Eaters of the Dead

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Animals die, friends die, and I shall die, but one thing never dies, and that is the reputation we leave behind at our death.” Los animales mueren, los amigos mueren, y yo moriré, pero una cosa nunca muere, y es la reputación que dejamos detrás al morir"

The dead are consumed by insects and bacteria, by flame, by animals and, in some cases, by people. Even the word ‘sarcophagus’, which describes a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, literally means ‘flesh-eater’ (sarx plus phagos). When we place someone in a sarcophagus, the implication is that the casket itself is eating the dead body. The end result of death is to be eaten by, well, something. Ibn Fadlan therefore unwillingly joins the Northmen on their long, circuitous trip northward by river. They portage between rivers, avoiding nameless threats in certain forests and riding as swiftly as possible through others, until they reach the Baltic and sail to Denmark. Finding Buliwyf’s home destroyed—again, by a threat the Northmen refuse to name or explain except to say that it comes with “the mists”—they journey on to Rothgar’s kingdom. Son las crónicas del arabe ibn-Fadlan . Quien fue enviado a la región nórdica (similar a las crónicas de Marco Polo por Asia-Siguiendo la ruta de la seda). se vera involucrado en una misión junto a guerreros Escandinavos, que se enfrentaran a una tribu primitiva, La cual los nativos consideran "Demonios".Michael Crichton is one of our most gifted popular novelists. A true son of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. . . . A master of plausible and frightening scenarios. . . . He is a connoisseur of catastrophe."-- Los Angeles Times In the afterword, Crichton gives a few comments on the book's origin. A good friend of Crichton's was giving a lecture on the "Bores of Literature". Included in his lecture was an argument on Beowulf and why it was simply uninteresting. Crichton opined that the story was not a bore but was, in fact, a very interesting work. The argument escalated until Crichton stated that he would prove to him that the story could be interesting if presented in the correct way. [1] [2] It stars Antonio Banderas as ibn Fadlan, as well as Diane Venora and Omar Sharif. It was directed by John McTiernan; Crichton directed some uncredited reshoots. The film was produced by McTiernan, Crichton, and Ned Dowd, with Andrew G. Vajna, James Biggam and Ethan Dubrow as executive producers. Lost World/ Medieval Prehistory: Like in the movie, the limits of Wendol territory are marked by posts adorned by bear skulls, but the book says that they are much larger than common bear skulls, implying that they are cave bears. It is never confirmed if cave bears are also still alive in the area, but the Wendol being Neanderthals already fits both.

The film The 13th Warrior was, as I'm sure you are aware, absolutely superb. A classic Viking film and one of those to take on a desert island. As long as the desert island had electricity, plugs, and you had a BluRay player and a tv...anyway, it is absolutely essential viewing for anyone considering themselves anything of a Viking aficionado. I knew it was based on a book by Michael Crichton called Eaters of the Dead, and thought nothing much more, other than I had to read that book one day. Which I have now done. So then, imagine my surprise when - as clearly the last person on the planet to find out, or realise - the book on which the film is based, actually mixes in Ibn Fadlan's manuscript with the legendary poem Beowulf! Well, bugger me sideways! So when I found this third printing June 1976 HC novel in a bargainbin it was a no-brainer to buying and reading it. Skoal! Yes, I, too, love this movie. There are the anachronisms, the abandoned plot thread of the scheming son, which just vanishes, and the mostly abandoned thread of the love interest. Usually this would drive me crazy but… I love this anyway. So many grand brave heroic moments. We may not even know the names of most of the Viking characters, even the witty, charming one that’s probably my second favorite, but we get to know and like them and root for them. The angel of death has spoken,” my interpreter said. “The party of Buliwyf must be thirteen, and of these one must be no Northman, and so you shall be the thirteenth.”

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Michael Crichton is one of our most gifted popular novelists. A true son of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.... A master of plausible and frightening scenarios.... He is a connoisseur of catastrophe.--- Los Angeles Times Human consumption of human flesh has fascinated people in all places and in every age, including the present. This book explores this persistent obsession by surveying the history and imaginative treatment of cannibalistic beings such as ogres, ghouls, the wendigo, and the aswang. Discussions of creatures that typically exist outside of or on the fringes of human society provide a foundation for considering human cannibals and notorious historical and contemporary incidents of cannibalism, including survival cannibalism and the atrocities serial killers commit. Each chapter summarizes the evolution of cannibals in art, literature, and film, amplifying the idea that cannibalism continues to have a visceral appeal for audiences. This study provides a thorough analysis of cannibalism fables and facts, but the early chapters on fantastic cannibalistic beings are particularly absorbing as are the introductory discussions of the age-old fear of being eaten and Tibetan and Zoroastrian corpse disposal practices. Generously illustrated, this book is clearly written and suitable for nonspecialists and scholarly audiences alike. It features excellent notes, and the production is tasteful, despite the unsavory topic. Highly recommended. ' But the characters come off flatter than they should under the pen of William Wisher ( “Terminator 2”) and Warren Lewis. Buliwyf (Vladimir Kulich, later The Beast on “Angel”) is the blond-haired square-jawed hero based on Beowulf, and there’s nothing to him beyond that. He lets his actions speak louder than his words, but that’s not a high bar. Dennis Storhoi almost achieves a Gary Oldman-esque quality as Herger the Joyous, the Viking who is closest to Ahmed. One of the most beautiful women ever to grace the silver screen, Hedy Lamarr also designed a secret weapon against Nazi Germany. A behind the scenes feature runs about 30 minutes and covers a lot of ground, including Boll’s involvement in the dis

