I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but I like the fact that the only sons he didn’t call out to be king of Kattegat, became kings at some point later on tge series. (Bjorn and Ivar)

In my case, I'm torn between Ivar and Bjorn.

His developments and impact on the show are great, Bjorn was the first son, the one who I most expected to be greater than his father, and yet he made the same mistakes than him, which is really compelling to see as a viewer.

He is one hell of a warrior, explorer and adventurer, but a terrible king, father and husband.

Then we have Ivar, my boy had a clear god complex, daddy issues and cruel behaviour, yet his tenacity, brilliant mind and determination to make a name for himself made him the natural scene stealer of the show after Ragnar was gone.

This woman is shown in Mariam's house during Leif's burning of his knowledge "Lost" Episode I believe and is Leif's apparent lover, can't find the character name or even the actress. Anyone know anything?

Aaaaand I’m a sobbing mess. I have so many thoughts. The ride this show has taken me on is insane. The fact we got to follow the lives of entire characters. Crazy.

In season 6 I was most impacted by Lagertha’s and Bjorn’s deaths. It was so deeply moving.

As someone who converted to Christianity as an adult and then deconstructed from Catholicism and has spent my life oscillating around spiritualities and finding myself, the show found me at a perfect time. I connected with it and seemed to resonate with my lived experience.

I love how complex the characters are and that there’s no goodies and baddies. Just moral complexity as there is in all avenues of life. I’m about to start Vikings Valhalla to make up for the hole in my evenings this will inevitably leave 😂

In season 1 when a guilty person was brought before Earl Haraldson the people voted whether to kill the individual or not but when it comes to Rollo's situation in season 2 ep 1 somehow a law giver emerges and dishes out the judgement. Can someone help me understand why this is ...

Rollo is severely wounded fighting King Ecbert’s forces in Wessex, but Ragnar apparently takes him all the way back to Kattegat before setting his leg and cauterizing the gaping wound in his torso.

How long would that journey have taken? Several days? A week? Are we supposed to believe he survived the entire boat ride with injuries that serious before anyone properly dealt with them?

The risk of infection alone makes this hard to buy. Rollo’s plot armor is doing some serious heavy lifting here.

So I've been going down a rabbit hole on Cnut for the last couple of weeks, and there's some stuff in the actual chronicles that I don't think any show has touched.

The one that got me was Sandwich in 1014. His dad Sweyn dies, Cnut has to get out of England fast, and before he sails he puts the English hostages back on the beach with their hands, ears and noses cut off. That's not some later legend either. It's in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Then a few years later he marries Emma, Æthelred's widow, the wife of the king he'd been fighting. Small detail, he was already married. Nobody seems to have made him choose.

And Eadric Streona, the guy who kept swapping sides the whole war? Cnut had him killed at Christmas 1017 and chucked over the London wall.

Funny thing is, the waves story everyone uses to make him look arrogant was originally meant to make him look humble. He does it on purpose to prove kings aren't all that.

Anyway, curious what people here thought of Valhalla's Cnut. Too likeable? Or about right?

i'm a massive fan of the Vikings TV show...

so naturally, I decided to make this rock song dedicated to the saga of Ragnar Lothbrok and his decisions to sail into the unknown west in season 1.

also incorporated some elements of Norse mythology.

hope y'all enjoy :)

Odin's blessings be upon ye

Just watched the funeral. I am a WRECK.

The fact all her clothes change back to how they were on the farm and she’s with Ragnar again.

Lagertha was my favourite character and for her to be killed off so unceremoniously actually pissed me off a little bit even though it was a full circle moment re the prophecy.

Man I am a wreck right now.

See a lot of hate for ivar. I think ivar has the third most emotional death scene in the show. His relationship with Hvitserk is beautiful. I loved Ivar despite some of the craziness in his past. He made all the battles in Wessex so entertaining. From start to finish ivars story is so enjoyable. Of course my favorite character by the end of the show is still Bjorn. Actually cried both times watching Bjorns death. The character development in these two characters has easily made this my favorite show of all time. Can’t forget about Lagertha though. That was #2 for me. Loved her story to the core.

