Headscratchers / The Northman

The family reunion's going to be awkward

• Since Amleth slew Gudrun, Gunnar, and Fjolnir in a fight, and everyone was armed at the time of their deaths, doesn't that mean they too were granted entry to Valhalla? And if so, wouldn't they also find Aurvandil there as well? Or would all but Amleth find themselves in some other place in Hel while Amleth alone was taken to Valhalla?
  • There is nothing in the sources from the time period that indicate at all that women go to Valholl. Indeed, the opposite is strongly indicated, Valholl is for 'vapndaudirr verar', or simply, 'weapon-dead men', and it's specifically 'men'. So Gudrun is automatically out regardless of what Amleth seems to think at the end of the film. The term 'verar' also indicates men who are mature, so Gunnar probably also. Fjolnir likely could enter Valholl, but there is some indication that one enters Valholl not only as a consequence of dying by weapons in combat, but also as a reaffirmation of the kind of social status and lifestyle one led in life, and Fjolnir seems to be a follower of Freyr and is implied to have sensibilities that would have made him unfit to be a member of the warrior aristocracy that was favoured for that afterlife.
  • There's actually a bit of subtext going on that suggests that none of the characters, even Amleth, really want to be doing what they're doing. When Amleth sees Gudrun and Gunnar's bodies on the way to the Gates of Hel, he prays that they'll all meet together in the afterlife, suggesting that he only killed them because he thought it was his fate to do so. Remember that Amleth saved Gunnar's life earlier when he didn't have to. Also Gudrun's conversation with Amleth was full of mixed signals and could be interpreted several ways, but it's possible she really did still have some genuine affection for him, even as he threatened her family. Maybe despite all the bloody family drama, they can transcend fate and reconcile in the afterlife.
  • No they wouldn't. The boy and the woman would go to Hel, and only Fjolnir would catch up with Aurvandil and Amleth in Valhol.
  • Though the film only alludes to it with the sacrifice of Thorir's slave-woman, Valholl wasn't the only place for those slain in war - Odin shares the dead with Freyja. The odds are at least one of them will be lucky enough to miss out on the reunion (unless Odin really wants the entertainment value of Amleth, Fjolnir, and Aurvandil being stuck together until Ragnarok).
  • Actually, Gudrun and Fjolnir would go to Helheim, but the part that is known as Nastrond and is similar to Hell but uses snakes to torment the evil, and these include murderers, kinslayers, and adulterers which are what Gudrun and Fjolnir were. Gunnar would possibly go to the normal part of Helheim

How did a burial mound from the Migration Period end up in Iceland of all places?

• See title.
  • Presumably, Draugr's original wielder was so greedy that even in death he wished to keep his wealth and magical sword out of any hands that were not his own and so had his burial mound built in a place that he thought was well out of reach of anyone else at the time.

No language barriers?

• Translation Convention is clearly in effect where Old Norse is rendered as English, but what's the deal with the Slavic slaves taken early on? We hear the Slavic defenders shouting in their own language during the attack, yet afterwards the Seeress and Olga both speak to Amleth fluently in Norse/English with Norse-sounding accents. Nobody in Fjölnir's homestead seems to have issuses communicating with their new slaves either, and aren't even suspicious of a very Norse-looking and sounding "Slav" calling himself by a Norse name. For this time and place it seems there'd be more of a language barrier - even modern Russians and Scandis mostly only talk to each other in (actual) English.
  • As for Olga, she's characterized as "cunning" and is explicitly noted to look Norse, so it's entirely possible that she has some Norse background or is simply worldly. I'm no expert, but it also sounds like Taylor-Joy is doing her Russian accent from New Mutants. As for communicating with the slaves, none of the new ones are heard speaking, as far as I recall, so it's just a matter of them knowing enough Norse to follow instructions. That could be taught fairly quickly. African slaves were brought to America not knowing English and were made to work on farms. And as far as Amleth looking and sounding Norse, the Icelanders do react to him being more useful than the others in his first scene, but they're not curious about his history because he's a slave, Norse or not.
    • ...that's a Russian accent? If so, it sounds nothing like the real thing and far closer to a pseudo-Norse accent, which might be what threw me off. These other points still stand, but the Headscratcher regarding Amleth's alias isn't that the Icelanders wouldn't believe a Norseman could be made a slave, but rather that a lone Norseman showed up wearing a Rus-patterned tunic in a shipment of Rus slaves - I figure this would be odd enough to at least grill him on his background. Then again, Fjölnir and co.'s lack of curiosity could just be a subtle way of showing their arrogance and incompetence which led to them losing their kingdom.

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