Yes as Christianity took hold Vikings became less prevalent. One thing to understand is vikings were essentially pirates. To go viking was to go pillage and loot. The Norse, the Danes, and many others--there were even Irish vikings--though generally from the Scandinavian region went viking, but not all of them were vikings. There were kingdoms that had nothing to do with the pirating. But of coarse that pirating was encouraged by their religion.

With christianity came unification. Norway and very likely Denmark who had once been petty kingdoms were unified under one ruler and one religion, and the political climate of Europe changed as well in 10th century, which marked the start of the Crusades. In which many Swedes actually took part, I don't remember if the Danes or Norwegians fought in it.

Yeah, I know what it means, I'm not going to say I'm an expert on my own country's history, but I've got a pretty decent grip on it. I was just speculating really, I'm getting dangerously close to religious discussion so I won't go deeper into it, all I'll say is that no religion is a stranger to bloodshed.

Would be awesome if some of the NPC's talked with a very stereotypical Norwegian/Swedish/Danish accent.

I remember one of the questgivers in Age of Conan, he talked with a typical Oslo-Norwegian-English accent, which was hilarious.


"S?rt of laik this".

Yeah I remember that guy, it was a fun little touch, but also made me cringe like I've never cringed before I'm gonna say no to that idea.

I think that it would be Skyrim's crowning achievement if you could blow a war horn before going into battle. ( Nords only perk ).

....followed by war chants?

Til Valhall!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1eMONDyFRM

Something tells me that they're going to draw a bit of inspiration from the old Sagas and Snorra Edda. If they need any help translating, they're free to give me a call

haha who the hell are they??

I'm hesitant to reply to this topic because Vikings and Norseman are completely unfamiliar territory to me, but I wouldn't mind taking a stab at how this might play out in an Elder Scrolls setting.

My first inclination on Viking culture is that Bethesda has it all under control. They have an entire library on the subject in their studio (at least one library, anyway) and I don't expect them to feel terribly adverse to some heavy reading for the benefit of their creations. They have an art direction, they have a culture in place, they have a color palette, they are developing a bestiary, they are changing the direction of the sound and music design and they are headed for a grittier and more realistic presentation. I'm expecting so much more in terms of immersion than I got in Oblivion, and for good reason. Oblivion was about conquering the standard template of high fantasy and coupling it with the realism gleaned from a new generation of consoles (and that's about it, I think). Skyrim is defined just as much by what it is as by what it's not, and that makes me feel comforted. They've gone in one direction as far as they could, now it's time to head the other way.

My interest in this subject is how that culture and direction will affect gameplay. Creating a new world and leaving the systems of law, guilds and city structure the same would be so much of a letdown that Bethesda would legally have to change their name to Lionhead. Yes, law will be different. Do you remember Morrowind? Every faction had a completely different perspective on law, murder, theft, compensation, honor, loyalty and punishment. Being that Skyrim is more divided (ESPECIALLY NOW!) than Cyrodiil, I expect that there would be just as much diversity in standards and practices. This should be especially true when dealing with Oblivion's system of 'fines and compensation.'

Why should the law be predictable? Why should it fit with our culture? I never took Ashlanders for granted; they were different entirely from my expectations but they demanded I take them seriously. Now we're dealing with Nords, many of whom are likely illiterate and prone to random acts of violence for bravery's sake. I think Bethesda could easily implement some of the logic they developed in the Shivering Isles to best immerse the players in this experience. The NPCs of the Isles followed a set of laws that were all quite loosely agreed upon, and the punishment for breaking these vague-yet-familiar laws was to run a gauntlet--participate in an act of bravery. ...DUH! Anyway, there also was an aspect of civil war that the player could influence. Mania and Dementia were always at odds, and the balance could be broken or upheld through a number of culture-influencing decisions. Who knows? The player might influence which side of the conflict controls the cities and towns of Skyrim! And maybe the player could... use their cultures and preferences to his/her advantage when shaping the political landscape to fit his/her style of play? !!!!!!

