Vikings has always done their best to keep up with the historical accuracy. There could have been a major geographical mistake in Vikings if Gustaf Skarsgård hadn’t corrected it. Created by Michael Hirst, Vikings debuted in 2013. It was originally going to be a miniseries but because of the high demand, it was immediately renewed for a sophomore season. Vikings initially followed to adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok to the west, along with his long time friends. He became an earl later a King and probably the most famous Viking warrior.
As the time passed and Ragnar met his fate in “All His Angels”, the story switched to the side of Ragnar’s sons and their personal issues which split the brothers. The Vikings has several characters the fans love. There are also some characters that the fans love to hate. Such is a character of Jarl Borg. Jarl Borg contributed to split the brotherhood between Ragnar and Rollo, which cost some precious lives to Ragnar’s side. Later, Jarl Borg raided Kattegat but was dethroned by Ragnar and company. He created so much problems for the shows primary Protagonist but he was also close to create a major geographical problem in the show.
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Jarl Borg was the leader of Götaland, one of the three lands of Sweden. Svealand and Norrland being the rest. When Michael Hirst first came with the idea of Jarl Borg’s character, he was a swedish leader and would’ve stayed that way if Gustaf Skarsgård hadn’t corrected a major historical and geographical mistake in his character. Sweden didn’t exist in the time Vikings is set in.
Michael Hirst changed Jarl Borg to be a Geatish leader to avoid the errors in the show. Though, in the show it reads “Götaland, Sweden” which helps the fans to recognize where it’d be located in the modern map. According to the sources, either before or during the 11th century, Götaland and Svealand merged and made the country of Sweden. Though, the series is set way before that. Jarl Borg being Swedish would’ve been a mistake that most of the people might not figure out. Those living in Scandinavia or anyone with its historical knowledge could’ve pointed out the mistake and bashed the show. Thanks to Gustaf Skarsgård for correcting this mistake in Vikings and saving this great show from getting mocked.
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Well, they already made that mistake when naming the home village/town of Ragnar “Kattegatt”
Kattegatt is the sea between Jylland and the swedish west-coast.