Greetings.
I'm currently writing a story inspired by the High Middle Ages and the main character is a viking. I want to know if there's anything that was considered cruel during raids or war in general according to their beliefs and morality; something that could make my character feel regret or could leave him traumatized.
Unfortunately, I can't find any information about it and all I've learned is that vikings just didn't have a concept of evilness (the way most modern people understand it) besides "Niðingr", which was more like a way to shame the cowards. As far as I understand, they didn't perceive murdering as an act of cruelty.
Now, I know that humans are all unique and complex, so every individual can have their own boundaries, but I was wondering if there was something like a "war crime" in norse culture and religion.
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your creative project, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists and the like, based on past experience: some people working on creative projects have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.
For more general advice about doing research to inform a creative project, please check out our Monday Methods post on the subject.