Erik the Viking

Released in 1989, Erik the Viking is a film written and directed by Monty Python alumnus Terry Jones. The movie follows the adventures of the eponymous Viking, Erik, who one day discovers that he no longer has a taste for the rape-and-pillage lifestyle of ordinary Viking life. Determined to change things, he recruits a band of his fellow Vikings to journey to Valhalla and petition Odin, King of the Gods, to put an end to the Age of Ragnarok. Hilarity Ensues.

The movie stars Tim Robbins as Erik, and features cameos by Eartha Kitt, John Cleese, Mickey Rooney, and Terry Jones himself. Jones took inspiration for the film (but not the film's title) from his own children's book, The Saga of Erik the Viking.

Jones was unhappy with the finished movie, and later supervised a shorter edit, carried out by his son.

Not to be confused with "Erik the Awful", a song by Ray Stevens, despite their common source material.

Tropes used in Erik the Viking include:

• Atlantis: Called Hy Brasil^[1], but is clearly supposed to be Atlantis, even down to the Greek-stylings of the culture.
• An Axe to Grind: Most of the Vikings use swords, but Thorfinn Skullsplitter prefers his trusty battle-axe.
• And You Thought It Was a Game: Erik borrows Princess Aud's Cloak of Invisibility and uses it to bravely attack Halfdan the Black's crew, not realizing that the cloak only works on Aud's father, King Arnulf (... and Harald the Missionary, for some reason).
• Angst: Erik's angst over the death of Helga drives the entire plot.
• Anyone Can Die: By the time the Vikings reach Valhalla, about half of them have died (and are thus met in Valhalla).
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: At the beginning of the film, Erik refuses to rape a woman in the village he and his fellow Vikings are attacking. She chews him out for it with a rather angry, "Why not?"
• The Berserker: The aptly named Sven the Berserk and his father, the also aptly-named Sven's Dad (yes, that is how the character appears in the credits). Sven's Dad has a funny moment in explaining the philosophy of the berserk (in a funny voice too).
• Black Vikings: Eartha Kitt as Freya the Norn. Her performance is so well done, though, that most people key to the fact that Eartha Kitt is a black woman playing a Norse soothsayer only after the movie is over.
• Born Lucky: Leif the Lucky subverts this by being one of the first crew members to die. He then double subverts it by being one of the lucky few to escape from Valhalla with the rest of the gang.
• Brick Joke: At the beginning of the movie, Sven gets in a duel with another Viking for claiming that his grandfather died of old age, and thus is not in Valhalla. When that Viking dies later in the movie, Sven says that his grandfather will be waiting for him in Valhalla, and the other says that he won't, for he isn't there. When they make it to Valhalla, Sven's Dad recognizes his father among the fallen warriors, and the Viking who had been arguing with Sven throughout the movie admits that Sven was right.
• Break the Badass: Thorfinn Skullsplitter is a skilled warrior and a killer of many men. He isn't afraid of anything. And when the film needs to convince the audience that Halfdan the Black's forces are feared by all Vikings, it is Thorfinn's reactions they concentrate on.

Thorfinn Skullsplitter: I feel... strange.
Ivar the Boneless: Is it a strange sinking in the pit of your stomach? Like you suddenly have to go to the bathroom?
Thorfinn Skullsplitter: Yeah. That's it. I've never felt like this before.
Ivar the Boneless: (excitedly) That's fear! I feel that all the time!

• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Applied selectively. When the Vikings arrive at Valhalla, they demand that Harald the Missionary, who accompanies the Vikings on their quest, admit that all that "Christianity" nonsense he's been going on about for months is wrong. However, because Harald does not believe in Valhalla, he does not see it, while the rest of the crew, who do believe do. This gives Harald the ability to leave Valhalla (As its walls are invisible and insubstantial to him), which enables him to save the rest of the Vikings.
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: This is the reaction of King Arnulf when Erik tells him that Hy Brasil is sinking.

King Arnulf: Let's stick to facts. There has never been a safer, more certain way of keeping the peace. So whatever's happening, you can rest assured, Hy Brasil is not sinking. Repeat, not sinking.

