#LOOK AT WOLFSTAN

[skelelephant]

“Come, you shall have absolution.”

Hiiiiii come closer let me tell you all about Black Death (2010). You wanna watch this movie about the plague soooooo bad you wanna consume this media

[jackhkeynes]

Viking Raids

extract in translation from 1997 academic textbook Del Christianizamento dell'Isole Norroveste (On the Christianisation of the Northwestern Isles), written by historian of Middle-Age religion Dijaca Rofotto.

Portan ða veleu nos l'annað aval de Wolfstan II de Norðumbr comprendr, nos deyeu sgart mettr a dou siecr amont, ag bon preu gazou viking sur y rimmot d'Albion e d'Irðon. But to understand the final years of Wolfstan II of Northumber, we must look two centuries earlier, to the very first Viking raids on the shores of Albion and Ireland.

Y racont d'eç gazou comportant sur bourg n'Istr Boral—e sur monastir cos particuler—stan quippe denuð notoir ubic prell'hour yon l'eç spanoirn vars y vest e Halgrive fo piglað ne stað de 824. The tales of similar raids on Borland towns—and on monasteries in particular—would surely have been common knowledge by the time they spread westward and Halgrive was sacked in the summer of 824.

Nentamen, y reyaum anglesc aun s'apprestað a l'eç gazou (e cos final eç irrouçon) souvar par gra inequal jagerrrem. Nonetheless, the English kingdoms were prepared for these raids (and eventually, invasions) to vastly different degrees.

Compareð y lot de Lincon marchesc con ig de Yorvic norðumbran: y primer cou jamay, e certan denoy y bourg starchið cos impilaðessem ne Marclont tras y dezein plusour candon l'aye veraçter benoç com y tarm de regn dannesc. Compare the fates of Markish Lincon to Northumbren Yorwick: the former never fell, and in fact became the most heavily-fortified town in Markland for the several decades it served as the de facto border of Danish rule.

[skelelephant]

hello Black Death/John Lynch nation. Today I offer you. Screenshots from the delete scenes from Black Death

[skelelephant]

hello can anybody hear me hello. for the love of god hello

[skelelephant]

i cant remember if you talked about this before but i think youve mentioned it before?? can you discuss your thoughts on griff's head scar and his relationship with wolfstan i cant seem to remember where you discussed it. definitely not

HI WOW THANK YOU TOTALLY ANONYMOUS USER FOR THIS QUESTION

I’m SO glad you asked I have so many thoughts on this. SPOILERS FOR BLACK DEATH (2010) UNDER THE CUT. PLEASE (please) WATCH THE MOVIE THEN COME BACK

The cool thing about Black Death is that it gives you juuuuuuust enough hints about the connections between its characters but never actually lays anything out so you’re left to piece together things based on context clues alone (did you know Osmund and Averil were childhood friends? Because until I watched the behind the scenes content on the DVD I Didn’t Either)

But ANYWAY. We’re here to talk about Griff and Wolfstan

(One of my favourite shots of my pretty princess <3 also you can see the scar really well here)

Their relationship is one that’s so fascinating to me (obviously) but is also so very brief within the movie as a whole. Griff’s total screen time is like. Maybe 10 minutes if you’re being generous with shots where he’s in the background. It’s Fucking Dire Out Here.

But first things first. We’re introduced to Griff and Wolfstan as a pair. Dalywag, Mold, and Ivo all get their own separate introductory shots, (and obviously we’ve met Swire and Ulrich by this point). But Wolfstan and Griff are continually referred to as a pair. In the first scene we meet them and Wolfstan jokes “God has no men left, He sends us a boy” he’s directing that joke at Griff. He’s looking at Griff when he says it. Already we’re lead to believe these men are familiar with each other

“Erin how does this relate to Griff’s scar?” I hear you asking.

WELL.

The first real juicy piece of character information we’re given about these two comes from Swire, when he tells Osmund how he spent time in the King’s army with Wolfstan and Griff. This information is delivered along with a shot of the two of them bringing up the rear of their company, watching over their shoulders for any approaching threats.

