The story opens in 1121 AD, the Twelfth Century. But the Vikings (as depicted here) are usually considered by historians to have done most of their explorations in the 6th-11th Centuries.

The Viking armor and weapons seen in this story are all realistic designs of what Viking warriors were known to use.

On page 4-5, Rodmar cuts off Hord's ice cold hand to "stop the cold rot before it spreads." "Cold rot" is another term for frostbite.

The skull held up by Rodmar on page 8 appears to be half human and half oxen, an indication that it was really a Thing.

The bodies on the abandoned battlefield on page 8 appear to have been burned, an indication that even the relatively primitive Viking colony previously established nearby knew that the Thing could not be killed in such a normal manner as spear or sword.

When Hord checks the women's hut for the missing Erik on page 16, he sees only the women there. But notice there are now six of them where the previous day there had been only five, tipping us off that Erik has been take over by the Thing and has taken on a woman's form.

The Hord-Thing seems to not have the memory of Hord's missing hand. This indicates an incomplete replication of memory of the individuals it copies, as also seen in the case of Carter in the 2011 The Thing prequel movie.

The story ends with seemingly two Things still alive: Hord and the one in the water at the beginning of the story. But those (and any others) must presumably have been killed not long after or the world would have been taken over by now! Another possibility is that one or more of its bodies have been left frozen in one of the continuously frozen regions of the island.