Why You Should Be Watching ‘Vikings’

Vikings is one of my favorite shows. Here are some reasons why you should be watching it too.

I love this show. And not like an "Oh, this show is cool. Have you seen this show? No? Meh, that's okay. It's quite good. Maybe you should check it out sometime if you get the chance. If not, that's okay." NO. I LOVE this show in like a "EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE WATCHING THIS SHOW RIGHT NOW. WHY AREN'T YOU WATCHING IT?? DID YOU START YET? WHAT EPISODE ARE YOU ON??? CAN WE TALK ABOUT IT NOW? WHAT DO YOU MEAN "No, it's 3am"??"

I love this show.

It's on the History channel, and while most shows on the History channel are centered around reality tv now, with people doing crazy things in lesser known parts of the world, this is an actual tv drama on the History channel. And it's good.

(I'm not just a comic book nerd. I'm a history hoe too.)

I started watching it on a whim a couple of years ago. I was just flipping through the stations and I was like "Huh, vikings are cool. Let's check this out." 1 week later I had binged watched 2 and a half seasons and was cancelling plans to go out on Wednesdays because "my show was on".

The show is about Ragnar Lothbrok. A pivotal figure in Norse history and lore. Pivotal because Norse history is also based in myth. If you go back far enough into the history of the vikings you start finding family trees that start with Odin. So the viking history somewhat starts in myth and ends in fact. There is a gray area historians are trying to figure out which is "Where does myth end, and fact begin?" And the answer to the question seems to center around Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons.

The show starts with the beginning of what is now known as "The Viking Age" which starts with the attack on the monastery at Lindisfarne in 793. Which just so happens to coincide with what historians believe was the time that Ragnar Lothbrok was alive-

Okay, sorry. Reigning in the nerd....

I really like this show because it accurately depicts what viking life was like in the 700-1000s. Most depictions of vikings that we grow up seeing are that they are vicious barbarians that wear horned helmets (not true, by the way) and rape and pillage and burn down villages like savages. But that's because history is written by the victors. Mainly, the Anglo Saxons and later the English.

These are people. With their own villages. Their own class system. Their own ways of living.

Characters (At least the only ones I care about):

Ragnar Lothbrok: a farmer that works his way up to King.

Lagertha; a farmers wife that workers her way up to Queen (Not by marriage though. She works. She is a badass. She earns that title.)

Floki: Boat builder. Drunk uncle. Will probably be your favorite character. Also he's played by a Skarsgard. People like Skarsgard's, right?

The brothers:

Bjorn Ironside, Ubbe, Hvitserk, Siggurd Snake-In-the-Eye, and Ivar the Boneless: AKA: My favorite character, even though he is kind of a bloodthirsty sociopath. He was born without the use of his legs, and at this time a baby like that would have been left to die. But his mother refused to give him up, so he grew up and defied all odds and boundaries put in his way to become the most ruthless and fiercest warrior and leader of the Great Heathen Army. His battle tactics could rival that of some Roman Generals. He's had to prove himself to people his entire life, so even though he is impulsive and fueled by anger and does some awful things, you never lose sympathy for him.

The slogan of this show should just be "F***in watch me." Because all of these characters were told they couldn't do something, and then they did.

"You're a farmer. You can't be an Earl."
Ragnar: F****in watch me.

"You're a woman. You can't be a warrior. You can't be a ruler."
Lagertha: F***in watch me.

"A BEAR??? You can't wrestle a bear and win!"
Bjorn: F***in watch me.

"You're a cripple. You can't fight or rule."
Ivar: F***in watch me.

"You can't go there."
All Vikings: ....Hold my ale.

The #1 thing I've learned about this show, that sets it apart from a lot of other shows out there, is that it is much like Game of Thrones: If you're a "main character", that doesn't mean you survive 'til the end. Anyone can go at any time.

There's drama, war, revenge, love, lust, life, religion, and a lot of blood. And I love it.

Season 5 starts this Wednesday at 8p on the History Channel if you want to check it out. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is joining the cast this season and his character (Bishop Heahmund) is actually one of the people who inspired the beginning of the Knights Templar hundreds of years later.

Everything about this show fascinates me and I nerd out every episode. I love shows based on actual history that, while still showing the story in a fictional way, don't mess up the actual historical events that happened.