The Vikings of TikTok 

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I think its so funny how Vikings are treated like the winter version of pirates

Being half Swedish, half Italian, I will now create a community of vikings plumbers.

The fact that none of these people get that "viking" wasn't an ethnicity or a personality trait, but a job title has me equally crying and dying of laughter.

My favorite part about this is that Viking wasn’t so much a cultural group as it was a profession. Calling yourself a modern day Viking is like some dude in another thousand years calling himself a modern day frycook and smoking cigarettes next to a dumpster to prove how manly he is.

I love that Barbie saying "BALLS" is still used regularly because it gets me every time

Curtis having like zero tattoos on his back makes him kinda look like a grilled cheese that hasn't been flipped over yet

I love how careful Kurtis was saying “surface level” so he wouldn’t say “surface leather” again but then says “quonsequences” 😂

The band is pronounced " A Mon A Marth" (Amon Amarth) and they are fantastic. Usually, they have a giant ship on the stage. Also, they have been around way before ticktok. I haven't seen them live in a long time but the last time I saw them was probably around 2009. Also, when vikings went "berserk" they ate mushrooms and got naked.

How to be a Modern Viking: -Be a football player -Play for Minnesota

i've always wanted to hold plastic axes and jump into frozen lakes because that's what modern vikings do

Actually Vikings were extremely clean and regularly bathed and groomed themselves. They were known to bathe weekly, which was more frequently than most people, particularly Europeans, at the time. Their grooming tools were often made of animal bones and included items such as combs, razors, and ear cleaners.

I saw amon amarth at a ghost concert and yes, we all were rowing during that song. They also have a giant ass boat behind them with a storm and a monster and they kill it after a few songs. It was so badass and good because I'm disabled lol

as a fellow scandinavian, i am living proof that all vikings are shirtless vampires who jump off of cliffs with plastic axes in both hands

as a swedish person i’m always very wary of people that are extremely into the “norse aesthetic” a lot of norse symbolism has been adopted by white supremacy/neo n4zi groups

As a Scottish person I am not scared of these guys attacking my land and stealing my metal

him singing dk donkey kong is in my head daily and i cant make it stop

Fun fact: During the Viking age (800-1050 AD), young men and women were required to sit in their car and do a Nickelback rendition of the DK rap as a rite of passage. It is an authentic Viking tradition!

Being a Swede, seeing Americans trying to become Viking-furries… is something i actually expected. Nothing Americans do anymore surprises me.

Fun Fact: Vikings also had a hierarchy that included multiple levels of slavery. There where slaves that were born into it and some that were kidnapped after their villages were burned down. (It was a lot more complicated but I don‘t remember exactly).

As an Scandinavian the thing that triggers me the thing that triggers me the most is that many of these viking tiktokers are completely uninformed. For example they never had horns on their helmet. Horns were only used to drink wine and beer. Also viking comes from the Vík which means fjord/bay. Therefore building a Viking town in texas is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. But the catapult and death diving were cool. Gotta respect the catapult.

4:53 this song Valhalla Calling is actually my song :) I wrote it inspired by Norse mythology after playing AC Valhalla. A lot of people think Peyton created it or that it's an ancient Nordic chant but nope, it's my original song 👍 I also never intended it to be interpreted as any kind of authentic Nordic or Viking chant; this misconception came from certain other people covering it and incorrectly labelling it as that.

12:42 Fun fact! Viking’s we’re obsessed with cleanliness and looking/smelling good. We have writings that show British women at the time were so into it that the church had to step in and tell Anglo-Saxon men to bathe more so muscular Scandinavians didn’t steal their women

11:00 "Can figure out mirrors but not Bluetooth". Guess what? Bluetooth is named after a viking! King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark/Norway. They even use his initials in rune form as the symbol for the company.

