Hem till Midgård ("Home to

Midgard In Germanic cosmology, Midgard (an anglicised form of Old Norse ; Old English , Old Saxon , Old High German , and Gothic ''Midjun-gards''; "middle yard", "middle enclosure") is the name for Earth (equivalent in meaning to the Greek term , "inhab ...

") is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

sit-com A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

which ran on

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network **TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station *South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...

in Sweden during 2003. The name is a pun of the classic Swedish TV-series ''

Hem till byn ''Hem till byn'' (English: ''Home to the village''), written by Bengt Bratt (born 1937), is Sweden's longest-running TV series and one of its most popular. It is a realistic drama about people in a rural Swedish village and their daily life and ...

'' as well as ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, ...

'' which is known as ''Hem till gården'' (''Home to the farm'') in Sweden. The series was created and written by Per Simonsson, Fredde Granberg, Johan Petersson and Stefan Roos. The later three also (among others) starred in the show. In total 2 seasons of 12 episodes each were produced before the show was canceled.

Plot

The setting is 992 in Sweden, in a suburb of

Birka Birka (''Birca'' in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö (lit. "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of the European continent and ...

called Midgård, which is the last village in Sweden where people still believe in the old

Norse gods Norse is a demonym for Norsemen, a medieval North Germanic ethnolinguistic group ancestral to modern Scandinavians, defined as speakers of Old Norse from about the 9th to the 13th centuries. Norse may also refer to: Culture and religion * Nors ...

. Meanwhile, the real chieftain Snorre den Store (Snorre the Great, but with the alternative meaning "big

willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and sc ...

") is away plundering in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

. His youngest son Lill-Snorre (Little-Snorre or "little

") is in charge of the village, and forced to guard his father's

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

thrall A thrall ( non, þræll, is, þræll, fo, trælur, no, trell, træl, da, træl, sv, träl) was a slave or serf in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The corresponding term in Old English was . The status of slave (, ) contrasts wi ...

Cassandra, who Lill-Snorre also falls in love with. The episodes usually feature Lill-Snorre and his not so great men attempting a new scheme to get money (which they are notoriously short on), sometimes by Plundering and sometimes by more honest means, or Lill-Snorre trying to impress Cassandra and outshine Rövhalt.

Style

The series are often considered childish as the episodes contain a lot of

Toilet humor Toilet humour, or potty or scatological humour (compare scatology), is a type of off-colour humour dealing with defecation, diarrhea, constipation, urination and flatulence, and to a lesser extent vomiting and other bodily functions. It sees sub ...

and vulgar language as well as plenty of face punches, groin kicks and eye pokes, often with an added sound effect. The swear words used are often with references to the Old Norse gods, for example "

Baldur Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was k ...

's balls", "

Freya In Norse paganism, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chario ...

's boob" and "

Ymir In Norse mythology, Ymir (, ), also called Aurgelmir, Brimir, or Bláinn, is the ancestor of all jötnar. Ymir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, in the ''Prose Edda'', writ ...

's giant ass".

Main characters

Lill-Snorre

Portrayed by Fredde Granberg. His name means "Little-

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and sc ...

". The opposite of the stereotypical

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

; cannot stand the sea or see blood without vomiting violently. He is laughed at by his friends for the small genitals implied by his name. Although he is more intelligent than others, he is shy and cowardly, and cannot face an argument with Cassandra without stuttering, sweating and sometimes even crying. He is afraid to say openly that he and Cassandra are a couple, since his father would probably kill him if he found out. He has an ability to think up quick comebacks whenever Halvdan insults or questions him, often followed by a groin-kick.

Cassandra

Portrayed by Sara Sommerfeld. A beautiful slave from Byzantium (although her former boyfriend appeared to be

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

). She is Lill-Snorre's girlfriend, and although she often assaults Lill-Snorre when he does something stupid or appears (mostly by mistake) with another woman and bullies him about his penis size, they are in love. When Lill-Snorre tries to argue with her, he shutters and barely succeeds in saying what he wants. She is very spoiled and must always have what she wants.

