Original subtitles

The White Viking Iceland. Summer of year 1000

A film by Hrafn Gunnlaugsson

Wake up! Wake up!

Chapter 4 - The Day of the Wolf

The White Vikings are coming here!

Askur, who killed my brother and the bare-arsed bishop!

Wake Thorgeir!

Gunnar!

Gunnar!

Thorgeir!

Who is this savage?

I have to see Thorgeir! Where is Gunnar?

Don't you know it's the middle of the night!

The White Christs are coming!

The White Christ?

Yes. Not just one, but two!

Askur and the bare-arsed bishop. They are sailing here as I speak.

And you will say no more now.

Thorgeir is sleeping.

Then wake him! They mean to Kill Thorgeir.

To kill all of us.

Gunnar will answer with his sword! He's sleeping in his new house.

Don't you understand! Askur was outlawed here in this very room

and it was Thorgeir who passed the sentence, not Gunnar.

And now Askur is here seeking revenge!

Get out. And keep your big mouth shut!

No. I will not keep my mouth shut!

Gunnar is in the new house. Come with me.

We will kill them before they get here!

No need to involve Thorgeir. He is sick.

You have woken him.

Go and speak with Gunnar. I will soothe Thorgeir.

The noisy savage has left!

Bring Hrappur here!

You speak very loudly.

And you have good ears.

I hear what I want to hear.

Who is this Askur who is on his way to kill me?

The man that you outlawed and sent back to Norway.

The man who murdered Volundur, my brother.

You sentenced him. Here in this house.

Gunnar promises me that if his brother ever returned to Iceland

he would pay with his life for killing my brother.

Gunnar's brother?

His brother for my brother.

Gunnar was to take care of that?

He swore a vow before Odin.

Give me my armour and my sword.

Gunnar!

Gunnar!

Your father is up and about!

Out of bed...?

Your brother Askur has returned,

and this time your father knows who he is.

So hurry up!

Hurry up!

Where is my sword!

You gave your sword to Gunnar.

Then I will fight them with my bare hands.

Bare hands? They're here to kill you.

You can't fight them with your bare hands!

Who should Odin welcome more in Valhalla

than a man killed in battle with two White Christs?

Hrappur!

Killer-Hrappur!

Let us kill these White Christs!

Take this calf.

Odin is thirsty.

Gunnar was keeping this calf for his wedding.

It is written that when the White Christ returns,

the fatted calf shall be slaughtered.

Go, do your spells against betrayal and falsity.

Let us kill these White Christs!

Yes. Let's kill them!

You are up early, my father.

I seemed to hear Heimdallur's horn blowing as I slept.

And when I awoke,

I wondered if the wolf had come unfettered

and if his age was upon us.

The wolf?

What wolf is that?

The great wolf Fenrir.

When he is free from his fetters and the day of the wolf is upon us

brother shall fight brother.

You outlawed my brother for slaying Volundur.

You are the Lawspeaker, and your word is law.

You once said:"Land shall be built by laws, but destroyed without them"

The law shall not be broken. Now anyone is allowed to Kill him.

In the name of the law, this sword must speak!

Yes, it shall speak!

If this sword is going to speak, I shall be the one to make it speak.

Now the White Christ will learn that my weapons bite!

Do you see Thorgeir?

I see his armour.

But not who's wearing it.

Your father's men have gathered to celebrate our arrival!

Ravens, ravens in the mountains...

...go pick out his eyes...

bleeding on the White Christ's cheeks...

Ravens, ravens in the mountains...

I have an errand for Thorgeir.

What errand has the White Viking for Thorgeir?

He is my father, and is said to be the wisest man in all Iceland.

Here is your father.

I am here as your son.

Not as the White Viking.

The king holds my wife Embla hostage.

Her life depends on the success of my errand.

And what does the king demand to let her live?

That I bring him the news

that Iceland has been Christianized.

The Christian god sacrificed his own son.

But he never died.

He returned from the grave a few days later,

mightier than ever.

We will perform that play

so that everyone believes what he sees.

Get ready for a hard battle, and we shall both have victory.

My firstborn son is a follower of White Christ

and has come on the errand of King Olafur Tryggvason.

My sword wishes to speak with the outlaw that murdered Volundur.

Mine too!

Now, White Christ, you shall prove

that your God is stronger than Odin.

If Askur kills my father, we kill Askur right away.