I had to pause the video when you said “smelling a Vikings balls would probably make you hallucinate”. that is a sentence I never imagined I would hear LMFAO

This feels like the cottage core craze but for straight men. Traditional folklore influences, vintage fashion and styling, and a shared community to interact with online and show off your lil costumes

12:25 Surprisingly Vikings were often actually quite well groomed and cleaner than, for example, the average Anglo Saxon. Often being buried with combs and other hair grooming products, kinda like having Manscaped in your casket now, thats how important it was seen in their culture. They also washed far more frequently than Anglo Saxon men, a fact alongside their beard and hair maintence that got them called womanly by their enemies.

Bluetooth is actually named after Harald Bluetooth, a Danish king during the Viking Age.

"i'm gonna start talk about raiding in a bit.. thank you to RAID SHADOW LEGENDS for sponsoring this tiktok"

As a historian this video is killing me oh my god - viking was a parttime profession, not a people - most Nordic peoples were farmers and traders, and went on raids once or twice a year - vikings were very clean, bathed often and used nice smelling oils on their beards and hair. This made them very popular with women, which only increased the fear of those Nordic men lol - raids were not just a viking thing! A lot of peoples raided communities that were not well guarded. Vikings were more villified than others because they did not spare monasteries (heathens!) - Nordic societies were much more egalitarian when it came to gender. Women could divorce their husbands, they could become warriors, and they were generally in charge of money. This because finances were considered 'witchcraft' and you know, women are just better at that kind of thing I guess - vikings did have language and grammar, modern Icelandic evolved from old Norse, which is the oldest Nordic language (to my knowledge) Perhaps most importantly: most of the historical sources we have on 'vikings' come from biased sources. Like Romans, who were always at war with them. So if Tacitus writes that the barbaric vikings made human sacrifices and participated in horrible things, is that evidence or propaganda? A lot of these 'modern vikings' just want an excuse to act tough and be racist. It's 'alpha male' behavior without the crypto.

As a danish girl studying history with a major in vikings, this video was hilarious! And Im not here to teach or be annyoing, but I just find it so interesting, that vikings were actually very clean..We have found sooo many grooming tools and stuff here in Denmark from vikings. A lot of women from other countries were attracted to them, because of that haha. They really took grooming seriously and even by todays standards, their teeth were pretty good as well. Just a fun little fact!

“Going vampire mode” - proceeds to not lose the majority of their powers at best or spontaneously combust at worst depending on the source material in broad daylight…

Amon Amarth Uh-Mon Uh-Marth The concert experience is phenomenal

Fun fact: Vikings actually dedicated Sundays to grooming themselves and they would basically have spa days.

I am a Scandinavian archeology student, and I just want to mention that, while yes, the vikings did colonize, it wasn't like the "modern" way (ex, the british and french in America ++). They usually built smaller settlements in places that weren't previously inhabitet. In some cases some would settle closer to local people, and eventually intergrate into their society. So it wasn't about wiping others out and claiming the whole land as their own. They did raid places, but left afterwards, the goal of those where not to colonize (just as a response to 1:56 in the video). Oh and a lot of the vikings were actually just merchants and tradesmen, and did not really raid anything. Personally, I stay faaaar away from that side of tiktok. As someone who is close to our history, culture and nature, I find it far too stereotypical to watch. They spread so much misinformation. The fact that they make themselves out to be representatives of the culture, yet they so obviously has not made any research about it or have any actual connection to it. They watched the Vikings tv-show, which isn't exactly historically accurate, and made it their entire personality. They are actually just making a mockery of our history. At first it was kind of funny, because of the ridiculousness of it, but now they are so damn many it is just frustrating. They are reaching out to more people than actual scandinavians about our history. (Also kind of funny how the ones with 3% scandinavian blood always have "viking blood" and not "had to flee the country to survive the famine in the 1800s blood)

KURTIS CONNER SAYING AMON AMARTH LIKE THAT MADE ME SO SAD.. Dude amon amarth in concert.. please that was fun as all hell, they were the best opening for Ghost 😭😭

Also, Amon Amarth have been around forever, and, fun fact, their name is the Sindarin name for Mount Doom.

