The Entire Vikings Timeline Explained

When History announced a new series inspired by the sagas of Viking legend Ragnar Lothbrok in 2012, Collider claimed that creator Michael Hirst was "hoping to bank on the success of HBO's Game of Thrones." By the time the final ten episodes of Vikings dropped on Amazon Prime in December 2020, the show had long since established itself as much more than a cash-in attempt. Anchored by the charismatic Travis Fimmel, History's first scripted series was met with critical acclaim across the board. It quickly earned itself a dedicated following, and fans stuck around when Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig) and the rest of Ragnar's sons took the lead following his death.

Vikings unfolds over a period of decades, though in reality, some of the events it's based on happened centuries apart. "You have to give dramatic shape to stories, even if those stories are very close to the historical record," Michael Hirst told Looper in an exclusive interview. "It was called the dark ages for a very good reason — a lot of things were not written down at the time." He used some artistic license when it came to filling in the gaps, cramming the full story of the Viking age of exploration into just 89 episodes. A whole lot happened over the course of the show's six seasons and keeping track of dates can be a little tricky, which is why we're breaking down the entire Vikings timeline. Here's how (and when) it all went down.

Ragnar sailed westward again around the year 800, this time with the aid of his last remaining superior, King Horik of Denmark (Donal Logue). Their combined forces landed further south this time, coming ashore not in Northumbria (where Ragnar had already been paid a sizable sum to leave), but in the kingdom of Wessex. Their plundering of the monastery at Winchester quickly got the attention of King Ecbert (Linus Roache), who was eager to speak with Ragnar. When the ruler of Wessex discovered that Ragnar simply wanted to create a farming settlement for his people, they got to talking terms, but discussions were derailed when Ragnar received word that Jarl Borg (Thorbjørn Harr) had attacked his home, Kattegat, in his absence.

Dealing with Jarl Borg wasn't exactly straightforward (Ragnar lost a lot of men on the voyage home), but he ultimately outsmarted the Swedish usurper with the help of his former wife Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) and now-grown son, Bjorn. His elation was short-lived, however — Horik soon arrived with his tail between his legs, informing Ragnar that Ecbert attacked the fledgling Norse settlement after he left. With Lagertha's help, Ragnar and Horik returned to Wessex, though the latter's increasing paranoia over Ragnar's natural leadership cost the Norsemen the battle. The king attempted to have Ragnar killed upon their return, but loyal friend Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård) tipped him off and he dispatched of Horik in brutal fashion, taking the crown for himself.

Spanning the eighth, ninth and tenth episodes of Vikings season 3, the Siege of Paris was based on a series of actual events that took place in the mid-to-late 9th century. According to Britannica, the first recorded Viking attack on the Frankish capital took place in 845, when a bunch of Norsemen snuck up the Seine on longboats and began an assault on the city. In History's Vikings, the first siege was brought forward to the start of the century (around the year 804, going by character ages and the changing seasons), and it made for one of the most engrossing battles of the entire series.

A challenge like nothing they had faced before, Ragnar and his huge Viking fleet (the king had six different earls with him, Lagertha included) struggled to breach the walls of Paris, an island city at the time. Both he and his son Bjorn suffered serious injuries, and it appeared as though Ragnar would succumb to his. He arranged a meeting with the Franks, but when they offered him gold, he refused — he told them he was dying and wanted to be baptized before he passed. Ragnar requested that he be buried in the city, and his relieved enemies agreed, which, of course, was a terrible mistake. The sly Viking king leapt from his coffin once inside the city's cathedral, slaying the bishop of Paris in front of the terrified Emperor Charles (Lothaire Bluteau).

Ragnar Lothbrok vanished for years after his humiliating loss to the Franks. When he returned to Kattegat around a decade after his disappearance, he was no longer the strong, fearsome warrior the Western world once knew him as, but it didn't matter — none of his sons were willing to fight him for the throne. He announced that he planned on returning to England, but none of his boys were interested in accompanying him, apart from Ivar the Boneless (Alex Høgh Andersen). Ragnar's crippled son was still living in the considerable shadows of his battle-hardened brothers at that stage, but this father-son trip across the North Sea would be the start of his journey to greatness.

The year was approximately 817 when Ragnar and Ivar arrived in Wessex, their fleet nigh-on decimated by storms. They were soon captured by Ragnar's old frenemy King Ecbert, who just couldn't bring himself to kill the famous Viking. Ragnar suggested that he be sent up to Northumbria, where King Ælle (Ivan Kaye) would deal with him. He convinced Ecbert that all he had to do was let Ivar go so he could tell of what happened, and his sons would then seek revenge against the Northumbrians, not Wessex. Ragnar was then carted off to Ælle, who tossed him into a pit of venomous snakes, bringing his reign to an end. His second wife, Aslaug (Alyssa Sutherland), met her end around the same time, murdered by his first wife, Lagertha.

