The Ritual's NorsePlay elements.
Given the current darkening of seasons, I've decided to finally examine what mythical Nordic horrors lie within the cinematic forest of Netflix's film The Ritual (2017 CE, based on Adam Nevill's 2011 CE novel). Like other offerings in the folk horror subgenre, The Ritual also crosspollinates this with the tropes of a monster film , and given its Norse Lore context, it's definitely a NorsePlay from its following elements: 1. The Runes. Mysteriously carved far too high up on tree trunks out in the middle of a nowhere wilderness forest adjacent to Sweden 's 270-mile King's Trail (Kungsleden), are various runes , mainly Othala (ᛟ), Algiz (ᛉ), and Nauthiz (ᚾ), two also visible as hanging ornaments/ amulet s in the cabin. There's alot in the Norse Lore pinned upon the runes, the most compelling being Odin's Rúnatal where the Allfather lists the magical uses for them. 2. Human Sacrifice. The hikers lose one of their party during the night, waking to fin...