Popularising the Middle Ages in Modern Fantasy (eBook)

Neomedievalism, Video Games, and Vikings

Carolyne Larrington, Hans Rudolf Velten, Helen Young (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2026
288 Seiten
Boydell & Brewer Ltd (Verlag)
978-1-80543-925-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Examines the development, nature, and significance of gritty (neo)medievalism in popular culture, from Assassins Creed: Valhalla and Berserk to Robert Eggers' The Northman.Twenty-first-century popular culture has a fascination for the medieval. Its imagery, tropes and settings have become an integral part of the epic fantasy genre across different media, demonstrated by and following the success of such globally acclaimed television shows as Game of Thrones and Vikings. This volume studies this phenomenon, aiming to establish a broader understanding of why the Middle Ages have become so popular in an era of transmedia productions; it argues that concepts of accuracy and "e;authenticity"e; are key to this popularity, alongside engagement with contemporary debates about identity, race and gender, and agile responses to fan-community and media critiques.The essays address a variety of topics, from worldbuilding and narrative structures to female agency and the reception of Vikings, across a wide range of media, including film, television, literature, video games and manga. It also explores how contemporary fantasy engages with both academic knowledge and developments in imagination more widely, responding to ever-changing ideas about how an "e;authentic"e; Middle Ages may be created.

Inhalt

Introduction: Popularising the Middle Ages
Carolyne Larrington, Hans Rudolf Velten, Helen Young

Part I: Neomedieval Fantasy in the Twenty-First Century
Worldbuilding in Fantasy: A Neomedieval Grammar - Hans Rudolf Velten
Adventure, Quest, Politics and Gender in Fantasy Literature: On the Popularisation of Medieval Narrative Structures and Their Transformations - Theresa Specht
'The Childbed is our Battlefield'. Female Agency in House of the Dragon - Charlotte Braun / Lukas Schrage
The Hero We Deserve: The Image of Dark Knight as Anti-Utopia in Kentaro Miura's Manga Berserk - Minjie Su

Part II: Contemporary Medievalist Video Games
'Step inside the Middle Ages': Four Decades of Medievalism in Video Games with Historical Settings - Angela Schwarz
The Middle Ages Never End: Fantasy, History, Digital Games and Early Modernity - Tobias Winnerling
The Gritty Middle Ages as a Place of Longing and Demarcation: Gamers' Reception of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) - Tom Pinsker

Part III: The Vikings Across Different Media
'Pray like a Viking!' Popularising Norse Mythology and Religion in Video Games with Historical Settings: The Case of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (2020) - Milan Weber
Fantasies of Vinland. Popularising Medieval History - Helen Young
Robert Eggers' The Northman: Imagining and Marketing Vikings in Popular (Anglo-American) Culture - Carolyne Larrington

Bibliography
Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 6.1.2026
• Reihe/Serie: Medievalism
• Co-Autor: Charlotte Braun, Tobias Winnerling, Helen Young, Carolyne Larrington, Tom Pinsker, Lukas Schrage, Angela Schwarz, Theresa Specht, Minjie Su, Hans Rudolf Velten, Milan Weber
• Zusatzinfo: 5 b/w illus.
• Verlagsort: Woodbridge
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 160 x 160 mm
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Essays / Feuilleton
• Schlagworte: academic knowledge • accuracy • Assassins Creed: Valhalla • authenticity • Authentic Middle Ages • Berserk • Epic Fantasy • Fan-Community • female agency • Film • Game of Thrones • Gender • Identity • Imagination • Literature • Manga • media critiques • Middle Ages • Modern Fantasy • Narrative structures • neo-medievalism • popular culture • Race • Reception of Vikings • Robert Eggers • Television • The Northman • Transmedia Productions • video games • Vikings • worldbuilding
• ISBN-10: 1-80543-925-1 / 1805439251
• ISBN-13: 978-1-80543-925-7 / 9781805439257