Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings.   For today’s Femme Fatale Friday blog post, I will be discussing Olga from The Northman and how the film took inspiration from Shakespeare to craft a character based on Ophelia, but with a twist and a different ending!   I thought this would be an ideal follow-up to yesterday’s very long post on the film.   Given how much I adored this film and how much there is to say with such a densely packed narrative, I wanted to give Olga her own post.  Now, without further ado, let’s dig into the character of Olga of the Birch Forest!

Olga of the Birch Forest is the female lead character in The Northman, and she is a Rus (or what we would call today a Russian) woman whom Amleth meets on a slave ship.   She acts as a Witch and Priestess, who is obviously powerfully psychic from the moment she is introduced, when she and Amleth first meet.   Olga is able to discern immediately that Amleth is not a slave by birth, even though he has stowed away on a slave ship.   She can tell that he is of high birth and that he is a ‘Northman,’ with her being the one to refer to him by this titular term in the film.   

Olga is quite literally a slave in the film.   This is a very interesting mirror to Ophelia, who was completely under the control of her father and brother, and even Hamlet himself, in the play.   Ophelia is held back by the restrictions of her place in the world, always being pulled in directions by the men in her life, which is what led to her going mad and dying tragically.   While Olga is in a worse situation than Ophelia, on the face of it, given that she is an actual slave, Olga has something in the film that Ophelia does not.   Olga and Amleth find true love with one another, and they work together in his plots for vengeance!

When they arrive on Fjolnir’s land, Olga’s beauty is noticed immediately by Fjolnir.  In fact, it is her beauty that makes him decide to keep her as a slave.   Fjolnir even gave instructions to make sure her hair is kept long, clearly desiring to maintain her beauty.   I think that we can presume that she reminds him of Gudrun (Amleth’s mother, and Fjolnir’s wife after he killed his brother) when she was young, as both women certainly have beautiful, long hair.   

Of course, Olga does not take kindly to Fjolnir’s interest in her.   During the scene of Fjonir coming to the slave chambers with the intent of bedding Olga, he gets rejected.   Olga’s rejection of Fjolnir, made by putting her menstrual blood on him, is an amazing moment!   In that scene, Olga was told that she had the hair of a Valkyrie, on a Slav whore, by Fjolnir.   The scene is powerful, as even though she is a slave, Olga is willing to stand up for herself.   I get the impression that, at that point, she figured death was better than sleeping with Fjolnir, and therefore risked his wrath.   It shows that although, like Ophelia, Olga is at the mercy of men in her life, she refuses to let that get her down.   It is clear that she is happy to know that Fjolnir’s touch will not linger on her when she leaves the island, as he surely won’t try to bed her again!

As I stated above, Amleth and Olga begin a true romance throughout the story, with Olga willingly aiding him.   Olga proves time and again to be caring and very willing to help Amleth.   She listens to him and gets him to open up as to why he is impersonating a slave over time.   

In my interpretation, their first sexual encounter seemed to take place at Walpurgisnacht, the night before Beltane, celebrated in Germanic culture as a Fertility Festival.   This is likely when Olga got pregnant, as she is pregnant with twins by the end of the film!   This festival takes place right after the games, which makes it all the more likely to be an important celebration.   The festival included dancing in a circle around a tree, almost reminiscent of a Maypole, but at night, leading me to think of it even more so as a May celebration.   In addition to the fact that it is clearly a time of sexuality and fertility! 

It is after this consummation of their relationship that Olga discussed her connection with the Earth, the threads of fate that now bind the two, and offered her Earth Magick to aid Amleth.   Olga created a potion to drive some of Fjolnir’s men mad at one point to aid in Amleth’s vengeance.   It was also Olga who rode away with Amleth, after he was badly beaten.   At that point, Amleth thought her to be a literal Valkyrie, as he believed he had been dying.

It is when they are planning to escape that Olga admits that she had actively shielded her heart before meeting Amleth.   It is clear that Olga had willingly given her heart to Amleth, and unlike Ophelia, she had her love returned in kind.   However, she still got abandoned by the man she loved, but it was because when he realized she was pregnant, Amelth knew he had to fulfill his destiny to protect their children!   The scene of Olga begging Amleth not to go back and fight Fjolnir is truly heartbreaking, and I always cry when I see it.   However, she is strong enough to make the decision to sail to Orkney, as Amleth had wanted, and to raise her children amongst his kin.   She easily could have thrown herself overboard in despair, but she had children to live for!

As she prayed to sail to Orkney safely, she promised the Goddess that she would plant a Birch Grove.   It is clear that she will go on to be a Priestess, a Witch, and a Mother of a King, who tends to her the Sacred Earth Magick that aided Amleth throughout the film.   So, while Olga is heartbroken, her ending is hopeful!   Unlike Ophelia, Olga did not need to die to gain her freedom.   In fact, it was through falling in love with Amleth and willingly aiding him that she found freedom.   Olga’s freedom is going to a new land, not as a slave, and being a mother to her children.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading my thoughts on this incredible character.   What is your favorite thing about Olga of the Birch Forest?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga.   I found the picture on https://4kwallpapers.com/black-dark/anya-taylor-joy-olga-of-the-birch-forest-the-northman-2022-7853.html.              

LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries

Further Watching/Reading

• The Northman (2022)
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare