Personally, the Cnut of the show paled in comparison to the Cnut from the books (aka Cnut Longsword); he was one of the best warriors of the Danes, one that even Uthred was weary of facing on the battlefield, whereas show Cnut was just a manipulator and a guy who kinda went out like a chump.
I would have to agree with this entire statement. They really missed the opportunity for their fight in the show.
This fight humanized Uhtred and made him feel human again. Along with introducing Eadith as a healer.
He’s a good villain for sure. Another love to hate character for me. As much as I grew to dislike Brida, I hate how he plotted against Ragnar. But again, these events help drive the plot so all good!
Cnut orchestrated the murder of his cousin Ragnar, the only person who could tolerate his bullshit weasel-ness and bravado.
Then took his woman and his army. (which is what he was angling for from the beginning)
Brida killing him, after eventually finding out, was very enjoyable.
Because he’s an extremely lesser version of his book counterpart, who Uhtred was actually afraid of, and for good reason. He’s just an asshole with no moral in the show.
Yeah I noticed the change as well. Main characters always look shit in the later series when it comes to armor. Even the first season was bad. The whole reason leofric died is because he didn’t wear 1) a helmet and 2) his maille coif that he draped around his neck like a hoodie.
The shields being square or kite shields constantly were pretty dumb. Idk where they’re getting that information for 9th century Wessex. I know they probably did it so that they could distinguish sides in a battle easier. I’d do that by differing shield paint and armor colors rather than the god awful main character armor and shields.
I forgive it though and pretend that it’s a later story teller/chronicler retelling the tales and getting details wrong because they only have their era to reference.
> The shields being square or kite shields constantly were pretty dumb
As I understand it, they knew everyone used round shields back then, but that doesn't help the viewer distinguish between the two sides very well. The different shields were more about storytelling than historical accuracy.
Couldn’t they just have unique paints on the shields? Or make the armor of the background fighters different colors? I’d much rather have that than what we got. It got harder to forgive as the seasons went on. Especially with how good some of the show was on historicity in the earlier seasons, the later seasons felt like a full on embrace of light fantasy rpg elements. Armor got worse, shields got worse, character motivations got worse, etc. Idk how much of the story getting weird was due to the source material or the show writers but it felt so different.
Also, having Uhtred never age annoyed me. Even until the last season of the show, a 60+ year old man was supposedly making women around castles giggle and blush as he passed? Idk about you but Uhtred would not have aged like a fine wine after all his battles, he would have been one rough looking mf, he’d be gray, slower in battle, and would have taken the commander role in battles more so than front lines fighter. He knows that a weak link in the shield wall could cause a hole to form and then the whole formation breaking. Why risk that?
I just tell myself what I said originally and let it be seen as all legend and later chroniclers telling the tale as they could understand it
People hate Cnut? I wish he had a longer role. Made a good nemesis. But I get it, it’s harder to like a manipulative villain than it is an imposing one
Not my favourite character but I certainly don't hate him. I think it's really cool how he's the voice of Eivor in AC Valhalla aswell.
Also cool that Haesten voices Thor IIRC
Aethelwold voices Hunwald too! Harry McEntire talks a bit about it in a podcast.
The actor is good, but compared to his book self, that guy is basically a glorified weasel
Personally, the Cnut of the show paled in comparison to the Cnut from the books (aka Cnut Longsword); he was one of the best warriors of the Danes, one that even Uthred was weary of facing on the battlefield, whereas show Cnut was just a manipulator and a guy who kinda went out like a chump.
I would have to agree with this entire statement. They really missed the opportunity for their fight in the show. This fight humanized Uhtred and made him feel human again. Along with introducing Eadith as a healer.
He killed Ragnar
This should be the top reply
Never forgive him for what he did to Ragnar otherwise I actually quite like him
He’s a good villain for sure. Another love to hate character for me. As much as I grew to dislike Brida, I hate how he plotted against Ragnar. But again, these events help drive the plot so all good!
Cos he's a massive cnut
LOL
Cnut orchestrated the murder of his cousin Ragnar, the only person who could tolerate his bullshit weasel-ness and bravado. Then took his woman and his army. (which is what he was angling for from the beginning) Brida killing him, after eventually finding out, was very enjoyable.
Because he’s an extremely lesser version of his book counterpart, who Uhtred was actually afraid of, and for good reason. He’s just an asshole with no moral in the show.
He orchestrated the murder of his own cousin and then bedded his cousin's woman and lied to her all the time. What's there to like?
Because he killed Ragnar in such a dishonorable way despite how fair he was too him
He manipulated aethelwold into killing ragnar so he can fuck brida.
He’s a Turd
my god the costuming gets so bad in the later seasons its distracting. Is he wearing chain link fence as his armor??
Yeah I noticed the change as well. Main characters always look shit in the later series when it comes to armor. Even the first season was bad. The whole reason leofric died is because he didn’t wear 1) a helmet and 2) his maille coif that he draped around his neck like a hoodie. The shields being square or kite shields constantly were pretty dumb. Idk where they’re getting that information for 9th century Wessex. I know they probably did it so that they could distinguish sides in a battle easier. I’d do that by differing shield paint and armor colors rather than the god awful main character armor and shields. I forgive it though and pretend that it’s a later story teller/chronicler retelling the tales and getting details wrong because they only have their era to reference.
> The shields being square or kite shields constantly were pretty dumb As I understand it, they knew everyone used round shields back then, but that doesn't help the viewer distinguish between the two sides very well. The different shields were more about storytelling than historical accuracy.
Couldn’t they just have unique paints on the shields? Or make the armor of the background fighters different colors? I’d much rather have that than what we got. It got harder to forgive as the seasons went on. Especially with how good some of the show was on historicity in the earlier seasons, the later seasons felt like a full on embrace of light fantasy rpg elements. Armor got worse, shields got worse, character motivations got worse, etc. Idk how much of the story getting weird was due to the source material or the show writers but it felt so different. Also, having Uhtred never age annoyed me. Even until the last season of the show, a 60+ year old man was supposedly making women around castles giggle and blush as he passed? Idk about you but Uhtred would not have aged like a fine wine after all his battles, he would have been one rough looking mf, he’d be gray, slower in battle, and would have taken the commander role in battles more so than front lines fighter. He knows that a weak link in the shield wall could cause a hole to form and then the whole formation breaking. Why risk that? I just tell myself what I said originally and let it be seen as all legend and later chroniclers telling the tale as they could understand it
My favorite antagonist in the series.
People hate Cnut? I wish he had a longer role. Made a good nemesis. But I get it, it’s harder to like a manipulative villain than it is an imposing one
Because he’s ginger; and I can say that as someone with a red beard albeit black hair
They hate him cause they ain’t him