The Real Vikings: Beyond the Myths and Movies

The screaming, the gore, and even the blood spatters may have been a part of their daily lives. Or we may have gotten it all wrong. Before they were romanticised in pop culture or misused by political movements, vikings were seafaring jobbers with a talent for travel, trade, and yes, sometimes terror. Overtime, more and more proof has surfaced which all points to how much myth surrounds this period and how badly history has misused the story of the vikings. So where exactly do they stand in Scandinavian culture?

A viking ship in Chicago, showing just how far they would travel to trade (Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo CC BY-SA 4.0)

To first establish where and when the vikings came from, we should probably first establish exactly what a viking is. According to Ellen Marie Næss, a university lecturer and all-around viking enthusiast, we may have been using the term slightly wrong. “[The term] viking is a job description and not an ethnic identity,” she explains. However, overtime we’ve come to categorise everyone belonging to the Viking Age as vikings. Vikings were seafaring people that predominantly came from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Yet when it comes down to the history books, many cannot agree on exactly when the Viking Age took place. 

Ellen mentions that the earliest evidence of viking influence was found to be in A.D. 750 and lasted until A.D. 1000. “It is a period in time where the rest of Europe will call the Medieval Age. But since it was so specific in Scandinavia, it’s called the viking period.” In layman's terms, the vikings were known for their longships and being skilled sailors, trading but also raiding and settling in regions around the world. 

A black-and-white reproduction of a painting showing Norsemen in a ship, entitles Norsemen Landing in Iceland (Public Domain)

Whilst vikings may be known for their sometimes-aggressive ways (and some may say slight obsession with sharp weapons), the Viking Age brought about so much more. The heritage and culture that they influenced has long since survived in modern life. Nowadays, viking influence still runs through the veins of Scandinavia, through reenactment groups, museum exhibitions and especially Norse culture. 

Ellen also worked at the Viking Ship Museum, a research-led facility which is currently closed and undergoing extensive restoration. With the aim of reopening in 2027, the new museum (which will be called the Museum of Viking Age) will have some of the world’s best-preserved Viking ships and more than 5500 other objects from the Viking Era. In the meantime, Norse influence continues to subtly make its way into our day-to-day lives and we don’t even know it.

The Oseberg Ship, commonly acknowledged to be among the finest artefacts to have survived from the Viking Age (Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo CC BY-SA 4.0)

Some of us may have only seen viking representation in the movies, whilst others may know about their culture through norse mythology. However, vikings have influenced our way of life a lot more than we think. One of the biggest influence it has had is on the modern English language. When Norse-speaking Scandinavians settled in parts of the British Isles, linguistic exchanges occurred that have had a lasting imprint on numerous everyday English words, many of which are still in use today. 

“Modern English has a lot of Norse words in it and you probably don’t know it,” explains Ellen. Nouns, verbs, pronouns and adjectives such as window, bag, hit, die, happy, ill, and (our favourite pronouns) they, them and theirs are all words which derive from Norse origin. Place names and even days of the week also come from Old Norse. “I have three kids, and all of them have viking names,” she continues, proving her passion for this moment in history.

Norse culture still has a big influence in Scandinavian countries. For example, albeit a Christian holiday, Christmas is celebrated with a lot a Pagan (a polytheistic religion) touches, especially when it comes to the decorations. “But we like it because we’ve always done it,” Ellen says, explaining that these are just some of the small details which many people don’t recognise as coming from the Viking Age.

The Borre Viking Market, one of the many places in which viking reenactments take place to celebrate the culture (Gunnar Ridderström)

Where there are discoveries about Norse culture and viking history, also comes a number of misconceptions. One of the most light-hearted yet popular myths is that vikings had horns on their helmets; they in fact did not. 

However, these mistaken beliefs go a lot deeper than most realise. The Nazi regime systematically appropriated symbols from Norse culture to construct and promote their ideology of Aryan supremacy and Germanic heritage. “We think it is important to take the symbols back,” Ellen points out. 

Through these appropriations, the Nazi regime manipulated Norse symbols and mythology to lend historical legitimacy to their doctrines, which has in term led to a complete manipulation of the symbol’s original meanings. One of the most prominent examples is the swastika. It is a symbol that, while used in various cultures, including Norse art associated with the god Thor, was repurposed by the Nazis as their central emblem. “That is the only symbol that I think is lost forever,” Ellen admits. 

The Saga Oseberg is an exact replica of the Oseberg on show at the museum, built using Viking Age tools and methods (Barnabas Davoti)

Whilst many may think that video games, movies, and tv shows enforce a fake narrative on viking heritage, Ellen sees it a little different. For one, most representations do show the level of research that went into trying to get the plot as historically accurate as possible (with a couple helmets with horns here and there). Whilst some minor details may get missed, the most important part of it all is the curiosity that it generates. 

“[The movies] are fun and entertaining and they make people more curious of the real history behind it,” says Ellen. As one of her many viking-related hobbies, she writes for the Norwegian Encyclopaedia about Norse mythology (“I don’t have a life,” she jokes). “In this computer setup that I have, I can see how many readers I have for each article and when,” explaining that any time a new movie comes out with depictions of Norse gods, she sees spikes in related google searches. 

These are some grave finds from the Viking Age, showcasing just how well-preserved so many of these artefacts are (Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo CC BY-SA 4.0)

For Ellen, that initial spark of curiosity is all is needed to learn the authentic side of Norse culture and the Viking Era. As she continues to research and work at the new Museum of Viking Age in Oslo, she explains that the artefacts on show will be some of the most intricate and fascinating objects. One of the most interesting twists is that the vikings never wrote or documented about themselves directly, so all written records about their lifestyle were done from third-parties.

Additionally, between the 600 or so swords that will be put on display to the array of century-old viking ships, it may be hard to decipher just which artefacts may hold the most amount of stories (horror or otherwise). So while it is important to be factually accurate and share precise dates and timelines, the slew of artefacts aims to attract a new kind of traveller. “History is something international,” says Ellen. “We hope this museum triggers this kind of curiosity.” 

The Vikings were never the horned-helmeted caricatures we grew up with. Nor were they the purebred warriors of nationalist lore. They were complex, seafaring people who traded, raided, and left behind a legacy far deeper than battle axes and boats. From the everyday English words we speak to the Pagan crumbs left from Scandinavian traditions, Norse culture is integrated everywhere. The history of it all however, isn't just about facts etched in stone or swords displayed behind glass. A lot of it has to do with curiosity, interpretation, and reclaiming truth from centuries of distortion.