The Viking Age is a popular setting and source of inspiration for works of fiction. Spanning various genres and media, elements of Norse saga and myth are engaged at different levels and in various modes. At the one end of the spectrum stand purely entertainment productions like the comic book and film series The Avengers, where the Norse mythology is given a light and highly superficial treatment. At the other end, there are, to name just a couple, the book Eaters of the Dead (1976) by Michael Crichton or the manga Vinland Saga (2005-) by Makoto Yukimura, which draw on historical sources to give them a fictional interpretation.
Children’s films like Buck and Lee’s Frozen (2013) feature Nordicized motifs in a family-friendly way, while video games like Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (2020) focus on graphic, if not grotesque, violence in a reimagined Norse setting. Michael Hirst’s 2013-2020 television series Vikings offers a loose adaptation of historical themes, expressly putting artistic effect above factual accuracy. The fantasy novels The Lord of the Rings (1955) and The Silmarillion (1977) by J.R.R. Tolkien, in contrast, make no reference to the actual history or culture yet are informed by in-depth academic research of them.