So the victory of England over Norway reminds me of one of my favorite lines of poetry ever from the Battle of Maldon. The Battle of Maldon occurred in 991 between the Saxon Byrhtnoth and the Norse Viking Raider, Olaf Tryggvason. At the River Blackwater, this was 991 which makes it about 200 years after the raid of Lindisfarne and almost 100 years before the Battle of Stamford Bridge 1066, which places it right in the middle of the Viking Age. So Norway invades Essex, and there is Byrhtnoth. The exchange words: Olaf says give me tribute and Byrhtnoth says I will repay you with spears and swords hard. They scream across the river and during a low tide the Vikings start to cross the Blackwater across the land bridge and they're picked off by the Saxons so much so that eventually Olaf tries to play on Byrhtnoth's honor. He says let us cross and then we can fight fairly like men. Byrhtnoth, in an act of chivalry and verge of naivete, lets him cross and this becomes a costly battle which takes his life. This display of being needlessly noble, as it is said in the poem, is known as ofermod, over-boldness, recklessness, a hubris, a pride. It costs Byrhtnoth his life, along with the life of his men, and ultimately the Saxons end up paying tribute to Vikings. So the poem itself follows two characters, Totta and Tidwald, who are scavenging through the corpses of the aftermath of the battle, and they've got some great lines. So this is a fragment that was preserved and really fleshed out by Tolkien, who translates it for us in English. The best part comes from Tordhelm, imagines what Byrhtnoth's last words would have been, and he says he chants, heart shall be bolder, harder be purpose, more proud the spirit as our power lessens, mine shall not falter nor mood waver, though doom shall come, and dark conquer. Or, Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenra, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað. Will shall be the stouter, heart the bolder, spirit the greater, as our strength lessens. And so think about it, an extra time, England resolves, and gets the victory over Norway, it's the Battle of Maldon. It's costly, it's long, it's a game of inches, it's a war of attrition, but they come out on top. The heart, the spirit, the will become stronger as the body becomes weaker, whenever I'm taking my lumps. I imagine myself in mortal combat, I'm Scorpion, I'm Kung Lao, I'm Noob, Saibot. Poop, poop, poop, taking combos, but the whole time my X-ray meter is filling up, and I'm just thinking, you've got no idea what you're doing. Poop, poop, poop, poop, poop, taking my lumps, X-ray meter is filling up. As my strength lessens, my will becomes greater, and of course, tot, tot, tot, tot, boom. That's what I do, X-ray move. And so yes, have courage, stay in the fight, never give up. You're not losing, you're just filling your X-ray meter.
Miller pairs the 991 Battle of Maldon — Byrhtnoth's Saxons vs. Olaf Tryggvason's Norsemen at the Blackwater — with Mortal Kombat's X-Ray meter to make a point about costly courage. He recounts the parley across the river ("give tribute" / "repay with spears"), the low-tide causeway where Vikings are picked off, and Olaf's appeal to honor ("let us cross and fight fairly like men"). Byrhtnoth's chivalric ofermod — over-boldness, pride, needless nobility — lets them cross and costs his life, his men's lives, and ultimately forces tribute anyway. The poem, a fragment fleshed out by Tolkien (who follows retainers Totta and Tidwald scavenging corpses), gives Byrhtnoth imagined last words via Tordhelm: Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenra, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað — "Heart shall be bolder, harder be purpose, more proud the spirit as our power lessens." England later does win over Norway, but through long attrition, game of inches. Miller personalizes the verse: when taking lumps in life/mortal kombat as Scorpion/Kung Lao/Noob Saibot — poop, poop, poop, eating combos — his X-Ray meter fills; as strength lessens, will grows, until tot, tot, tot, boom — X-Ray. Thesis: don't quit when you're losing; you're not losing, you're charging the move that only losers get to throw.