Ibn Fadlan, to my relief, does strike up a friendship with Herger, who translates the Viking language for him, but he’s largely at Herger’s mercy – and sometimes the fellow would rather drink or fornicate with slave girls than keep his foreign friend up to date. In the opening of this book written in 1976 Michael Crichton rightly critises the historians who discarded the role of the Vikings in Europe during their period of reign. And as such I was quite interested in this novel. I had seen the movie based on this novel and was treated by some other viewers afterwards to the pub and half of them turned out to be historians and they were rather more positive on the subject of the role of the Vikings in Europe and Russia. And recently there was this brillaint 3 part BBC documentary on the Vikings in Europe. Under the circumstances, I should perhaps say explicitly that the references in this afterword are genuine. The rest of the novel, including its introduction, text, footnotes, and bibliography, should properly be viewed as fiction.’ The 13th Warrior Created a New Viking Mythology We See Everywhere". Escapist Magazine. 21 September 2019 . Retrieved 9 January 2021. Eaters is another film shot on the indie filmmaker’s favourite, the Canon 7D still camera (UK indie movie Harold’s Going Stiff used this camera and Mike Flanagan’s Absentia its little brother, the 5D). Watching the behind the scenes feature is mildly bizarre, the cameraman looking more like a photographer than someone capturing live action.

Directors Unceremoniously Fired Or Replaced On A Movie", The Playlist 22 March 2013 accessed 27 March 2013 The novel is structured as the account of Ibn Fadlan, who was traveling from Baghdad to Bulgaria. On the way, he meets many tribes and eventually comes across the mighty Vikings. Now, here is the fun part: As per Ibn Fadlan's eyewitness account, Vikings are extremely dirty and barbarous bunch, even according to 10th century standards. While Beowulf may have been written at any point between the 8th and 10th century, the earlier date is more generally agreed, and the story's Hrothgar is believed to have been a historical king in 6th century Denmark, much earlier than Ibn Fadlan. The 13th Warrior is a 1999 American historical fiction action film based on Michael Crichton's 1976 novel Eaters of the Dead, [5] which is a loose adaptation of the tale of Beowulf combined with Ahmad ibn Fadlan's historical account of the Volga Vikings.

Myths and Realities of Cannibal Monsters

The first three chapters of Eaters of the Dead are mostly lifted straight from ibn Fadlan’s manuscript. Instead of a trusted and willing diplomat, though, Crichton recasts ibn Fadlan as reluctant traveler, forced to join the mission as punishment for his dalliance with the wife of a merchant friendly with the Caliph.

The 13th Warrior' Is A Forgotten Classic and One Of Michael Crichton's Best Adaptations". ScreenHub Entertainment. 1 August 2020 . Retrieved 9 January 2021. Crichton makes fun of his own “pedantic” footnotes in his author’s note, but – as always with Crichton – the details at the margins of the narrative enrich this adventure. He especially hits on something good after the story’s completion in the appendix, where he digs into a scientific explanation for the beastly but vaguely human wendol. Conceived to make the story of the hero Beowulf not boring, Crichton combined the real-life experiences of a historical traveler and imagined how he would have written an account of the original poem in his own style. Narrated as if a scientific commentary on an old manuscript, Crichton created an interesting take the well-known story as well as making the antagonists relic Neanderthals which at the time of the original publication were emerging from under the shadow of the Victorian description of “brutish primitives”. Given my reading of annotated history texts, I found this book right down my personal lane and the fact that I watched the adaptation, The 13th Warrior, meant that it would have had to be awful for me to dislike it. In 1979, it was announced the movie version of the novel would be made by the newly formed Orion Pictures with Crichton as director. [6] This did not occur.The Hero's Journey: Crichton's novel follows the structure of the classic "hero's journey," a narrative template that has been used in countless stories throughout history, including works like Homer's "The Odyssey" and Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." The hero's journey typically involves a protagonist venturing into an unknown world, facing challenges and trials, and returning home transformed. In "Eaters of the Dead," Ahmad ibn Fadlan embarks on a journey with Viking warriors, confronts supernatural creatures, and undergoes a personal transformation throughout his experiences.