Vicke Viking

Vicke Viking is a series of children's book by Swedish author Runer Jonsson.

Plot overview

The books' main character is Vicke (Vicky in English), son of Halvar, chief of the Viking village of Flake. Unlike his village fellows - including most of the other boys of his age - Vickie is blessed with a sharp and imaginative mind which helps him and his fellow Vikings out of many tight situations, including rival Viking lord Sven the Terrible.

Characters

• Vickie, the series' titular character, a boy of about 10 years of age. He is very timid and has a special fear of wolves, but his brains eventually help him solve any problem he's confronted with.
• Halvar, Vickie's father and chief of Flake. A rather braggish character who prefers to solve problems with brawns, but who has since learned to listen to and value Vickie's ideas.
• Tjure and Snorre, two Vikings in Halvar's crew who constantly quarrel about anything despite (or maybe because of) the fact that they really care deeply about each other.
• Urobe, the oldest Viking in Halvar's crew. While he is rather old and not as imaginative as Vickie, he is quite knowledgeable in sagas and legend lore, and he is respected as a fair judge and mediator.
• Faxe is the biggest and strongest, but also the slowest, of Flake's Vikings who enjoys a close big-brother relationship with Vickie.
• Gorm, a rather over-excited fellow among the Flake Vikings who occupies the position of the lookout on Halvar's ship.
• Ulme, a rather neat person who considers himself a poetic soul and even carries a harp to play on joyous occasions.
• Ylva, Vickie's mother, who is far more supportive of her son's intelligence than his father is.
• Ylvie, a young girl in Flake who is Vickie's neighbour and most ardent supporter. In the German movie adaptation this adoration is portrayed as a childhood crush.
• Gilby, the strongest boy in Flake and Vickie's prime rival in his age, though intellectually he is clearly Vickie's inferior.
• Sven the Terrible, a vicious Viking pirate who does not hesitate robbing even his fellow Vikings of their hard-earned plunder.
• Pokka, Sven's devious second-in-command.

Books

• Vicke Viking (1963)
• Vicke Viking lurar de rödögda (1965)
• Vicke Viking Hederskung (1966)
• Vicke Viking i Vinland (1967)
• Vicke Viking hos burduserna (1969)
• Vicke Viking störtar tyrannerna (1975)
• Vicke tar över (1994)

Other media

• There is a Japanese animated cartoon based on the story called Vicky the Viking, which enjoyed a tremendrous success in the European children TV networks.
• A German movie adaptation of the stories by Michael Herbig, titled Vicky the Viking was produced in 2008 and saw public release in the summer of 2009.^[1]

References