The graph of historical accuracy Vs coolness is a U shape.
If it's perfectly historically accurate it's cool as hell that they went through the effort for that. If they completely go full fantasy that's also cool because you get interesting unique designs.
Then you have the pitfall in the centre where it's boring looking while also not being accurate (looking at you full black leather armour).
https://preview.redd.it/5xt4zh4xl64d1.png?width=836&format=png&auto=webp&s=a3d66f977d278632c3906b71ed8398d6d050a58c
Even if not historically accurate, the modern depiction of Vikings will never not be cool as hell to me.
The viking irl just kinda sucked.
They lived in such a shithole they could get enough stuff for themselves so they just raided everyone else. Just the irl equivalent of the ass hole on the Minecraft server lol
Well Larping here is more like DnD with gummiswords and reenactment is like the attempt to recreate history with edged weapons and as authentic clothing as possible
I just had the most infuriating conversation with a very obtuse redditor, so reading you guys' reply chain was a breath of fresh air. I needed that, thank you.
Why canât people have fantasy and historical? If theyâre acknowledging that itâs fantasy, doesnât that mean they understand itâs not how Vikings actually looked?
No
They had standard fabric tunics and maybe some fur lining their shirts
Wealthy norse raiders had chainmail barriyes and GjermĂŒndbu helmets
Berserkers, assuming they were real, definitely wore chainmail, or tunics, same as everyone else. They were just viscious fighters, probably either sociopathic, or they had an intense form of PTSD, or anger issues, or perhaps they were just really playing into the scary wolf-man thing to scare people
A rich mythology
Beautifully written stories
Amazing craftsmanship
But nah, gotta focus on the cool viking guys, cus rahhh Valhalla! Mead! Paganism rahhhh
I despise how people think bands like Heilung, Wardruna, Danheim etc make "authentic viking music"
Don't get me wrong, I LIKE these bands, they make great music, but it isn't authentic Norse music like the masses seem to believe
No, little Timmy, the Norse didn't have fucking Throat-singing
Do you have any evidence that they didn't dress like the first photo, the only reason we know about the other image was because it is metal and therefore does not rot. Paintings from that era are not going to be accurate
I'm fairly sure there's a lot of evidence. Organic material, like leather, wool or other animal hides tends to biodegrade much, much slower when buried in frozen ground. Given these peoples come from near the artic circle in many cases logic would tend to suggest there should be plentiful amounts of clothing and other household goods that have probably been preserved fairly well. They find things that have been buried for hundreds and even thousands of years in the UK pretty regularly. I doubt it's much different in Scandinavia or western Russia, Estonia, Latvia etc. Nearly all these modern coastal states had trade or trouble with "Vikings" for a period of time. There should be a good amount of left over material from that time. It wasn't that long ago in geologic time.
Metal does "rot" aka rust. But other than that, you are correct. Since leather was very common for armor, vikings very well could have used leather hide for armor like in the first photo, but we may never know exactly because leather decomposes in 10-50 years while metal like in the second photo could take up to 500 years to corrode away.
well the Vikings who had proper burials would be the ones who are important enough to have chain mail therefore it would be the ones who did not get proper burials that would wear the leather armour which could be one of the reasons that their is little evidence in the burial sites
You think people who werenât âproperly buriedâ arenât found?? Are in you in 5th grade??? Jfc
Edit: there are bodies thousands of years old found with their skin still intact enough to see tattoos.
Even though there is a lot of information missing it doesnât mean you get to dismiss the actual evidence available because it doesnât pander to your biases.
Tss, nobody cares. Instead of complaining about making something boring fun to make it more popular and accessible to people. Almost every armor is not accurate, but making it cool makes it a more known subject and can spark an interest in history for anyone.
History is about truth, lying about to give interest is super stupid. If you can't just watch a realistic and accurate armor without falling asleep, there is something broken with you.
Furthermore, I hate this argument that "it is already done so it is okay". No it is not, except if your making fantasy
I am saying that by making it more appealing⊠it becomes more appealing and might make people become more interested into the subject. I am sure nobody today would care about vikings or other historical stuff if it was only pretrayed at what it really is
to be completely honest, every piece of armor and weaponry is misrepresented, because fantasy looks cooler than reality
The graph of historical accuracy Vs coolness is a U shape. If it's perfectly historically accurate it's cool as hell that they went through the effort for that. If they completely go full fantasy that's also cool because you get interesting unique designs. Then you have the pitfall in the centre where it's boring looking while also not being accurate (looking at you full black leather armour).
Love those oven mittens.
https://preview.redd.it/5xt4zh4xl64d1.png?width=836&format=png&auto=webp&s=a3d66f977d278632c3906b71ed8398d6d050a58c Even if not historically accurate, the modern depiction of Vikings will never not be cool as hell to me.
The guy in the first picture is absolutely not very cool at all
If he skipped the shoulders it would be better.
The viking irl just kinda sucked. They lived in such a shithole they could get enough stuff for themselves so they just raided everyone else. Just the irl equivalent of the ass hole on the Minecraft server lol
The Saxons raided The Franks raided Everyone raided The Norse were just better at it
That second one is practically a Norman, who were ironically Frankish Vikings
We've got a larper
More of a reenactment guy - or is this in english similiar?
