Warning: Some reference to Season 1 of Vikings follow...
The Vikings are preparing to roar back into action with Season 2 of the historical action series set to debut on Thursday, February 27.
IGN was able to travel to Ireland to visit the set of the epic History channel drama, and we'll be unveiling the details of what we learned on our journey as the weeks progress. For now, let's explore just a few reasons why this show is well-worth viewing.
As legend and lore have it, the Vikings were born of a culture steeped in the mythological glory of war. The very highest goal was to die well in battle and be taken to Valhalla, where they would then feast - and continue to battle - for all of eternity. The History series does not shy away from the bloodthirsty nature of the world they're exploring.
Season 1 of Vikings opened in the midst of a brutal campaign, as the brothers at the center of the story, Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) and Rollo (Clive Standen), decimate their enemies in a raid in the hopes of bringing bounty back to their homeland.
Exclusive Vikings One-Time Trailer and Season 2 Preview
Season 2, as has been seen in the bulk of the marketing releases, will pick-up where the first ended, as Rollo prepares to face his brother on the battlefield in a bid for more power. Take a look at an excerpt of their fight scene below.
The Vikings' fighting style is viscous, but controlled.
Though much of the Norse culture remains shrouded in mystery, the show takes great pains to be as accurate as possible when it comes to the look of the weaponry, using artifacts as their guide. (No, the Vikings did not sport horn hats, as is popularly seen in novelty costumes.) The series' fight choreographers describe the Vikings' style as, "viscous, but controlled," saying that they, "fought as efficiently as they could, as a pack." In this case, with Ragnar as the alpha dog.
As the show depicts them, the Vikings are essentially methodical, highly skilled, and very dirty fighters.They simply want to eliminate the enemy as quickly as possible. The drive to kill and the willingness to die made them extremely dangerous and powerful foes. The Berserkers (bare chested fighters), who we will see some of this season, even occasionally took "magic mushrooms" to amp up their crazy on the battlefield. All that brutality is right there on the screen in raw combat sequences that have nothing to do with being flowery.
When conceiving of the show, it was crucial to Vikings creator Michael Hirst that it be more than a stereotypical depiction of the Vikings as marauders. This was designed as a family saga first and foremost; one that is focused on Ragnar, who Standen describes as, "a man trying to survive and provide for his family in a very harsh environment."
It's a natural part of their life, they sacrifice people, and they kill people.
Hirst chose to base many of his characters, including Ragnar, on real world figures. According to folklore, Ragnar was a skilled fighter, sailor, and in many ways a futurist. He was a man who saw possibilities where others did not, and led the Vikings on their first raids to the West.
"Ragnar's ultimate motivation is to explore and to become famous," Hirst explained. "The Vikings were very high on fame. It's not a celebrity culture, though, because it was fame based on real things -- courage, leadership, being a great warrior or a great explorer."
These characters are not functioning by the same rules as we do, though. Blood, death, honor, and the Gods were all intertwined for them. They offer us a window into a world that is entirely unique from our own.
"It's a natural part of their life," Gustaf Skarsgard, who plays the devout and battle-hungry Floki, said. "They sacrifice people, and they kill people. Okay! We buy that. I mean, everybody does it, so it's not as morally controversial within that time. So the characters wouldn't be as morally compromised to commit those actions as they would be today."
Travis Fimmel and Clive Standen as Ragnar and Rollo.
I think Siggy pulls his strings, and Rollo is very easily manipulated.
Yet they do struggle with the same ethical questions and conflicts that we do in our world today, in our own lives: jealousy, ambition, and greed, among others. We saw that play out with Rollo last season, whose simmering resentment at remaining in his brother's shadow ultimately lead him to agree to betray his own people.
"Rollo, he's morally challenged all the time," Standen said of his character. "In Viking society, it was such a massive thing to build a name for yourself. They both enter into something equally, Ragnar and Rollo, but it's Ragnar that gets all the fame and fortune and wealth and adoration. Rollo feels that he's being hard done-by, because he's working just as hard as his brother. What's hard for Rollo is that Ragnar's the farmer, and Rollo's trained all his life to be a warrior."
"Siggy (Jessalyn Gilsig) plays into that too," the actor went on to say. "I think Siggy pulls his strings, and Rollo is very easily manipulated." In fact, Siggy will continue to evolve and play a major role in the political maneuverings of Season 2. One of the big players is the King whom Ragnar swore allegiance to, King Horik, played by Donal Logue (who will also appear in the upcoming Gotham series).
