North: No, Valkyrie does not wear braces

Along with The Northman, Robert Eggers usually delivers an ultra-documentary film about the Viking Age. But some viewers were surprised that Valkyrie, who appeared in the film, wore some kind of bracket or support wire on his teeth. Anachronism? A gross mistake? The historian makes sense of the case!

This historian is Neil Price, an archaeologist who specializes in the Viking period and a consultant on the feature film The Northman:

We know that some Vikings replaced their teeth. They put a horizontal line along the front teeth. Sometimes one, sometimes several.

Once or twice they looked like chevrons, but most of the time they were just horizontal lines.

However, these lines made of resin should not appear on a Viking woman. The expert explains:

“He is found only on men, but the decision (which belongs to Robert, I did not participate) to put Valkyrie’s teeth on him is associated with another sex, maybe, or another world. He is a creature of war. It’s his job, he serves the god of war.

The figure of Valkyrie is indeed a small warrior deity from Scandinavian mythology who comes to collect the dead warriors to take them to Valhalla, the palace of the dead of Odin.

The Northman is still in theaters, starring Alexander Skarsgდიrd, Ania Taylor-Joy and Nicole Kidman.