• Cruel and Unusual Death: Halfdan the Black sentences a man to be beheaded, and the man is dragged away screaming for mercy. Then, as he talks with Loki, he sentences a series of other men who had displeased him in some unspecified manner to be killed in a variety of increasingly gruesome ways. Then, towards the end, the last man is sentenced to have his hand cut off. That man thanks Halfdan for his mercy as he's dragged away, and offers you can cut them both off if you want.
• Directors Cut: Only in this case, it's officially described as the Director's Son's Cut.
• Dirty Coward: Loki.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Sven's Dad is never called anything else but "Sven's Dad". Except by Sven the Berserk, of course, who just calls him "Dad". He's even listed as "Sven's Dad" in the credits.
• Evil Overlord: Halfdan the Black.
• Dark Is Evil: Halfdan the Black isn't called that because he's dark-skinned, or wears dark-colored clothing. He's called that because he's evil!. And how do we know he's evil? Because his name is Halfdan The Black.^[2]
• Flat Earth Atheist: Harald the Missionary refuses to believe in the Norse Gods and their accompanying mythology, even when he is standing outside the gates of Valhalla! Of course, he cannot see it, or interact with it at all, because he doesn't believe in it. This causes a great deal of frustration for his crewmates, but does turn into an important plot point.
• Gratuitous Japanese: The galley taskmaster.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: The second Catwoman as a priestess? Professor Slughorn as a rapist Viking named Ernest? Captain Darling as Sven the Berserk? Mickey Rooney?!
• Horny Vikings: This film, being a satire of Viking adventure tales, mines this trope for all that it is worth. It also subverts this trope by strenuously avoiding some elements of it. For example, no one in the movie wears a horned helmet.
• Immortal Immaturity: The Norse gods are all played by children.
• Invisibility Cloak: Princess Aud owns one, but it only works on her father, King Arnulf.
• King of All Cosmos: Not only are the Norse gods children in this film, they are selfish children who don't want to be bothered and claim to have no control over the mortal realm at all.
• Lawful Stupid: The mystical island of Hy Brasil is enchanted so that, if even a single drop of blood were to touch the ground, the entire island and everything on it would sink. As a result, everyone living there is completely nice and non-confrontational. And when blood is spilled and the island does start to sink, everyone actively refuses to believe it is happening.
• Magic Music: Blowing the Horn Resounding once takes you to Valhalla. Blowing it twice wakes the gods. Blowing it a third time returns you home.
• Named After Somebody Famous: The names of several notable people from Norse history are used for characters in the movie, including Halfdan the Black, Ivar the Boneless, Thorfinn Skullsplitter, Leif the Lucky, Mord Fiddle, and Olaf Tryggvason.
• The Mole: Keitel Blacksmith and his apprentice Loki both fit this trope, though Keitel changes his mind halfway through.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The woman Erik refused to rape? He ends up accidentally running her through with his sword. He earns a very cutting criticism from her before she dies.

"Thanks for saving me from a fate worse than death...?"

• Nobody Ever Complained Before: Halfdan the Black's men are so used to terrifying their opponents into submission that they have no idea how to react when Erik actually starts fighting back. Although their bewilderment is helped by the fact that Erik, convinced he's wearing a cloth that makes him invisible (which only works on the father of the girl he's just slept with), is essentially prancing around in front of them wearing a towel on his head.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: This is the default attitude of all of the Vikings, even Erik. They are all shocked... shocked, I tell you... when they find out that no one can kill anyone on Hy Brasil.
• Sacrificial Lamb: The aptly named Leif the Lucky is one of the first members of the crew to die... by falling out of the longship.
• Scenery Porn: Lots of it. Roger Ebert did not care for it:

The movie looks obscenely expensive, but the money is spent on pointless scenes without purpose or payoff, as for example an interminable storm sequence in which the actors hold onto masts and say inane things to one another while water is splashed in their faces.

• Shown Their Work: Terry Jones -- an academic on this stuff -- plays with the Norse mythology but sticks faithfully to a lot of tropes.
• Spiritual Successor: Despite its lack of most of the Monty Python cast (only Terry Jones^[3] and John Cleese were in this movie) many people think this is a Monty Python film. It has to be said it would stand up well with Life of Brian and The Holy Grail, probably due to Jones's direction style.
• Stock Foreign Name: Erik (the Viking) and Leif (the Lucky). Averted with the inclusion of Ernest the Viking and Jennifer the Viking (though their names are only in the script and never spoken).
• Unstoppable Rage: Sven's Dad is constantly on his son's back about how the boy just cannot seem to get up a good head of berserk fury. But when Sven's best friend, Thorfinn Skullsplitter, is killed, Sven lets his fury go full bore.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Sven the Berserker and Thorfinn Skull-splitter.
• You Can See Me?: After the battle with Halfdan's crew, Erik finds out that Aud's Cloak of Invisibility only works on King Arnulf (and Harald), and that he's been visible the entire time. He promptly faints.

1. ↑ A mythical land of Irish legend.
2. ↑ There is, of course, also the semi-historical King Halfdan the Black of early Norwegian history.
3. ↑ Jones also directs