There are pretty much no good viking-games out there :\.

But one of the reasons im extra hyped for Skyrim is indeed because it will be a lot influenced by our culture(and probably nature aswell).

By the danish OR the vikings? The danes were vikings too.
Danish Knut den Store(Canute), with help from the Norwegian Eirik Jarl, at that time the most skillfull strategist in the northern lands, did conquer England yes, all of what they at that time considered to be England in our tongue.

It is clearly visible in the north germanic languages that we are indeed from Germany, even i can understand parts of Frisian TODAY, just by the knowledge of my own tongue.
Same goes for the culture, there are plenty of things that bind the Germanic cultures together. That each germanian culture has diffrence, that is quite obvious, and we in Scandinavia managed to hold onto our culture longer then the others as we were further away from foreign influence. This is especially true for Iceland, mid,west and north-Norway and inland west-Sweden.

That they have been overused and sometimes adding things that have nothing to do with them(mostly the horns) i agree with. But the architecture and other things are mostly correct. As you would know if you had actually studied this. We use the same building style in Norway still today, both stavlaft and laft. Only out of the 3 building styles the viking use its grindbygg that is not used for houses anymore in Norway. But it is still used for eating-halls and various other things, aswell as recreation, a few recently put up in Romsdal by the viking organization there.
Woodcarving dragonstyle(called drageskurd) is also a old tradition in Norway, more common here then in Sweden and Denmark or Iceland, and still very much in use today, which i would know since im taking a course in it.

The biggest error hollywood and others do, when picturing vikings, is, apart from the horns, that they show us ONLY as warriors. And often too brutal or simply evil.
The movie Pathfinder is probably one of the best examples for that, piece of crap.
We were hardly any more barbaric or brutal then other people in Europe at the time. The diffrence is that the other Europeans, Charlemagne for instance, was christian, and the people who wrote the books were christians, we were not.
The barbaric view is mostly spewed out by christian monks in Britain. But the norse litterature dont do this.

But the viking cliche is so old and dull. Barbaric is bleh.

The biggest error hollywood and others do, when picturing vikings, is, apart from the horns, that they show us ONLY as warriors. And often too brutal or simply evil.
The movie Pathfinder is probably one of the best examples for that, piece of crap.
We were hardly any more barbaric or brutal then other people in Europe at the time. The diffrence is that the other Europeans, Charlemagne for instance, was christian, and the people who wrote the books were christians, we were not.
The barbaric view is mostly spewed out by christian monks in Britain. But the norse litterature dont do this.

This post has been edited by ArghoZ: Today, 01:52 PM

You really don't get it do you?

Firstly Scandinavians are not from Germany because when they migrated to Scandinavia there was no Germany to come from. There was just a group of loosely affiliated tribes that we describe as Germanic due to there close set of genes. Scandinavians are Germanic yes but not German. That describes a completely different cultural type.

Kiwi, the most specific references to scandinavian/norse culture in TES is the use of norwegian WORDS in the previous games, a fact you seem hesitant to comment for some reason. Both NPC names, names of specific beasts, and groups of beasts are in norwegian. If the nord race and Skyrim isn't influenced at all by norse culture, then how do you explain the presence of norwegian language? Coincidence...?

I already made the point that the main focus point of the game High Hrothgar is actually a Old English name from an Anglo Saxon Poem about a Danish King (Angle Dane not Viking). Either way that doesn't matter because thats not what I've been trying to point out.
As i said just a few minutes ago:

''The point I'm trying to make is that the idea that barbarian style demonstrated in fantasy worlds is a viking thing is incorrect. Yes, they have much in common but they equally have just as much in common with other cultural types from Europe. Specificly art styles and architectural."

Another thing that annoys me, is the looks of nords in TES. In Oblivion they were quite ugly(both men and women). In fact we are quite goodlooking, both men and women.

So what do ancient Scandinavian cities look like?

Secondly yes the styles that are represented in the moves and games do exist in Scandinavia but they do not necessarily come from there. due to the northern migration from Europe these styles exist all across Europe. Most importantly their cultural origin is from the Angles, Saxons and Germanic tribes. Not from Scandinavia.

Thirdly Knut never conquered all of England.

And yes i recognize that the Scandinavian literature paints a different view. Having studied archaeology for 5 years i would hope I'd have noticed that by now. Also horned helmets do exist. They just date to the Bronze age instead of the migration period.

I wasn't referring to TES V, I was referring to previous games, Morrowind and Oblivion. The nord culture isn't introduced to Tamriel in TES V, it already exists, so obviously the things we've seen in previous games will give a good indication of the nord culture. Several of the names in the previous games aren't just "norwegian-inspired", they are current norwegian words, in everyday use in Norway today. There is absolutely no doubt that Skjorta and Udyrfrykte comes from norwegian, and those are just two off the top of my head. Same goes for the draugr, although that's more mythical. Those names have nothing in common with saxon culture, there is only one possible place of origin - scandinavia.

Think Skaal Village. Also, funfact: Skaal is a old Norse word spoken spoken when making a toast and drinking.
Skaal!

Think Skaal Village. Also, funfact: Skaal is a old Norse word spoken spoken when making a toast and drinking.
Skaal!

But... It's just a bunch of basic wooden huts...

So what do ancient Scandinavian cities look like?