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

3. Beauty and brawn

When it comes to either Game of Thrones or Vikings, you are not going to be disappointed when you see the characters. Their hair and their clothes are remarkable in both instances. Game of Thrones has some cool stuff going on, but nothing beats the braids and ties in Vikings.

The amount of time that must have gone into these fashions and updos is just unbelievable. Even if they are using premade additions, there is some stuff you just have to do by hand and the long way. In fact, I have seriously spent time trying to duplicate some of this stuff and just…no.

Vikings takes first prize for hair, but Game of Thrones has some honorable mentions, especially The Queen of Dragons. According to the lore and to some historians, the hair in Vikings is an accurate depiction of what we would have seen on the true warriors.

In Game of Thrones, we saw some casual but deliberate braiding on several of the female characters. But in Vikings, pretty much every Northperson had long hair that was styled intricately, especially for battles.

The clothing was also something to rave about in those days. Using skins and furs, there was a fine craftsmanship to the garments worn by the characters of Vikings, as well as on Game of Thrones. Detailed leatherwork and skillful knot tying was present in all outfits, and the styles were pretty fancy.

As I mentioned, Daenerys bore the strongest resemblance with her attire and clothing to those characters of Vikings. And fittingly, the people she held the strongest connection with, The Dothraki, were very Viking-like. They had similar pagan tendencies, traditions, and brutality, as well as the fashions.

4. Writers and arcs

One of the top complaints I’ve seen about Game of Thrones was that many of the character development arcs were left dangling in the end. A lot of that was blamed on the writers of the show and on having to rush through completion of the final season, which was only six episodes long.

I think what I’ve seen is that the stories took turns we didn’t expect. Some of the development was seen through, like the fate of Sansa, pretty predictable. But when it came to other characters, we found ourselves, mouths agape, wondering what the heck just happened?

Of course, there’s something to be said about the unexpected. And this has certainly been prevalent through the story of Vikings. With a single, very dedicated writer responsible for the entire story, we have seen heavy development, and careful thought to nearly all of the characters and their fates.

Michael Hirst wrote the 89 episodes of Vikings over six years (20 of those episodes are still to air) and took the show’s development seriously. He took footnotes from manuscripts and built his story around truth and long-held actual stories. Granted, a few outcomes are still lingering, but the idea is that the series has not yet concluded (another bonus!).

And the main point, the story of Ragnar and his sons, has been followed to the bitter end, which was Hirst’s big plan. However, the end of Season 5 was a bit mysterious, and left blatent cliffhangers for plenty more to come in Season 6.