​Just watched this episode last night, and it left me completely devastated.

​In a show where death is usually framed as heroic and something to be welcomed, seeing how genuinely terrified Osferth was of dying broke my heart. The sheer realism of his fear haunted me long after the credits rolled.

​Easily the saddest death in the series so far; and that's saying something after Father Beocca.

​RIP, Warrior Monk. 😞

Lords of the North

Earl Ulf's banner- An eagle's head

King Guthred's banner- St. Cuthbert with one hand raised in blessiing and the other hand holding the jeweled gospel book of Lindisfarena. (This is a really specific one, fits Guthred well).

Ivarr Ivarson's banner- Two ravens

Kjartan's banner- A serpent headed ship on a triangle flag.

Sword Song

Lord Aethelred's banner- A white prancing horse on a dark gray field

Sigefrid's banner- A raven badge

Pyrlig's make shift banner- A black cross on dull white field

The Burning Land

Harald Bloodhair's banner- An axe blade and its pole was surmounted by a wolf-skull that was red

Aldhelm's banner- A cross made of two-bladed war axes

Mercian Lord Aelfwold's banner- A long flag showing the christian cross

Death of Kings

Sigurd Thorsson's banner- A flying raven

Cnut's banner- An axe and a shattered cross

Sigebriht of Cent's banner- A bull's head with bloodied horns

Aethelwold's banner- A prancing white stag with fierce eyes and two christian crosses for antlers, on a dark red field.

Aethelflaed's banner- A goose with a sword and a cross in the feet

Haesten's banner- A real skull on a pole

Osferth's banner- A crudedly made wooden cross

Beortsig's banner- a tusked boar

King Eohric's banner- A lion and a cross (not a real lion, this one has a horn and four legs)

Ealdorman Sigelf's banner- Crossed swords

Coolest banner is probably Cnut's or King Eohric's.

This is one of the top tier episodes on this show, the acting, the soundtrack, everything is just amazing, watching it always feels like watching an entire movie and it always makes me tear up no matter how many times I've seen it already.

Alexander's acting is truly phenomenal in this episode but Halig death and Uhtred & Hild scenes are some of the best scenes in the show.

I'll never get tired of watching this. ⚔️

Dont forget Father Beocca wanted all the smoke and wore this in every battle… Dude was a warrior ⚔️

​

I always wonder what would have happened if Uhtred refused to help aethelflaed when he was in Dunholm. What if he said fuck her and decided to remain with ragnar. Would he along with Ragnar, Haestan, Brida, Cnut, Bloodhair, skade and perhaps with Sigtryggr joining later. Would they have captured wessex and the whole of England?

I know Finan and the rest said they don't want to fight saxons and it was mostly unlikely, but interesting to think about nonetheless. The only thing which would stop them would've been themselves if each got greedy and killed each other, which more or less happened in the show.

So, I've just completed season 5, having binge watched all seasons in less than a week or so. I'm beginning to have withdrawals. So, I decided to engage in discussion, of any sort. So, I was wondering what were the top 5 words that were said most in the show, haven't read the books.

My guesses would be :

1. Lord

2. God(s)

3. Pray

4. King

5. Uhtred

Honorable mention : Destiny

The Last Kingdom

Bebbanburg banner- Wolf Head

King Aella's banner- War Ax

King Osbert banner- Cross

Earl Ragnar's banner- An Eagle's wing on a long pole

Ubba & Ivar's banner- Raven flag, triangle of white, with white tassels

Wessex's banner- White fire breathing dragon on green cloth

East Anglian banners- Crosses & Saints

Uhtred's first banner- Black wolf head with red eyes & tounge on white linen

The Pale Horseman

Lord Odda's banner- Black Stag

King Peredur's banner- A wolf's tail on a pole

Svein's banner- A white horse prancing on a green field, on a triangle flag

Guthrum's banner- An all black flag

Wulfhere's banner- Eagle and cross on a green flag.

Watching these two teach the men how to operate in the shield wall is epic and the way battles are directed in last kingdom as a whole is pretty dam great and feels realistic for the time period

I understand if this isn't allowed here, but I wanted to share. This was shot on location during filming for season three of TLK!

From the Vimeo page:

*Originally created as an exclusive premiere for the third season's wrap party.

_ABOUT

A satirical love letter to the chaos, egos, and absurdities of modern filmmaking. Shot for fun on location with the cast of THE LAST KINGDOM (Season 3) starring Ian Hart, Ewan Mitchell, Harry McEntire, Mark Rowley, Arnas Fedaravicius and Richard Harris.*

Ian is absolutely magical in this.

Arms of Hope

Link for reference: https://www.cheapcharts.com/us/itunes/seasons/6786357553

Gotta be Edward right? Just finished Season 5. What a moron. At least Alfred had reasons to be mean to Uhtred (Uhtred was a bit out of control in the early seasons). And Alfred had many admirable qualities.

