Dragon of the Seas

Dragon of the Seas is the second episode in the Vikings season from Ubisoft's Echoes of History podcast series.

Description

Embark on a Viking ship, travel the seas, overcome huge waves and dodge lightning! Feel the fear in an untamed ocean. If you let yourself be carried away and stave off hunger, you may be lucky enough to see earth appearing on the horizon...

Transcript

• Introduction: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla and Xbox present, Echoes of Valhalla: Life of Vikings, the podcast.
• Narrator: Can you hear the sea whisper? She was there at the start, at the beginning of time, and will remain unchanged to the end of days. How peaceful she seems, quietly ebbing and flowing. And yet...
• Norse Man 1: She's going to capsize!
• Norse Man 2: Not if you stay the course!
• Norse Man 1: We can't! The storm is too strong!
• Norse Man 2: Stay the course, I said! And grab hold of something! Now is no time to give into fear!
• Norse Man 1: Look out!
• Narrator: Our army had set sail for the great island to the West. Under the command of chief Ivarr Ragnarsson and his brothers, our warriors had set off to conquer the land of the Angles and the Saxons. Such an adventure was worthy of our ancient sagas. Crossing the North Sea was the first of many dangers to overcome, and from atop this cliff, I will tell you how things transpired. And from here, the view is magnificent. The sea unravels as far as the eye can see, its endless blue surface shimmering like a sheet of silver scales.
• Lucie Malbos: Old Norse, the ancient language of Scandinavia—
• Narrator: —Lucie Malbos, lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Poitiers—
• Lucie Malbos: —has influenced, in particular, the vocabularies of French and English. Particularly words relating to the sea and boats, terms such as "keel", "stern", and "sail", as well as more common words such as "creek" and holr—spelled H-O-L-R in Norse—meaning "hollow", which is "hole" in English.
• Narrator: In the months leading up to the journey, every shipyard in the region was in a frenzy. Shipwrights, ropemakers, blacksmiths, hundreds of workers toiled relentlessly to build a fleet that would carry the warriors to England. Building each one of those ships required no fewer than twenty oak or pine trees. The master shipwright was infused with ancestral knowhow, perfected from one generation to the next, to give life to faster and nimbler vessels capable of surviving the high seas. With their noble curves, extreme proportions and magnificent animals erect on the prow the boats looked like genuine sea-dragons.
• Norse Worker: Good day, Olaf, sir. Well, what do you think sir?
• Olaf: Oh, no, no. We need to start again.
• Norse Worker: Really? But that'll take days!
• Olaf: It'll take as long as it needs to! We need a longer hull and a rounder stern.
• Norse Worker: Sir, that simply isn't possible.
• Olaf: Do you want the deaths of our warriors on your hands?
• Norse Worker: N-no, no, master.
• Olaf: Then get to work, and hop to it.
• Lucie Malbos: The drakkar ships such as we know it never actually existed. It's purely a legend from the late 19th century that came from a mistaken transcription of a word that does not exist in Old Norse, dreki, or the plural, drakkar. Originally, however, this term didn't refer to the ship itself, but the figurehead on the bow of the ship carved to look like a dragon.
• Narrator: After months of grueling toil in the shipyards, the fleet was finally ready. The Great Army had gathered by the coast. Once supplies had been properly inventoried, they were loaded onto the boats.
• Thierry Noël: Loading supplies and people onboard was difficult because the ships were very narrow.
• Narrator: Thierry Noël, content and inspiration consultant at Ubisoft
• Thierry Noël: Trunks for supplies also served as benches for rowers, thus they could be moved around as needed, but there wasn't much room. They also created more space by placing their shields on the sides of the boat, which helped block ocean spray, and of course there's another issue that we don't think of, which is all the ropes crisscrossing the ship, another considerable inconvenience for the boatmen.
• Narrator: On the final night before embarking, a strange atmosphere came over the camp. It was the night of the summer solstice. The warriors said their goodbyes to their loved ones. They would be leaving the land of their ancestors. Some feasted and drank for courage, others prayed to the gods for safe passage. Yet the völva had been reassuring, many spirits had come to her to reveal what would happen on their journey.
