Factual and fanciful tales of the Nordic warriors known as Vikings have proven irresistible to filmmakers for nearly a century. Diverse, prominent actors from Kirk Douglas, Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier to Tim Robbins and John Cleese, and noted directors, including Richard Fleischer, Clive Donner and Terry Jones, have all lent their talents to Viking-related films. These fourteen essays on films dealing with the Viking era discuss American, British and European productions. Analyzed in detail are such films as The Vikings (1958), The Long Ships (1964), Alfred the Great (1969), Erik the Viking (1989) and Outlander (2008), as well as two comic-strip adaptations, the 1954 and 1989 films of Prince Valiant and the animated Asterix and the Vikings (2006). A comprehensive filmography is also included.

The definitive history of the Vikings -- from arts and culture to politics and cosmology -- by a distinguished archaeologist with decades of expertise The Viking Age -- from 750 to 1050 -- saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries, the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights, Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture. Based on the latest archaeological and textual evidence, Children of Ash and Elm tells the story of the Vikings on their own terms: their politics, their cosmology and religion, their material world. Known today for a stereotype of maritime violence, the Vikings exported new ideas, technologies, beliefs, and practices to the lands they discovered and the peoples they encountered, and in the process were themselves changed. From Eirík Bloodaxe, who fought his way to a kingdom, to Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir, the most traveled woman in the world, Children of Ash and Elm is the definitive history of the Vikings and their time.

Packed with battles, blood and thrilling adventure, the third blood-stirring chapter in the story of Raven and his fellow Viking warriors is historical fiction at its very best. We lusted for an even greater prize... It is the one prize that can never be lost or stolen or burnt. And we would find it in Miklagard... Raven and the Wolfpack have suffered. Good men have died and the treasures they fought so hard for have been lost. But to such men as these there is something more valuable than silver. That thing is fame -- for fame is the saga-story that a Viking warrior leaves behind when he dies. Now the sea road leads to Constantinople, which Norsemen call Miklagard, the Great City, for it is there that they might find both riches and glory. But the Great City is far away and the voyage there takes the Fellowship in to unknown waters where they face new enemies. From the wind-whipped marshes of the Carmargue to the crumbling walls and arenas of a decaying Rome, Raven must fight harder for his life than ever before. He must prove himself to others -- and he must watch his back too, for an old enemy is sharpening his treacherous claws. The young warrior with the blood-tainted eye will even challenge the Norns of fate who, it is said, have spun his doom. But the Valkyries are stalking, eager for new heroes to take to Ódin's hall. The clash of sword and axe and spear will ring out in Miklagard and the Fellowship will pay a high price in blood for the fame they seek.

When the Vikings kidnap Justforkix, the timid but very trendy son of one of Chief Vitalstatistix' closest and most powerful friends, believing he has the key to the secret of the magic potion, Asterix and Obelix are sent on one of their most dangerous missions. For they must voyage north to the Vikings' home territory and rescue Justforkix, before the Vikings find out he is not who they think he is, and make him pay the price. Meanwhile, the fact that the Vikings' chief's daughter, Abba, has fallen for Justforkix only makes matters more complicated...

This essay collection is a wide-ranging exploration of Vikings, the television series that has successfully summoned the historical world of the Norse people for modern audiences to enjoy. From a range of critical viewpoints, these all fresh essays explore the ways in which past and present representations of the Vikings converge in the show's richly textured dramatization of the rise and fall of Ragnar Loobrok--and the exploits of his heirs--creating what many viewers label a "true" representation of the age. From the show's sources in both saga literature and Victorian revival, to its engagement with contemporary concerns regarding gender, race and identity, via setting, sex, society and more, this first book-length study of the History Channel series appeals to fans of the show, Viking enthusiasts, and anyone with an interest in medievalist representation in the 21st century.

Northern Europe, 976 AD. Bjólf and the viking crew of the ship Hrafn flee up an unknown river after a bitter battle, only to find themselves in a bleak land of pestilence. The dead don’t lie down, but become draugr – the undead – returning to feed on the flesh of their kin. Terrible stories are told of a dark castle in a hidden fjord, and of black ships that come raiding with invincible draugr berserkers. And no sooner has Bjólf resolved to leave, than the black ships appear... Now stranded, his men cursed by the contagion of walking death, Bjólf has one choice: fight his way through a forest teeming with zombies, invade the castle and find the secret of the horrific condition – or submit to an eternity of shambling, soulless undeath!