Viking Trekkies
History weaves its influence into pop culture via many avenues
... One of the strangest is the Viking influence on Star Trek,
especially The Next Generation.
Ever since that series found the airwaves, I've often wondered
if one or more of its writers were descended from peoples who
endured raids from the North and then used this show to exact
their version of revenge.
I've always been interested in the influence that the Viking era
had on western civilization, which is considerable. Here are but
a few examples:
1. Vikings created the first governing legislature of 'common'
citizens in history, calling their parliament a thing, which is
also where the English language derived that word. 2. Viking law
was the first in Europe, at least, to conduct trials with a jury
of the accused's peers. 3. It was virtually 500 years before any
other culture would design a ship that could travel as swiftly
as a Viking dragonship (and let's not forget that those ships
sailed to North America 500 years before Columbus did). 4. Four
of the seven days of the week --- in the English language ---
are named after Viking gods: a. Tuesday, for Tyr - the god of
truth, b. Wednesday, for Odin - the 'Allfather' of Viking gods,
c. Thursday, for Thor - the 'thunder' god, and d. Friday, for
Frigg - Odin's first wife. (Some scholars argue the latter is
named for Frey, the god of fertility, but I'll stick with the
Oxford Dictionary version, which gives the honor to Frigg.) 5.
William the Conqueror was a Viking descendant; enough said.
Vikings dominated England for 300 years, so much of their
language influenced English. The suffix '-by' is the Viking word
for 'village,' hence city names such as Rugby and Grimsby, to
name only two. The suffixes '-bury' and '-berry' are Anglicized
spellings of the word 'berg' (pr: 'berry'), the Viking word for
'mountain,' hence names such as Shrewsbury, Queensbury and
Shaftsbury refer to nearby landmarks.
Elsewhere, the Slavic peoples' name for Vikings was 'Rus,'
meaning 'rowing men.' Viking dominance of the Slavic river
systems was so prevalent that the region became known as
'Russia.' In France, King Charles the Simple was so fed up with
Viking attacks on Paris that he ceded them land in exchange for
a cessation of raids. The French word for Viking was 'Norman,'
and the ceded region became known as Normandy. The Viking
chieftain who accepted these terms was the famous Rolf the
Walker (so named due to his height, as no horse was big enough
to carry him); Rolf, incidentally, was the forebear of William
the Conqueror. Anyway, you get the idea. The Vikings may be
gone, but their mark on our lives, even today, is indelible.
Still, it's mildly surprising to see the Viking stamp on one of
the most popular science fiction series of the modern era. Not
surprisingly, their 'presence' seems to be personnified by the
villains.
Take the Klingons. Until they became uneasy allies of the
Federation, they were the scourge of that galactic quadrant
which bordered 'ours.' Their interstellar warriors' ultimate
honor was to die bravely and loudly in battle. Well, back in the
day, that was every Viking's ultimate honor, too. Such bravery
was seen as the only way to earn an eternity in Valhalla, Odin's
castle of the 'chosen' slain, where only the most valiant would
reside forevermore in Viking nirvana, which consists of fighting
all day and partying all night. I cannot recall the episode, but
it seems the Klingons thought that was a great way to while away
the afterlife, themselves.
Those guys were holdovers from the original Star Trek series and
the Next Generation writers didn't have the license to make them
much more sinister than that. So, they went farther into space
to find two other Viking caricatures.
One was the Ferengi. The casual Trekkie might think them to be
inspired by Shakespeare's stereotypical 'Shylock' in the
Merchant of Venice, but the studied Viking historian notes a
deeper connection of names. Vikings were known to be traders as
much as fighters, and were very hard bargainers in every sense
of the word. Ultimately, the King of Byzantium (which became
Constantinople and is now known as Istanbul) capitalized on both
of these traits and created a regiment of Viking mercenaries to
become his own elite storm troopers, known as his Varangian
Guard. The origin of this title was a Viking term that referred
to a 'sharer of spoils,' and Varangians indeed became the
best-paid troops of their time. Their ultimate goal was great
wealth, and most of them got it in one way or another.
The last of the great Vikings, Harald Hardraada --- who also
reigned as a great Norwegian king --- spent time as a Varangian.
Legend said he stood seven feet tall, probably because his
physical stature was such that he actually did tower over his
adversaries. This claim was, no doubt, 'stretching' reality a
bit, but he was much more typical in appearance for a Varangian
than are the Trek race they inspired! Comparisons between
Varangians and Ferengi may be subtle, but there is no mistaking
the connection. Nothing was subtle, though, about the Trek
writers' next and most ominous incarnation of Viking stereotypes
--- the Borg.
Even the name is Nordic. 'Borg' (actually pronounced 'bor-ee' in
Old Norse) is the Viking word for 'fortress,' which conjures an
accurate vision of their spacecraft.
Vikings fought as a collective. In one famous instance, during
one of those annual sieges of Paris, the French king du jour
wanted to negotiate a settlement. He was quoted as asking, "Who
is your leader?" The response is one of the most famous in
Viking lore: "We're all equals!" Sound familiar, Trekkies?
Vikings were known for assimilation, too. However, theirs was
the opposite of the Borg. Vikings who settled in foreign lands
adapted to the local customs. William, for example, spoke
French. Kiev was a Viking outpost and the first 'royal' family
there was of Viking blood. Their offspring took Slavic names and
spoke the local language. Yet, as I stated earlier, the Viking
influence did remain. There was only one Viking empire --- King
Knut's realm of Scandinavia and the British Isles lasted for 30
years --- but traces of Viking life and culture spanned all of
Europe.
During the Viking era, almost every mass prayer in a European
church was prefaced by 'Deliver us, O Lord, from the wrath of
the Northmen.' While I do wonder if that's how Guinan (played by
Whoopi Goldberg) and her planet prayed (they were among the
Borg's conquests), it's clear that's how the Federation felt.
Until the Enterprise found a way late in the series, resistance
was futile.
That's clearly more than the Trek's writers could say. They
couldn't and didn't resist taking their liberties with Viking
lore. In spite of their efforts, though, the most noble of all
Viking deeds remains entrenched in the Star Trek universe, given
homage before every episode. Perhaps that's the ultimate irony,
because in an era when other cultures feared to venture beyond
view of their coastlines, the Vikings --- as evidenced by their
voyages to the New World in 1000 AD --- boldly went where no man
had gone before.
And they did it without a script.