One fo the shows I was most excited to see when Bentkey was announced was the show Runes. From the trailer, it seemed like the type of show I would watch. It had magic, it had Norse mythology, the animation was pretty original and looked good…what’s not to love?
Well, I watched it and finished all the episodes that are out so far on Bentkey and though I don’t think I’ve finished the entire season yet, I feel like I have a good enough grasp on the show to give a review of it. If anything changes when the season ends, I’ll give my thoughts on it in a new, updated review, but here are my thoughts on it so far.
#1: William the Conqueror
Though a definitive time is never given in the actual show, the synopsis does confirm that the main character, Hugo (which is a psuedonym to hide is true identity), is actually a 12-year-old William of Normandy, who would later be known as William the Conqueror. While the character is fun in the show, when you consider who William the Conqueror was in real-world history, this raises some questions as to why they chose him to be the main character in a kids’ T.V. show. Another name for William the Conqueror was William the Bastard. While his father was the Duke of Normandy (Robert I) (not the King of England as the synopsis says), his mother was a tanner’s daughter who later married Herluin de Conteville, making him an illegitamate child. Though he was Robert’s only son, this techinically means that he should never have been the Duke of Normandy, much less the King of England. It was only thanks to his father that Norman magnates ever agreed to swear him fealty as his heir.
Hugo being William the Conqueror also puts the time period around the early 1040’s A.D., which means that while much of what is portrayed in the show is inaccurate, some of it is based in truth. In the first episode of Runes, we see that Hugo’s gaurdian, Osbern, is killed, which lines up with real life, though Osbern was killed in William’s chamber while he slept, not while running away from enemy soldiers. We also see that Hugo is sent to live with his “aunt”, Cecile, and two “cousins”, Alice and Hilda, and has to pretend to be a peasant. This lines up with what some people have reported about William of Normandy having to live undercover as a peasant in real life. It also lines up with what historians’ speculations about him living with three of his cousins during his years of hiding.
#2: Wace
Wace is easily the cutest depiction of a goblin that I have ever seen in modern T.V. and reminds me a lot of one of my own characters that I’ve written. He is easily my favorite character in the entire show.
#3: Norse Mythology
Just by looking at the title of the show, you know that it’s about Norse mythology, which means that it unfortunately centers around – you guessed it – stopping Loki.
I know. I’m just as surprised as you are.
While I can forgive this more than I’ve been able to forgive other Norse-inspired media (looking at you Magnus Chase) because it’s a good story and each episode has it’s own interesting subplot that ties into the main plot, there are just so many aspects of the show that have me going, “Huh?” Much of the mythology of the show is either completely made up for the sake of the plot or is totally butchered.
For example, the whole thing with Loki is that he’s been locked up in a prison by Rollo and that the 300 years of his imprisonment is almost up, which means that he’ll be able to escape and destroy Normandy. While this works for the show, in the actual mythology, Loki would’ve already been imprisoned by the gods long before Rollo was ever born. While he would escape at some point, it would take longer than 300 years. It would take the onset of Ragnarok to free him, where the world would be destroyed and Loki would be killed fighting Heimdal.
This also means that Fenrir being alive and well and roaming through Normandy would spell bigger problems for Hugo than just, “Oh no, another thing to protect Rollo’s stones from!” Fenrir is one of the main harbingers of Ragnarok and it’s his escape that ultimately brings it about. When he manages to escape, he and the World-Serpent, Jormungandr, destroy the earth almost instantly, which is when the gods decide to do something. There would be no way for Hugo to have survived that, especially since Fenrir is so powerful that he was able to eat Odin, the head god of Norse mythology.
Fenrir’s sister, Hel, being in the show as a sort of main villian also adds more problems to the story. While Hel is the daughter of Loki, she isn’t necessarily evil. In fact, she’s more of a neutral character who seems pretty content ruling the underworld and is even helpful to the gods at times.
I’ll finish this section off with a note on the horse Sleipnir, who arrives in episode 11. In that episode, Sleipnir is built up as being this terrifying demon horse that Hugo will have to fight to retrieve the third of Rollo’s stones. However, this is also inaccurate, as Sleipnir was never a demon in Norse mythology. While he was a son of Loki (don’t ask how that happened), he was also Odin’s eight-legged steed who was described as “the best horse among gods and men.”
Basically, though Runes is a pretty entertaining show with good characters and dynamics, the creators needed to make more of an effort to research their history and Norse mythology before making the show.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
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