Game of Thrones finale sadness? 6 reasons you will think Vikings is cool(er)

1. True or false

The story of Vikings centers around Ragnar Lothbrok (Lodbrok in myth), and his family. Lo and behold, this is apparently loosely based on a real guy, (or at least a guy stated to have been real).

And his kickass wife, Lagertha? A serious, hardcore shieldmaiden from days of yore. If you miss the Dragon Queen, this woman will cure your ills. She is everything you love about GoT‘s Daenerys Targaryen and so much more. While shield maidens were not a literal thing, it was true that Viking women were generally all very “Brienne of Tarth.”

Granted, there are no (known) dragons in Norway, but there is a seemingly immortal visionary seer. While the storyline of the Vikings series is deemed fantasy fiction, most of these people are findable if you do only the lightest bit of searching. You will not find documentation of the Mad King and his descendants on a live scroll, the same is not true of these characters and some of their stories.

And it isn’t just the people, you will also see plenty of historic events taking place. While the telling of the events is fantastical, it stays true to multiple details of known history. It’s very interesting to see the stories from the perspective of the Vikings.

As it usually goes, history is typically written from a single viewpoint. So this is an interesting take on how it all went down. The research on Viking culture shows that the angry presentation of their culture may have been a little bit tweaked by the scribes of most of that history — the monks they vandalized.

2. The gods and lands

Game of Thrones touched on them with the trees and called them “The old gods.” Vikings calls them out by name through the entire series. If you’ve ever heard of Marvel, or even The Mask with Jim Carrey, you know such names as Thor and Loki. These and other “old gods” are present or implied in both storylines.

Vikings also gives much attention to the conversion to Christianity, and this is a part of the events of the series. How the Christians influenced the Vikings and vice versa, is a significant part of the way events played out on the show.

Whether or not a person worshipped “the old gods” or the new One, is relevant in both Vikings and Game of Thrones. Odin’s ravens, the Three-eyed raven, no matter which show you visit, some blackbirds are probably keeping an eye on you.

When it comes to the realms of men, Game of Thrones leaves so much to the imagination. We get the chance to see many of these lands as the series rolls on and Dany comes to town, but everything is mostly the same. We see in each opening that they appear to be in this one little chip of the world the entire time. What is West of Westeros? Arya Stark wants to know, and so does Ragnar.

But Vikings takes you to places you know. We see the castles and monasteries of Europe and even the sands of Africa. Being able to see and recognize the areas, knowing the lands they are speaking of gives credence to the story. I can much better imagine these places and hold them in my mind when I know their names already. The seven kingdoms will always be imaginary to me.