This and all images from Vikings are the property of the History Channel. I use them only for illustrations regarding their show.

HEILLIR!

THE SHIELDMAIDENS OF HISTORY (PROTECTING THE INNOCENT FROM ANACHRONISMS) WELCOME YOU BACK TO OUR REVIEW SERIES ON THE HISTORY CHANNEL SHOW VIKINGS.

We’re back here in the middle of Season Three of VIKINGS on History Channel. I’m so happy to be able to discuss these episodes with that Woman of Win, Lissa Bryan, whose latest book, Shadows Have Gone, has just been released! Her comments are below in blue.

Lissa: I don’t even know where to start. Quite literally – because of a mix-up in the time zones, I missed the first ten minutes of the episode.

Sandi: Well, the beginning segment before the first commercial. I believe my exact words were: So, we’ve had religious tension, childbirth, death by kingly hands — all before the first commercial. 

A messenger came with the delayed news of the slaughter of the Norse farmers. Floki blamed this slaughter on Athelstan’s Christian God and the concept that they were at odds with the Norse gods. Ragnar didn’t want the news to get out, so after ascertaining that the messenger hadn’t told anyone else, King Ragnar strangled the man. Right there.

Additionally, Porunn had her baby—a beautiful girl whom Björn named Siggy. There were a few other ideas that were tossed around on Twitter, but I think Siggy is a worthy name. In the culture of the Northmen, the acceptance of a child hinged upon its father, so that Björn immediately did so was a relief to Porunn.

Who may or may not have called Björn her husband. Which would mean that a lot happened we didn’t get to see.

We also didn’t see Aslaug with a baby or a bump. So I guess The Wanderer didn’t get her pregnant…? That totally surprised me.

L: When I joined, Aslaug was having a nightmare about Siggy’s death. Ragnar watches her coldly as she jerks awake with a gasp. He tells her she could have slept with Harbard right in front of the children, for all he cared, as long as she was taking proper care of them. Aslaug is heart-struck, and she attacks him with slaps. Ragnar smirks as she draws away, stung by his indifference, and tells her to have sweet dreams.

S: Yeah. Ragnar isn’t all that keen on Aslaug at present. Still, her position is secure in that she has borne him sons and runs his household while he’s away. I am sorry she’s so unhappy. She wanted more and now even Siggy, her best friend, has been taken from her.​

Image from http://www.worldhistoryplus.com/worldhistorypictures/8/3%5BUK%5DA.jpg

S: You are right on with that, there. The penalties in Wessex in this time focused on a wergild that would be paid from the male perpetrator to the cuckolded husband. The penalty for a woman wasn’t even stipulated in my research.

L: Judith is sentenced to have her ears and nose chopped off…. unless she named the man who impregnated her. She screamed in terror and agony as one of her ears was sliced off. She couldn’t take it – she broke and shouted Athelstan’s name. Ecbert’s eyes widened in alarm and he quickly grabbed his son. He said that Athelstan was a holy man, and it must have been God’s plan this should happen. And, besides, there are larger issues at play. The child, he decrees, will be baptized and named Alfred.

S: King Ecbert’s behavior here was, to me, very odd. The No Ship Network, whose thoughtful podcasts on this show have been filled with great insights, called Ecbert “Cream of Wheat”, because he’s so smooth and all. I look forward to hearing if they’ve changed his nickname.

L: It seems he’s going to be the historical figure Alfred the Great, though history records his mother as being a different wife of Athelwulf.

S: Well, I can kind of see that happening, if his mother were in disgrace.

I want to take a minute here and discuss the preparations for the invasion of Paris. I love how Ragnar and Athelstan employed their version of the sand table to highlight key obstacles, routes, and strategies for the proposed invasion of this city. Paris is impregnable, Athelstan says. Not something Ragnar wants to hear.

L: Athelstan, in his room, is enraptured by a beam of light. He plays with his fingers in the glow, and is suddenly stricken by a vision. He arises re-invigorated in his faith. He goes to the ​fjørd and throws his torc into the water. He tells Ragnar that he is now a Christian again, and has renounced the Northmen’s gods. He offers to leave Kattegat, and Ragnar is agonized by the idea. He tells Athelstan he can’t leave him – he loves him.