The "modern day Viking" lore can actually go a lot deeper and a lot worse than this unfortunately. But I don't think they'd be able to talk about those things on tiktok openly without getting banned. There's some 'churches' scattered around the US that practice heathenry, using Viking and Nordic mythology as the basis of their religion, but some of these churches are actually pretty racist and problematic. Ásatrú Folk Assembly churches are prime examples of this. It's a lot to get into in a RU-vid comment since it's kind of a deep rabbit hole, but I encourage y'all to learn more about it. And I'm not saying ALL "modern day Vikings" are racist either, but just be aware of how much deeper this stuff can go.

as an archaeologists, kurtis not knowing vikings had mirrors and catapults is hilarious

Kurtisconner and funkyfrogbait should totally do a Collab! Not just the hair style but they both have such a great since of humor! They would totally vibe!!!!

The modern viking guy watched all the seasons of vikings and instantly became a expert

my favourite part of this is that viking isn't just a random group of people, it was literally a JOB. could you imagine people in the future just going "how to become a modern day accountant in three easy steps"

As a swede i absolutely hate when someone realises their great great great grandpa was from the nordics and then their entire personality becomes viking and they start wearing "viking dreadlocks"

ensiferum also are a viking themed metal band, and the fans also sit and row for certain songs, its a great feeling to bond with strangers over

9:29 he was careful not to say "surface leather"

Unironically the guy jumping in the freezing water with the platic axes is one of THE funniest things I've EVER seen, it brings me so much joy I revisit it from time to time

Common misconception on the "filthy viking" thing- they were actually a little bit prissy when it came to cleanliness. They bathed, combed their hair consistently, (a TON of the graves we've found have combs in them) and some even plucked their brows. Part of the reason they were hated, besides the murder thing, was the fact that they were these tall, handsome blonde travelers that were popular with women.

surprised you never mentioned any of the racism hidden just beneath the surface. also it was really cool that we somehow burped at the same time

My first official foray into Viking period entertainment is Vinland Saga and even then I learned a good amount about Nordic culture (within the time period) from reading/watching it because the author (Makoto Yukimura) actually did his research, Tiktok Vikings should pick it up lol

One of these American vikings interned at a company I was working for in Oslo and it was both funny yet embarrassing watching him trying to "connect with his people" (i.e. confused office workers who're just there to do a job, not plan a raid) by regaling them on his knowledge of vikings and telling them all about the viking-y stuff he did back home in Missouri. I myself am Dutch but since am black I guess he didn't think I'd understand the nuanced complexity of viking culture, so with me he just talked talked video games.

As a viking mom, I can confirm this is how we give birth. The axe is the hard part but its all smooth sailing after that.

AMON AMARTH MENTIONED🗣🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥🔥

Rowing is a pretty common crowd move in Europe not only in the vining community. So pretty logical to do that in a song about rowing. ❤

As a historian who has written about Vikings, this whole trend is beyond strange. None of these guys talk about skaldic poetry and how complex it was, there were 3 distinct social classes, the women were seen as equals to the men and were know to attack if someone tried to harm their kids if her husband was on a voyage. The helmets didn’t have horns on them, they were good at agriculture and foraged/ate a lot of fruit, they also used a spear and sometimes a seax which was a big knife in battle, not just an axe. And the berserker thing was to scare the shit out of opponents and they often used alcohol and hallucinogenics to get to berserker mode. Plus nobody mentions holmgangs which were super strict duels for honor or to steal someone’s wife. Or the super cool nithing poles from Germanic paganism which were used for curses. But go dive into snow and talk about how Vikings raided to bring stuff home to families as if they were not advanced enough to hunt, forage, forge metal, build tons of different kinds of ships and what not. Also what nobody talks about was the fact that a Viking became the Saxon King of England (Harold II) they made very calculated political moves. It’s not that hard to read a book

A Viking Vampire is a really interesting concept because vampires can't cross running water. Imagine the moment they step on a boat they just immediately evaporate.

