History Film / TheNorthman

Boasting an AllStarCast, the film follows Amleth (Creator/AlexanderSkarsgard), a [[UsefulNotes/TheVikingAge Viking]] prince seeking revenge against his uncle Fjölnir (Creator/ClaesBang) for murdering his father King Aurvandill (Creator/EthanHawke). Amleth's arc also involves his attempt in uncovering the fates of his mother Gudrun (Creator/NicoleKidman) and his HonoraryUncle Heimir (Creator/WillemDafoe), as well as forming a bond with the Slavic slave Olga (Creator/AnyaTaylorJoy).

* AdaptedOut: As the movie is not a direct retelling of the Amleth legend, the key element of Amleth [[ObfuscatingInsanity faking insanity]] to deter suspicion about his plotting - which survived [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} all the way]] to Shakespeare - is not present, since Amleth flees the scene as a boy. Elements in the legend that were later echoed by Shakespeare's Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are also absent. Though on the other hand, this is largely explained by the fact that Hrorek Slyngebond, Gerutha's father, and the Danish King for whom Aurvandill and later Fenge rule Jylland in trust, is also adapted out, and Saxo's version is quite clear that the only reason Fenge didn't kill Amleth is because his maternal grandfather would basically come down on him like the hammer of Thor if anything happened to him. Also adapted out is Aurvandill's rivalry with the Norwegian king Kollr, whom he slays in battle at the outset of the story.

* BearsAreBadNews: Invoked - when the berserkers are discovered a Slav guard cries out "the bears of war are here". The bigger and bulkier of the berserkers wear bear pelts, the leaner ones were wolf pelts. Amleth, who is "the bear-wolf", wears a bear pelt with a wolf head sown onto it.

** There's a lot of this with respect to the chapter names assuming you can read the alphabet of a long dead medieval language.

* BloodSport: The movie features a bloody depiction of knattleikr, a nordic ball game where five players use clubs to hit a ball into a goalpost and to beat the opposing team until they can't play anymore. Players get their legs broken, noses bashed in, and by the end of it, only the two biggest players are left standing. Only one of them walks off the pitch alive.

* CoolSword: Amleth's magical sword Draugr, [[spoiler:forged by dwarfs and taken from an undead king,]] and which can only be drawn at night or at the "Gates of Hel." It appears to be forged from damascus steel inlaid with runes.

** Amleth is first seen being overjoyed at his father's return, establishing him as a loving son. Likewise, Aurvandill acknowledges that his son is growing but still gives him a bearhug.

* {{Homage}}: The scene during the raid on the Slavic settlement where the Vikings lock all the villagers unfit for slavery into a temple before setting fire to it is one to the most infamous scene in ''Film/ComeAndSee''.

* {{Irony}}: Hrolfur (one of the berserkers) calls the Slavs "savages" while he himself is covered in mud and blood, wearing nothing but a bear-pelt and his underwear.

* TheOner: A couple the scenes, such as Fjölnir's men attacking the village and the Vikings raiding the Slavs.

** The arctic fox that helps Amleth is actually a real fox, through many viewers mistook it for a (poorly rendered) CG one.
** All the night scenes where shot at night but many people assumed they were day for night. Might have to do with night sky which was comped in to simulate what the human eye sees but what a camera does not photograph.

** Thorir is reintroduced, as an adult, losing in a sparring match, and then spends the rest of the movie trying and failing to assert his authority, even though while his father is shown to love him and thus, he might not need to, it's just what's expected of him.

** The slave's orgy in the forest is a shout out to the pagan celebration in ''Film/AndreiRublev'', which has a very obvious influence on the camera work of ''The Northman''.

** Both Amleth and his father are associated with canines. Aurvandil likens himself to a battle dog (i.e., wolf) when he returns to his hall and greets Amleth and Gudrun. Right behind him comes Fjölnir with two hounds on leashes. The rite of passage Amleth endures involves him and Aurvandil acting like feral dogs while being tested by Heimer to prove their humanity. The pre-raid ritual Amleth takes part in with the Berserkers similarly involves them channeling their ferocity while wearing wolf pelts. A small arctic fox acts as Amleth's guide throughout his entire quest. There is also the detail of them literary having a werewolf as part of the family tree.

** The precise rules of knattleikr have been lost, so the film necessarily depicts its own version. It was known as a very physical game, but it's unlikely that it boiled down to players [[BloodSport clubbing each other with bats]] until no one remained standing.

