Kang551

Very good. The Rains of Castamere is an incredible song; I always get chills when I listen to it. The adaptation here wasn’t bad at all, really well done, author. I mentioned music in another comment, I’m not sure if you saw it, but there are songs that would fit perfectly here. Songs from the series itself, like "My Mother Told Me" in both versions, the one sung in English by Harald and the Old Norse version when Ubbe sang it, which felt very visceral, I loved hearing that. But also songs outside the series, most of Einar Selvik’s work, or "Valhalla Calling". When they’re at sea, they could sing some sea shanties like the ones from AC Black Flag: Leave Her Johnny, Randy Dandy Oh, Drunken Sailor, Dead Horse. Just examples. Either way, Bjorn has modern knowledge, and the range of songs he could bring in would fit any situation. For example, he already mentioned Constantinople, so I assume you might be planning for him to invade and conquer it. Have you heard "Come as Lightning"? It’s a song about the fall of Constantinople, amazing song, incredible. Bjorn singing a part of it while the city falls would be surreal. Music can greatly elevate the quality of a work when used well. Anyway, thanks for the chapter, it was great.

Author, you should name more characters, at least those who hold important positions and have some proximity to, especially Bjorn, but also Ragnar and Rollo. You’ve placed four or five characters in positions of significant power, and we don’t even know their names:“For this crucial position, Bjorn appointed a veteran warrior from his hurskarls,” “A woman in her late forties for the position of medical advisor,” “For the logistics position, he appointed a Karl who had managed supply lines during their last major raid with an efficiency that had impressed even skeptical jarls,” “For the spejari, he appointed a man who had served as his chief scout for years.” We didn’t even know these people existed before, yet they were all incredibly skilled and well-known for years? Author, with all due respect, and I say this because I genuinely like this novel and look forward to each chapter: this comes across as a symptom of lazy writing. You should name and develop more characters. Obviously, the original characters from the series should remain the focus, but the world extends far beyond them. Even in the series, only a small part of the world was shown, and this version of Bjorn will likely expand far beyond what the series portrayed. So you shouldn’t limit yourself to what has already been established.

I thought Halfdan was Harald’s brother, and the author decided to make him Bjorn’s blood brother, since in the series they’re more like sworn brothers. Halfdan even stood by Bjorn against his own blood brother. Anyway, I hope the author makes this clearer. if this is Hvitserk, I’d prefer him to be called Hvitserk, since there will be another relevant Halfdan later on.

Won’t there be Hvitserk? I like him. Even though he isn’t the best of the sons, he’s obviously much better than Sigurd. I like him because he’s deeply human. He has many, many character flaws, is prone to addiction and weakness, yet he’s still a great warrior and has some strength of character. He also loved his brothers. He was Ivar’s best friend, had an entire arc with him, was present in his final moments, and comforted him as he died. He was also there at Bjorn’s end, making his brother’s death much more epic with the same quote from Ragnar. Anyway, he’s not an irrelevant character. I think you should keep him.

Yes, she was the final wife. He had about 10 different ones lol.

Author, I think maybe you should have Bjorn show some kind of feeling beyond pragmatism. He just doesn’t seem human at all—everything for him is calculation, gains, and losses. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he should become sentimental or anything like that, but when Torstig died, he could at least have genuinely shown a small smile or a hint of satisfaction and said something like, "It’s a blessing to choose how one dies; I’m glad for him," or something along those lines, to make the character feel less like a robot. Another thing, about the confusion in the hall between Rollo and Ragnar—it didn’t really make much sense to me. I feel like Bjorn could have handled it easily using Viking beliefs and said something like, "Enemies are enemies, but they are also Vikings like us. They died in battle and are now being welcomed by Odin. The Allfather receives them at his side, and when we meet the same end, we will drink with them in Valhalla’s halls. Why do you think these great warriors don’t deserve a minimum of respect? Are you more important than the Allfather? I will give them a proper burial, as Odin would want." It seems to fit perfectly with Viking beliefs, and I think it would be important for Bjorn to start spreading this kind of sentiment. Vikings are great raiders, rude and bloody, but if Bjorn wants to build an empire that lasts, like Rome, he’ll need to promote a vision beyond loot, blood, and humiliation—at least that’s what I think.

I simply think it’s completely irrational and stupid the way she insists on putting women on the front lines, even though Bjorn has already clearly proven that her choice is the worst possible one. I understand that she has her pride and all, but she just seems like an increasingly irrational character to me.

It's over?

In the series vikings, there are indeed capable female warriors, Lagertha and Gunnhild for example. As I said, extremely capable women should not be excluded — if they are able to earn their place in the army on equal terms with men, then obviously they should be allowed in. However, the central point is accepting women simply because Lagertha wants them to be there, which was the reason for their discussion. Again, it comes down to the average man vs. the average woman. Bjorn is optimizing the army in every possible way; the requirements for men and women in the army should be the same, and consequently there will be overwhelmingly more men than women. Moreover, Bjorn is not following traditional Viking logic — he is changing everything, and to change everything he needs the strongest army possible, and the strongest army is composed mostly of men. As for politics, I don’t see why there shouldn’t be women. Lagertha is capable, Gunnhild as well, and maybe others will appear — I don’t know.

You have a distorted view of what Viking society was like. Women did, in general, have more freedom than women in other Christian societies of the time, but Viking society was still a patriarchal society, and armies were overwhelmingly composed of men. Shieldmaidens did exist, yes, but they were an extremely rare exception; they were not common, nor were there any specialized shieldmaiden units. Also, saying that the average man is stronger and more capable in battle than the average woman is not “sexism” — it’s simply basic biology. It makes no sense to create units of women just to force gender equality when biology itself is not egalitarian and war is not inclusive. War is brutal, and men are stronger and better prepared for it. Therefore, there is no need to place many women in the army — at most, a few who are truly capable and well above average. Perhaps women could perform roles such as espionage, teaching, and similar tasks. War? Meh, that would be irrational.