I'm enjoying speculating on this. As a player, I might possibly influence the political climate of a city by ousting the current dominating force (through a possibly re-playable quest line) in favor of another force gaining power nearby. Why? Because the current regime pits me against my adversary in a violent fashion for stealing (favoring combat over stealth), whereas the neighboring force might be more accepting of my thieving ways but less condoning of violence or murder.

Bethesda... PLEASE?

I think they use the vikings for inspiration, they don't use it directly from their culture, I think. They're gonna create their own twist.

Great post!

Christianity didn't really become the 'norm' until around 1050-1100. Up until then most of the vikings (Danes at least) became Christian due to the intense missionary work of primarily German and French monks who erected churches throughout the country (Denmark). The way they persuaded the vikings to convert to Christianity was by bribe. 5 cows went a long way, and a viking didn't think he'd insult the Nordic gods by adding another God to the list. After all, they were nice cows, of which at least one could be sacrificed to Odin as to calm him down, should he frown upon the new God. The vikings were merchants, and cunning ones too. The bribes offered by the Christian church didn't convert them as such, they just agreed to also worship the new God. After all, he was a merciful God, unlike the old ones. You could still pillage and plunder and just ask for forgiveness afterwards. You didn't even have to sacrifice your livestock to him, just one day a week in church, maybe only once a month, depending on which deal you had struck with the monks.

The old gods and rituals were still in use at least a century after Denmark officially became Christian (Harald the Bluetooth was the first viking king to be Christened and declare Denmark a Christian nation, but did not force anyone to convert). We still perform some of the old rituals today, like dancing around the May-pole, celebrating the coming of the light, mid-summers eve etc. A lot of it has Christian labels today, though.

So yes, the vikings were very much still vikings even though they were 'officially' Christians. The old ways died slowly over time as no one really did missionary work on their behalf, and the vikings became 'less viking' as the society evolved and provided other means to grow wealth and support the families. (Sadly =)

Do you reckon they could add a conflicting religion then?

Norwegian soldiers in Afghanistan. They wear the Punisher skull as a logo and spraypaint it on houses as a scaretactic, there's was a huge controversy in Norwegian media about the whole affair a while back. Apparently some people thought that using a Norse "warcry" was nationalistic (Which should mean patritotic but is constantly confused for racists) and that caused a [censored]storm of epic proportions. I won't get further into it as it'll get too poltical.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but I rather like how the so-called uncivilized Vikings were often criticized for bathing too often.

Once a week.

Weren't there plenty of conflicting religions in Oblivion already?

I don't see Bethesda implementing a religious war or any topic with controversy the size of religion. That would require them to rate the game I, for intelligent people only, to prevent WW3. People tend to get a bit carried away when it comes to religion.

:rofl: :lmao: LOL :lmao: :rofl:

Popular conceptions of the Vikings often differ from the complex picture that emerges from archaeology and written sources. A romanticized picture of Vikings as Germanic noble savages began to take root in the 18th century, and this developed and became widely propagated during the 19th-century Viking revival. The received views of the Vikings as violent brutes or intrepid adventurers owe much to the modern Viking myth which had taken shape by the early 20th century. Current popular representations are typically highly clichéd, presenting the Vikings as familiar caricatures.

Anyway The Actuall Viking Subject in games and fantasy art is coming from this Clichè m the Real Vikings are something else and much less "Cool" or Appealing and for sure not Bulky oversided buffed up Men half naked wearing Horned helmets and slashing battleaxes with fur armours.......

It would be pretty cool if you could join a mercenary viking group to attack a village and steal everything and kill everyone!

Pilliage!
Burn!
Kill!
War!
Let them know
What their in for!

Yeah, Vikings are so cliché
Just like Pirates, Zombies, Ninjas, Knights, Elves, etc. :rolleyes:

Who thinks bethesda should take the armor and weapons (great axe and throwing spears) from the vikings in deadliest warrior the game? don't respond unless you've actually seen it. Skyrim and throwing spears would go together well. throwing spears were in FO3 NV so not alot of work needs to be done to get it done

definatly cool!