The story is told by several different voices: the editor/narrator, the translators of the script, and the original author, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who also relates stories told by others. The narration makes several references to a possible change or mistranslation of the original story by later copiers. The narrator describes the story as a composite of extant commentaries and translations of the original storyteller's manuscript. Ibn Fadlan is then allowed to continue on his journey.Įaters of the Dead is narrated as a scientific commentary on an old manuscript.

At Hurot, they encounter the Wendol in battle for a final time, defeating them. Buliwyf, however, is mortally wounded in the attempt. They infiltrate the sea caves, assassinate the head of the Wendol tribe, and return to Hurot Hall. After two devastating battles, Ibn Fadlan and the remaining Northmen decide to attack the Wendol village, which is located in a network of sea caves. They travel to Hurot Hall, the home of King Rothgar, to defend it from the 'mist-monsters', or 'wendol', a tribe of vicious savages (suggested by the narrator to have been possibly relict Neanderthals) who go to battle wearing bearskins. Ahmad ibn Fadlan never arrives, as he is conscripted by a group of Vikings, led by their chieftain Buliwyf, to take part in a hero's quest to the north he is taken along as the 13th member of their group to comply with a soothsayer's requirement for success. The Caliph of Baghdad, Al-Muqtadir, sends his ambassador, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, on a mission to assist the king of the Volga Bulgars. The first three chapters are a retelling of Ahmad ibn Fadlan's personal account of his actual journey north and his experiences with and observations of Varangians. The story is about a 10th-century Muslim Arab who travels with a group of Vikings to their settlement.Ĭrichton explains in an appendix that the book was based on two sources. Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in AD 922 (later republished as The 13th Warrior to correspond with the film adaptation of the novel) is a 1976 novel by Michael Crichton, the fourth novel under his own name and his 14th overall.

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