ANST - 13th Warrior Warning

[C. L. Ward]

Since "The 13th Warrior" is out now, and my mailbox overfloweth with
questions about said movie already, let me take a moment to mention that:

(1) The movie is based on Michael Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead"...

(2) Which is NOT in any way, shape or form based on Ibn Fadlan's actual
accounts of the Varangian Rus.

(3) To see what Ibn Fadlan *really* had to say about the Rus, check the
Viking Answer Lady website in the "Settlements" section
(http://www.realtime.net/~gunnora)

(4) No, there were no Viking or pre-Viking animal-like tribes called
"wendols".  This is Crichton's invention, and appears to take its name
loosely from the Vendel culture, which immediately preceeded the Viking Age
but which was an Iron Age culture, and is typified by the artifacts from
the graveyard at Vendel, Sweden.  Crichton's "wendols" appear to be a
mixture of Neanderthals and H.G. Wells' Morlocks.

(5) No, this really is not the story of Beowulf as described in the
Anglo-Saxon poem, either.  The real epic has no Arab warriors in it, no
tribes of wendols, just two troll-like underwater-dwelling monsters,
Grendel and Grendel's mother.  Oh, and in Beowulf's old age, a dragon, but
that's almost another story.


Wæs Þu Hæl (Waes Thu Hael)

::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva, OL
Baroness to the Court of Ansteorra
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Ek eigi visa þik hversu oðlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Aðal
(Ek eigi thik hversu odhlask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna heldr hversu na Hersis-Adhal)

============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.