Ravens, ravens...

pick out his eyes, blind him...

Now you should attack me with all your strength.

Do you see that door to the temple?

In there is the grave of the Son.

May the White Christ have mercy on your soul.

Now you will die, White Christ.

The ravens have spoken. The ravens have spoken.

The White Christ is dead! White Christ has been killed!

White Christ is dead!

I have sacrificed my own son to Odin.

Now you too have been marked with the sign of the great wolf of Fenrir.

White Christ is dead.

White Christ is dead!

This sacred seal will not be broken

until I will bury my son myself.

Now you will die too, White Viking.

I am a German and under the protection of the king of Norway.

Noble Thorgeir! Let your sword finish its speech

and cut the head off this White Christ that you outlawed!

In the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit.

The Norwegan King's emissary is not an outlaw in Iceland.

I have here material proof from King Olafur.

I bring a treasure,

jewellery that will make Iceland Christian!

I am no outlaw in Iceland!

Take the king's man to the Parliament and let him conduct his case at the assembly.

The Parliament can lift the king's protection off a foreigner.

Take this!

An unconscious bishop isn't really fit to ride to the Parliament.

At least he will keep his big mouth shut on the way!

Back in Norway

Let me conquer her heart

and then I shall sail with my entire fleet to Iceland and conquer it.

You have not fulfilled your promise.

Chop of your right hand!

'You must keep your promise, then my heart will bleed again.

Give me more time.

Take Embla into the secret of your bleeding heart

and make her mine.

Then Iceland shall bleed in your name

the Faroe Islands, Scotland and all the islands

in the west that the Vikings have conquered.

Now, when I sip from the Holy Grail,

let your heart bleed.

Anew millennium is dawning.

You shall witness the mystery of

the Holy Grail.

Give me your hand.

Why are you asking for my hand?

So that you may witness the miracle.

Can you sense it?

Can you feel the power?

The heart of the Redeemer is bleeding in desire for your soul.

You are the blessed bride.

You shall rule as my queen on earth and in heaven

till the day of the final reckoning.

Come to me.

My heart is bleeding.

Was that knife meant for me?

My heart can bleed too.

But you're mine.

If you try to take me by force,

I shall kill myself first.

If you will not come to me of your own free will,

I shall have to take you by force.

You say you wish me to be your queen.

Then treat me like a queen,

not like one of your slaves

that you rape on the floor when your flesh is longing for it.

Now you're finally acting like a queen should.

I should never have sent you to the Roman convent.

I should have brought my queen here from the very beginning.

I will give you the finest clothes ever seen in Norway.

And a bed hung with Arabian silk.

Back to Iceland

No reason for being suspicious.

He is burying the whore's son in his own tomb.

Come, we have seen enough.

Here is your sanctuary.

No one will ever dare try to open my tomb.

Did you kill Volundur?

He was killed with my sword,

but I was not his Killer.

I came to Iceland to seek your advice.

And I did in fact meet you then,

gagged.

And I outlawed my own son

I had waited so long to see.

This treasure was in the bishop's bag.

This jewellery is a message from the king

about the sons of the four most powerful chieftains in Iceland.

The king has taken them as hostages.

He will have them killed if the Parliament assembly does not comply to his demands.

He will have them executed. I know him.

These chieftains are very powerful.

But such power is a fragile thing.

If the chieftains become Christians just to save their sons' lives,

they will be stripped of their power,

and will hold no power in the Parliament.

A Christian cannot be a chieftain.

Confronted with such hard terms

they will be forced to stand against King Olafur and the Christians.

Then the Volva's prophecy will come true,

of a civil war and the apocalypse.

Did you say the chieftain Godbrandur is now a priest of the White Christ?

And he's still a chieftain and keeps his estate?

A priest has the same power as a chieftain had before.

Norway is governed by a king.

But here the law is the king.

And the law is not subject to the whims of one man.

And you?

You took baptism.

Embla was sworn to me in the name of Odin.

The king was threatening to burn her at the stake if I didn't become his missionary.

For Embla I will sacrifice everything.

I recognize this courage from my own heart.

It was only for the sake of your mother that I found the strength

to burn jarl Hakon's fleet in Limfjord.

He had his ships chained across the fjord.

Ale brings happiness and is a powerful medicine.

I ask all the chieftains to move over to the assembly area.

The Parliament has received a demand from King Olafur Tryggvason.

