whats with the viking influence

[IsraelRocks]

As a response to someone saying about a hot girl that she is to young : "someone has to ride the ponies as well"

cracked me up

 

[Phas]

I've kinda noticed recently that any game, especially RPG's that are set in the northern region of a world always have viking influence. the earliest game ive seen do this was warcraft 3: the frozen throne. is this everyone cashing in on blizzards idea or did someone do it before them?

Simply put, the Norse were an interesting and far reaching culture, perhaps one of the most adventurous for their time. The time of the Viking. Viking as I understand it isn't who they were, but rather a word to describe the passage to manhood. They left home to seek out the unknown, bringing back pieces of other cultures and stories. Watch the 13th Warrior with Antonio Banderas. Its a Hollywood production, but it is based off of Eaters of the Dead, a book by Michael Crichton who wrote it from the journal of the Arab in the story.
Most people think the Norse were brutal and evil people, raping and pillaging all they came across, but in reality they were diplomatic for the most part, at least until someone decided to fight them. Then it was on.
I remember hearing from a history major that the reason the "Vikings" got a bad name was because of the English who apparently decided to shoot arrows at the incoming Norse boats, and the Norse retaliated by destroying villages who fired upon them. I'm not 100% sure thats accurate but it sounds reasonable.

TL;DR: The reason they're used for northern climate games is because out of all other medieval and previous era cultures, they were the most outgoing and non-isolationist, thus influencing a lot of history even though they were a small country. Plus the Norse are BADASS, and gave birth to the term Berserker.

Part of the reason for their bad reputation(or awesome reputation based on who you are) is because they burned churches down when they invaded... somewhere I can't remember and lets just say the church didn't like that and basically demonized them.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Not a ton of other prominent northern civilizations. You do see some celtic influence on the northern territories of Oblivion, however.

If you're talking about the knotwork patterns, the Norse also used those.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

were there any other prominent civilizations in the northern region during the dark ages? i hardly doubt it...

Scotland and Ireland? I suppose fantasy has been borrowing from gaelic culture since Tolkein. Still, there was a lot of cultures kicking about at the time. People have the idea that everyone just sat around picking their noses for centuries for some reason but that's really a bit of a myth. There were plenty of burgeoning cultures besides the vikings at the time.

Vikings have always had a reputation for being wild and warlike so they tend to get used when the author wants those connotations. Like Nords in the Elder Scrolls I guess. Plus lots of stuff (like LotR) was written by brits, and Scandinavia being north of Britain, and also the viking invasions, that's where the 'wild men of the north' trope comes from.

 

[skywolfblue]

Because Norse Culture and Mythology are 'DA BOMB. I love it.

 

[Robert Ewing]

The 'Norse' where a very prominent northern civilization, if not the most successful of the dark ages. And the dark ages is the influence for the setting of most fantasy games, Including skyrim.

Medieval times are the favorite, and what better way to personify a northern medieval civilization than a Norse one?

And I don't think they are actually called Vikings. The Vikings where just Norse people who explored, and conquered. (Mainly the British isles.) Screaming the word Vikingr was basically an old English 'get the fuck out now' siren, Because Britain was still essentially swimming around in their own shit.

The Norse actually where incredibly expansive, and successful, a lot more successful than people realize.

You think they just stuck with Scandinavia, but oooh no. They've been found to have raided places in North Africa, Turkey (or the Ottoman) and have recently been found to have raided some native Inuit Indian tribes in North America regularly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Viking_Expansion.svg Check it.

 

[DarkPanda XIII]

If you're talking about helmets with horns and often didn't carry shields but just took a hit? Them be Vikings

For the last time, Vikings did not have helmets with horns, They just had normal helmets! I seriously can't understand why people keep getting this wrong every time.

Oh? And were you there when the Vikings did their raid and such? There is always a reason why a cliche gets mustered into a scenario. Could have been one of them wearing the helmet to try and intimidate a village further, but it really was the only guy who ever really wore it.

-Or- it was stolen off of the Germanic people just due South, as Germans were noted to carry them like one age before. An Vikings pillaged and looted and wore things that would fit them because it was one hell of a haul. Just don't tell me that the Vikings absolutely never wore one in their lives.

Edit: And due to very light research, horned helmets are usually ornamental and are often etched with Gold. Yeah, Vikings had a crapload of horned helmets (even if they didn't wear them)

 

[teebeeohh]

well you have a civilization with the general lifestyle to just make everyone around you your *****. that kinda rocks and also just taking whatever you want is to popular fantasy for everyone.

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

No-one's mentioned LOTR? Most western fantasy games/films etc. are hugely influenced by Tolkien who was in turn hugely influenced by Norse mythology, so it's a common theme.

Exactly. Also, it concerns me that you think Blizzard invented the Vikings.

PS: A game based on the Inuit would be dope.

 

[IKSA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PozbCdtvixQ

Bacause of that video.