Vikings is one of the most popular and successful historical dramas in recent years, and although critics and viewers have praised it, some details and elements have been sharply criticized, for example, most of the characters do not age despite time jumps, and many other things that should have made them look much older than they are were. The premiere of “Vikings”, created by Michael Hurst (“The Tudors”), took place on the History channel in 2013, and although it was originally conceived as a mini-series, the stories of Ragnar, Lagertha, Rollo and others conquered the audience and allowed the series to live on. there are a total of six seasons ending in 2020.
The Vikings originally followed the legendary Scandinavian warrior Ragnar Lodbrok (Travis Fimmel) and his travels and raids with his Viking brothers from the beginning of the Viking Age (marked by the raid on Lindisfarne shown in the first season) onwards. As the series progressed, the Vikings turned their attention to Ragnar’s sons and their own journeys, and they took on a leading role in the series after Ragnar’s death in season 4 and until the last episode. “Vikings” covered the early years of the Viking age, and although the authors sought to be as historically accurate as possible, “Vikings” eventually encountered various historical inaccuracies and inconsistencies, giving way to a number of questions that have not yet been answered.
By topic: How Ragnar became King in the Vikings
Among the biggest questions about the main characters of the Vikings and how they were portrayed is how old they were and how much time has passed throughout the series, as they don’t seem to have aged much, especially the female characters, which has caused a lot of criticism. about the possible reasons for this.
How old should the Viking characters be and how long does it take?
As mentioned above, “Vikings” covers the early years of the Viking age, starting with the raid on Lindisfarne, which occurred in 793 AD, and in the second season there was a four-year time jump, after which the show’s timeline became messy. Taking into account the age of Ragnar’s sons, a total of about three decades have passed from the beginning to the end of the Vikings, although this is just an estimate, since even Michael Hurst (via EW) was not sure how much time had passed in his own life. show. Viewers have speculated on various forums, such as Reddit, about the reason why the characters in Vikings don’t age, with the most popular explanation being that the actors are more beautiful in their youth, but all this indicates that this is rather an honest mistake. because Hearst lost all sense of time while developing the series. The inconsistent timeline in Vikings also makes it very difficult to calculate the age of the main characters, and even more difficult with characters who are not believed to have been real, such as Ragnar and Lagertha.
At the beginning of the Vikings, Ragnar was about 30 years old, and the “real Ragnar” is said to have died sometime between 852 and 856, that is, he would have been 89-93 years old, which actually seems impossible, so it was believed that Ragnar was about fifty-early sixty when he was thrown into a pit with snakes, and yet Fimmel didn’t really look that old. It is also believed that Lagertha (Katherine Winnick) was 29-31 years old at the beginning of “Vikings” and about 55 years old when she was killed in season 6, which also makes Ragnar’s age more confusing, and although Lagertha was given gray hair at some point, she didn’t look that old either. Another example is Floki (Gustav Skarsgard), who was about 32 years old when viewers met him in the first season of Vikings, and about 64 years old at the end of the series, and again Skarsgard looked much younger. Vikings is full of inconsistencies, and this may be the biggest one.