** The He-Witch seems to have a Vegvisir inscribed on his headpiece, which is an Icelandic magical stave symbol... from the 17th century.

''The Northman'' is a 2022 EpicMovie directed and co-written by Creator/RobertEggers (''Film/TheWitch'', ''Film/TheLighthouse''), inspired by the Scandinavian legend of [[Literature/GestaDanorum Amleth]] (which also inspired Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'').

*** [[spoiler:It's revealed that she is a former slave, which would be revealed if anyone saw her slave brand.

* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: Fjölnir is shown to have made a special order of slaves from a Viking band, to be delivered to his homestead. Leaving aside the idea that someone at that time would make a special order of newly enslaved workers instead of just buying from a slave market, the whole scheme becomes even iffier when one considers that this particular homestead is located in UsefulNotes/{{Iceland}} and the slaves are being procured in [[UsefulNotes/KievanRus the Land of Rus]], and being shipped ''directly from there''.

** Both Amleth and his father are associated with canines. Aurvandil likens himself to a battle dog (ie: wolf) when he returns to his hall and greets Amleth and Gudrun. Right behind him comes Fjölnir with two hounds on leashes. The rite of passage Amleth endures involves him and Aurvandil acting like feral dogs while being tested by Heimer to prove their humanity. The pre-raid ritual Amleth takes part in with the Berserkers similarly involves them channeling their ferocity while wearing wolf pelts. A small arctic fox acts as Amleth's guide throughout his entire quest. There is also the detail of them literary having a werewolf as part of the family tree.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: When we first see Amleth's family tree on of the ancestor's seen in the background is a fully transformed werewolf!

--> '''[[spoiler:Queen Gudrun]]''': "I see you have inherited [[HiddenDisdainReveal your father's simpleness]]."

[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/northman.png]]
[[caption-width-right:349:''"Live in Honour. Safeguard Your Familial Blood."'']]

* TheGoodKing: How [[UnreliableExpositor Amleth]] sees Aurvandill, his father. It's strongly implied he's far less capable than the boy wants to see him and the adult man still glorifies.

** The film shows badass manly Viking berserkers who mow through their enemies like a hot knife through butter... and who then act in a manner you'd rather expect to see from a Nazi death squad in a movie about the Holocaust.

** Gudrun is first seen whining about being made to "slave work" by his father, establishing that he's a pampered kid, but when his father claims that it's to show their slaves their strength, Gudrun rightfully points out that no slaves are watching them, showing that he's more savvy than his father expects.
** When we catch up with Fjölnir in Iceland, he's building a wall with his own hands. His son questions why, and he claims that it's to "show their strength" to their slaves, but no slaves are watching. When Gudrun points this out, he ends the conversation rather than admit that his station has fallen quite low compared to his former position as king.

** When Amleth runs into his mother's chambers, she looks ready to strike him. [[spoiler:While she may have been trying to hide her slave mark, this also indicates she holds little love for her son.]]
** Heimir points out how quickly Gudrun hands her goblet to her brother-in-law, rather than her husband. Later on, after Amleth starts working at the compound, he witnesses Gudrun tenderly brushing Fjölnir's hair in private, and shooing away ravens, which were the namesake of Aurvandill. [[spoiler:Later on, her true feelings on both brothers are revealed.]]

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: One that doubles as a MeaningfulBackgroundEvent, as Amleth is walking 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. Eagle-eyed viewers can also notice her in the background during the fighting, hurling a bucket of water at one of the Vikings.

* SpoiledBrat: Both of Fjölnir's sons, Thorir and especially Gunnar, are this. The latter at one point whines to his father about them doing "slave work" not long before the slaves came.

* DramaPreservingHandicap: During the climax of the movie, Amleth, who has been shown to be a OneManArmy, [[spoiler:goes into his duel with Fjölnir severely wounded from the sword slashes Gudrun gave him and the multiple stab wounds from Gunnar.]] This makes things far closer than they had any business being, [[spoiler:and results in both of them dying.]]

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Draugr the Night Blade is this due to being [[ForgedByTheGods forged by the gods]]. Fjölnir is shown having to hack Aurvandill multiple times holding a one-handed sword with both hands to cut off his head while Amleth can chop off whole limbs with ease wielding Draugr and [[ArmorIsUseless even slice through chain mail]]. The damage Amleth manages to do with the blade is so horrible that Ashildur thinks it was done by a demon. [[spoiler:Though to be fair it ''is'' the magical sword of a barrow king so she's not far off. Later references to the possible demon as a hound of Hela and "night rider" recall references to draugr in other Norse sagas, so it's plausible Ashildur thought the local undead king was responsible.]]