The king demands that the Parliament assembly declares Iceland Christian.

Outlaw! Outlaw!

Thorgeir, our Lawspeaker has sent a message to the Parliament

that bishop Thangbrandur may address the assembly

even if he is an outlaw.

This Parliament has no jurisdiction over me.

I am King Olafur's man.

I am a German born man.

King Olafur brings you the new constitution of the White Christ!

This White Viking is a thief and a murderer.

His words violate the sacred Parliament.

Let us whip this man's bare arse again.

The White Christ has many faithful followers here.

The crucifix will conquer! - Odin is the strongest!

Odin shall have victory!

The White Christ is our saviour!

The cross will conquer no other than Christ himself

who perished on the cross!

Let the bishop finish his speech!

Silence!

I propose that all Christian men in Iceland,

shall be outlawed immediately!

Tell them to shut up!

That won't be easy!

Then we Christians will have our own Parliament, fully independent!

These traitors are going to destroy our laws!

Let us Kill all these traitors before their numbers increase.

Then you will have to kill me and my men!

Thorgeir has arrived!

I heard he killed his own son?

Nobody is allowed to carry weapons in the assembly.

Those who threaten others, even if only verbally

is in contempt of the law.

Looks like Thorgeir expects this Parliament will be boring.

The chieftains are arguing about gods instead of enjoying sport and poetry.

I, Olafur Tryggvason,

have previously requested that the Icelandic Parliament

to accept the Christian faith of its own free will.

This outlaw kills crippled people and chops down cows.

Silence him!

He has learned nothing from his last visit!

If my father had not killed Askur, I would have done it myself.

All weapons are illegal. Even crosses and spears!

Have you lost your mind?

You have brought with you every drop of ale and wine from the farm!

Are you planning to keep the whole Parliament drunk for a week?

Let the bishop speak, and stop this chanting while he is speaking.

I, Olafur Tryggvason want all Icelanders to know...

Thorgeir, let's go to the assembly.

...that I have given this oath in front of the Almighty God

that if Christianity is rejected a second time by the Icelanders...

Even if the king asks us a thousand times

to accept his faith, we will always say no!

Let us Kill him!

Your orders were that Thangbrandur be allowed to address the assembly.

Only you can prevent the consequences.

Even though we do not believe in the same God, neither of us

want a civil war.

Only you can prevent bloodshed now.

I have come to hold my son's wake.

Ale makes you happy. Ale is great medicine.

If this Parliament outlaws us, we Christians will establish

our own Parliament with our own laws

and then there will be two nations in this country.

Obey the King's orders!

If the Christian faith is rejected again,

four sons of Icelandic chieftains, that I hold hostage,

will not only be executed

but will be tortured

like our saviour Jesus Christ was tortured

when he was nailed to the cross!

This was brought by the king's missionaries.

My son crossed the rainbow bridge to Valhalla this morning.

I am inviting all of you to his wake!

Thorgeir offers ale for everyone!

Now my sword will speak.

If my son has to die because of the heathens' stupidity...

Hear my words!

The White Christ is merciful.

He wants you to come to him of your own free will.

The Christians will fight us. Now we are going to kill them once for all.

Don't worry. The young ones are always attracted by the latest fancies.

Latest fancies!

My friends will drink to my son's memory.

We'll kill them before they set up their own state

and give half of Iceland to the king of Norway.

Our forefathers were driven away from Norway

by the king's tyranny and tax pressure.

This king shall never have the reign of this country!

This was taken from your son by the king

and sent here with my son.

I do not wish my dead son who brought this jewellery

to be called a thief.

The king shall never subdue me.

Runolfur!

Give this jewellery to Gudmundur the Rich.

Thorgeir is offering free ale for everyone!

If you reject Christianity, King Olafur will force upon you

all the punishment demanded by Our Lord.

If Iceland doesn't become Christian,

The king will sacrifice the lives of these men,

prohibit all travels to Iceland,

assume possession of all properties,

and goods owned by Icelanders in Norway,

and have all Icelanders killed when they come to Norway.

Outlaw! You can be cut down yourself!

I will silence him!

Gudmundur, look here.

Can the king's messenger name

the men the king holds hostage?

I would rather show you the material proof.

By no doubt the hostages' relatives

will recognize the treasures

taken from them in Norway.

Show them to us!

I have been robbed!

Stay quiet! Listen to the bishop's words!

I've been robbed!