When Ragnar's sons were done taking their bloody revenge on King Ælle, they had yet another Saxon monarch to attend to. King Ecbert of Wessex released Ivar on the condition that he return to Kattegat and explain that it was Ælle who executed Ragnar, not him. What Ecbert didn't know is that Ragnar had secretly instructed Ivar to seek revenge on him, too. The famous Viking knew he was a spent force, but he also knew that if he allowed himself to be killed by Saxons, his boys would come down on them with the force of Thor's hammer. It was "part of a larger and bolder strategy" according to Ragnar, and it worked: Ecbert took his own life after Ragnar's sons stormed his villa.

The Great Heathen Army had achieved its prime objectives at this stage, and those leading it wanted different things. Tempers began to flair as the sons of Ragnar discussed plans for the future in front of their people. Some wanted to stay and farm while others wanted to explore new places, but Ivar was determined to keep the great army together for more conquests. As he attempted to win the crowd over to his cause, his already strained relationship with Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye reached its breaking point. Sigurd mocked Ivar for not being a "real man," and it was the last thing he did — Ivar killed him with a throwing axe, right in front of their brothers.

Floki was at the head of the Great Heathen Army alongside Ragnar's sons, and, like them, he needed a new adventure after avenging his old friend's murder. As Bjorn broke new ground in the Mediterranean and North Africa, the famous shipwright took a longboat in the opposite direction. He didn't have a specific location in mind, but he ended up discovering a whole new land — or so he thought. Floki had given himself up to the gods at this stage, so when he came ashore in what would become known as Iceland and set eyes upon the island's stunning natural wonders, he believed he had been led to Asgard.

Intent on settling in the land of the gods, Floki returned to Kattegat and recruited a group of intrepid travelers. He found new purpose as the head of the Icelandic settlement, but he became disheartened when infighting among the group led to a series of murders. He would eventually retreat into a cave on the island, convinced that he had found the gate to Helheim, Norse mythology's underworld. What he found was far worse — a cross. Floki was such a staunch believer in the old gods that he murdered Ragnar's monk friend Athelstan in cold blood, so when he came to the realization that Christians had already been on Iceland, he was borderline hysterical. The Viking was half laughing, half crying when the cave complex began to collapse on him.

After being ousted from Kattegat by Bjorn, Ivar went into exile and spent time traveling the famous Silk Road. The Viking encountered all manner of people and cultures along the legendary trading route, which ultimately led him to Novgorod, seat of the Grand Prince of Rus, Oleg (Danila Kozlovsky). The Christian zealot was instantly intrigued by the exiled Norseman, and he would reveal to Ivar that he intended to reclaim his people's ancestral homeland in Scandinavia. In approximately the year 821, Oleg and Ivar marched on Tamdrup, home of King Harald. Despite their feud over the election, Bjorn turned up to help Harald defend his land, which turned out to be a fatal mistake.

The first part of the final season of Vikings came to an end with Ivar running a blade through Bjorn. It seemed like a wound that nobody could recover from, and that turned out to be the case, but before Bjorn died he donned his armor and inspired his people to victory one last time. When the Rus arrived at Kattegat, they assumed that its fearsome warrior king was dead. When Bjorn appeared on horseback and took three arrows to the body without falling, the terrified invaders started to believe he couldn't be killed. "He does something quite extraordinary at the end of his life," Michael Hirst told Entertainment Tonight. "He saves his country [...] and puts himself in the pantheon of the great heroes of the Vikings."

According to History, Viking explorer Leif Eriksson likely made land in North America long before Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic. Norse sagas and archaeological finds suggest that Eriksson set out from Scandinavia some 500 years before Columbus was even born, arriving in the so-called New World in the year 1000. Eriksson is a main character in Michael Hirst's sequel series Vikings: Valhalla, but the showrunner "always planned" on visiting North America in Vikings. "I knew that the ending would be the discovery of America, and Newfoundland," Hirst told Collider.

In the show, it's Ubbe who led the first group of Viking settlers to North America. They stumbled across Greenland first, but Ragnar's son and his family fled the barely hospitable island amid a violent squabble over whale meat. It was roughly the year 821 when Ubbe finally set eyes on "The Golden Land," as traveling companion Othere (Ray Stevenson) tantalizingly described it. He lost his stepdaughter on the voyage, but Ubbe found a long-lost friend when he got there — Floki survived the cave-in and sailed to Newfoundland, making a home for himself among the accepting Natives.

Things almost went awry when a greedy Viking murdered an innocent local, but Ubbe put the offender to death and restored peace. The Vikings saga came to an end with Ubbe and Floki watching the sunset from a pristine American beach, discussing the gods and reminiscing about the man who started it all, Ragnar.