A key thread in the novel is manhood: when Uhtred becomes a man and what virtues, experiences, and lessons make a boy a man. Uhtred grows up among two cultures, Christian ang pagan, with different visions of what is a man. For the Norsemen, a man is defined by his actions and his community. The sections that chronicle Uhtred’s years with the Danes are marked by camaraderie: men in community grandly feasting, engaging in contests of strength and skill, or bonding amid the bloodletting and chaos of the battlefield. Under Alfred’s tutelage, however, Uhtred is taught that a man is defined by what he does not do, as the implications and consequences of those actions may be sinful or destructive. So, throughout the narrative, Uhtred must consider the virtue of expression or restraint, action or reasoning.

For the Danes, Uhtred becomes a man when he kills his first Saxon, a process ultimately solidified when Uhtred slaughters Ubba. But Uhtred understands a broader (and decidedly Christian) sense of manhood when, after the bloody siege of Cynuit, he understands that family should be the defining element of a man. “In the end I found [a strand for my life], and it had nothing to do with any god but with people.