As am I. I was hooked when I saw the first promo last year and drooled with antici.......pation for Episode 1. I've been reading about the Vikings since I was in grade school , oh so many decades ago.
I was not disappointed. I hope it gets the ratings that keep it on for years to come. Such historical dramas are in short supply, even on cable.
The last one that was any good and was historically (mostly) accurate was Rome. An entire series based on the only two Roman legionnaires that Julius Caesar wrote about? Great stuff.
What do I mean by this? Simply the following points. There is *no* verifiable written record as to the very existence of a man named Ragnar Lothbrok (or Ragnar Hairy Breeks, as he was named in Anglo-Saxon legend of the time,) let alone his leading the Lindisfarne Raid, which *was* the first raid by Scandinavian marauders on Anglo-Saxon England entering written record. But, there is a wealth of oral legend, both in Scandinavia and England, featuring an individual so named.
Did such a man actually exist, or is he a composite of several other individuals whose names are lost both to written history, and surviving legend? Nobody can definitively answer, but interweaving the two makes for a darned good story, and is a perfect example of the bard's craft.
Inasmuch as I, in years past, have been an active historical re-enactor, who re-enacted both combat (yes, I've actually taken my place in a shield-wall, stormed a 'castle' from the heights of a siege tower, and all that) and the bardic arts, such definitely piques my interest immediately, and when well-done, I commend...
the infowarrior