winnick said during her audition for the show.
The series originally started as a movie script about Alfred the Great.
Showrunner Michael Hirst revealed in an interview that he was writing a script about Alfred the Great and his fight against the Vikings.
During research for this script, he became fascinated by Vikings and their culture including how much more progressive they were regarding women.
The Paris attack mostly used practical effects.
In season three, the Vikings attack Paris and lay siege, but to film this massive undertaking, the series relied mostly on special effects.
The set was 13,800 square feet and involved hundreds of crew members and extras in order to use less CGI.
Ragnar displays signs of being severely depressed.
Mental health problems like depression and anxiety always existed even if they were handled differently in the past.
In season two, Ragnar begins to spiral from the ambitious person he used to be. But, fans might have missed that he shows some of the signs of being severely depressed. He has a loss of ambition and no more interest in things that previously made him happy.
Four “dead” languages are acutally used in the series.
Showrunner Michael Hirst explained that there were four unused languages featured in the show including Old Norse, Anglo-Saxon, and Latin.
While the characters mostly speak in English, the fact that multiple other languages from the past are used decidedly adds to the overall mood.
Why doesn’t Lagertha age?
One problem with the show that fans have pointed out is that the women in the show never really age while the men do.
While the character should have been in her mid-50s near the end of the series, she still looks how she did at the start.
The strange dialogue choice that everyone missed.
During the Comic-Con @ Home event, showrunner Michael Hirst talked about the finale of the second season, “The Lord’s Prayer.”
He revealed that actor Travis Fimmel suggested that his character should only say the dialogue in the episode that was taken from “The Lord’s Prayer”, and they decided to go with it.
A continuity error in the story of Lagertha and Ragnar’s meeting.
While Rollo suggests in season one that he and Lagertha had a past, and he then reveals in season five that he always knew Bjorn was his son, these details are not mentioned Ragnar talks about meeting Lagertha.
When talking about how she saved him from beasts and they fell in love, Ragnar leaves out Rollo.
