Abstract
This thesis explores the modern reception of Old Norse literary culture in video games, a sphere of global popular culture which is heretofore unexplored in the field of Old Norse studies. This topic is relevant in light of the recent mass (re)popularization of Viking history and themes in the popular entertainment industry, exemplified not only by games but also by film and television. By focusing on the genre of medieval fantasy broadly, and how this genre is deployed in the medium of electronic role-playing games (RPGs), this recent rise in popularity is charted in the gaming world by reviewing four important titles made in the past fifteen years. This work represents the first stage of a larger project aimed at exploring the presence and transformation of Old Norse culture in broader popular culture, across media, and what these trends represent from social, political, and perhaps ecological viewpoints. As such, the thesis accomplishes two things: 1) It creates a new methodological and theoretical framework for the analysis of Old Norse elements in popular entertainment media (here, specifically video games) by drawing upon a range of other established academic fields, ranging from French structuralism to narratology, psychology of immersion, memory and reception studies, and more. 2) It demonstrates the application of this framework to the four video games mentioned previously, illustrating in relief the increasing popularity of Viking subjects in popular culture in the sphere of electronic games, and also making some observations about other entertainment media which demonstrate a preoccupation with the medieval North.