The manga comic "Niccolo" which the boys in the movie are inspired by, is a comic book adaptation of the political treatise 'The Prince', written in 1513 by Italian political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli. The comic was created specifically for this movie, with a complete storyline about the shepherd Niccolo, who gets his family murdered by the soldiers of an evil empire, leading Niccolo to revenge, fighting back the tyranny and trying to become the new king. The full story was written by director Oliver Ussing and screenwriter 'Søren Grinderslev Hansen', with the Spanish artist 'Ignacio Ferraras' illustrating the manga.