Amon Amarth has been around for a loooong time. I used to love them during my high school metal days, which was around 2006. I think they formed in the early 90s. So yeah, Viking metal has been around for way longer than you’d think lol. Metal has a lot of fun and pretty hilarious sub genres. 😂

Probably one of my favorite videos ive watched of yours, your channel is gold

Kurtis traumatized by the “surface leather” incident he really had to emphasize the “surface LEVEL”

I'm a Finn and when I heard "viking music" my instant thought was Nordic heavy metal. A lot of the bands and their fans take inspiration from vikings and Kalevala. Then when the Donkey Kong song started I was very confused because the vibe felt more like country than anything I would tie to vikings. So I of course felt very smart later in the video.

Amon Amarth has been playing viking themed metal for about 30 years. I've seen them a couple times and it's great goofy fun that fits well with the metal moshpit feeling.

Thank you for making my depression go away for some time!!

As someone who knows about viking history, this videos was really hard. Vikings WERE brutal and did colonize, but they weren’t just mindless savages. They were also often very educated and KNOWN for being uniquely clean for their time period. Some Europeans even mocked them for how often they bathed and how fastidiously they cared for their hair.

12:30 honestly the weird thing is that vikings were apparently really hygienic, there were some christian writers in England during the viking period who talked about vikings seducing too many English women because they combed their hair and took weekly baths

History scrawny got me

"Vikings just wanted land for their families." Bro they didn't go out and work for what they took. They just took it from others 💀 that's not the equivalent of "go- getting" and chasing dreams, it's essentially robbing and murdering. Which is still around today btw, you just don't wanna talk about that 😂

my ex-boyfriends mom was realllllllly into this stuff. She has a page where she faceswaps an extremely overeddited and filtered version of her onto photos and adds quotes. She unfortunately gets involved in the side of the viking and norse culture that is very racist. She also believes she is the reincarnation of the goddess Freya and gets visions from the gods.

As a Swedish speaking Nordic person, people around these parts who wear Mjolnir pendants and tattoos and are obsessed with "Viking culture" tend to have a pretty huge overlap with white nationalist groups. It's a huge red flag.

Got a guitar pick from Amon Amarth when they opened for Ghost back in September! Really cool band, rowing with everyone during that Oar song was actually really cool.

When you start defining “modern Viking” with “a company. . .”

Fun fact, while their standards of cleanliness are not the same as ours Vikings were reported to be very clean by the people they pillaged. There's some pretty funny writings by Englishmen complaining that their wives and daughters ran away with the Vikings. One writer, John of Wallingford, wrote "The Danes, thanks to their habit to comb their hair every day, to bathe every Saturday, to change their garments often, and set off their persons by many such frivolous devices. In this manner, they laid siege to the virtue of the married women, and persuaded the daughters even of the nobles to be their concubines." So yeah, Vikings were very clean comparatively. Also obligatory Viking is an occupation not a culture.

Knew a girl who said she was of viking descent then got mad at me for asking her if she meant she had ancestors from Scandinavia since you know, being a viking was an occupation.

Its a job imagine someone in thousands of years going "Im a REAL MODERN farmer🗿"

I feel like this whole craze especially those people in the video of him singing are dressed how I’d imagine a Skyrim cosplay to look like…

Funny you mentioned Bluetooth. The Bluetooth technology actually derives its name from a Viking King, King Harald “Bluetooth”, known for uniting Denmark and Norway. He had one dead, dark tooth, hence the name

You'll be surprised to know that vikings actually had excellent hygiene, and were literally Mr Steal Your Girl because of that

Amon amarth is fun to see at a concert. I’d say they are a good Viking metal band. I saw them at the 2023 tour ghost did and Amon amarth was the opening band.