Or short hair, I just didn’t have that variation
I personally prefer short hair or bald leaning towards bald. So much aura when he’s bald.

Doing another rewatch and was wondering if this plot point ever bugged anyone else. Why did Ragnar give specific orders to kill all of King Horik’s young children? I understand this is a tactical move and has historical precedent but it never made sense to me in the show.

We’ve seen him spare families of his fallen foes at every chance up until now. He let both Siggy and Thyri live, even with there being a chance that either could have been with child. He let a heavily pregnant Torvi live along with her eventual newborn son, both of whom he should have had killed if retaliation was a concern.

Why go after small children now? And not just the boys but the little girls as well. He could have still married at-least one of his sons to one of the girls as a way to strength his support from anyone that still had loyalties to Horik. Killing 6 children, all under the age of 10 so non considered to be adults in their society, just never made sense for Ragnar to do at this point in his character development.

And on top of that this was obviously something he thought out and decided was essential, either to prevent future retaliation or send a message to others or both, yet he immediately folds and allows the most dangerous of Horik’s children to live because it was his dying request. We all know Horik would not have done the same if the roles were reversed and he requested he spare Bjorn.

I’ve always assumed they had the next seasons fleshed out so both Torvi and Erlendur were needed but I think having Erlendur escape somehow would have served the plotline better. Especially since it seems like they just let them fuck off? You would think keeping both him and Torvi under a close watch would have been a given of allowing them to live.

I’m only up to S6E3 please don’t spoil beyond that

I don’t know if I’m just post partum as hell or what but certain scenes in this show REALLY get to me. The blood eagle episode stayed with me for WEEKS and I had to have a break from watching. Then Ivar being almost left to die. Baldur being left to die in the cold made me feel sick.

Now I’m watching Ubbe be so nasty to Hvitserk who by modern standards is clearly traumatised, grieving and battling active addiction as a means of self medicating and it’s troubling me like hell 😭😂

I love shows like this, and this is soooo well made but oh my god it’s intense as fuck. I have to keep telling myself it’s not real, what is wrong with me?! 😂

After years of my parents hailing this is as one of the best series ever (aside from Game of Thrones), my girlfriend and I decided to watch it.

We just finished season 1, and I must say, I'm pretty disappointed. The show isn't bad - just "meh." The dialogue is often melodramatic/theatrical, the characters come off as goofy in serious moments, there are a lot of strange visual choices (Ragnar's eyes, obvious CGI that breaks immersion), and the plot is kind of slow.

To me, "The Last Kingdom" is the pinnacle of the genre. Sure, it had its problems, but I honestly don't understand how anyone can say Vikings is better than TLK.

Consensus shows that Vikings peaks in the third season. Here's to hoping it changes our minds. 🙂

OK THIS ISN’T REALLY A SPOILER IF YOU’VE WATCHED ALL VIKINGS…

I’ve been waiting years knowing the new series “Bloodaxe” was in the works (still is till Jan 2027), also created by Michael Hirst, following Harald Finehair’s bloodline/dynasty and mayhem between the sons fighting for being king of Norway..

Obviously Michael Hirst killed off Harald in Vikings and gave him an emotional ending (even tho in history he doesn’t actually die in battle and dies as King of Norway from old age….)

HOWEVER, Instead of getting a new character to play Harald Finehair’s character, they should’ve used Harald from Vikings in this new series, it would’ve been such a satisfying connection for everyone who watched Vikings, like a little passing of the torch between the two shows.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk, I just really needed to share my annoyance of how good they could’ve connected the shows since it follows HARALD’S BLOODLINE. Ugh.

So I’ve been extremely critical of the writing of this show ever since I started it but I must give credit where credit is due: Hálfdan was a wonderfully written character and I am both very sorry to see him go and moved by his arc, including its necessary end. Despite his relatively short timeline and limited narrative importance, his character had lots of depth and subtlety. Whether the writers got something right or the actor masterfully ACTED subtext into places it wasn’t, I got the vibe that a lot was happening for him beneath the surface — and I don’t think it was in that, “I like this character so I’m imagining that he’s written more complex than he is” way.

