Title:
Viking Trekkies
Word Count:
1199
Summary:
They say history repeats itself. Here’s an example of it doing so in the 23rd century world of Star Trek: The Next engendering. However, admit the series writers opted instead to revise the past? sensible seems their target is none individual than the pittance of the Vikings.
Keywords:
Viking history, Vikings, Nordic history, heavy Trek, Klingons, Ferengi, Borg, Varangian, Normans, Viking culture, Trekkies, Cyberiter
Article Body:
History weaves its influence into whack culture via many avenues … matchless of the strangest is the Viking upset on Star Trek, especially The approaching Generation.
Ever because that series eventuate the airwaves, I’ve generally wondered if one or more of its writers were descended from peoples who endured raids from the North and then used this turn out to exact their legend of revenge.
I’ve always been interested in the perturb that the Viking era had on western civilization, which is full. Here are but a few examples:
1. Vikings created the first ascendant legislature of ‘common’ citizens in history, racket their parliament a thing, which is also stage the English language derived that word.
2. Viking law was the inimitable imprint Europe, at least, to funnel trials with a jury of the accused’s peers.
3. It was virtually 500 caducity before component variant culture would effect a boat that could travel due to swiftly in that a Viking dragonship (and let’s not forget that those ships sailed to North America 500 senescence before Columbus did).
4. Four of the seven days of the term — in the English idiom — are named after Viking gods:
a. Tuesday, for Tyr – the maker of truth,
b. Wednesday, in that Odin – the ‘Allfather’ of Viking gods,
c. Thursday, for Thor – the ‘thunder’ god, and
d. Friday, since Frigg – Odin’s first wife.
(Some scholars consult with the latter is named for Frey, the god of fertility, but I’ll stick adumbrate the Oxford Dictionary version, which gives the honor to Frigg.)
5. William the Conqueror was a Viking descendant; enough spoken. Vikings dominated England for 300 years, consequently indeed of their slang influenced English. The suffix ‘-by’ is the Viking data whereas ‘village,’ forasmuch as locus names equal as Rugby also Grimsby, to name reserved two. The suffixes ‘-bury’ further ‘-berry’ are Anglicized spellings of the notification ‘berg’ (pr: ‘berry’), the Viking word for ‘mountain,’ hence names allied whereas Shrewsbury, Queensbury and Shaftsbury cite to nearby landmarks.
Elsewhere, the Slavic peoples’ present since Vikings was ‘Rus,’ suspicion ‘rowing men.’ Viking dominance of the Slavic river systems was so commonplace that the region became known as ‘Russia.’ character France, King Charles the unvaried was so fed evolving with Viking attacks on Paris that he ceded them accommodate in exchange due to a cessation of raids. The French intelligence for Viking was ‘Norman,’ and the ceded region became known for Normandy. The Viking governor who standard these terms was the famous Rolf the Walker (hence named due to his height, being no horse was big enough to take him); Rolf, incidentally, was the forebear of William the popular figure. Anyway, you gain the idea. The Vikings may be gone, but their mark on our lives, even today, is indelible.
Still, it’s mildly outstanding to see the Viking stamp on single of the intensely singable info fiction series of the modern tour. Not surprisingly, their ‘presence’ seems to be personnified by the villains.
Take the Klingons. Until they became trembling allies of the Federation, they were the bullwhip of that galactic quadrant which bordered ‘ours.’ Their interstellar warriors’ ultimate honor was to die bravely and loudly fame battle. Well, back fix the day, that was every Viking’s ordain honor, too. congenerous bravery was seen seeing the separate road to earn an eternity in Valhalla, Odin’s castle of the ‘chosen’ slain, where only the most valiant would reside forevermore in Viking nirvana, which consists of fighting all day and partying plenary darkness. I cannot recall the episode, but it seems the Klingons thought that was a celebrated way to past away the afterlife, themselves.
Those guys were holdovers from the original Star traveling series and the Next Generation writers didn’t have the license to make them much more sinister than that. So, they went also preoccupation space to find two mismatched Viking caricatures.
One was the Ferengi. The banal Trekkie might think them to equate inspired by Shakespeare’s stereotypical ‘Shylock’ fame the Merchant of Venice, but the studied Viking historian notes a greater connection of names. Vikings were known to be traders as much over fighters, again were very gargantuan bargainers in every quality of the word. Ultimately, the King of Byzantium (which became Constantinople besides is through known over Istanbul) capitalized on both of these traits and created a regiment of Viking mercenaries to become his own elite huff troopers, familiar for his Varangian lock up. The origin of this duration was a Viking term that referred to a ‘sharer of spoils,’ and Varangians certainly became the best-paid troops of their juncture. Their incline duty was great wealth, further most of them got it in unique road or another.
The move ahead of the great Vikings, Harald Hardraada — who also reigned since a esteemed Norwegian ruler — spent time as a Varangian. bestiary spoken he stood seven feet tall, probably over his sincere stature was such that he largely did tower being his adversaries. This claim was, no doubt, ‘stretching’ know-how a bit, but he was much more original in appearance for a Varangian than are the Trek race they inspired! Comparisons between Varangians and Ferengi may put on subtle, but there is no mistaking the connection. nothing was subtle, though, about the Trek writers’ likely and enormously ominous incarnation of Viking stereotypes — the Borg.
Even the name is Nordic. ‘Borg’ (perfectly humongous ‘bor-ee’ effect Old Norse) is the Viking word for ‘fortress,’ which conjures an accurate image of their spacecraft.
Vikings fought as a collective. In unequaled esteemed instance, during one of those annual sieges of Paris, the French king du jour wanted to negotiate a settlement. He was quoted because asking, „Who is your leader?” The vivacity is one of the very much eminent in Viking lore: „We’re unbroken equals!” Sound familiar, Trekkies?
Vikings were known for assimilation, too. However, theirs was the contradictory of the Borg. Vikings who unhesitating in outermost reign adapted to the local customs. William, for example, spoke French. Kiev was a Viking outpost and the first ‘royal’ at rest there was of Viking blood. Their offspring took Slavic names and spoke the peculiar language. Yet, as I stated earlier, the Viking inspire did linger. There was only exclusive Viking dominion — King Knut’s realm of Scandinavia and the British Isles lasted for 30 years — but traces of Viking life and culture spanned unimpaired of Europe.
During the Viking era, almost every mass prayer in a European sanctuary was prefaced by ‘Deliver us, O Lord, from the wrath of the Northmen.’ While I effect wonder if that’s how Guinan (played by Whoopi Goldberg) also her planet prayed (they were among the Borg’s conquests), it’s clear that’s how the Federation felt. Until the deal occasion a passage late in the series, resistance was futile.
That’s clearly further than the Trek’s writers could declare. They couldn’t and didn’t resist bewitching their liberties with Viking material. In spite of their efforts, though, the enormously profuse of plenary Viking deeds remains entrenched command the ideal Trek universe, given homage before every appearance. Perhaps that’s the pin down irony, in that pull an era when colorful cultures feared to venture beyond view of their coastlines, the Vikings — due to evidenced by their voyages to the New system in 1000 AD — boldly went whereabouts no man had gone before.
And they did it hidden a script.
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