10 WTF Moments In Robert Eggers The Northman

8. The Seeress

The Northman
Universal Pictures

This scene was apparently written with Björk in mind. Amleth, the grown version, has just raided a village, and his fellow fighters have all murdered and burnt the villagers. Amleth wanders the landscape at night and is drawn to the ruins of one of the burnt town halls. Inside he finds the blind Seeress, Björk, who hands him his tear, which fell during his initiation ceremony with his father way back when he was a child.

The tear indicates that it is time for him to return to his fated quest of avenging his father and saving his mother, which he had somehow forgotten along the way. The Seeress has the ability to see the future despite being blind and informs Amleth of his, awakening the feeling of anger and hatred towards his uncle and the events that took place.

The scene feels Shakespearean, and Björk does a great job on the creepy witch front, but it does feel random. How did Amleth go this long without exacting his revenge? How does one simply forget that their father was brutally murdered and their mother was taken by their uncle?

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