Read Happily Dead Ever After at Fan Fiction.net or EricNorthman.net. If you do not want to be spoiled regarding the story, then stop here. There are a number of spoilers below.
In 2008, I began writing 1,000-year-old Viking, vampire Eric Northman's back story before Charlaine Harris published book 9 in her Southern Vampire Mysteries, "Dead and Gone." I was fascinated by the depth of his character and his many layers in books 1-8 and thought, who was he? Why doesn't he like shifters and weres? Why does he show disdain for witches? What is the story behind his using Leif as his alias? Why doesn't he seek to rule in a higher capacity than sheriff in the vampire hierarchy? Why is he so captivated by telepathic barmaid, Sookie Stackhouse?
Sookie believes that he is Swedish like the actor (Alexander Skarsgård) who portrays him on HBO's loose adaptation of the novels, True Blood. Most of the Vikings were from Norway and Denmark in the Viking age, so after doing some research, I discovered that the history of Eiríkr Haraldsson, heir of King Harald Fairhair (sometimes referred to as Harald Finehair) fit Eric Northman perfectly. Harald was the first king of Norway, and his son Eiríkr was the second king of Norway.
Eiríkr was reported to have killed his many male siblings and earned the nickname Eiríkr Blóðøx (Eric Bloodaxe). He was also twice king of the Viking city of York in Northumberland in the 10th century. Eiríkr's brother Haakon succeeded him as king of Norway, and one of Eiríkr's sons became the fourth king of Norway. "According to the Heimskringla and Egils saga, Eric spent much of his childhood in fosterage with the hersir Thórir son of Hróald. Of his adolescent years, a remarkable picture is painted in Heimskringla, which recounts that Eric, aged twelve and seemingly possessed of prodigious valour and strength, embarked on a career of international piracy."
"The figure which Eric became in the Norse sagas is a heady mix of history, folklore and political propaganda. He is usually portrayed as a larger-than-life Viking hero, whose powerful and violent performances bring him many short-term successes, but ultimately make him flawed and unpopular as a ruler and statesman. The Heimskringla describes Eric as 'a large and handsome man, strong and of great prowess, a great and victorious warrior'."
Eiríkr's consort Gunnhildr, according to the "earliest saga Historia Norwegiæ, is described as the daughter of Gorm inn Gamli ('the Old'), king of Denmark (and hence a sister of Harald Bluetooth)."
[Historical references are from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Bloodaxe]
Although Gunnhildr was reportedly a witch--not a nice one either, I did not wish to alienate practicing witches of today, so for the purposes of the story, she is a sorceress.
Not wanting to completely immerse the Southern Vampire Mysteries' (SVM) readers directly into the Viking age, I decided to tell the story in alternate chapters from the present to the past. Odd numbered chapters are in the familiar SVM realm told in first person by Sookie Stackhouse. Even numbered chapters tell Eric's story from his birth in third person. "Happily Dead Ever After" is also a time travel story in which Sookie is sent back to meet 10th century Eirik. For my sanity, I am spelling Eric's 10th century name as Eirik and his consort's name as Gunnhild, dropping the r's at the end. Eric's sister Ingegjerd is called Inge by her family in the story, even though Inge is currently considered a masculine name in Scandinavia.
To help readers picture the Viking-age characters, here are those I picture as the players so far:
Alexander Skarsgård - Eirik Haraldsson (Eric Bloodaxe, a.k.a Eric Northman)
Top to bottom along the right-hand side of the photo above:
Stellan Skarsgård - Harald Fairhair (King Harald I of Norway, a.k.a Harald Finehair)
Brendan Gleeson as Olaf Haraldsson Geirstadalf, king of Vingulmark, later also Vestfold
Dennis Storhøi as Thørir Hróaldsson
Kristanna Løken as Ingegjerd Haraldsdotter
Gustaf Skarsgård as Per Thørirsson (adult)
Karl Urban as Leif Thørirsson (adult)
Alexander Skarsgård as a very young Eirik
Alicia Witt as Gunnhild, Mother of kings
Charlotte Salt as Hanne (Charlotte's video clip from The Tudors)
I will post more about the Sookie time travel arc at a later date when we get closer to that part of the story.
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