"Some might ask: who is this Viking? And what made him throw a dwarf off a cliff?"

The Saga of Biorn is an animated short created by students of Danish animation school The Animation Workshop.

The plot centres around Biorn, an aged Death Seeker who's looking for one final battle to send him into the afterlife and join the gods in Valhalla... but seems destined to be thwarted in his ambition.

Link to the video can be found here.

The Saga of Biorn contains examples of:

• Accidental Hero: It's pretty clear Biorn doesn't give a rat's ass about the nuns, he just wants to die fighting the troll eating them. That doesn't stop the nuns giving him a Christian burial for driving it off.
• A Good Way to Die: What Biorn is looking for; dying in battle will secure his entry to Valhalla, while dying of old age will condemn him to Helheim.
• All Myths Are True: Biorn's approach to the afterlife represents various religions, including the gates of Valhalla, a Chinese pagoda, an Egyptian gateway, Fluffy Cloud Heaven, and others.
• All Trolls Are Different: The so-called troll is blue, lanky, and taller than a church, so it looks more like an ice jotunn.
• Absurdly Sharp Blade: The Great Axe Warrior's polearm. He twirls it over his head, and it slices through every single tree around him. The trees then fall on him and crush him flat.
• Arc Symbol: The Gates of Valhalla are marked with a symbol of three interlocking triangles: Biorn's desire to go there is represented by using the symbol on his brooch and the guard of his sword.
• Art Shift: Valhalla and Helheim in the opening are in 2D in an otherwise 3D film.
• Badass Cape: The fearless Biorn—whose name means "bear"—wears a bearskin cloak that hangs behind him like a cape. It marks him as a dauntless traveler and a fearsome warrior.
• Bait-and-Switch: As the Fat Warrior lumbers towards Biorn it looks certain that he's about to step on a rock that can’t support his weight, meaning he’ll fall to his death. But just before the Fat Warrior steps on it, a giant eagle swoops in and snatches him away.
• BFS:
  • Biorn's first opponent in the movie wields a massive two-handed sword, which backfires when he falls down the hill and stabs himself without Biorn doing anything.
  • Another warrior brandishes an oversized sword over his head, only to get zapped dead when it acts as a lightning rod.
• Big Door: Valhalla is guarded by a towering set of double doors. In fact, all world religions' equivalents of Heaven have one, reflecting their mythologies.
• Black Comedy: The entire story is about a man trying to die in battle, only to be met with incompetent and unlucky foes who die before they reach him. Then there's the fight with the troll at the church, who throws elderly nuns at Bjorn as he approaches.
• Cel Shading: The lighting and textures on the models are designed to simulate 2D cartoon shading.
• Cosmic Plaything: Biorn is repeatedly denied the honorable death he’s looking for, as if some perverse cosmic being was tormenting Biorn for their amusement.
• Death Seeker: Biorn's motivation is a hero's death which will send him to Valhalla.
• Determinator: Despite being fatally speared through his torso by the troll, Biorn has the willpower to throw his sword into the Troll's eye!
• Diagonal Cut: It takes several seconds after the Great Axe Warrior's flourish for the trees to fall apart.
• Disney Villain Death: When the dwarf warrior accidentally throws his sword away, Bjorn angrily throws him off a cliff. We never see him hit the ground, only hearing his scream on the way down.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Biorn gets fatally run through with a spear, but repels the troll from the church and earns a heroic death. It's accompanied by swirling patterns and the symbol of Valhalla in the background!
• Eye Scream: The Troll runs away like a whimpering baby after getting Biorn's sword stuck in his eye.
• Face Death with Dignity: Biorn simply smiles and closes his eyes.
• Fire and Brimstone Hell: Inverted with Helheim; it's more like a big, damp, boring cave.
• Fluffy Cloud Heaven: Heaven is a monochrome cloudy landscape filled with nuns. Its tranquility and lack of booze and sharp objects make it exactly the fate Biorn was hoping to avoid.
• Giant Flyer: A giant eagle that interrupts one of Biorn's fights. It scoops up the Fat Warrior before he and Biorn can clash.
• Hell of a Heaven: Bjorn ends up rerouted from Valhalla to Heaven due to the nuns performing a Christian burial. To his horror, it's just as quiet and boring as Helheim, and the short ends with Bjorn screaming to get out from the Pearly Gates.
• Heroic BSoD: After the umpteenth botched attempt to get into Valhalla, Biorn sits discouraged and depressed.
• Honorable Warrior's Death: Bjorn is an elderly Viking trying to find some situation where he can die in battle so he can go to Valhalla.
• Horny Vikings: Averted. The film, being Danish, uses a wide variety of historically-accurate helmets, none of which have horns. Also, none of the Vikings themselves ever engage in activities associated with this trope. Played straight only in Valhalla, where boozing and throwing weapons around is done for fun, and new arrivals are given a horned helmet where it would be appropriate as ceremonial attire. It has sculpted dragons sticking out like a pair of horns.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Biorn carries a dented but reliable shield in his left hand, and beats his sword against it whenever he wants to challenge another warrior. In two cases his shield outright wins the battle: one time a thrown spear bounces off Biorn's shield back into the thrower’s face, and another time the sound of Biorn smacking his shield causes a boulder to fall down and crush his opponent. In the troll fight it blocks a nun that was used as a human projectile.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In gratitude for Bjorn giving his life to save their church, the nuns give him a Christian burial... which causes Bjorn's soul to be rerouted from glorious Valhalla to a Fluffy Cloud Heaven that, to him, resembles Helheim.
• Nuns Are Funny: Bjorn encounters a troll attacking a church full of diminutive nuns, and has to block a bunch of them being thrown like projectiles. Heaven is full of them, standing around peacefully doing nothing.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: The main theme for this short - although it's not Latin, it's a growling "hut hut!"
• Plague of Good Fortune: Biorn is 'saved' from death in battle with several seemingly superior opponents by a series of incredibly unlikely strokes of 'good' luck that kills them before battle is joined. Biorn starts out amused, becomes suspicious by the third or fourth one, and by the end is reduced to frothing rage over the (un)fairness of it all.
• Post-Mortem Conversion: Unwitting on Bjorn's part, but the nuns giving him a Christian burial under the cross causes him to be Rerouted from Heaven.
• Rated M for Manly: On first impression (it's about a Viking who wants to die in battle and go to Valhalla, after all). Then it gets subverted with comedically weak opponents and the ending.
• Rerouted from Heaven: Or rather, rerouted to Heaven instead of Valhalla, after the nuns give Bjorn's body a Christian burial under a cross. Bjorn is dismayed to find that Heaven is a quiet and boring place just like Helheim. Notably, the gates of Valhalla rotate away as if on a wheel, with the afterlives of several other religions passing by until it reaches the Pearly Gates.
• Screaming Warrior: Most of the warriors are prone to battle cries, but especially Biorn as he reaches his wits end trying to find a worthy death.
• The Speechless: None of the characters speak beyond screams, shrieks, grunts etc., apart from the narrator.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Biorn throws his at the Troll and hits it in the eye.
• Warrior Heaven: The Norse Valhalla is an afterlife where warriors can drink alcohol and battle against each other for fun without any permanent consequences.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Bjorn finally gets a warrior's death and ascends the steps to Valhalla, being laden with golden armor, weapons and drinking horns. Unfortunately, the well-meaning nuns reward Bjorn with a Christian burial, causing him to be rerouted from Valhalla to Heaven, which in Bjorn's eyes resembles Helheim with how tranquil and boring it is. He's last seen screaming in vain to be let out from the Pearly Gates.