The Northman 2022 New Hollywood Movie Ending Explained, Psychological or fantasy?
Storyline
The Northman has a strong cast, from everyone's favorite real-life Viking descendant Alexander Skarsgard to Ethan Hawke, Nicole Kidman, Anya-Taylor Joy, Willem Dafoe, and even Bjork's short cameo.
Directed by Robert Eggers of The Witch fame, they create a sordid tale of love and hate, primal anger and revenge, fantasy and supernatural twists that will leave audiences wondering if Hamlet is in over his head.
Northman plot summary
The Northman begins at his father's house, King Aurvandil, with the War Raven (played by Hawke) arriving bearing gifts, and young Amlet excited to welcome more. With a fatal injury numbering his days, he embodies his wolf spirit and prepares his son for revenge. They meet the priest Heimir (the enigmatic Willem Dafoe), who warns Amlet of his wrathful future.
Back home, father and son are ambushed by Aurvandil's half-brother Fjolnir (played by Claes Bang), who kills the wounded King and takes his place. His guard tries to kill Amlet and lies to Fjolnir that his target is dead, while the young prince escapes and watches as Fjolnir takes his screaming mother with him. He vows to avenge his father, kill his uncle, and rescue his mother as he retreats to the distant Russian land.
Now years later, Skarsgård's Amlet, calling himself Bjornulf, has joined a tribe and led their raiding parties. He encounters a seer who reminds him of his revenge plan and the need to travel to the edge of the world and get a sword to get his revenge. Hearing that some of the slaves they captured were to be sold to Fjolnir, who had now fled to Iceland after his kingdom was conquered by Haraldr of Norway, Amlet disguised himself as a slave and joined them.
Along the way, Joy's meets Olga, a slave who wants to partner up and escape Iceland. Upon their arrival, Amlet, driven only by revenge, is shocked to find his mother, Queen Gudru, played by Kidman, alive and now Fjolnir's wife. He believes that his mother is just pretending and speeds up to get revenge, after which he can save Gudrun.
How does Amlet get his revenge?
Amlet encounters a priest who leads him to an undead sword Draugr guarded by a skeleton warrior. Then he bides his time, works as a slave, pretends to be loyal, and saves Gudru's son Fjolnir from being nearly killed in a match with a rival clan. Emboldened by his beloved Olga, Amlet decides to take action. He secretly begins killing soldiers and a priest to torment Fjolnir, who thinks his island is haunted. One fateful night, Olga mixes poisonous mushrooms into her food, causing the soldiers to hallucinate and kill themselves.
In the chaos, Amlet goes to rescue his mother only for Gudru to inform her that he was never a prisoner. He had actually asked Fjolnir to kill Aurvandil and Amlet because the former king had never loved him. Enraged, Amlet kills Fjolnir's eldest son Thorir and steals his heart. He is captured and tortured, but escapes with the help of Olga, who is pregnant with his twins. Concerned for the safety of his new family, Amlet refuses to go with him without killing Fjolnir, who would hunt his unborn children. Olga is sent to Orkney, while Amlet returns for a final battle.
He frees Fjolnir's slaves and, while distracted, breaks into his uncle's house. Gudrun and Gunnar attack him from behind and he accidentally kills them and regrets it. Fjolnir challenges him to a duel at the gates of Hel, inside an active volcano. When Amlet is about to lose, he attacks with renewed vigor and decapitates his uncle in one blow.
As Fjolnir falls, his sword appears to take a final blow as it pierces Amlet's heart. Dying, Amlet smiles as he realizes that he has avenged his father, freed his mother from hell on earth, created a safe world for his children, and is about to enter the gates of Valhalla. Northman ends with Valkyrie flying Almet into the afterlife.
What was Gudru's plan?
While three-quarters of the film takes place at a leisurely pace as Hamlet plots his revenge, the final part of The North is as chaotic as the execution of the former prince's plan. Amlet's plan was simple and easy enough for him to carry out, but a wrench is thrown as he doesn't consider his mother's role in the whole betrayal.
It turns out that it was Gudrun who told Fjolnir to kill her husband and son because she was the one who truly loved him. He reveals that Aurvandil only tolerated him because he bore him a son. She was also a slave, and only because she became pregnant with Amlet after being raped by the king did Aurvandil make Gudrun queen.