I always feel like you can tell a story better by looking, by emotion.
"It was very expedient for him to team up with a visionary like Ragnar," Logue says of Horik. "But at the same time, once Ragnar became really powerful -- and he could see that he was extremely ambitious -- he realized that he was a bit dangerous."
"So I ask him immediately to do some big-time dirty work for me," the actor went on to say. "It was like, 'Thank you for this offer. By the way, I want to send you off to ultimately start beef with the person who causes Ragnar the most grief in his life.' I beset a series of tasks to him that always puts him between a rock and a hard place. I think he takes a lot of joy in setting tasks for people and playing them against each other and watching them squirm in and out of situations. He's also nakedly ambitious."
Vikings is beautifully written, with rich, complex characters, but the show demonstrates as much non-verbally as it does with the text.
Ragnar himself, Travis FimmeI, says he specifically works to cut as many lines as he can, saying, "I always feel like you can tell a story better by looking, by emotion." The way Fimmel sees it, Ragnar knows his brother has his own ambitious, but as far as he's concerned, his goals are simply more important. "There are still so many hungry people in his country," the actor explained. "And he wants to be the one that finds them land to farm and give them opportunities and give them a better life."
(Note on the above video: A time jump is mentioned, which will take place, but the lingering questions from Season 1 will be dealt with first.)
The Vikings were not a literate society, so there is not a wealth of written history to draw upon, but Hirst and his team have worked hard to ground their series in fact as much as is possible. They use museum pieces as the basis for the props, and refer to the historical knowledge that is available about these characters.
Actually, we've had very good reception from the academic community for this show -- very good reception -- and I should know, because I got thumped a bit on Tudors.
"I feel totally beholden to the facts that I know," Hirst said. "So his marriage, children -- anything I could find, anything that my historical consultant could come up with. I don't like fantasy, so wherever I took them, I always wanted to root it in something real, even if I had to condense certain things or bring stuff I knew from a slightly later period into play. But it's always based on things we know or think we know, and I'm proud of that. Actually, we've had very good reception from the academic community for this show -- very good reception -- and I should know, because I got thumped a bit on Tudors (Hirst also created the Showtime series)."
One notable invention of the series is the blood-bond shared between Rollo and Ragnar. Both men existed, and left a significant mark on the world, but they were born years apart and were not related.
"The rivalry between the brothers was something that was very important," Hirst said of the choice to connect the characters. "It's something that comes up again and again in the sagas."
"Anyone who's read the history books and knows anything about the real Rollo would know that he is capable of great things," Standen said of his character. "Whether we do that in the series, obviously, is by and by."
The rivalry between the brothers was something that was very important.
Certain elements have been altered for the sake of drama, but what this show does is steep you in the Vikings' culture: the emphasis on family, the mythology, the religion, the values are fully brought to life. Athelstan, the monk who was kidnapped in Season 1, and who will have an equally fascinating arc this season (stay tuned for more on that), stands in for the audience as the foreigner, the man who does not know, or understand, the Viking way of life. It is through him that we come to understand these fierce characters.
"The Vikings have this belief which is like, 'What happens today on the field, this is written,'" Logue said. "The Gods already know." As such, there is a fearlessness in their fighting that is deeply entwined with their spirituality.
"It's a really unworldly, visceral world where sometimes it's 'kill or be killed' and you have to make some decisions," Standen said. "When you're growing up in an arid land where there's not crops and you haven't got enough to provide for your family, then you've got no choice but to seek out someone else's land."
King Horik preparing for a sacrifice.
"It was fascinating when I got to learn about the their magic," Skarsgard said. The Swedish actor is brother of Alexander and son of Stellan, and had more background than the bulk of the cast, and yet still found that there was a wealth of Norse mythology that he'd never been exposed to. "I had never heard about that before. As I did the research, it was a huge part of their culture. They would have sorceresses, and they would perform magic, and they would really believe in it. This was a big part of their culture. The gods would also perform magic. So that was really fascinating. I'd never heard about that before. I'd only heard the stories and sagas of the gods."
The show is, at its core, meant to entertain, and that it does. However, it also offers a visceral snapshot of the Vikings, and just may stoke your curiosity enough to learn more about them on your own. Or, you may be fine tuning in for bloody battles, family drama, shifting alliances, sexy shield maidens, and royal machinations each week.
Vikings Season 2 returns to History on Thursday February 27 at 10PM.
Roth Cornet is an Entertainment Editor for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @RothCornet and IGN at Roth-IGN.
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