Having been in the pit for and Amon Amarth show, Put Your Back into the Oar was genuinely so fun i had a great time but it was also funny seeing the faces of the people who had no idea what was happening

my dad is one of these dudes who's convinced he's a viking, and bro there's a large racist/neonazi community within this whole "modern viking culture" shit. i am half surinamese, so you can imagine how unfortunate it was to live with a white dad who's constantly discriminating against my culture and glorifying literal vikings. one of the things he's defended passionately on multiple occasions was how "sure they raped women, but NEVER their OWN women, only the women from villages they'd raid!" because yeah.... ig?? those women don't count as humans?? anyway, i finally escaped from that nutcase lol

So I attended a Ghost concert a few months back, and Amon Amarth actually was the opener for them. It was absolutely INSANE seeing and hearing those guys in person, especially since I’d never listened to their music beforehand. The energy was through the roof and I agree that every band should have a portion where we can just. Sit down for a bit. 😭

I will give Amon Amarth credit where it is due. They opened for Ghost on their tour this year and their set is so incredibly cool, and they have a great stage presence. I literally had no idea who they were when they open BUT they get an A in performing.

19:27 if kurtis made a actual irl town id move there

I love Kurtis’s view of historic people. No mirrors, no simple technology, no basic hygiene, probably eating raw meat and speaking in grunts. The liver king, basically.

As a norwegian, I can tell you that "viking" translates to bay-person. So if you live by a bay, congrats, you are a viking

sounds like the boy scout motto . bravery, honesty, honor, loyalty.

7:45 "sleep" by my chemical romance goes like "shut your eyes, kiss me goodbye, and sleeppppp" so ig you could just lie on the ground if you wanted to

As a Norwegian my favorite part about "modern vikings" is that 99% of them are southern American dudes that got 3% Scandinavian on their 23andme and decided to make it their entire personality. Very epic.

i’m a graduate student in viking and medieval norse studies, and i call these types “norweebs”. they subscribe to some sort of “norse exceptionalism” where they think that the norse invented raiding. people of all origins and places in the medieval world raided almost without exception. the unique thing about scandinavians was their amphibious approach. their reach over sea and speed in and out of target areas using rivers and coasts is why they stand out, but this “viking culture” does not exist, it was just a part-time job to get some wealth and status

Carti in a Kurtis conner video was not something i expected

Valhalla Calling is a song by Miracle of Sound, he deserves 100% credit.

imagine NOT being a viking kurt

I love "yo can figure out mirrors, and not Bluetooth". Without knowing it Kurtis you made a very layered joke. Bluetooth is named after the viking Harlald Bluetooth. So technically Harald's parents did figure out bluetooth, just a bit differently

The overplay of Barbie saying balls 💀

I’ve been to one of those Amon Amarth shows where everyone does the Viking boat. The whole boat thing and it was EPIC. Everyone was into it. The music is dark and heavy but everyone I’ve met is super nice. The metal community is the best in my opinion.

I’ve seen Amon Amarth-and while that is not the kind of music I like, those dudes are a joy to watch. They’re a Swedish metal band and they commit so hard to the Viking theme, there were guys sword fighting on stage, a huge inflatable dragon that they beat with a giant hammer, all sorts of backgrounds and set pieces… they really put on an awesome show.

Fun fact: the Bluetooth technology is named after the Danish Viking King, Harald Blåtand (died c. 985/986). Blåtand meaning blue tooth in Danish. The logo is a merging of his name in bind runes. So I mean, the Vikings did have some influence on the development of Bluetooth. Edit: I should have known the population of Kurtis Town would be the one to appreciate my facts. You all made my day.

I’ve just found your channel and I don’t know why, but this is the funniest video I’ve watched in forever 😂😂

"I'm not a history buff, I'm mystery Scrawny" that made me laugh way too hard you've done it again Kurtis

I love how Kurtis tried hard to avoid saying “surface leather” again but then messed up with cwonsquences 😂😂

Kurtis tried so hard not to say 'surface leather' again and we STILL got 'cwonsequences'

when you mentioned peytons name in my head i went oh yeah... he looks like he'd do that i only knew him from valhalla calling before.