Stay quiet! Listen to the bishop's words.

This is my son's bracelet.

What will you advice me to do?

The king must have an answer. - How?

So that he believes Iceland has converted to Christianity.

The king will not be tricked.

He wants us as to be his slaves.

Believing is good enough for the king.

What we say, is one thing. What we do, is another matter.

New laws can be created in such a way that they protect us.

What do you mean?

You chieftains will have to discuss this among yourselves.

That's not my headache.

Gudmundur! Are you not going to drink?

There is plenty of ale!

I will support you!

I will always fight with you against the sin!

Baptize me again with the holy seed of the word!

You know how it is to lose a son.

That is my destiny now.

Then let us drink to the honour of our sons!

Where did they get that jewellery?

That is none of your business.

From my father.

A fine plot you have hatched against me.

You

your father

and your brother.

My brother? My brother is dead.

The dead are said to walk around here in Iceland.

Embla!

Embla!

The most beautiful clothes in Norway!

The most beautiful dress in Norway!

King Olafur at a splendid feast...

...got the girl he wanted.

Where is Godbrandur's daughter!

Speak woman!

I am prepared to die for my negligence.

What use is that to me?

I have news from Iceland.

From Iceland!

Your missionary, Askur...

Have you got his head?

I have something better than his head!

Embla!

Father!

Embla! Embla!

Embla.

You promised me Askur's head, whether the neck is living or not.

You are Christian, you are taking no risk by breaking this sacred seal.

Do we kill the corpse if it is alive?

Your aim failed miserably there, you fool!

One thing is certain!

The dead do not stay dead here in Iceland.

Askur is not lying in this tomb.

He cannot be far away.

You should take up arms as well.

The sword is still in the smithy.

Caught like two small fry on the mountain.

We are getting better at fishing in this family!

What do I see?

A dead man?

You and your father have woven a fine web of lies.

And now you intend to steal my honour.

You... you! Always you and your people!

Humiliating me.

Me!

You are thought to be dead,

and you shall stay dead!

Forgive me.

Forgive me.

Ask the White Christ to forgive you.

I cannot do that.

He will never forgive me.

After all I've done.

Odin.

Odin.

Odin.

Let me see the rainbow bridge.

Now that I am lethally wounded

let me join you in Valhalla.

I am your devoted man.

If we give in to the king

and allow him to humiliate us in front of our people

we may as well forfeit our chieftainships now.

We will all lose our sons,

even I who is a Christian.

All this because you refuse to obey the king's order.

Here, the law governs,

not the king.

That monster will never suppress me.

No one knows our sons are the king's hostages.

So if we accept his terms, no one needs to know why.

Thorgeir knows.

But he just lies there under a calf skin, doing nothing.

Thorgeir.

Now you have to prove your wisdom.

Thorgeir, do you hear me?

I hear you.

Only you have the wisdom and the experience to answer the king

in such a way that everyone will be satisfied.

If we grant you our authority in this matter.

Then I have one condition.

That you will all accept my decision

whatever it might be.

Confirm that!

The people will never accept a religion different

from our forefathers.

When the ale barrels are empty,

this conflict will be forgotten the next morning.

Hungover men want to go home

and rush to decisions.

Make the assembly drink, and drink yourselves.

I never thought that the day would come

when I had to be forced to drink.

Now we will burn the church down.

No.

We will turn it into a temple for Odin when we return.

This church has cost a fortune

and is the most beautiful in all Norway.

But what if the king follows us to Iceland?

Then we will sink his fleet.

Askur is there.

His father will rally the chieftains to our side.

I have no wish to eat stockfish for the rest of my life!

I have done nothing to offend the king. I shall stay here.

No! I was joking.

I have always followed your father!

And I will follow him now to Iceland as well!

We have luck.

No. We have no luck.

I saw her. She is there.

I saw her myself.

Do you sleep with that smirk on your face?

No. I was born like that.

Now show me that this token speaks as clearly as you say.

The king asked me to tell you:

the White Christ forgives you for fleeing his protection.

The White Christ wants you for his bride.

He who rules both in heaven and on earth.

Then I will become his bride.

Now!

In my father's church.

And you shall be the witness.

But...

Row to the church!

Finish it.

Finish!

But the White Christ isn't here.

He is here.

He is everywhere.

The King's god is invisible.

Finish it!

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen!

Now go with Ketill and tell the king I have kept my oath.

