The Absolute Worst Thing Lagertha Has Done On Vikings So Far
Scandinavia in the 9th century was a pretty brutal place. Over six seasons of History Channel's smash hit Vikings, viewers have had a front row seat to the bloody epoch that saw a new Kingdom of England forged in the furnace of Scandinavian invasion. With the historical drama now airing its final set of episodes, what better time to reflect on all the terrible deeds perpetrated by the show's charismatic anti-heroes?
One of Vikings' most popular characters has often provided a moral compass for her brutal Norwegian contemporaries. That doesn't mean that she's a saint, however, even if she did spend a season bedding one. Kattegat's long-lived shieldmaiden Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) is a perfect case study of a fundamentally decent person placed in a perilous and violent situation.
What, exactly, does the once and future Queen of Norway have to complain about, you may ask? For starters, she was shunned by her first husband and true love Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) after he met the younger Queen Aslaug (Alyssa Sutherland) and took her back to Kattegat as a second wife. Then, after Ragnar's death, she found herself dragged into the middle of the internecine squabble between her son Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig) and his half-brothers by Aslaug. It's enough to make anyone resort to ugly tricks, and over six seasons, Lagertha proved that she had more than a few of those up her chainmail sleeve. Here are some of the worst of them.
Lagertha murdered Kalf
All right, maybe he deserved it, but is there really any excuse for marrying a guy just so you can get close enough to put a knife through his heart? After fleeing Kattegat to get away from love birds Ragnar and Aslaug, Lagertha reinvented herself as the Earl Ingstad of Hedeby. Not every viking warrior in Hedeby, however, felt that a woman should lead. In order to protect her power, she agreed to marry her second-in-command, Kalf, but with the understanding that she would continue to rule. But Kalf had designs on the earldom, and he announced to all the people of Hedeby that he and Lagertha will rule as equals.
Lagertha, however, is a woman who doesn't like sharing power very much. Her lust for control is at the root of most of her bad behavior on Vikings, and this incident was no different. She agreed to marry Kalf, and pretended to go along with his plan for co-governance. Then, just before their wedding, she stabbed him in the heart and reasserted her authority over Hedeby. Long live Earl Ingstad!
Lagertha murdered Queen Aslaug and usurped the throne of Kattegat
Again, we know that Aslaug stole Lagertha's husband, but murder seems like a pretty over-the-top response, even for a viking shieldmaiden. King Ragnar saw fit to leave his wife Aslaug in charge of Kattegat while he was out raiding. By all accounts, she was a competent ruler who kept the longships running on time. That wasn't good enough for Lagertha, however. In the wake of Ragnar's death in England, she stormed the walls of Kattegat and rallied many of Norway's viking warriors to her side. She capped off this invasion by putting an arrow through the queen — and in front of her young sons!
While this attack may have been an act of passion that had been simmering ever since Ragnar returned to Kattegat with a second wife, it sure seems like a calculated political assassination. With Aslaug's body set aflame and pushed out to sea, Lagertha assumed the throne of Kattegat that she believed to be hers by rights. While murdering an effective ruler in front of her children might seem pretty bad, there's one thing Lagertha did that was even worse.
Lagertha poisoned the relationship between Ragnar and Rollo
Ragnar and Rollo (Clive Standen) had a pretty tortured relationship, and the root of this epic sibling rivalry was a major romantic beef over Lagertha. The series heavily hints at the fact that Lagertha and Rollo once had a romantic encounter; Rollo may even be the actual father of Lagertha's son Bjorn. Through this one act of reckless infidelity, Lagertha made herself a wedge between the two Lothbrok boys. Rollo obviously never got over Lagertha, and simply seeing her with his brother day after day must have eaten at him. It's this divide that caused Rollo to betray Ragnar several times throughout the series, most significantly (and permanently) by remaining behind in Paris to help bolster Frankish defenses.
Duke Rollo may have eventually found love among the Franks, but we suspect he never really got over his brother's wife. Lagertha obviously knew about Rollo's feelings; he made them plain to her many times. She should never have been intimate with him and risked coming between the brothers.
With half a season remaining, there's certainly time for Lagertha to outdo herself, but destroying the fraternal bond between Rollo and Ragnar is the absolute worst thing she's done on Vikings so far.