Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Fantasy Viking

Fantasy Viking

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Essay-like article that relies on WP:SYNTH from mostly unreliable sources. The sources that are reliable are not about Fantasy Vikings, but only used to support some part or argument within the article. Some of this info can be relevant additions in Vikings, Viking Age, Viking revival or historical fantasy, if it's not already there, but Fantasy Viking fails WP:GNG. There may be justification for some kind of broader article about the reception history of Vikings or the Viking Age in popular culture, but I don't think this article can be transformed into that. Ffranc (talk) 08:13, 18 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Fictional elements and Science fiction and fantasy. WCQuidditch ☎ ✎ 10:44, 18 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Comment – I once talked about the title of this article at Talk:Fantasy Viking#Move. I don't think "fantasy viking" is a good title. Clovermoss🍀 (talk) 13:27, 18 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That said, wow the sourcing in this article is a lot worse than I remember. I see why this was nominated for deletion. I took a look at earlier versions of the article to see if maybe things were better and they're not. Clovermoss🍀 (talk) 13:32, 18 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Merge selectively to Vikings in popular culture. Surprisingly this title is indeed in use, e.g. in this PhD thesis. But considering some of the problematic sourcing, starting with the content which can be tracked to reliable sources and putting that to the parent topic first, and thinking about spinning it out if ever necessary later, would be my preferred course of action. Daranios (talk) 15:30, 18 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Redirect to Vikings#In modern popular culture - This was likely spun out of that section of the main article, and contains essentially the same information. However, given the poor sources being used (not counting the obviously unreliable ones, the sources are generally on real Vikings, or on a very specific aspect of Viking popular culture like their inaccurate helmets), it was not ready to be split out into a separate article. I would suggest redirecting back to the relevant section of the main article, and working on improving that section to determine if a spinout article could work. If one is eventually spun back out, it definitely needs a better article title, though. Rorshacma (talk) 15:48, 18 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Delete I'd agree that it feels like synth. There's already a sizable section in the Viking article, not really sure what should be merged - the sources are largely poor. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 11:43, 19 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Delete per Zxcvbnm, as WP:OR and WP:SYNTH. The sourcing is generally below our standards, but redirects are cheap, per WP:ATD. Shooterwalker (talk) 16:26, 19 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Merge, delete or redirect. There is something interesting here, but the execution is very poor, from weak sources to ORish title. Not sure if redirecting makes sense due to said title, but something might be merged there, perhaps. Realistically, nobody will merge anything, so soft deletion by redirecting might be the best outcome, I guess... but deletion won't be much of a loss, neither, sadly (OR essay indeed). --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 22:13, 21 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I dont have enough material at hand to really protect this. It was created from necessity. Finding proper sources is hard as this is in the same manner as "the sky is blue", i.e. very few sources discuss it at detail and just calls it incorrect and moves on, even though this fictional trope continues. Blockhaj (talk) 22:29, 21 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Blockhaj: Said PhD thesis could be a good source of commentary, and the Google Scholar search might yield something more. Daranios (talk) 10:01, 22 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Viking fantasy is a semi established genre by name, but it varies from historically accurate yet fictional to the horned helmet trope in question, thus i choose the title fantasy Viking. Blockhaj (talk) 22:32, 21 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Delete - As I've already argued on the talkpage, the term "Fantasy Vikings" is OR and should not be a redirect. That being said, the few bits of reliably sourced information within the article should be merged into the existing Vikings#In modern popular culture subsection, assuming that information is not already covered there. -- JascaDucato (talk | contributions) 14:09, 22 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I disagree that this belongs in the Vikings#In modern popular culture. This subject differs heavily from the source material and stuffing it into the Vikings article essentially just makes it curiosa. Blockhaj (talk) 14:45, 22 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]