Trivia for the movie 13th Warrior
Memorable Movie Quotes
- Oracle – Old Woman: Wars are won in the will. Perhaps you’ve been fighting in the wrong field?
Trivia
The historic Ahmed Ibn Fadlan traveled as an emissary to the land of the Volga Bulgars to convert them to Islam. On his way he encountered Turks in Central Asia and Russian and Varangians (Volga Vikings). He returned in 923, and no record after this date refers to him.
The Vikings’ disparate armor can be explained by the Norse tradition of taking the armor of a vanquished foe. It was also a display of status in Norse society; the nicer the armor the higher the position. Halga appears to have a Roman gladiator’s helmet.
Graeme Revell had composed a complete original score when the movie was slated to be released as “Eaters of the Dead” in 1998. After the film was deemed unwatchable during test screenings, Michael Crichton took over the project, rejected Revell’s original score, and brought in Jerry Goldsmith to rescore the film, renamed “The 13th Warrior.”
Dennis Storhøi almost drowned during the underwater section. Antonio Banderas jumped into the water and pulled him out of the water and saved his life.
In accordance with the book, John McTiernan’s version of the Wendol’s mother was an old woman, played by veteran actress Susan Willis. After Michael Crichton took over and did the re-shoots, he decided that brutally killing off an old lady did not reflect very well on the heroes. Crichton decided to make her younger, sleeker, and tougher. In the final release, Wendol’s mother is played by Kristen Cloke (uncredited), but the final credits still list Susan Willis.
The film uses modern Norwegian and the occasional Swedish as a stand-in for Old Norse, which was the language of the Vikings. These Norsemen the real Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan encountered were the Rus (Swedish-Slavic Vikings) and would have spoken East Norse, the dialect of Old Norse that later became Swedish and Danish. Norwegian Vikings would have spoken West Norse, a dialect that gave rise to Norwegian, Faroese and Icelandic.
One of the Viking ships used in the movie is now in the Norwegian pavilion in the EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World, where it is used as a playground for kids. Disney owns Touchstone Pictures.
Adapting “Beowulf” for his novel and then for this movie, Michael Crichton changed some of the original names for ones that sounded similar: Beowulf is here named Buliwyf, Hygelac becomes Hyglak, the Grendel transformed into the Wendol, etc.
Some of the Wendols’ throwing weapons are based on the Roman Plumbata, which replaced the Pilum (throwing spear) in early 4th century in Legionary Armies. Other longer throwing weapons shown are based on the medieval war dart or fletched javelin.
Was filmed two years before its eventual release date, which had been pushed back several times.
When entering the hut, the camera pans over what is supposedly the mangled, gored (and beheaded) victims of the Wendol. Curiously, the scene has been visibly darkened and details blacked out digitally. This was most likely done to make sure that the movie stays within the R-Rating.
Loosely based on the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, “Beowulf”, whose author is unknown.
Originally titled ‘Eaters of the Dead’, the film went through several re-edits after test audiences did not react well to the initial cut. After re-shooting several key scenes with Michael Crichton taking over as director, the title was changed to ‘The 13th Warrior’. The budget, which was originally around $85 million, reportedly soared to more than $110-115 million before principal photography wrapped. With all of the re-shoots and promotional expenses, the total cost of the film was a rumored $160 million.
Goofs
At one point, Ahmed grinds a straight broad sword into a curved scimitar. First, such an alteration to the blade could not be done with a grindstone. Such a task would require heating the blade and pounding it into the proper shape. The grindstone would only be used to polish and sharpen the blade. Also, this kind of alteration without heat treating and tempering the blade would compromise the integrity of the steel, resulting in a weapon too fragile for use. Finally, it appears as though it takes Ahmed, a man untrained in smithing, only a few hours to make these modifications on the grindstone. In reality, it would likely take a trained swordsmith days, if not weeks, to complete such a job.
The nylon webbing strap holding the Wendol leader’s bearskin cloak and headdress in place are visible during the final attack by the Wendol.
They enemy lives like bears in caves. Where did they get all those horses and how did they learn to ride them?
Box Office Info In USA
Budget $160,000,000
Gross $32,698,899