Vikings: 10 Storylines & Scenes That Fans Can’t Forget

After a slight slump that resulted from Ragnar’s death, Vikings ended on a high, with its final season being arguably its strongest. While there were a couple of wholesome moments, most were shocking and sad. No one enjoyed everlasting victory either on the battlefield or in life. Doom was always around the corner.

While most incidents and subplots came off as normal, others either left fans angry, shocked, disappointed, or totally confused. Fans found themselves asking a number of questions or sitting in shock, even more so when the following plot points happened that no one can forget.

10 Lagertha’s Accidental Death

Great warriors ought to die in battle or live forever. Sadly, Lagertha isn’t accorded either of those honors. Instead, she is accidentally killed by someone who knows her. As expected, fans were outraged by the shocking turn of events.

In the final season’s “Death and the Serpent,” Hvitserk finds himself in a manic state. Overcome with paranoia, he assaults Amma and walks away into the rainy night. He starts getting weird hallucinations about Ivar and becomes paranoid. He then spots a serpent as he is wandering around and goes on to stab it multiple times. It turns out what he has seen isn’t a serpent – it’s Lagertha.

9 Rollo’s Betrayal

From early in the series, Rollo is portrayed as a jealous brother. He is angry that Lagertha chose Ragnar instead of him. He even tries to get her to cheat on Ragnar with him. Despite the jealousy, Rollo appears loyal to Ragnar.

Even when Earl Haraldson’s goons try to get him to turn on Ragnar, he remains firm, arguing he’d rather die than be a traitor. It soon becomes clear that every man has a price. When Jarl Borg promises to elevate his status if he sides with him instead of Ragnar, Rollo gladly agrees to do so. This is despite the fact that he has no idea if Rollo will honor his word.

8 Judith Poisons Her Own Son

In ancient times, poisoning was an effective way of killing someone you were not powerful to engage in a duel with. Though poisoning was reserved for enemies, some decided to take out their own family members the same way too.

Such is the case with Judith in Vikings. She is totally thrilled about Alfred becoming king and when she discovers that Aethelred is planning a coup-de-tat, she goes for drastic measures. Since a son trusts a mother’s meal, Judith poisons Aethelred’s wine at dinner time. She doesn’t even flinch when Aethelred smashes his head on the table and drops to the floor. At that point, viewers can’t help but ask themselves: “What sort of mother does that?”

7 Ingrid Is Revealed To Be A Witch

Ingrid’s character development in the final season borders on thriller territory. First, she is sexually assaulted by Harald for refusing to be his wife. Within a few episodes, she becomes a very skilled shieldmaiden, like Lagertha, and participates with Bjorn in the Rus War.

After Bjorn’s death, Erik spots Ingrid performing strange rituals on his grave. He is shocked to find out that she is a witch. Since he is the only witness, Ingrid uses her magic to turn him blind and cements her place as a potential successor. How Ingrid quickly moves from an oppressed person to a ruthless villain was indeed puzzling to fans, but intriguing nevertheless.

6 Yidu Is Drowned By Ragnar

During a raid in Frankia, a couple of slaves are captured and brought to Kattegat. One of them is named Yidu and Ragnar’s wife Aslaug develops a liking towards her and purchases her. This was a bad move, as Ragnar becomes attracted to her and begins an affair with her.

Yidu also begins supplying Ragnar with drugs, and after a few weeks, he becomes an addict. She soon grows tired of Ragnar’s control, though, and refuses to give him more drugs. When she implies that she will expose his secret, he drowns her in the river. The murder also happens while some of Ragnar’s sons watch from a distance.

5 The Affair With Aslaug

Love simply dies with this single action. At the start of the series, it seems like Lagertha will be Ragnar’s soulmates forever. The two look like a perfect match but everything changes when Aslaug gets into the picture. When Ragnar’s men tell him about Aslaug, he summons her and upon meeting her, is intrigued by her intelligence.

Aslaug can recite poems and solve riddles. This impresses the Earl, who pursues her, much to the dismay of Bjorn. When Aslaug tries to sleep with Ragnar again, he refuses, and when he learns that she is pregnant, he goes to her chambers with her dagger and considers killing her.

4 Judith’s Ears

Too much torture? The worst case of puritanical justice is seen on the show when King Aelle’s daughter, Judith, gets charged with adultery. Even the king’s daughter isn’t safe from punishment so Judith gets a rather bizarre, yet tortuous sentence – her ears are cut off.

The “residents without sin” don’t hesitate to throw the first tomatoes, and many judgmental people proceed to throw rotting vegetables at her, while she begs for forgiveness. When she refuses to name the man she slept with, her ears are cut off with rusty tools. It’s a scene that’s hard to watch and hard to forget.

3 The Introduction Of A Freydis Lookalike

This confusing sub-plot doesn’t get solved when the series ends. It involves the introduction of the Russian princess, Katia. When Ivar first sees her, he is shocked because she looks just like Freydis. Ivar strangled Freydis after she betrayed him, making him lose the throne. Ivar is convinced she is Freydis, but other people, including Hvitserk, don’t recognize her.

Ivar and Katia end up getting intimate and then she announces she is pregnant with his baby. However, Katia leaves without the baby ever being seen. There’s also the fact that Ivar is impotent, so fans wondered how did the baby come about? Series creator Michael Hirst mentioned that Katia is a figment of Ivar’s imagination and a manifestation of his remorse.

2 Ragnar’s Death

The realization that a fan-favorite character is gone for good is not easy for any keen viewer to handle. There is no doubt that Ragnar’s death hurt the show. In season 4, he hands himself to King Ecbert, asking to be killed. Ecbert hands him over to Aelle instead. Aelle delightfully tortures him by carving a cross on his head, stabbing him, and searing his body.

He suggests that he might spare Ragnar if he repents, but he refuses. “My death comes without apology,” he says. “and I welcome the Valkyries to summon me home!” Ragnar is clearly eager to get to Vahalla and Aelle doesn’t mind sending him there too, so he drops him to a pit full of snakes.

1 Ivar And The Liquid Gold

That Ivar is brutal is a fact well known. However, he just goes overboard here. The religious conflicts in Vikings sometimes get out of hand and that’s what happens in the season 5 premiere. Ivar and his men attack the city of York and slaughter hundreds of people, and while the brutality is sad, it isn’t uncommon. What’s uncommon is what Ivar does next.

Ivar and his men capture a priest. Then, he instructs his men to melt a golden cross that was hanging on the church’s wall. Keeping the priest’s mouth open using hand axes, he pours the molten gold into his mouth. After the priest dies, his body is dragged away by a horse in a scene that fans won’t soon forget.

About The Author

Philip Etemesi
(1222 Articles Published)

Philip Etemesi is an author, journalist, screenwriter and film critic based in Nairobi. Kenya. As a child, he preferred watching movies like The Goodfellas instead of Home Alone. His girlfriend constantly has to pull him from the front of the TV but he just keeps returning. Stubborn dude! An animal lover, Philip also has a pet giraffe called Refu.

More From Philip Etemesi