En aquel momento uno de ellos lanzó un grito, invocando a Odín, un alarido de súplica, repetido muchas veces con el mismo fervor, y vi al monstruo con mis propios ojos" Readers turn to Michael Crichton s novels for entertainment with relentless drive. -- San Antonio Express-News" Do not let my earlier paragraph fool you for this is no cultural study. Right from the onset of the tale, it is abundantly clear that this is a light read in the vein of a historic action thriller. Crichton relies on the travels of a man Ibn-Fadlan into the lands of the Vikings and mixes into it the soul of Beowulf. What comes out is a small but swift story of sword fights and a hero-quest. I quite liked the rather crazy idea that there might be still a small tribe of feral and cannibalistic band of primitives in the last outposts of humanity who can wreak havoc in the psyches of a yet evolving culture. The mist monsters that Crichton conjures up here were to me equal parts Grendel and humanity's fear of the unknown. There is also the fact that the narrator Ibn-Fadlan is a very prosaic and pragmatic narrator and at times his exploits read more like a trade agreement than a dramatic rendition of a bloody conflict. Such a dry-as-dust style in fact works to the benefit of the story and was quite enjoyable. Still, Crichton reveals present-day biases by showing how the Vikings’ responses to things make perfect sense to them, even if they are bizarre to Ibn Fadlan (and us). For example, death is a big deal – daylight horror like “Midsommar” comes to mind with the description of a king’s funeral – yet no one grieves. Death is a natural part of life to them. Perilous journey Bears Are Bad News: The Wendol intentionally invoke this as part of their disguise, weapons and style of fighting.So much for the plot. If you’re just reading Eaters of the Dead for the story, you should finish it satisfied—it’s a real rip-snorting adventure tale, a classic quest full of exotic locales, strange customs, plenty of action, and a splash of horror.

The film combines the use of some seriously good practical special effects with CGI to add in some of the elements that the budget wouldn’t stretch to. Directors Ristori and Boni have wisely chosen to keep the CGI to a minimum and only use it where it can enhance the scenes. As a result, you’re never left disappointed and, until the making-of feature, you won’t be aware of what is CG and what isn’t. My reaction, per Crichton’s later comments above, wasn’t so much irritable as bewildered—and slightly disturbed. What was this? A novel? A translation of a medieval manuscript? Are all these footnoted manuscripts real? Is any of it real? It couldn’t be real—I knew enough of the story already to know that—but if not then what was this thing? Bewilderment Crichton, Michael. "A Factual Note on Eaters of the Dead" in Eaters of the Dead. New York: Harper, 2006. 245–52. ISBN 9780061782633.

The Reveal: Ahmad gets a clear view of a Wendol without his bear skin and describes his features in detail. It's indisputably a Neanderthal. The book's epilogue includes various academic authorities arguing over whether Ahmad's description of the Wendol can be trusted. The Wendol are naked under their bear skins, though they are more hairy than humans. The Wendol mother wears living snakes instead of bear skins and is "so old she had lost all the characters of her sex." McTiernan almost achieves “Eaters of the Dead’s” otherworldly quality with the approach of the “glow worm” – actually lines of Wendol horsemen brandishing torches. We can almost put ourselves in the Vikings’ boots and imagine it’s truly a massive, mythical glow worm. The reason is the universal fear of being eaten. Indeed, some psychologists believe that our fear of the dark is less to do with the unknown and more to do with our memory of being prey. The things that lurk in the dark are what scare us, primarily because we might be eaten. While being bitten by a venomous snake is horrible, we react so much more strongly to someone being bitten (and perhaps partly devoured) by a shark. In both cases an animal’s bite causes an injury, but the idea of our bodies being consumed strikes us as so much worse. As Val Plumwood, who survived being bitten and chewed by a crocodile, observes, ‘If ordinary death is a horror, death in the jaws of a crocodile is the ultimate horror.’ I think there is a source to be found in that experience for many man-eating myths, not to mention the more recent anthropological theory that our species survived because we ate the Neanderthals. They were our closest genetic relatives and we considered them a food source. One of our most gifted popular novelists... Crichton's fecund imagination and considerable storytelling talent have brought pleasure to millions. A master."--"Los Angeles Times"