10 WTF Moments In Robert Eggers The Northman
6. Trippy Tree Of Kings
The Tree of Kings first appears when Amleth and King Aurvandill perform the strange ritual with Heimir in a cave as Amleth is introduced to manhood. The king has recently returned from battle and is still healing from the wounds. Heimir orders the young prince to stick his finger into his father's wound and touch his blood, activating the vision of the Tree of Kings.
At first, it looks like a normal circulatory system, but you start to see that people are floating amongst the blood vessels and that they are all arranged in a pyramid connected by blood. At the top, you can see Amleth, and his father and Amleth are shown the importance of his role and his fate for the kingdom.
This is the first taste the viewer gets of the fantastical side of the film, so it was a little WTF at first, especially when you witness the crying Amleth sticking his hand into his father's bloody wounds. The whole scene was clearly a trippy vision for the three down in the cave as they are often depicted floating above the ground.