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The practice of giving thanks is deeply rooted in human history, with ancient civilizations and pagan traditions having their own variations of a Thanksgiving celebration. While the concept of giving thanks may differ across cultures and religious beliefs, the underlying act of expressing gratitude remains a common thread. In ancient Greece, the Greeks celebrated a festival known as Thesmophoria, dedicated to the goddess Demeter. This festival was a time for women to give thanks for the harvest and fertility. Similarly, the Romans celebrated a festival called Cerelia, in honor of the goddess Ceres, to show gratitude for the agricultural abundance. In Norse mythology, the Vikings had a harvest festival called Freyfaxi, dedicated to the god Freyr who was associated with fertility.

In Norse mythology, the Vikings had a harvest festival called Freyfaxi, dedicated to the god Freyr who was associated with fertility. This festival was an occasion to give thanks for a good harvest and seek blessings for the coming year. In Celtic culture, the holiday of Samhain marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter.

Why The Last Witch Hunter (2015) is a Good Fantasy Movie

Recently I watched The Last Witch Hunter (2015), it had all but escaped my notice at the time of release and I began watching it knowing very little other than I assumed there was a witch-hunter in it and that he was the last one.

The opening scene in my opinion, is one of the best in the entire movie. It begins with a vast landscape shot with a small band of desperate figures traversing a barren land. One of them holds a wooden cross. Finally, we see what they are journeying towards, a huge tree in the middle of a barren wasteland surrounded by mountains. Instantly I’m thinking of the nordic world tree, Yggdrasil. Later it is revealed that this is in fact something called a plague tree, still it is interesting they chose a huge tree as the symbolic antithesis to the christians here. The imagery works quite well, a small band of faithful standing against a symbol of an old world, an old way which threatens their existence.

They enter the tree and we learn they are here because of the Black Plague (~1350), interesting historically because there is an argument that the origins of witch hunting, so common in the 16th century, can be traced back to the Black Plague.

Here we have, in my view, an incredibly well executed scene that provides both suspense, and when the action begins, accurately conveys the chaos and strangeness of the foe they face. The portrayal of magic in this movie is simply remarkable, it is dark, gritty and chaotic; there is a real effort made to convey its ‘otherness’ to the audience throughout the movie. There are no Michael Bay explosions.

Our first interaction with magic is a man throwing an axe at a witch (which does absolutely nothing) upon his attempt to retrieve it, the handle grows thorns; he then recoils, spasms, falls to the floor and begins to excrete wasps. Thats some fucked up shit. Some creepy guy then jumps in from off-screen and claws through another guy’s breastplate which - as if the poor sod’s day couldn’t get any worse - then begins to buckle inwards crushing him to death in his own armour.

After Vin’s character kicks some butt and deals with some mind-trickery involving his dead daughter, he kills the witch queen and she curses him to live with his grief for eternity. After this we move 800 years forwards in time (the plague didn’t start in Europe until around 1350 and it came from the south not the north but meh they get the tone right, it’s not a documentary)

The gritty texture of the magic in this film has a firm foundation in the folk stories and legends from the time of the story’s genesis. Is skilfully done and massively gratifying to see for a history and fantasy nerd like myself. Later in the movie a child is lured into a side alley by a trail of gummy bears to find a gummy bear tree, so very Hansel and Gretel. It's these intelligent and incisive uses of folklore that give this movie something really special. It’s not done clumsily either, it’s subtle and that makes it all the more impressive. Unfortunately you have to actually be willing to see complexity in an action movie with Vin Diesel in it. Those who walk in expecting a Fast & Furious movie demanding minimal brain use will miss it. (Shocking for a supposed action movie I know)

Speaking of Vin, he’s really good in this. I mean really good, he’s bad ass and everything you’d expect from Vin Diesel in an action movie; but he is nuanced in this, convincing. The only real point of criticism I have is the lack of explanation of why his character is not more vengeful towards witches, having lost his family to them. I mean he goes from walking into the plague tree ready and wishing for death in his vengeance for his family to a reasonable and measured detective of witchcraft who isn’t over zealous in anyway, nor is he resentful to witches in general. But to be honest I can understand why there isn’t much of that, I mean this is a fantasy movie cut down to about an hour and a half of screen time. That’s impressive, the movie manages to convey a complex and nuanced tone and hint at a intricate world within while maintaining a succinct and frugal nature. There is no piece of this movie that is wasted, it all comes together like a good detective story. Every minor character is utilised, either in the motivation for other more integral characters or in service to the plot. That’s hard to do when your looking at a fantasy story, and in my view The Last Witch Hunter manages to do this without sacrificing the grandiosity of fantasy storytelling.

The Film really tackles the immortality thing well too, this is before Deadpool remember, they focus on pain, mental trickery and deception as obstacles for the protagonist. Vin is more of a detective in this than anything else to be honest, and the interesting thing is that it’s not solely his immortality that pulls him through these situations in the plot, nor is it action hero-y abilities. It’s his intelligence.

There is really a lot to talk about here in this movie, for instance where is God in all this. Kaulder is supposedly this divine weapon but the source of his immortality is a Pagan one not a Christian one and as such in the end it is revealed to come with a price other than the traditional “haha you wish for death and can’t have it”. Which speaks volumes about how utterly the film masters the elements it utilises.

For what one would think is a christian vs paganism focused film, simply looking at the broad strokes of the setting (Church vs witches), God is really significantly passive. Which is actually really cool, the whole divine warrior shtick is so boring and it adds a mood of authenticity to the protagonist. This again is a testament to how cognisant the filmmakers are of the ground on which they walk. They are hyper-aware of the essential dichotomy between Christianity and Paganism. Paganism is active in the world, the gods do things, magic is viscerally powerful whereas Christianity is based in blind faith and the soul and the struggle of man on earth. Kaulder isn’t some god-like divine warrior, perfect in every way, he’s a man who lost everything and is forced to live in that state for eternity.

By the way this film has 16% on rotten tomatoes, really?

Am I wrong about this movie? Finding a really well executed, succinct and stylistically thoughtful fantasy movie is a rarity and as far as I see it The Last Witch Hunter is a great example of how to do fantasy on the big screen. Despite this the film seems to get shunned by critics (who expect a F&F action flick) and I barely heard of it when it was first released. Would love to hear from people who think it is bad and why they think so, I can't see it.

After Vin’s character kicks some butt and deals with some mind-trickery involving his dead daughter, he kills the witch queen and she curses him to live with his grief for eternity. After this we move 800 years forwards in time (the plague didn’t start in Europe until around 1350 and it came from the south not the north but meh they get the tone right, it’s not a documentary)

It was a time to offer prayers and thanks to the gods for a bountiful harvest and seek their protection during the harsh winter months. While these pagan celebrations were not identical to the modern-day Thanksgiving practiced in North America, they share a commonality of expressing gratitude for the blessings of the harvest and giving thanks to the gods or goddesses associated with fertility and abundance. The modern-day Thanksgiving as celebrated in America traces its roots back to the 1621 harvest feast between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag Native Americans. This event was a celebration of the successful harvest and a way for the pilgrims to show their gratitude for the help and support they received from the Native Americans. In conclusion, pagan traditions and ancient civilizations did practice variations of Thanksgiving celebrations. Whether it was the Greeks, Romans, Vikings, Celts, or Native Americans, the act of expressing gratitude and giving thanks for the harvest and abundance was essential to their cultures. These traditions and practices have played a role in shaping the concept of Thanksgiving as we know it today..

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