* AnachronismStew:
** The inscription of the sword Draugr is inscribed with Elder Futhark runes, which is at least 3 or 4 centuries removed from Amleth's era, and is made all the more strange that the sword is named Draugr instead of the older form Draugaz, which would have been appropriate for Elder Futhark. It also poses the question of why a 4th-6th century burial mound is in ''Iceland'' of all places, as the island was only settled in the second half of the ''9th'' century.
** The He-Witch seems to have a Vegvisir inscribed on his headpiece, which is an Icelandic magical stave symbol... from the 17th century.

** At the start of the film Fjolnir is depicted as wearing a set of lamellar armor. There is archaeological evidence of a handful of lamellar plates found in Scandinavia, but there is no strong evidence to suggest that the Norse wore it as armor.

* AssholeVictim: From an ''audience perspective'', mind you, but the only people who seemingly don't have it coming from our vantage would the Slavic speakers Amleth utterly annihilates in the beginning [[spoiler:and Gunnar, his kid half-brother]]. The plot itself cleaves very closely to the 10th to 11th century Norse morality of the medieval stories and events it draws from, so the only sins that it treats as being ''truly'' bad is Fjolnir's murder and usurpation of his brother [[spoiler:and Gudrun's betrayal of her husband and son]].
** It's hard to feel any sympathy for any of Fjölnir's men when Amleth kills them given they shown nothing but cruelty and abuse for most of the film. Especially Finnr the Nose-Stub.
** If Gudrun is telling the truth, [[spoiler:Aurvandill himself, whom she identifies as a rapist and a slaver who got what he deserved.]]
** And if ''that's'' true, arguably [[spoiler:Amleth, who spent years aiding and abetting a band of murderous, thieving, rapist slavers and only abandoned that lifestyle to seek revenge on Fjölnir, whose murder of Aurvandill was arguably justified.]]
** [[spoiler:Gudrun herself, who, if she is telling the truth to Amleth towards the end of the film, co-signed the attempted murder of her own son.]]
** Fjolnir, a kin-slaying, slaving, raping, attempted-child murderer.
** Amleth's final opponent in the knattleikr game whom he kills [[UseYourHead via headbutts]] after the latter stroke down Gunnar.

* BilingualBonus: During the assault on a Slavic settlement, a warning cry is heard. Speakers of a Slavic language might understand it as "bears of war!" that the Slavs are facing berserkers.

* ContemplatingYourHands: The first sign of the hallucogenic mushrooms taking effect.

* ConvectionShmonvection: [[spoiler:Amleth and Fjölnir have their final battle in the "Gates of Hel," an active volcano (probably meant to be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hekla Hekla]]). At times during the fight, they're both seen stepping barefoot mere inches from active lava flows, which doesn't seem to cause any damage or slow them down at all. Given that magic and the supernatural are very much present in the film, though, it's quite likely that the place's description is at least semi-literal, and the gods aren't going to let anything as trivial as the laws of physics get in the way of a fated DuelToTheDeath.]]

* IdiotBall: While the adrenalin-rushed Amleth and his opponent fight it out in the knattleikr game, Gunnar runs onto the playfield, snatches the ball from them and runs triumphantly towards the goal line. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong

** The trailer heavily emphasizes Olga's role, and pointedly features her line about having the power to "break mens' minds" intercut with two scenes of her apparently performing mystical rituals, implying that she'll use magical powers to aid Amleth. [[spoiler:Aside from possibly casting a spell in one scene, which itself seems to have no effect on the material world, Olga never does anything magical. In fact, she has very little impact on Amleth's revenge at all. The two scenes from the trailer are a dream sequence and Olga simply freaking out, respectively. Her primary role in the story is to become the mother of the dynasty Amleth has sired, and to provide motivation for Amleth to go back and kill Fjölnir after initially giving up his revenge quest.]]
* NonchalantDodge: During the assault on the Slavic settlement, Amleth casually sidesteps an incoming arrow as he trots toward the walls.

->''"[[MadnessMantra I will avenge you, father. I will save you, mother. I will kill you, Fjölnir.]]"''

->''"I will avenge you, father! I will save you, mother! I will kill you, Fjölnir!"''