• Völva: Listen, listen to me! I bring you good news! I feel that Njörðr will be merciful. Rest assured, he will calm the waves and fill your sails until you land safely. Warriors rejoice, the time will soon come your for you to slay your enemies once again!
• Narrator: Patience, you will be given many an opportunity to fight, patience. That night, one warrior in particular was restless and sleepless. He came to the very cliff I stand upon to stare at the stars and meditate his plan. It was chief Ivarr Ragnarsson, nicknamed Ivarr the Boneless. This conquest had become a personal matter to him, a matter of revenge. His father, the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok, had set foot in England before him to his great misfortune. King Ælla had captured him and put him to death in a very cruel manner. Legend has it he was thrown naked into a pit of snakes.
• Ivarr Ragnarsson: I have sworn to avenge you father, and this time I will not fail. Ælla will die by my hands, and even if Odin decides to call me to his table and this fight proves to be my last, I will not take leave of this Earth until I have avenged you. The blood of that cursed king will drip from my blade.
• Narrator: This time he would set sail on his journey backed by a swarm of determined Vikings. The greatest Viking army ever raised to cross the North Sea.
• Thierry Noël: Ragnar would have been captured in Northumbria by King Ælla and put to death in a most heinous way. Though it's purely legendary, of course, we can't say with certainty what motivated the Vikings to attack England at that time. What's likely, however, is that the attacks were coordinated. Even though Vikings operated in small groups, we know from the historical record of an Irish king that some Vikings attacked from Ireland after waging war against him. That's typical Viking opportunism: all other battlefronts were drawn back in order to focus efforts on England, where they perhaps felt they had an easier target.
• Narrator: The big day is finally upon us! Ravens are circling in the skies; it is a good omen. The sun has not yet risen and men are hurrying along to board the ships as quickly as possible.
• Norse Man 3: Go on, get on with it! Push, harder.
• Norse Man 4: Load the provisions, get on board. Prepare to cast off.
• Norse Man 3: Don't lose courage and remember the words of the völva: Njörðr is with us. Are you listening men? Faster! Don't let the gods down.
• Narrator: And they were off, finally. Spurred by their emotions after such a long wait, the men row with fantastic energy. Their faces whipped by the sea spray, the proud sea-dragons crash through the waves as if they were flying. They heave at the oars and very quickly touch the horizon. The warriors cast one last glance at the shore while it is still in sight. Will they ever set eyes again on the land of their forefathers? Will death mow them down in a faraway land?
• Lucie Malbos: Over time, the Vikings learned the strengths and weaknesses of Western Europe and became more and more emboldened.
• Thierry Noël: We think of Vikings as these towering warriors, but in fact they weren't necessarily stronger than anyone else. They did, though, have methods at their disposal for complete disruption, organizing fatal charges against the enemy, circumventing their defenses on all sides, et cetera. This is something that we'll show you in the game.
• Narrator: The Viking cherish the sea as a means to escape towards unknown lands, new horizons.
• Norse Man 5: Lost in thought, eh?
• Norse Man 6: Oh, I, uh, was just wondering if there were lands beyond the land of England.
• Norse Man 5: Possibly, but you'll have to wait for our next voyage to go exploring.
• Norse Man 6: Then I hope the gods are listening, as I plan to go to the ends of the Earth.
• Norse Man 5: Well, for now let's stay focused on our current destination.
• Norse Man 6: Alright, alright. I know what I'm doing.
• Narrator: Our ships have drawn countless wakes that the seas have erased. The Vikings have learned to tame the immense blue expanse better than anyone else.
• François Emion: If we take Norway, for example—
• Narrator: —François Emion, professor of Nordic Studies at the Sorbonne University—