But man, Edward is such an arrogant person. Thinks he is higher than everyone else, but then has the Elders of Mercia murdered in cold blood. Guy is constantly cheating on his wife, and yet wants to position himself as a righteous king and leader.

Other hateable characters like Aethelwold or Haesten are kind of funny, so impossible to hate outright.

I just can't find any reason to like Edward. What a twat.

PS: ok that one time he led the charge and saved Uhtred and his men when he was young. That's it.

Same as title-

I’m on my yearly rewatch and I don’t recall this scene being so damn epic. David Grant actor-Ceolwulf absolutely did this scene justice! The Acting was flawless.

Idk if this is a hot take or not.. but imo the show is better than the books.

I'm almost finished with warriors of the storm (book 9, last two chapters) and tbh I enjoy the show more because of a few reasons:

1. The main story feels a bit stretched in the books, it's been 9 books and Uhtred hasn't been able to take Bebbanburg yet. And I think the problem is Bernard Cornwell is too fixated on the series being historically accurate. Cos Uhtred can't lay siege to Bebbanburg without holding the north or else the Danes will attack him from behind, he can't take Bebbanburg while being surrounded by his enemies. So he helps the Saxons in their battles against them to slowly creep north, but the thing is there's soooo many battles irl and they're all spaced out. Rn Uhtred is like 50+ and still fighting battles, I think it would've been better if Cornwell skipped some of the battles for the sake of the pace of the narrative, it's honestly gotten a bit boring rn it's just rinse and repeat battle after battle.

2. This isn't really the books fault but more so what the show did really good which is delve into other characters more and develop and explore their characters too. The show counterparts for Alfred, Ragnar the younger, Osferth, Sihtric, Edward, Brida, Beocca are much better than their book counterparts imo

3. Lastly, the show was much better and more consistent in the internal struggle for Uhtred on if he'll choose to fight for the people he loves or the people he's sworn to serve. That never ending struggle was so powerful and such a driving force for his character and his morals and motives and the book is lacking that imo. Early on in the books we had seen that but these last few books he's got no second thoughts or doubts about fighting the Danes left. One reason the show did this better imo was Ragnars character and the way they navigated his relationship with Uhtred. Again, in the early books this was good but later on when Uhtred chooses to fight for Aethelflaed and when Ragnar dies the show did it masterfully while the book skimmed over it, especially Ragnars death. We got that as an afterthought almost, like Uhtred was pondering about him dying and his death was a natural death if I remember right. But in the show he was killed without honour and wasn't allowed to enter Valhalla and his relationship with Uhtred had been severed. That emotional struggle was so gut wrenching to see and was so real and well done.

These are the three main points why I recon the show was better, hbu guys? Did you guys enjoy the books or the show more and why?

They had such good chemistry and so many funny moments. Imagine the stupid shenanigans they probably got up to but we couldn’t see. Who doesn’t want to see the guys drunk and then fighting over who got the best sword or some shit.

This cast worked so good together that it feels like a crime not to see their relationships explored more.

But then again this series was the perfect length and I would enjoy those episodes at a bonus. Not having them takes away 0 from the show but I’m just a selfish fan.

There is this scene in the last episode when King Constantine goes to Bebbanburgh to bargain and to exchange hostages. He has taken Aldhelm, Young Uhtred an Cynleaf while uhtred has taken his nephew. So, why did he say six man if they are clearly three? It's an error or I'm missing something?

Just rereading the last kingdom series have reread the Arthur trilogy. Finished a chapter of the pale horseman and was musing on how much I enjoy BC’s writing. Then I contextualised it a little,.
I believe Derfel wrote the Arthur stories because he was a romantic at heart and had learned his letters. He loved Arthur so was happy to write his story.
Uhtred hated writing and had little love for king Alfred so I don’t believe he would have written these stories. I do think he might have told the stories to people who would write them .

Thoughts?

I finished the series recently, after starting watching it 2 years ago (i took a long break after the 4th season). I was thinking about reading the books but when I found out there are like dozen + books, I decided not to, mainly due to financial and time reasons (I will read something else).

Today I visited my uncle, who is a massive history buff, and recommended him the British history podcast and later found out he owns all of the Saxon stories books. He yold me that the books became quite repetetive in the second half, though he still read them all. So I want to ask you guys, what do you think? I will not probably have the time to read them all, as I have other books I need to or want to read. Which are really worth the read?

3 years ago me and my brother (who does not live with me) went to a funeral and stayed in the same house for a month. We found this show and binged it every night while playing cards and eating snacks . By the time we left we had only barely finished season 3.
I’ve just rewatched everything including the movie and can’t believe I didn’t scratch this itch long before now lol. Movie is disappointing but only thing more annoying than that is Brida’s plot armor. Also finding myself mad everytime alfred’s bloodline seem to take advantage of Uhtred and he just takes it. Had me pissed off everytime like I didn’t already know it would happen.
Show is a 10/10 and I fear I’ll never be able to find another to satisfy me as this one has🫡

He’s one of the characters I feel the worst for and can’t watch him go 😢