If I had a penny for every time somebody told me that Vikings is nothing more than a poor mans Game Of Thrones, Ragnar Lothbrok would laying siege to my house to plunder himself a fortune. Penned by historical fiction guru Michael Hirst (who also brought the The Tudors to the screen in all their glory), Vikings has been one of the most enjoyable and consistent shows of the decade so far, with the latest season maxing out Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer with a critic score of 100%. There are certain similarities between the two shows, but in truth, while Historys maiden voyage into serial drama contains more than its fair share of crazy sex and brutal violence, it has more than enough about it to stand on its own two feet. What really sets it aside from George RR Martins original fantasy is that Vikings is based on real history. You dont have to examine the geography of Westeros too closely to see that its a highly exaggerated version of the British Isles (warm and corrupt down south, cold and hard up north with a wall to keep the Wildings out - sorry Scotland) and Martin has admitted in his defence of the brutality suffered by some of his female characters that his world is inspired by medieval Europe. The difference with Vikings is that the kingdoms were real, and so were the characters that live and die for them. You can visit Dubrovnik in Croatia and imagine it all done up as Kings Landing, but it really does not compare to staring out at the north sea from Lindisfarne priory in Northumberland, England, picturing what it must have looked like when the first Vikings came ashore in the year 793 and butchered defenceless monks for their riches. Yup, that happened exactly as you saw it, and that was just the beginning of the Viking Age. Here are six legends behind six awesome Vikings characters that crossed the world to terrorise it... CAUTION! May contain spoilers.
