The Northman and Honour Cultures - a brief thread

One of the most distinctive marks of Robert Eggers' latest film The Northman, much like his prior work, is the refusal to condescend to, censor, or otherwise alter the views of past people. This is also its greatest weakness.

I mean the last statement not in terms of cinematic or narrative merit, but in terms of approachability and ultimately economy. The psychedelic imagery, the archaic dialogue - these can all be off-putting, but nothing has confounded critics & viewers as much as the morality.

Attempts to grapple with the moral stance - or lack thereof - of the film has produced separate extremes. I have seen some critics labelling the film simply amoral, almost Nietzschean, whilst others describe it as a cast full of despicable people. Both are wrong.

The simple truth is that the Northman IS a moral tale, deeply so, & one full of people who are, within the norms of their culture, either perfectly decent or at least understandable. But it is their culture, not ours. It is an honor culture, like most in history, but not ours.

Norse masculine virtue was imagined chiefly in terms of the dichotomy of drengskapr and níð. A níðingr (or nithing) was a person afflicted with dishonour - either through his own dishonourable conduct OR through lack of socially mandated honourable actions.