But he wants you!

I never agreed to marry him!

Only to marry the White Christ and that I have done.

Tell the king I want permission to sail for Iceland, where Askur is.

If the King sails away, he keeps his promise.

If he tries to take land, I know he will break his promise.

Embla.

For once in your life, tell the truth.

Whatever you have been bribed to say.

I shall tell you the truth,

though you shall wish I told lies.

I saw this with my own eyes.

How?

He died by the hand of his own father.

Died as a hero's death.

The king will ask the White Christ to have Askur canonized

as a saint and a martyr in heaven.

I do not believe you.

Askur is alive

and I intend to go to Iceland.

Row ashore!

No!

She's set fire to the church!

Embla! Embla!

Embla! Embla!

Embla! Embla!

Whatever your father does, he does it for you.

Not because he does not trust Odin and the gods in Valhalla.

He is still under the calf skin.

If everybody keeps on drinking he might come out tomorrow.

The Parliament has never been so drunk before!

The king shall never break me!

The Indians came out of the forest

with feathers on their heads

while we were picking grapes elsewhere.

Hundreds of Indians, and only the women at home.

And then suddenly she rips off her dress...

...this Hallgerdur, who was on one of the other ships...

She was quite a woman!

...and shows them her tits!

And the Indians turned around and fled back into the forest!

Do not women from Vinland have tits?

Of course they do!

But nothing like Hallgerdur's!

Suck!

This tastes like horseshit!

Ta-ba-co!

It is time that we all establish one law

and one common practice.

Any other decision would lead to the destruction of the law,

and thereby the destruction of peace.

I will now present laws which I ask all of you to endorse.

The first law is,

that all shall be baptized

and accept Christianity.

As for leaving children to die, the old law still applies.

Those who want to sacrifice to the old gods may do so in private.

But if discovered, there will be a four year outlaw penalty.

No man can be outlawed for making sacrifices to his god

in privacy with his family.

Every man may have the faith he wants, even the old one.

A volcanic eruption has started

where Thangbrandur baptized slaves last year.

Burning lava is flowing towards the farm.

The gods are angry and will destroy us all with burning lava!

Are we not standing here on ancient lava?

What angered the gods so

when this lava that we are now standing on flowed?

The wisest man in Iceland!

Let us walk down to the river and pour water over our heads.

And then we all can go home.

Hrappur!

Why does this man decide everything here?

Because he is so wise that he killed his own son Askur.

Thorgeir killed his son.

Askur wanted to Kill.

He killed the one who came to kill him!

The one who came to kill him...

Askur wanted to kill him because he...

Askur?

I have come to bid farewell.

Is there anything I can do for you in return.

No.

I have made my peace with man and God.

Whether there be one God or many.

But never forget

that men create the gods.

Gods never create men.

Without faith, there is no God.

So it is very important

to create a fair God,

one that does not punish us too hard, even if we're fallible.

You asked me whether you could do anything for me.

Yes?

Take this book away from me.

It has kept me awake far too long.

A man has many weapons to hand.

Books are by far the most dangerous.

If you see trouble brewing,

be sure to have this with you.

My brother Gunnar thought he came fishing for trout.

But he got caught like a fish on the mountain.

Tell me...

Do you believe in God?

Is there another God

other than the one we create ourselves?

A god who worries about whether we believe in him

would be a very vain god, not worth worshiping.

And if he exists,

he won't stop existing because we do not believe.

Good.

I will then stop worrying about him.

I demand that the man who killed my foster brother Askur

come outside.

I challenge him here and now.

I have wonderful news.

Askur succeeded.

Iceland is now Christian.

Like the greatest warriors he gave his life for the victory.

He will become the first Norwegian saint

and shall be at Christ's side in heaven.

If Askur is fallen, he lives in Valhalla.

The life of a saint's widow is lonely.

But you and Askur will reunite, when you die and go to heaven.

If you accept being the queen of Norway in this life,

I'll gladly let Saint Askur have you in the next life.

You would not let me have Askur in my next life...

...even if you could!

In heaven a saint ranks higher than a king.

But now we are on earth.

So you will have the best of both worlds.

Of both worlds.

Give me a dagger!

I did not save you from the fire only to let you burn in hell!

You shall never have my body alive!

Embla..

Embla.

Embla!

ODIN!

Askur?

Askur!

Embla!

Embla! I have come!

Askur!