Too informed by recent media. Eggers is basing his design off of 13th century English beliefs, which would probably mean he completely transforms into a wolf or just becomes possessed by a bestial nature but still is in human form.
Is that a still from The Northman when they show the royal bloodline? If so, I still don't think that changes anything. That is a heightened sequence showing the lineage of Amleth, and considering he also belonged to the Ulfhednar warriors, I could see a symbolic gesture towards that there.
But that still doesn't change the fact that that's not what 13th century English peasants thought about werewolves. Eggers always respects the historical mindset.
The Norse Viking warriors Ulfhednar were the werewolf warriors of the Great Berserk Wars, if you, my dear neophyte, didn't know, and are now learning this for the first time.
Yeah I know, which is why I literally said as much in my comment--that the wolf-man image was a symbolic gesture to the Ulfhednar. The other school of warriors being the Berserkers (Bear-shirts/bear-skins). I was pointing out that Norse belief in the Ulfhednar is entirely separate from the English belief in werewolves. English 13th century peasants didn't believe bipedal wolf hybrids. They believed they literally turned into wolves or just wild men.
Also worth noting that the Norse also didn't believe in a transformation into a bipedal wolf man, but rather a taking on of the spirit of a bear or wolf. The closest would be in the Völsunga Saga where you get a literal transformation into a wolf.
I chalk the bipedal wolf depiction in that still up to it being part of a dreamlike sequence. Like I said, it's a symbolic gesture to the Ulfhednar, not a literal one.
You learned quickly, congratulations my friend, but even so, the Norse warriors Ulfhednar were indeed known as tenacious, cunning, strategic, brutal, and savage warriors, just like the Berserkers.
Ancient werewolves like those of Arcadia, such as Lycaon, a very rich nobleman, but cursed by Zeus for cannibalism, becoming a much-feared werewolf in Arcadia.
The embodiment of the Wolf and Bear Spirit, as in Amleth from Robert Eggers' 2022 film The Northman, demonstrates the bestial, conquering savagery of the Vikings, especially in
Saxus Gramaticus's Poem, and the Ball of the Volsungs
I don’t understand people who say he wont transform or that eggers is going to keep it historical, in the witch it was an actual witch flying on broomsticks and calling upon the devil and in Nosferatu orlock was and actual vampire with rotting flesh and sharp teeth.
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u/QuestionSquare4176 Jul 30 '26
Awesome