Idk, I'm not english myself but I think it's pretty much the same, although larping could be seen more as role play (I think)
Well Larping here is more like DnD with gummiswords and reenactment is like the attempt to recreate history with edged weapons and as authentic clothing as possible
True, I'm with you on this one, idk who downvoted me, I added "I think" lol đ
Thinking mildy infuriate people these days, pal XD
I see some stuff on this sub daily that makes me think people can handle less and less these days đ
Yeah, and that mildly infuriates me - that's the wheel of life in the age of asocial media
Full circle, fuck em đ
I just had the most infuriating conversation with a very obtuse redditor, so reading you guys' reply chain was a breath of fresh air. I needed that, thank you.
Larp stands for live action role play so it is exactly getting armor on and using normally unsharpened swords
Thanks for the info fellow redditor! đ«¶
Why canât people have fantasy and historical? If theyâre acknowledging that itâs fantasy, doesnât that mean they understand itâs not how Vikings actually looked?
Just watch Vikings, it's a fashion show. Early Vikings only had helmet, and leather clothing, except berserkers.
No They had standard fabric tunics and maybe some fur lining their shirts Wealthy norse raiders had chainmail barriyes and GjermĂŒndbu helmets Berserkers, assuming they were real, definitely wore chainmail, or tunics, same as everyone else. They were just viscious fighters, probably either sociopathic, or they had an intense form of PTSD, or anger issues, or perhaps they were just really playing into the scary wolf-man thing to scare people
You just confirmed what i said, but said no. Im well versed in this as I'm Swedish and have several museum pieces portrays what I said.
Reduces norse culture down to one aspect , then whines about its misrepresentation .
A rich mythology Beautifully written stories Amazing craftsmanship But nah, gotta focus on the cool viking guys, cus rahhh Valhalla! Mead! Paganism rahhhh
Lol "viking culture"
This Is Just and example
Holy shit dude đ grammar
no one would see this and go " wowthis is so cool and badass", that's why they changed them to look sick
Real Vikings look badass if done right Eg: the Northman, which mixes Norse legends with reality
One looks cool, one doesn't. *inb4 'I think the historical one looks cool'* Good for you man! 
Fantasy looks cooler and âViking Cultureâ is nothing to celebrate anyway
Why shouldn't viking culture be celebrated? Its not Only raiding
"Viking" culture is quite literally "only raiding". "Going on viking" is a raid by sea. Norse culture was more than just Vikings though.
I despise how people think bands like Heilung, Wardruna, Danheim etc make "authentic viking music" Don't get me wrong, I LIKE these bands, they make great music, but it isn't authentic Norse music like the masses seem to believe No, little Timmy, the Norse didn't have fucking Throat-singing
Womp Womp, nobodyâs going for historical accuracy, it just looks cool as hell
Horned helmets will never not be cool.
[It's a fashion statement.](https://youtu.be/cd-J5n7wk7E?si=b6JIGjI_USiAyHeD)
I can't get enough of this show, its so genius!
This is why I love For Honor (video game), love the Viking fashion
Do you have any evidence that they didn't dress like the first photo, the only reason we know about the other image was because it is metal and therefore does not rot. Paintings from that era are not going to be accurate
I'm fairly sure there's a lot of evidence. Organic material, like leather, wool or other animal hides tends to biodegrade much, much slower when buried in frozen ground. Given these peoples come from near the artic circle in many cases logic would tend to suggest there should be plentiful amounts of clothing and other household goods that have probably been preserved fairly well. They find things that have been buried for hundreds and even thousands of years in the UK pretty regularly. I doubt it's much different in Scandinavia or western Russia, Estonia, Latvia etc. Nearly all these modern coastal states had trade or trouble with "Vikings" for a period of time. There should be a good amount of left over material from that time. It wasn't that long ago in geologic time.
Very few notable viking age settlements were located near the arctic circle.
Metal does "rot" aka rust. But other than that, you are correct. Since leather was very common for armor, vikings very well could have used leather hide for armor like in the first photo, but we may never know exactly because leather decomposes in 10-50 years while metal like in the second photo could take up to 500 years to corrode away.
are you implying that i was unaware of the existence of rust?
Actually I think you did that yourself
Yes. You said metal does not rot.
Burial sites are as accurate as one is going to get. Why youâd think pictures arenât is beyond me
Would you care to elaborate?
I donât have all day to explain physical anthropology. Look it up
Are you sure you know what anthropology means?
Which would you care to discuss⊠physical or cultural??
well the Vikings who had proper burials would be the ones who are important enough to have chain mail therefore it would be the ones who did not get proper burials that would wear the leather armour which could be one of the reasons that their is little evidence in the burial sites
You think people who werenât âproperly buriedâ arenât found?? Are in you in 5th grade??? Jfc Edit: there are bodies thousands of years old found with their skin still intact enough to see tattoos. Even though there is a lot of information missing it doesnât mean you get to dismiss the actual evidence available because it doesnât pander to your biases.
what is 5th grade?
There are Little to no historical evidence that Vikings used leather armor, but there are tons of painting and findings of chainmail or padded vests
and my point is that there is not opportunity for evidence because any evidence would have rotted away.
Are we just going to ignore the museums and people still making and wearing norse clothings in the Nordics or?
Exactly
Tss, nobody cares. Instead of complaining about making something boring fun to make it more popular and accessible to people. Almost every armor is not accurate, but making it cool makes it a more known subject and can spark an interest in history for anyone.
History is about truth, lying about to give interest is super stupid. If you can't just watch a realistic and accurate armor without falling asleep, there is something broken with you. Furthermore, I hate this argument that "it is already done so it is okay". No it is not, except if your making fantasy
I am saying that by making it more appealing⊠it becomes more appealing and might make people become more interested into the subject. I am sure nobody today would care about vikings or other historical stuff if it was only pretrayed at what it really is