How to make a Viking film without making a film about “the Vikings”?

This article examines Robert Eggers’s The Northman (2022) as a contemporary reconfiguration of the medieval Amleth narrative and of the cultural memory associated with the Old Norse past. Drawing on concepts of cultural memory, mythography, and mythmaking, it explores how Eggers combines Saxo Grammaticus’s account of Amleth with elements drawn from Old Norse narrative, mythology, and religious tradition. Particular attention is paid to the film’s representation of fate, prophecy, ritual, and the supernatural, with a focus on the permeable boundaries between the visionary and the material. The analysis argues that The Northman does not seek to reproduce an unchanged medieval past, but selectively transforms and reactivates its cultural materials for a contemporary audience. The film’s rewriting of Amleth ultimately shifts the narrative from revenge towards lineage and continuity, reflecting Eggers’s attempt to construct a modern cinematic work in the form of a saga.