So. We’ve now learned that these two were soldiers together. And now, after the war, they find themselves travelling as hired muscle under the command of a holy man. (I’ve made a post about how I interpret the relationship between the Company and Ulrich, so I won’t get into that here. But you can read it if you want.)

So. Where does that leave Griff’s scar?

Well it’s never actually addressed at all in canon, it’s not even acknowledged. It’s just a character detail that has no bearing on the story at all.

So. This is where we get into my own interpretation and headcanon.

I think Griff and Wolfstan were close even back in the army— pointedly never intimate but skirting the line CLOSE— and Griff sustained a critical head injury during one of the battles. A wound like that would certainly threaten a man’s life, and if he managed to survive it he would likely never hold a sword again. So Griff is dead weight, and this is a war zone. And my THEORY IS: in order to make sure Griff was able to recover from his injury, Wolfstan deserted the army and took Griff with him. Forfeiting any sort of glory or honour from the battles they’d been a part of, but at least they’d be together.

Wolfstan is the reason Griff survived and in the years that followed he helped Griff relearn the motor function he’d lost, including how to wield a blade. (Griff barely draws his blade in the movie so I think he’s still not as confident as he once was, but he can fight again!) Also during that time where Griff was in recovery the two of them finally broke down and got together. So by the time the events of the movie come around they’re well involved with each other.

So you can IMAGINE how this adds heartbreak to the scene where Griff finally succumbs to the plague and Wolfstan has to be the one to kill him. After fighting so hard to keep Griff alive, in the end it was just borrowed time, and Wolfstan has to end his life all the same. (I made a post rambling about this specific scene as well! Smile)

You know that Margaret Mead quote that gets tossed around a lot about how “the first sign of civilization was a healed femur”? I think Griff’s scar is a sign that someone once cared enough to save him. And I think that someone was Wolfstan.

Anyway! I need to go collapse into a heap about them again. Dear fucking god. Please talk to me more about this movie PLEASE. I could talk about it for ages.

[skelelephant]

Sitting on my bathroom floor thinking about how Griff was moving to embrace Wolfstan when he died. Thinking about how Wolfstan stabbed Griff with the misericorde while Griff was still speaking because he knew if he hesitated to listen for even a moment he’d lose his nerve.

Thinking about how Wolfstan grips the back of Griff’s gambeson as he’s stabbing him. How he holds onto Griff so tight as Griff is dying.

Thinking about how Griff told Wolfstan “I’m glad it’s you” because dying in the embrace of someone he loves is more than he could have ever wished for. How his suffering was undone by a lover a friend.

Thinking about how Wolfstan didn’t let go even as the life left Griff’s body. How he let Griff’s weight pull him to the ground despite the fact that he was undoubtedly heavier and stronger. Thinking about if it weren’t for the other men looking to Wolfstan for leadership he probably would have laid there with Griff until death took him too. How Wolfstan looked Ulrich dead in the eye and ordered Griff to be buried, because he wasn’t going to leave his lover his friend in that burned out village amongst all the felled trees.

Hello griffstan nation can you HEAR ME. Hello for the love of GOD. HELLO.

[skelelephant]

No cause I’m not done talking about this scene actually. I was gonna put this in the tags but fuck it this is my own post

Griff knows he’s sick here. He knows he’s going to die. And during this WHOLE conversation about the terrible things they did during the war with France, where Wolfstan blames the those terrible actions on the emergence of the plague itself, they keep cutting back to Griff looking like THAT. meanwhile Wolfstan was none the wiser at this point. None of them know Griff is sick and Wolfstan doesn’t know this is the last night he’ll have with Griff.

And!!! Griff asks Osmund where the Church thinks the plague comes from, and Osmund tells him that he doesn’t believe it’s a punishment from God despite that being a popular story pushed by other religious leaders. We know Griff is a God-fearing man, so maybe this is a comfort. But clearly not comfort enough because it doesn’t change the fact that Wolfstan’s still believes it came from the decay they left behind in France, which Griff also took part in.

Anyway whether by God’s hand or the King’s hand or his own, Griff knows he’s doomed and that he won’t be seeing this journey through to the end

Man who knows he’s doomed and feels sooooo so guilty about it