Vikings

Patrizia Poli
4 min readMar 6, 2023

Very well constructed series, signed by Michael Hirst, Vikings, even if too modern in the visual system, in the hairstyles and make-up. The protagonists look more like rock stars, for their movements and expressions, rather than ancient Norse. But the reconstructions of the environment are meticulous and effective, the characters many and well designed: the blind soothsayer, Ragnar’s five children, the crazy visionary Floki, the strong-willed Lagertha, the wicked Aslaug, the just and strong Ragnar Lothbrok and a myriad of others.

Above all, however, Athelstan stands out, the monk who is taken prisoner by the Vikings and lives with them. As the years go by, he transforms from a convinced Christian to a man of compromise and syncretism. More souls dwell in him, the Catholic one and the one contaminated by pagan frequentation. Athelstan begins to glimpse the beauty and spirituality even in certain violent and gruesome blood rites. “I love Jesus and I love Odin,” he says. After his death at the hands of Floki, he continues to be present in the form of a vision and increasingly assumes a salvific and Christological image. His inheritance will be taken by his natural son Alfred, future king of Wessex, the most noble and just figure of the whole series. Athelstan is unresolved, tormented and yet complete, the result of his letting himself go to a multiplicity of impulses, from the most religious to the earthly and lascivious ones…

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Patrizia Poli

Patrizia Poli was born in Livorno in 1961. Writer of fiction and blogger, she published many novels.