Besties

There’s a show I watch sometimes called Vikings. The main character Ragnar Lothbrok is based off of the “almost certainly real” legendary Viking Ragnar Lodbrok and a few other historical figures. Ragnar kind of reminds me of Colonel Aureliano Buendía. In the show, Ragnar’s obssessed with this prophecy that says he’s destined to have five sons. Before Ragnar’s death, it isn’t entirely clear what each of his sons is supposed to do; they each have a part to play in the prophecy and they each are an extension of Ragnar and his destiny. Likewise, the Col.’s little golden fishes are an extension of the Col. and his artsy side; he gives each of his sons a golden fish, and his sons, like Ragnar’s sons, each kind of represent a few of the ways in which the Col.’s impacted the world. Eventually the Col. is revolted because all of these battles he’s fighting in are pointless and so are the little golden fishes he makes and his disillusionment with the state of things separates the Col. from the rest of the world; Ragnar is humiliated after he’s defeated by his brother in Paris so he disappears for 10 years, separating himself from his sons and everyone he knows, and becomes addicted to opium. Ragnar and the Col., however different their circumstances may be, are both glorified men of war who retreat into a world of solitude but whereas the Col. dies in solitude, Ragnar dies after being thrown into a pit of snakes...