This saw Heimir excited to see Fjolnir at the beginning of the North, when Aurvandil easily brushed him aside despite not having seen him for months. Even the scene where Amlet saw his mother screaming after Aurvandil was killed was a misunderstanding, as she actually shared her laughter and celebration with Fjolnir.
Gudrun pretends to be a master puppeteer as he uses all the resources at his disposal to control men and improve his situation. He plays the same tactic on Amlet as he realizes that he will be powerless if he kills Fjolnir. And so Amlet presents herself as a queen if she will take him.
What she doesn't consider is Hamlet's naivete, as she is aware of her own mother's betrayal and her willingness to employ an Oedipal strategy and engage in incest in order to remain queen. And though he is shocked, angry and confused, he still loves his mother and weeps over her death as he promises to see her in the afterlife.
But no one really knows Gudrun, as she is more of a gray character than the mother in Hamlet and continues to plot to secure her position. Whether he betrays Amlet and tells Fjolnir that he killed his first son Thorir, or orders the guards to kill him and Olga for helping him. Even in the face of death, Fjolnir does not stand up, as shown by his attack on Amlet, despite telling him to hide. Like Viking men, he would rather die fighting and enter Valhalla, the afterlife for warriors, than live as a slave or die treacherously.
In fact, when he thanks Amlet for stabbing him, he realizes that it was the only way he could save his mother and complete his mission of avenging his father, killing his uncle, and saving his mother. In the final scene, as he lies dying, he smiles as he sees a Valkyrie take him to the afterlife and reunite with her family, making the world safe for Olga and her unborn children, one of whom becomes the queen of her kingdom.
Psychological or fantasy?
Although The Northman starts out as a historical action film, things change when Heimir, the priest, is introduced and the characters are immersed in the world of Norse mythology. While the audience is still left wondering if any of this is real thanks to the hallucinogens Amlet drinks to see the Tree of Kings, Eggers plays more mind games with his audience as he begins to tear away the veil between the natural and the supernatural. Northman oscillates between fantasy film and psychological thriller as Amlet's guiding visions feel increasingly real.
As the Russians celebrate their raid, Amlet encounters a seer who reminds him of who he is and avenges his father and then disappears. He predicts the battle of the volcano, as well as his meeting with Olga and the future of his unborn daughter. Amlet also sees similar visions while traveling to Iceland and sees the ship heading towards the Tree of Life, a sign that her journey on Earth will end on the island.
When he meets the mad priest, the slain Heimir comes back to life and tells Amlet how to get the Draugr sword, which can only be unsheathed at night or at Hel's gates. Amlet imagines the battle with the warrior soldier guarding the Draugr, only to realize this is happening in his mind as the skeleton disintegrates with a touch.
The film also uses Shakespearean monologues as Amlet decides to postpone his revenge and torment Fjolnir. Eggers uses this to further fill the viewer's mind with doubt as to whether the fantastical and supernatural scenes are part of Hamlet's imagination or real.
The argument that the magical acts are all part of Amlet's mental torment is further strengthened by the fact that Olga, a self-proclaimed witch, uses something as simple as a poisonous mushroom to hallucinate the guards, while Fjolnir thinks they are possessed by night spirits. The seeds of doubt continue to grow as Olga crushes Amlet's fantasy of having been rescued by Odin, ravens and Valkyrie only to be tortured to reveal that they carried Amlet and helped him escape.
But the ambiguity is what adds nuance to the film, as there are aspects at play that suggest supernatural forces. When the guard tries to unsheath the Draugr during the day, he is unable to do so, while Almet does so easily at night, as Heimir tells him he can. At Thorir's funeral, Fjolnir finds his prisoner escaping after swearing to kill Amlet and visiting his cell. But the ravens make him wonder if Odin is helping Amlet.
When Olga and Amlet plan to travel to Orkney, he discovers that she is pregnant with twins and realizes that they will never be safe until Fjolnir is dead. Adding to the poignancy is that the gates of Hel are flaming, with the two warriors fighting inside an active volcano that they believe is a real gate. His dying vision of his children and entering Valhalla could be the result of his satisfaction at completing his mission or reality, as both endings give him a happy ending after a tragic life.
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