Could Walter White have been a Viking?

Terri explores what "Breaking Bad" can tell us about the Viking Age

One question that has puzzled scholars for a long time is what sparked the Viking Age? Why did Scandinavian men start sailing away from their homelands in the 8th century in order to raid and attack much of the rest of Europe? One of those scholars was archaeologist James Barrett who posed the question “What caused the Viking Age?” in 2008 and concluded that one of the more likely hypotheses was that in 8th-century Scandinavia there existed a “youth bulge” of unmarried males who needed to set sail and raid in order to raise bride-price wealth. In 2016 Ben Raffield, Neil Price, and Mark Collard expanded on this idea and argued that polygyny and social stratification were the causes of the imbalanced ratio favoring males which sent those surplus young men looking for bride wealth and/or female captives to suffice as concubines where a legitimate wife could not be bought.

While compelling, these theories seem a bit too narrow in focus. We know legal marriage was important in Norse society primarily for legitimizing children and inheritance, but was obtaining a woman really so important that it could drive an escalation into large-scale raiding activity within a century? Both polygyny as a cultural practice and social stratification were already in place in Scandinavia long before the start of the Viking Age, so even though they may have been contributing factors there had to be something more that caused the raiding fire to explode in the mid-to-late 8th century.

Another common conception of the earliest Viking raids, particularly for raids in the West, is that they were somewhat unsophisticated affairs carried out by farmers who were simply fulfilling a desire for adventure, and that their success was largely due to better-than-average seafaring abilities and a doggedly determined spirit. But was it really that simple, or are we underestimating the scope of their enterprise? Being mindful that, as with all historical phenomena, an explanation for what kicked off the Viking Age will never be reducible to just one cause, it can be argued there were more overarching cultural and economic factors in Scandinavia than simply an excess of young males in need of women to marry or farmers who were bored. This article will do just that through arguing for what I’m calling the “Walter White Theory.”

Let me explain.

In the television series Breaking Bad, the main character Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher who initially embarks on low-level engagement in the world of illicit drug production and sale (methamphetamine), using his knowledge of the chemical process for a good cause: he had to raise money for his family’s future security because he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But over the course of six seasons, Walter ends up plunging ever deeper into the dark world of cartels and drug trafficking, ultimately becoming a monster who is consumed by greed and power. In the end his response for why he did it was simple: “I did it for me. I liked it, I was good at it, and I was alive.” His continued involvement in a life of danger, violence, and crime was not because he had to; he ultimately did it because he wanted to and he could.

And therein lies an important distinction which describes where the Norse were situated not only at the beginning but as the Viking Age progressed. Catalysts such as a thirst for adventure, better ships, or the want of a bride may certainly have played roles as important push factors in much the same way that Walter’s cancer drove him toward the illicit drug trade. But ultimately it was the result of the critical intersection between cultural values, economics, and the rise of a powerful leisure class in Late Iron-Age Scandinavia that were the most important factors for causing and defining the Viking Age.

Click here to read the rest of Terri’s interesting article