Jan Guillou - Knight Templar

[Veronica]

As a swede I would like to mention a very famous and also sucessful author; Jan Guillou. I have not read his books even though I've been close to it many times and a lot of people been telling me how good they are. I simply thought that these books might be of interested for some of you. :)

The Knight Templar (Crusades trilogy) is a series of books about the fictional character of Arn Magnusson. The series is written by Swedish author and journalist Jan Guillou.

After finishing the Coq Rouge series, Guillou wrote a trilogy about Arn Magnusson, a fictional Swedish character from the Middle Ages who was forced to become a Knight Templar. The series is an account of the life of Arn, a person who becomes witness as well as catalyst to many important historical events, both in his homeland of Götaland, Sweden and in the crusader states.

Quote from Wikipedia.com:
"The trilogy, dubbed the Crusades trilogy, consists of the following books:

The Road to Jerusalem, originally Vägen till Jerusalem, (1998)
The Knight Templar, originally Tempelriddaren, (1999)
The Kingdom at the End of the Road, originally Riket vid vägens slut, (2000)
Guillou also wrote a follow-up novel, The Heritage of Arn (2001). In Guillou's universe Birger jarl, the founder of Stockholm, is fictionalized to be the grandson of Arn Magnusson.

The first film in the series Arn – The Knight Templar, premiered in the theaters of Sweden in Christmas 2007.[1]"

[Ariadne]

Thanks for the recommendation, Veronica! I've been meaning to read Jan Guillou's novels as well, especially after seeing the positive review Diana Gabaldon wrote of The Road to Jerusalem in the Washington Post a week or two ago.

[Amanda]

I bought Road to Jerusalem just a couple of weeks ago (in Big W!). I remembered someone here (maybe EC?) had read it. I'll be looking forward to reading it!

[nona]

yes EC had the first of the triology on her top 20 at her blog. I have it on my wishlist to buy soon.

[Margaret]

These were not published in the U.S. and have not been readily available here - but Harper has just recently published The Road to Jerusalem, so I assume they will soon be publishing the other two novels in the trilogy. They do sound good!

[diamondlil]

I was just on my library website looking for Road to Jerusalem and noticed that they have The Templar Knight on order. Checked out the publisher website and it appears that this, the second book in the trilogy, is being released this month.

[Kveto from Prague]

in case anyone is interested, they made a couple of films about these novels under the title "Arn-Knight Templar. they are in swedish and english.

heres the trailer. it looksright cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOuj2MB20vM

edit: just noticed that the initial post mentions the film:-)

[nona]

I am so buying this asap! the trailers are great, though I would need English versions as I know no Swedish. does anyone know where I can find a dvd copy?

[Kveto from Prague]

I am so buying this asap! the trailers are great, though I would need English versions as I know no Swedish. does anyone know where I can find a dvd copy?


from the trailer id guess the films were half in swedish and half in english (with english substituting for latin. a bit like in the "pianist" when english substituted for polish).

any european dvd version you buy will certainly have an english subtitled version. however, be sure to check that your player accepts region 2 dvds (the US is region 1, Europe is region 2. one of those stupid little inventions by dvd producers)

I dont think the film ever came out in the states. I havent seen it either but ill probably try to order the first one on amazon.uk. If i find an english subtitled version ill PM you if you like.

by the way the 3 books seem to have been divided into 2 films.

[nona]

yes please do Ken! I saw that movie one contains the first two books and the third is the second film. I saw a subtitled version but wasn't sure if it was the one I needed.

[Kveto from Prague]

hi Nona,

No luck finding a region 1 (US version) Dvd of Arn. I havent seen a resonably priced region 2 dvd either.
I know this film must have been in the cinemas in prague not long ago but i missed it.

and i really doubt you can find a version dubbed into english. Dubbing is highly frowned upon in northern europe (unlike italy where they dub everything). but from the reviews its about 50 percent in swedish so you wouldnt have to read all of the subtitles.

(personally i love subtitles. all films in prague are in the original lang with subtitles. dubbing takes so much away from the film)

Ill keep looking. but it might help if you find out the secret code that will allow your dvd player to play region 2 dvds. i found out the code for mine so i can watch both american and european dvds. all dvd players have a stupid lock code that prevents multople regions. typical nonsense from the manufacturers to try to encourage buyers not to buy "ferrign" products. silly since the dvds are all made in china anyway.

[annis]

The DVD zoning thing is an absolute pain- often DVDs I want to buy are only available in DVD Zone 1 or 2 options, which are no use to me. Luckily, I think that DVD will soon be superseded by download via computer options, hopefully eliminating the whole annoying zoning format.

At least the first two of Guillou's Crusades trilogy have been previously available in English translation- I read them some years ago. I''m guessing that the current passion for all things Templar made their reissue a good commercial prospect. The fourth book, Heritage of Arn, envisages Arn's grandson as the founder of Stockholm, and may not have such universal appeal.

[nona]

how do you find out what region it plays?

I would love to buy it, subtitles are not bothersome to me as they are with some people, are you find these copies at amazon by chance?

[annis]

Had a look around, and the DVD only seems to be available in Region 2 option
(covers parts of Europe and England) Zone 1 includes the States and Canada

List of DVD zones here for those not sure where they fall:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code

Here are the details for the Arn DVD as shown on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Arn-Templar-Tempelriddaren-Temppeliritari-NON-USA/dp/B001H606S2
If you look in the Product Details you'll see it listed as Region 2
It does mention English amongst the language subtitle options available.

You can get round the zoning thing by buying a multi-zone DVD player, but they are more expensive. ( Or if you know a handy electronics geek, any DVD player can be tweaked to become a multi-zone player)

[Kveto from Prague]

Aye, I can't find any resonably priced version in any region. a pity cause it looks like good cinema.

[Kveto from Prague]

oh, and i read somewhere that this film sparked off a mild debate between the cordial relations of swedes and danes. as to whether danes participated in the final battle for rulership or if it was mearly a swedish civil war.

[andrewoberg]

oh, and i read somewhere that this film sparked off a mild debate between the cordial relations of swedes and danes. as to weather danes participated in the final battle for rulership or if it was mearly a swedish civil war.

A mild debate between Swedes and Danes? Bet that was polite!:D

Re: DVD player regions--I bought a cheap multi-region one, and then after I tried to use it and found it still locked, I called the help-line number on the back and the rep. that answered helped me unlock it. Worth a shot if all else fails, I guess.

[Veronica]

Most dvd players today are "open" for all regions.
You can order the dvd from Australa but don't know what region we have here. i saw the movie a few months ago and it was not bad. Subtitles of course. I am swedish so I had a jolly good time hearing my own language while my partner had to read the subtitles. :)

[Margaret]

I read Road to Jerusalem recently (see my review (http://www.HistoricalNovels.info/Road-to-Jerusalem.html)) and am now deep into Templar Knight. Both are excellent, though Road to Jerusalem was a little more exciting to me because the setting is not one I've come across very often.

[Kveto from Prague]

Bought the dvd a while back. its pretty good, not great. I found the sections on swedish history more interesting than the times in oultremer. It does have some standard hollywood history type nonsense: Saladin in disguise (as he did in Scotts "Talisman") and Templars expressing surprise at other Templars speaking Arabic(?) but i guess thats to be expected.