Page - 113 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/01

myths and resources: in her substantial historical and textual study, Elizabeth Ash- man Rowe concludes that Ragnar Lodbrok was not a historical figure, but rather a legendary figure given the attributes of other historical personages.28 “Friendship of the Gods” and the Coexistence of Christian and Nordic Religious Practices We can now move to a detailed analysis of the evidence of the clash of religious perspectives and practices in the Vikings series, a clash historically grounded the co- existence of the Christian and Nordic religions. The fragments examined here form a chain of evidence for the liquefaction thesis encountered above. These fragments are used within the series to convey specific religious convictions and practices, both pagan and Christian, to the audience – for example, messages about suffering, peaceful religious coexistence, an exchange of rituals such as prayer, spiritual inter- connectness and mutual learning across religious backgrounds, understandings of rites such as baptism, and discourses about the existence of god(s). For the Nordic religion, as also for Christianity, we cannot readily speak of uniform religious prac- tice,29 but archeological and written evidence suggests the existence of “forn siðr”, a set of relative rituals and activities that reinforced general values and beliefs.30 Dominant Themes in the VIKINGS Series Fragments and their Meaning With their deliberate confusion and merger of religious horizons, all of the frag- ments analyzed here suggest a crossing of boundaries and an exchange of religious beliefs. The scenes play out the well-attested historical phenomenon of the mixing of religions, found not only in graves that held both Christian and pagan symbols but also in daily practices. In Figure 1 I present the selected fragments with their themes and core content. Our focus is on evidence of the formation of communities with shared meanings and values, ritualized behavior, language and language constructs of transcendence and intimacy, sacred perceptions of time and space and the (re) configuration of symbols and narratives, and the ways in which these characteristics relate to the liquefaction thesis. 28 Ashman Rowe 2012, 269. 29 Andersson 2016, 82–89. 30 Andersson 2016; Brink 2008, 212–243. 112 | René Erwich www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/1, 103–126