I made this book to show the passion I have for both illustration and history. I wanted people to see what I excel in and what I want to take further in the future. But this book was mostly made to show the misconception people have about the Vikings, the media tarnishing their name. I wanted to make the Vikings more humane than documented, not just killers out for blood, slaves and treasure. They were more than that.
This book is from the perspective of a slave who was kidnapped by the Viking Jarl, Gunnar Baardsen, but what we see through his journey is from his life as a priest to a slave and finally to a freeman. Some Vikings let their slaves go so they can be free, even giving them land so they can raise a family of their own. That is the side I wanted to show: the compassion they had for people – they were not always small minded creatures. But to make the Vikings seem more humane I had to show him with his family; how he acted with his children and his wife. This is probably the best way to show that they were not just vicious humans, but they loved and cherished their family.
However, I was not going to take out the violence of the book as the Vikings, though were not bloodthirsty, still enjoyed fighting. I included several battles in this book, which have been documented in history, for example; the battle in Paris, led by Ragnar Lodbrok; the attack on Lindisfarne, many priests losing blood on its holy ground; The accidental attack in Northumbria, where it has been documented that Ragnar Lodbrok had lost his life.
This book is also a personal one as I am someone who enjoys writing, so seeing that there was an opportunity that I could do this, but add illustrations was the best step I could go for with my FMP. In my other units I did include aspects of Vikings as I really enjoy their cultures and mythology, so making my FMP all about Vikings was not only fun for me but I found out some interesting stuff I did not know about these Norsemen.
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