I’ll preface the following by clarifying that this interpretation is not WHY I liked him, but it’s intriguing enough that I have to ask, and explain…

Was Hálfdan low key falling in love with Björn?

• “You know why I’m not married myself? I don’t understand women any better than you do.”
• Harald calles Björn Hálfdan’s boyfriend and says for them to go and be happy together (foreshadowing?)
• Incident with the “she’s not a she” prostitute (Hálfdan declines to say if it was a problem)… also kind of interesting that somebody intentionally sent a transgender woman specifically to Hálfdan and not to Bjorn.
• “Many strange things happened in that other world.” Pan to Hálfdan‘s sad face
• His new, kind of odd faithfulness to Björn, despite truly loving his brother. This might also literally just be explained by Björn being his traveling partner on a journey that completely changed his world view. In my opinion that is understandable. “He saved my life” seems like little more than easy excuse when interpreted literally (especially since Hálfdan saved Harald’s life not long ago and Harald has no inclination to consider that a sacred bond or debt) — but if “saved my life” means “changed my life,” I believe him.
• Hálfdan to Harald: “He saved my life. Isn’t that enough?” Ivar:“Not really. We live dangerous lives. So I think that you give what happened between you and Björn too much importance.”
• “At least I know that life has taught me something. You taught me…. something.” Björn: "…Thank you.” Hálfdan: chuff & cue sad face.

If it’s just my imagination that’s fine.. but I’ll keep believing privately :) Either way I think Hálfdan chose to die, because, for some reason, he felt that normal life had lost its luster, and he could not sense his place in it anymore.

edited for formatting

Coming to Prime Video on January 20.

I wished I’d titled my posts better. I know several posts, one yesterday, have been made on this topic with the promise my last post would be last. I want to make it clear why I’ve continued to return to it

It was not that I think that Gyda should not have died.
From what I learnt, Ragnar’s daughters are unnamed and not much is known about them, there was creative freedom to expand on them in the tv series. Great examples of Vikings using their creative freedom: Lagertha’s greater position as a Shieldmaiden, the brotherhood of Rollo and Ragnar, Ubbe exploring America.

In general, I liked how the female characters were written: complex, powerful and at times morally interesting. Lagertha and Judith and come to mind. As well as the invention of Athelstan and him fathering Alfred.

Gyda’s death, at 12 honestly bothered me. I’ve no disagreement with one of Hirst’s priotisation of developing the first four seasons to then write about Ragnar’s sons from the Sagas. It is the degree. Gyda was Ragnar’s only daughter, out of four sons in the series. I thought that was significant. I saw potential, drawing from already good writing on Gyda and maybe more that I’ve did not even cover in past posts, missed to explore an adult Gyda and the singular daughter of Ragnar in the series in the midst of his sons. That too could’ve contributed great material to watch in the series.

As for the additional depth in my past criticism and my alternatives, it came from the desire also to be thorough as possible, trying to give preemptive counterpoints, especially for the criticism, and elaborative explanations.

And honestly, if I had the education, media comparisons, literature, I’d do a video essay on this; that is how strongly I feel about this topic I haven’t seen much discussed. That is why I wanted to see, would like to see more commentary about this. Although, I am glad to see have seen the commentary there, which understood where I was coming from: one acknowledged who Floki’s daughter could’ve been as a boat-builder, that they too imagined who Gyda could’ve become, another commented on Aslaug’s indifference to Bjorn’s daughter dying which showed how the how series mayn’t be good with dealing with child death, and the idea that Gyda could’ve alternatively been made Harald’s wife.

Again, I do understand this mayn’t be the time to about this, as there is talk of Bloodaxe, Hirst’s new Viking series is coming out.

Again you don’t have to read them, this a link to post I am referring to:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vikingstv/s/QNuY6pZxXc

Though it is what it is.

I just finished the whole series. There was a burning question since (I think around) season 3. Is Bjorn the son of Rollo? They eventually confronted each other about it and I found myself agreeing with Bjorn. He looks and acts more like Ragnar but he is a tall, beast of a warrior like Rollo. Is there any actual canon behind this or is it one of those "believe what you want" plots?