Thirst traps are everywhere these days. Every social media platform has them. Filled with very beautiful people who lure you in and cause you to continuously scroll to see more and more of them.
Many of these are celebrities and whole communities are built around them on social media like Tik Tok and then carried on in fan fiction on sites like Wattpad. Many of those who follow these thirst traps are considered to be “Stans” or stalker fans. It can by anyone from Adam Driver to the fictional Draco Malfoy.
Of course there are plenty of thirst traps with every day relatively unknown people. Well unknown until they blow up on social media and become “internet famous”. Tik Tok is full of such traps and in fact it is a main driver of their business model at this point.
My thirst trap that I am caught in however originates from a different source. Streaming services that offer television series featuring amazing looking actors with lots of action and of course great bodies.
It started with The Last Kingdom which I watched starting on my vacation in December 2020. It features Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred. Dreymon plays the Viking warrior Uhtred of Bebbenberg leading his armies against the English and other Danes while also being the oath man of King Alfred of Wessex.
There is a lot of fighting, very brutal fighting. There is romance, drama, and history. But then there is Uhtred and Dreymon. A thirst trap of epic proportions. I have watched the series through entirely twice now and I am sure I will watch it again and possibly again.
Having discovered Viking thirst traps, I then progressed to Vikings and Travis Fimmel as Ragnar Lothbrok (or Lodbrok from history). Again, an enormously appealing looking man playing another Viking warrior. The difference between the two shows is that in Vikings almost all the men AND women are very beautiful. Alexander Ludwig (of Hunger Games fame) is also in this show as Ragnar’s son Bjorn and he is also quite lovely. Not sure that it is historically accurate in that sense, but that’s not why we watch it is it?
I am still making my way through Vikings as it has six seasons and some are extremely long. With my work schedule I have to binge watch when I have time off so it takes me a bit to get through the seasons. Not that I am complaining. This thirst trap is quite entertaining and I am now quite caught in it.
This is why they exist though isn’t it? To trap people and get them to continuously scroll and then watch and rewatch series. To generate views and likes and follows and subscriptions to streaming services so that you continue to watch and watch and watch.
Alexander Dreymon is prettier but Travis Fimmel is the better actor. If that’s what you are into…the better acting. Thirst traps are not really known as great acting challenges.
If like me, thirst traps appeal to you, I encourage you to fall into the trap of The Last Kingdom and Vikings. But be warned, once you are in it is very difficult to get out or to stop watching and watching again.
Deborah Horton Writing 