Queen Gudrún

Gudrún wears strings of beads, which would have been made mostly of glass, silver, gold, and/or amber (among other precious stones and metals). They are seen hanging from her two brooches, which is a style commonly seen in Viking Age women’s graves (Ewing 2006, 60). Her headdress appears to be made of similar materials.

Gudrún’s fur is a clear symbol of wealth and power. Linda Muir confirms it’s a lynx pelt in a collage she provided Vogue Magazine. The lynx pelt could symbolize Gudrún’s inner desire to kill her husband: she lies in wait, stalking her prey - waiting for the right moment to strike. The fur combined with her blood red dress makes her look quite fearsome.

Queen Gudrún wears one of the most intricate and accessorized costumes in the movie. Her layered jewelry and luxurious furs display her status as a wealthy matriarch. Costume designer Linda Muir describes Gudrún as “literally a trophy wife for King Aurvandil” (Muir 2022b).

Gudrún wears two large (presumably silver) brooches, one on either side of her chest, directly under her braids. These are very specific to Viking Age women’s fashion, and are meant to hold up a suspended dress. Based on archaeological evidence, brooches seem to be worn by the upper-class as only 50% of women’s burials in Birka contain them. Historian Thor Ewing theorizes that the brooches may have been the marking of a free woman, as enslaved women would not have typically worn any kind of suspended dresses that required brooches (Ewing 2006, 39).