Tyke Mörbult

Portrayed by Marko Lehtosalo. His name means "Tyke Tender-Pounder" or "Tyke Mauler" (''mörbulta'' = "to maul", from ''mör'' = "tender" and ''bulta'' = "to pound"). Raised in Midgård, although from his accent, he appears to be

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

. The resident berserker, he seems to have a learning disability as he is often drooling and does not use words such as "you" or "I" (basically speaking in

Third person Third person, or third-person, may refer to: * Third person (grammar), a point of view (in English, ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', and ''they'') ** Illeism, the act of referring to oneself in the third person * Third-person narrative, a perspective in p ...

). Calling him dumb or insulting Lill-Snorre (or annoying Tyke in general) is not a good idea as he may hit his adversary with his club. Lill-Snorre does not look down upon him as he does with Runar or Halvdan, as he knows that hitting Tyke will result in fighting back, unlike Halvdan and Runar who only take their punishment. Instead Lill-Snorre favours him as his best ally, and because of this, Tyke is very loyal to Lill-Snorre.

Runar Tvålfager

Portrayed by Johan Petersson. His name means "Runar Pretty-Boy". Blond, tall and strong, he is known as the "sex-machine from Mälaren", and prone to jumping into the sack with anything female (including the Queen of Sweden and Lill-Snorre's mother) but he is utterly unintelligent. Lill-Snorre often beats him when he asks stupid questions. Runar is the member of the group who ruins Lill-Snorre's situations the most.

Halvdan Glappkäft

Portrayed by Stefan Roos. His name means "Halvdan Blabbermouth". He is the considered the most annoying member of the group, and his laugh sounds like a goat. He is the smartest member, but also the least respected, Lill-Snorre neglects to refer him as a member of the crew, and calls him Gunilla. Halvdan competes with Runar for his rank as sex-machine, and Lill-Snorre's rank as a chief because he is weak as a chief. However, Halvdan is the only member of the group that Lill-Snorre can feel superior to, and is most often on the receiving end of his eye-pokes and groin-kicks. Tyke also beats him up on a regular basis.

Gammelman

Portrayed by Rolf Skoglund. Gammelman (name meaning "old man") is the (somewhat senile) elder of the Midgard village, he is an Aesir

Gothi Gothi or (plural , fem. ; Old Norse: ) was a position of political and social prominence in the Icelandic Commonwealth. The term originally had a religious significance, referring to a pagan leader responsible for a religious structure and c ...

aged around 100. He is sexually kinky and often refers to the gods' sexual parts when he is talking about them. He uses unrecommended methods to heal people, such as pouring hot water in the anus of the king when he has toothache. He often intends to sacrifice the monk Peter Nicolaus.

Rövhalt

Played by Per Morberg. A rich trader from Birka and an old "comrade" of Lill-Snorre's father, he often tries to charm Cassandra. He received his name (which means "arse-limp") because Snorre den Store cut his left buttock off when fighting over Cassandra in Byzantium. He often makes fun of Lill-Snorre, but Lill-Snorre does not dare retaliate because of Rövhalt's position. On the other hand, Gammelman, who is not afraid of anything, has called him "the man who takes half price for ham'" (due to the Swedish word "skinka" meaning both "ham" and "buttock" in English).

Peter Nicolaus the monk

Played by Mikael Riesebeck. Nicolaus was sent to Midgard by the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

as a punishment for an incident with the Pope's sisters. He is picked on and threatened by Gammelman that he will be made a sacrificial victim. Cassandra is apparently his only defense, because she wants a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

teacher. He is called "Petter-Niklas" (which is a nickname for "Penis") by Lill-Snorre and the other Vikings. The Vikings force him to make mead for them regularly.

Recurring characters

Snorre den Store

Played by Anders Ahlbom. Lill-Snorre's father, and portrayed as being extremely masculine, and the exact opposite of Lill-Snorre. He is famous for have set fire to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

single-handedly, and raped half of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He has set to sea with his seven strongest sons, leaving Lill-Snorre to guard Cassandra in Midgård.

External links

Hem till Midgård
at

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hem Till Midgard 2003 Swedish television series debuts 2003 Swedish television series endings Television series set in the 10th century Television shows set in Sweden Swedish television sitcoms 2000s Swedish television series Television series set in the Viking Age