• François Emion: —there are fjords that cut into the land for dozens of kilometers, bordered by cliffs dozens and even hundreds of meters high. In order to get from one place to another, you had to travel by boat. They traded with the Sámi people for furs and products derived from the walrus, to then take ivory and rope made from seal or walrus skin to markets all over Europe. There was much to be made from this trade, and the trade routes navigated across the coast of Norway will eventually give the country its name from "Norþweg", meaning "the way to the north".
• Narrator: It has been a week since the ships set off for the great island, but it is essential to stay the course. This crossing was a far cry from our usual coastal navigation, but our seamen are never at a loss when it comes to being resourceful. They use whatever they have at their disposal to guide themselves: the movement of the water, the direction the wind blows, all these subtle signs. At night, they watch the North Star and daytime the Sun, provided they can see it. When the clouds cover the skies, we have the sunstone, a magical instrument devised by the Viking.
• Norse Man 7: Do you think we're lost?
• Norse Man 8: No, look. The sun is hiding right there.
• Norse Man 7: Are you sure? I don't see anything.
• Norse Man 8: Eh, you can see it with this stone. We need to tack to starboard. Come on. Push sail while the wind's rising, tack starboard.
• François Emion: We think the sunstone was a type of quartz that polarized light so that even in cloudy conditions you could find the sun's position, but this fact is still being debated.
• Lucie Malbos: It seems that when the Vikings discovered Iceland, they had ravens onboard, and they set them free to see if they were near land.
• Narrator: The days at sea can be grueling. The constant sway day and night can make you mad. Life onboard, the cold rain, and promiscuity between boatsmen required an iron-strong discipline. Everyone has a role and should never step out of place.
• Norse Man 9: What a night. What supplies do we have left?
• Norse Man 10: Unfortunately, just a few dried fish, some salted meat and, um... oh, bread.
• Norse Man 9: Ah. Well, make sure the crew can hold on for another while, but also, be careful not to ration us too much, because it could weaken us. I don't want our warriors to be weak when we get to shore.
• Norse Man 10: I'll do my best, but I just hope völva was right, because we won't last much longer like this.
• Narrator: Despite the precautions, supplies start to run out. For the sailor in charge of supplies, keeping hungry men to shape is a real feat. But shortages are nothing, the worst is yet to come.
• Norse Man 11: The wind's picking up!
• Norse Man 12: Oh, it looks like Njörðr's wrath is brewing! The swells are getting bigger and bigger!
• Norse Man 11: Quick, bring down the mast!
• Norse Man 12: The waves are too high! We're going to capsize!
• Norse Man 11: Watch out!
• Narrator: The sea would would serve as their tomb. Only one boat had sunk, the rest of the fleet had been spared. Njörðr's wrath finally died down, the storm gave way to normal seas. They now needed to get back on course and row endlessly. How many days had gone by? How many weeks? Eventually, in such circumstances, all notions of time and space are lost. But one morning, suddenly England appears. These are the shores of East Anglia, but the men are not yet aware of that. They believe they have landed in Northumbria. Soon the locals will see the sea-dragons emerge from the mist and know exactly what those menacing creatures mean, as it is not their first encounter with a Viking.
• Ryan Lavelle: Viking ships, such as the one at Gjellestad in Norway—
• Narrator: —Ryan Lavelle, professor of History of the Dark Ages at the University of Winchester—
• Ryan Lavelle: —were ideally suited for amphibious raiding. They could come right up to the coast, come right onto the beach, the keels of these ships at the bottom of the hull were very strongly built and could stand a great deal of punishment.
• Narrator: On the island, the mere mention of the Viking sent shivers down their spines. Nobody had forgotten the Lindisfarne raid, nor the expedition of King Ragnar, Ivarr's father, but that was nothing compared to what the Great Army would unleash. Ivarr would display the full measure of his power. His vengeance promised to be vicious. Having tamed the seas, the Viking were about to make the earth tremble.

Cast

(By order of appearance, host indicated with italics)

• Bibi Jacob as Narrator
• Prof. Lucie Malbos as herself
• Thierry Noël as himself
• Hannah Rutherford as Völva
• Alex Noon as Ivarr the Boneless
• Prof. François Emion as himself
• Prof. Ryan Lavelle as himself