Ever since its original release, Skyrim has been the fantasy RPG that has defined an entire generation of gamers. The fifth Elder Scrolls game follows a protagonist known as the Dragonborn (or Dovahkiin) who is the only one capable of keeping the world safe from the dragons that are reawakening after ages of slumber.

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The game is set in the northern realm of Skyrim, a place inhabited by the native Nords, a group of people clearly inspired by real-world vikings. Unlike most fantasy games which pay lip service to generic viking cliches, Skyrim actually takes inspiration from real Norse society. Here are ten real-life Viking concepts that inspired the game:

10 Skald

Skalds were the poets of the Viking Age. As Norse society mainly kept oral histories prior to contact with other European and Asian peoples, these poets would recount tales of heroic deeds performed by men, women, and gods. One Norwegian king ordered skalds to stand at the heart of a shieldwall so they could record the heroic events of battles, essentially functioning as war correspondents.

The berserker and poet Egil Skallagrimsson composed verses to honor a dear friend of his and his dead son. Poetry was so important that much of the religious lore which survived Christianization was only written down to allow later generations to understand Norse poetry honoring the Teutonic gods. In Skyrim, skalds function more akin to one of the most famous fantasy characters inspired by real life: the bard.

9 Draugr

Tombs throughout Skyrim are filled with undead warriors known as draugr. A draugr in Old Norse is a type of zombie-like undead creature who returns from the grave to inflict suffering on the living.

A draugr is usually someone who was so bitter and hateful in life that they continue to stubbornly lash out even in death. The Old Icelandic tale Eyrbryggsa Saga has multiple accounts of these undead menacing their families and neighbors, who then struggle to find some way to put the dead back to rest.

8 Jarl

When entering a major town in Skyrim, the player learns that the lord of the town is called a "jarl." The Old Norse word "jarl" is roughly the equivalent of the English title "earl." In practice, a jarl could be seen as the equivalent of a petty king, governing over people, enforcing the law, and even sometimes performing religious functions (though a priest, or "gothi," usually had a different function, which could be both legal and spiritual in nature).

Jarls rewarded men in their service for valor and loyalty by giving them arm rings, not too dissimilar from the gifts jarls in the game give players for fighting off dragons and completing quests.

7 Mead

Players often find bottles of mead in the game. This sweet alcoholic beverage is common in fantasy games, but it actually was a popular drink in Norse society in the real world.

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It is incredibly hard to grow grapes for wine in the cold climates of Scandinavia. As such, Scandinavian peoples drank beer and mead, the latter of which they made from fermented honey. In fact, a mead hall was a major pillar of communal life in Anglo-Saxon society, while drinking mead in a great hall was a key part of feasting in the Viking Age.

6 Werewolves

The Companions are a group of mercenaries who operate out of the great hall Jorvaskr in Whiterun. They are brave veteran warriors. Also, most of them are werewolves.

The idea of warrior werewolves is deeply rooted in Norse traditions. There were warriors known as ulfhednar (wolf-skins) who would enter into a berserker rage. The text Volsunga Saga tells how the hero Sigmund and his son Sinfjotli took wolf-pelts from men they killed, giving them the ability to take wolf-forms.

5 Valhalla

The Norse afterlife Valhalla is fairly well known. After each battle, the valkyries would choose warriors from among the dead, sending half to Folkvangr, a field belonging to the goddess Freyja, and the other half to Odin's feasting hall Valhalla. This feasting hall is one of many structures in the world of the gods, Asgard.

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Sovngarde in Skyrim is inspired by Asgard (the two even end with "gard," which can be translated as "realm" or "enclosure"). Within Sovngarde is the Hall of Valor--a clear reference to the Norse Valhalla, or Hall of the Slain.

4 Roundshield

During the game's production and conceptualizing, the development team at Bethesda took inspiration from both real history and misrepresentations of history. The horned helms in the game have nothing to do with vikings, as vikings never wore horns on their helmets. However, the choice to make most shields in the game roundshields is in keeping with the combat techniques and equipment of the Viking Age.

Viking roundshields were made of wooden slats, often using linden wood, and these would be reinforced by a band of metal or rawhide around the outside. A metal boss at the center of the shield also had a hand grip.

3 Dragons

Dragons as they exist in Skyrim are based on a later medieval mythic creature, and while this form of the dragon is commonplace in high fantasy stories, it is different from the descriptions of dragons most vikings would be familiar with.

The most common word associated with dragons in Norse sources is "orm," meaning "wyrm," connoting a serpent (or possibly a creature akin to the wyvern). However, some later sources describe creatures called "dreki" which were capable of flight. Additionally, there were the famous dragon-prowed longships, known as "drakkar."

2 Heroic Destiny

Dovakhiin Skyrim

The coming of the Dovahkiin was foretold, indicating that the hero's destiny has been written in the cosmos long before they were even born. Such tales of destiny are commonplace in fantasy stories. The Norse understanding of "destiny" is different than the modern understanding of the word, though. Some heroes, like Sigurd, were destined for greatness, in part because obligations foisted onto them by the gods, oaths they made, or the actions of their ancestors.

There is a word in Old Norse, "hamingja" which is often translated as "Luck," but is a spiritual quality that is part of one's fate (for good or ill) based on the honorable or dishonorable actions they and their family members are directly responsible for. Additionally, the three Norns who sit at the Well of Urd measure the fate of people's lives, while each person has a personal Norn, according to sources written just after the end of the Viking Age.

1 Giants

The giants in Skyrim can send one flying into the sky with a single fatal blow. These massive beings are vaguely humanoid in their build and often herd mammoths. The giants are a key part of the religious and cosmological understanding of the world in Norse lore. The world was made from the corpse of one of the first giants, Ymir, whose blood formed the oceans and whose brains were used to make the clouds.

There were two main types: fire-giants and frost-giants. While the giants warred with the gods, a number of them also married gods and joined the Aesir and Vanir as part of these divine pantheons. A notable example of this happening is the goddess Skadi, who began life as a giantess before marrying the god Njord. The furious strength of the giants was legendary and poems about their ferocity survive to this day.

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