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Introduction

The scene above is from the popular Vikings TV show - Brother's War (Season two, episode one) and is crucial to understanding a main philosophical argument put forward by the show. In the exchange, Björn laments to his father that Aslaug brings unhappiness and difficulty. Ragnar pauses and responds to his grievances stoically by saying, "I know it is hard for you to accept, but unhappiness is more common than happiness. Who told you you should be happy?" He continues to elaborate to a contemplative-looking Björn by telling him that he had many friends at the same age - as Björn - all of which are now dead. Aesthetically, the mise-en-scène reveals little more than Ragnar and his son, Björn, likely lived long ago.¹ However, the dialogue in this scene provides evidence of the influence of the poem Hávamál on screenwriter Micheal Hirst. The subtlety used in this scene by the screenwriter is also quite revealing. How? An exploration of ancient greek and old Norse philosophy can help answer this question. In addition, lenses from leading scholars (and a famous film critic) will assist. Finally, a critical look at Ragnar's identity - infamous Viking Warrior - and his question, "who told you you should be happy?"

A few words of Micheal Hirst (Creator Of Vikings)

Taking into consideration the intentions can help better comprehend choices made in planning and production. "It's essentially a drama, but within the limits of drama it is as authentic and real as I can make it," said Michael Hirst. A drama is unlike the action genre because the focus is on words and subtle gestures. However, where the emphasis lies does not mean there are no action sequences in dramas. When interviewed, he boasted that: "we showed it to the head of Scandinavian Studies at Harvard, whose Swedish…he said, 'This is the first time my culture has ever been taken seriously and intelligently. I'm sure it's full of inaccuracies, but it's the Dark Ages and we don't know a lot of things about that period.'"²

Setting the Grundvöllr

The poem Hávamál is considered the primary source of evidence concerning the moral and intellectual ideas of the Viking Age. Drawing from the work of Sveinbjorn Johnson, the concept of happiness put forward in the poem can be understood as; "what the author means is this: he is happy who is his own master and has acquired practically useful knowledge or wisdom. In short, this stanza closely approximates the practical wisdom of Aristotle. This is the theory of Dr. G. Finnbogason concerning the proper interpretation of these stanzas, and on this point, I agree with him."³ The practical wisdom of Aristotle preceded the work of renowned communication scholar Walter Fisher, known as the Narrative Paradigm.⁴ In direct contrast to the view that humans are inherently rational proposed by Aristotle, the paradigm claims that all meaningful communication occurs via storytelling - humans participate as storytellers and observers of narratives. Kathleen Robert's work to augment the Narrative Paradigm with complementary understandings of narrative from folklore provides a lens well suited for analyzing this scene between Ragnar and Björn. She asserted that "the performer is not conscious of performance, but of the narrative and its coauthors. The performer makes visible the true - not because the audience does not know it, but because it must emerge between them and remain uppermost in the minds of performer and audience."⁵

A Critic's Lense for Critical Analysis

What narrative function does this scene serve? This scene allows viewers to understand the guiding philosophy of Ragnar and foreshadows his character arc in the rest of the second season of the show. Roger Ebert said that the point of a good drama is, "drama holds a mirror up to life, but needn't reproduce it."⁶ Vikings is a fantastic example of this because, despite the painstaking research involved in the show's creation, adherence to historical accuracy is never prioritized over the development of characters or the plot. Maureen Ryan of the Huffington Post had a very accurate assessment of what Vikings season two gets right: "this gorgeously shot drama -- and it's one of the most visually striking shows on TV -- is simple but not simplistic, and that's a crucial distinction."⁷ In this scene, Ragnar never cites Odin in his remarks on happiness or cites the edda directly. Hirst doesn't beat the audience over the head with the fact that he did his research but lets Travis Fimmel's fantastic performance (and Ragnar's identity as an infamous Viking warrior) be the anchor for what is an authentic interpretation of old Norse philosophy. In this scene, Fimmel makes visible this truth about happiness, letting it emerge naturally from dialogue with his son and linger - both in his subsequent actions for the rest of the season and in the mind of the audience. One of the most prominent living philosophers Slavoj Žižek has said, "If there is a point in psychoanalysis, it is that people do not really want or desire happiness."⁸ Vikings is masterful for being able to engage with such profound and age-old questions authentically with intention and meaning behind the choices made. Furthermore, Ragnar's identity feels truly authentic with such stoic detachment. In sum, this was one of my favorite scenes in season two of Vikings and I thought that it was an example of the nuance and complexity of the portrayal that is so often missed in these great man historical biopics.