Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in A.D. 922 is a 1976 novel by Michael Crichton. Crichton explains in an appendix that the book was based on two sources. The first three chapters are a retelling of Ibn Fadlan's personal account of his actual story journey northwards and his experiences with and observations of the Rus', the early Russian people. The remainder is based upon the story of Beowulf. Image File history File links Eaters_of_the_Dead. ... Michael Crichton (born October 23, 1942, pronounced [1]) is an American author, film producer, film director, and television producer. ... In political geography and international politics a country is a geographical entity, a territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Smaug in his lair: an illustration for the fantasy The Hobbit Fantasy is a genre of art that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. ... A historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author. ... Look up adventure in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Jonathan Cape has been since 1987 an imprint of Random House. ... The barcode of an ISBN . ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... Michael Crichton (born October 23, 1942, pronounced [1]) is an American author, film producer, film director, and television producer. ... Ahmad ibn-al-Abbas ibn Rashid ibn-Hammad ibn-Fadlan (Aḥmad ʿibn alʿAbbās ʿibn Rasẖīd ʿibn ḥammād ʿibn Fadlān أحمد ابن العبا&#1587... Rus’ (????, ) was a medieval East Slavic nation, which, according to the most popular (but by no means only) theory, may have taken its name from a ruling warrior class, possibly with Scandinavian roots. ... The first page of Beowulf Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem composed in the later Early Middle Ages (in the 8th, 9th or 10th century). ...

Plot

The novel plays in the 10th century. The Caliph of Baghdad المقتدر بالله sends his ambassador, Ahmad ibn Fadlan Arabic احمد بن فضلان, to the king of the Volga Bulgars. He never arrives but is instead captured by a group of Vikings. This group is sent on a hero's quest to the north. Ahmad ibn Fadlan is taken along, as the thirteenth member of their group, to bring good luck. There he battles with the 'mist-monsters', a relict group of Neanderthals. As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... Abbasid provinces during the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid Abbasid (Arabic: العبّاسيّون AbbāsÄ«yÅ«n) was the dynastic name generally given to the caliphs of Baghdad, the second of the two great Sunni dynasties of the Islamic empire, that overthrew the Umayyad caliphs. ... Ahmad ibn al-Abbās ibn RashÄ«d ibn Hammad ibn Fadlan (أحمد ابن العباس ابن رشيد ابن حماد ابن فضلان) was a 10th century Arab writer and traveler who wrote an account of his travels as a member of an embassy of the Caliph of Baghdad to the king of the Volga Bulgars, the Kitāb ilā Malik... The Volga Bulgars were a culture in southern modern Russia along the Volga River from approximately 900 to 1300 AD. They were related to the original Bulgars of Old Great Bulgaria which had existed in approximately the same region around 600 to 700. ... The name Viking is a loan from the native Scandinavian term for the Norse seafaring warriors who raided the coasts of Scandinavia, Europe and the British Isles from the late 8th century to the 11th century, the period of European history referred to as the Viking Age. ... The term relict is used to refer to surviving remnants of natural phenomena. ... Binomial name Homo neanderthalensis King, 1864 The Neanderthal or Neandertal was a species of genus Homo (Homo neanderthalensis) that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia from about 230,000 to 29,000 years ago (in the Middle Palaeolithic, early Stone Age). ...

Eaters of the Dead is narrated as a scientific commentary on an old manuscript. A sense of authenticity is supported by occasional explanatory footnotes with references to a mixture of factual and fictitious sources.

Sources & Inspiration

In an afterword in the novel Crichton gives a few comments on its origin. A good friend of Crichton's was giving a lecture on the 'Bores of Literature.' Included in his lecture was an argument on Beowulf and why it was simply uninteresting. Crichton stated his views that the story was not a bore and was, in fact, a very interesting work. The argument escalated until Crichton stated that he would prove to him that the story could be interesting if presented in the correct way.

In a seemingly offhand reference, H.P.Lovecraft's Necronomicon is quoted in the in-character bibliography. Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction, noted for combining these three genres within single narratives. ... A prop designed to look like the Necronomicon. ...

Film or TV adaptations

The novel was adapted into film as The 13th Warrior, directed by John McTiernan. Crichton himself did some uncredited directing for a reshoot at the request of McTiernan who was working on another film when reshoots were needed. Ibn Fadlan was played by Antonio Banderas. Crichton writes that he was "quite pleased" with the film, though it earned mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office, earning about $62 million worldwide; the film's budget was over $80 million. The 13th Warrior DVD cover The 13th Warrior is a 1999 action film based on Michael Crichtons novel Eaters of the Dead, directed by John McTiernan and an uncredited Crichton, and starring Antonio Banderas as Ahmad ibn Fadlan and Vladimir Kulich as Buliwyf (Beowulf). ... John McTiernan (born January 8, 1951) is a movie director, and a M.F.A. graduate of the AFI Conservatory, most notable for his action movies. ... José Antonio Domínguez Banderas (born 10 August 1960), better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor and singer who has starred in several high-profile Hollywood films including Ballistic: Ecks vs. ... The term box office can refer to either: A place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue The amount of business a particular production, such as a movie or theatre show, does. ...

Differences between film and novel

In the book, during the first fight Ibn Fadlan is nearly helpless against the monsters and must depend entirely on the Vikings to slay them. Later on Ibn Fadlan becomes convinced that death is only a moment away and decides to become a fighter. In the movie Ibn Fadlan kills several Wendol and is shown the equal of the Vikings in combat by his use of a scimitar, also it is his idea that the Wendol are sleeping in caves. The Tengol (leader of the dwarves) from the book is replaced by an old mad woman in the film (unknown whether a dwarf or normal human). In the movie Ibn Fadlan travels with a friend when he meets the Vikings; in the book that friend was sick during a hard winter and is left behind. In the movie, Buliwyf doesn't acknowledge Ibn Fadlan as much of a friend; in the book they were so close that Ibn Fadlan was one of the few that got the honor to be in the ceremony of Buliwyf's funeral. Scimitar, XVII Century, from India. ...

Another big difference is the fact that in the book, the Wendol (mist monsters) actually seem to be another human spieces (Ibn Fadlan makes a few accurate descriptions on how their faces and bodies differ from those of "normal" humans) while in the movie there are no direct references by the characters of the Wendol being Neanderthals other than the Wendol themselves having Neanderthal features and simply wearing bear skins and heads. Later in the book one finds a suggestion that the Wendol are actually the last tribe of the Neanderthal sub-species. Binomial name †Homo neanderthalensis King, 1864 Neanderthal range Synonyms Palaeoanthropus neanderthalensis The Neanderthal (IPA pronunciation: ), (Homo neanderthalensis) or Neandertal was a species of the Homo genus that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia. ...

References

• Crichton, Michael. "A Factual Note on Eaters of the Dead" in Eaters of the Dead. New York: The Ballantine Publishing Company, 1992. ISBN 0-345-35461-3.