Originally posted by Rhapsody:

Yeah, it's pretty much in line with what we know of viking culture. Raiding, slavery, all that jazz.

True. But they were up front about it and even advertised intent by mounting the headpiece on their dragon vessels when coming up the rivers for those purposes instead of peaceful trading. Even the ruthless had a code. Imagine if we approached Haldor and said "hey look up there!" and then boosted his wagon while he was distracted. It's one thing to practice war is deception on your enemy and another to sucker punch a friend.