During the late 8th to 11th century, warriors known as the Vikings conquered a number of territories throughout Europe.
They are popularly known for their helmets with horns (although this is inaccurate), and their big ships.
In a lot of societies, Vikings have been symbols of strength, invincibility, and pure testosterone.
This is the reason why a number of organizations, groups, and individuals have used Norse elements in their activities.
Vikings in Sports One of the most popular teams in the world that use Vikings for their name and mascot are the Minnesota Vikings.
They are a member of the north division of the NFL.
They have won division titles 16 times in their franchise history and have won a single NFL championship.
Fans would sport Helga hats, which have horns and blonde braids.
Vikings in Music The market of music has become so segmented that there already are so many sub-genres, some of which are quite unknown.
No longer can an artist or band say they play "rock", because there are so many divisions of rock such as punk rock, psychedelic rock, classic rock, funk rock, and jazz rock.
This is also true when it comes to metal.
There are sub-genres such as speed metal, alternative metal, black metal, metal core, doom metal, math metal, and even Viking metal.
Yes you heard it right! Viking metal is a genre that is characterized by the Viking age, Norse Mythology, and Viking fashion.
The music itself uses a lot of "gallop" pace, and a significant role by the keyboard.
The band Bathory were the ones that pioneered this genre of metal.
These Swedish metal heads were the inspiration to another notable Viking metal band called Enslaved.
Vikings in Movies There have been a lot of movies that have either included norse elements, or used it as their main theme.
One example of this is the movie pathfinder.
It is a story of a young norse lad that was abandoned by his Viking group in the Americas.
In the movie, they claim that America was actually first conquered by Vikings (although this is pretty much historically inaccurate).
The young boy grew up with Native Americans and is part of the prophecy.
He would vanquish the Vikings (called dragon men by the Native Americans) and lead the natives to salvation.
The lead role is played by Karl Urban, who also appeared in two films of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
If you feel an affinity towards the Vikings then go ahead and be one.
Whether you want to portray them with historical accuracy, or the way they are in pop culture, then go ahead.
They truly are symbols are might so if you feel like you are quite the conqueror, Norse culture is the way to go.
It's a free country and you can go around wearing a Viking gear in malls and what not.
If you are hesitant just jump in and try it out, you never know how therapeutic and liberating it would feel to do so.