S: I think that, for Athelstan’s character arc, this was a necessary step. He was a man of strong faith, years ago, but his life experiences have had him divided in his loyalties for a long time. Here, he reclaims what I think is the purity of his faith and doesn’t count the cost to him. He cares only that he is back where he belongs.

Throwing away the torc, though, was a bad move. It was disrespectful and left him—and through him, Ragnar—open to hostility and criticism.

Still the scene where the two men confront this schism is wonderful. There is devotion and confidence between the two men, and Ragnar plainly expresses how valued Athelstan is. This is one of the key relationships in the entire show and I am wondering what will happen now.​

​L: Floki has seen Athelstan cast off his torc. He retrieves it from the water and tells ​Björn about it. Actually, it seems he tells everyone about it, because when Athelstan walks into the hall, it falls silent and he is given hostile stares. Rollo grabs his arm and demands to know where his armband is. Ragnar escorts him away, breaking the tension, but it was a bad moment.

S: It goes to show that Ragnar’s loyalty is to Athelstan his friend, without regarding their different faiths.​

L: Kalf has arrived with the princeling and Horik’s widow. The prince has brought with him ships and warriors to help with the raid on Paris, and so Ragnar welcomes them with open arms. Lagertha is not as pleased. Those are HER ships. Kalf meets up with Lagertha in the hall, and insinuates that their fates are joined. She should marry him if she wants to get her stuff back, it seems.

S: This whole thing makes me nervous. Lagertha does not back down, but she is seeming to let the usurpation of her earldom slide for the time being. She doesn’t trust Kalf, but he’s still coming on to her. I kinda hope she manages to have him, oh, meet an unfortunate end in battle. ​

L: Björn tries to coax Porunn into his bed, but she rejects him and tells him to go enjoy the favors of other women, indicating an elvin blonde Viking woman. Miss Big Eyes tells ​Björn she’s going with her husband on the raid to Paris – not because she simply doesn’t want to be left at home, but because she’s a VIKING. ​Björn meets up with her on the beach a bit later and they have a passionate embrace. Björn refers to Porunn as his wife at this juncture, so I am going to call that a confirmation that there was indeed a wedding between episodes five and six.

S: Porunn is having serious body confidence issues, I’m thinking. Sounds like she and her man haven’t been intimate for a long time. He obviously wants her, but she is adamantly refusing. That she wants to act as something of a procurer for him surprised me. ​

And is it just me or does Miss Big Eyes remind anyone else of Helga? (LATE ADDITION: Per @duncanpowers on twitter, the women who play Helga and Torvi (Miss Big Eyes) are sisters in real life!)

L: Floki is carving ship prows when he has a vision of one bleeding. He starts to run off and Helga stops him. I was a bit disturbed by this scene, because I never imagined Floki would harm his beloved Helga, but he grabs her by the throat and squeezes as she gasps. He finally releases her, and she says that there is someone he needs to hurt.

S: Last time we saw blood, there was the sacrifice of the cow in front of the Christians. This time, we see it in a vision and one has to know that this means another sacrifice. As Floki said last week, the gods bring life and death. ​I was really surprised how violent Floki got, though, with Helga. He apologized after a fashion, but was clearly enveloped in his urgent need to carry out what he perceived as his mission.

L: And then it happens. Honestly, I’m still so stunned by this turn of events that I don’t really know how to describe it.

S: You were not the only one, last night. Even those who knew about Athelstan’s planned ​departure from the series, were stunned.

L: Athelstan is praying in his room, anointing himself with oil as he kneels, nude, before the cross. He sings a hymn, and when he finishes, he looks up with a sweet, beatific smile. “Floki,” he says in a gentle voice, a stark contrast to the fierce fury in Floki’s tear-filled eyes. Athelstan commends his spirit to God, and then Floki strikes. Athelstan falls, and Floki anoints himself with Athelstan’s blood, just as the priest had anointed himself with oils only moments before.

S: I don’t know that he was nude. Looked like he was wearing a loincloth. From behind, it appeared as if it were made after the images of Christ on the cross.

What struck me most was how abrupt and final that was. It worked, but we didn’t get a confirmation of “He’s dead” or anything from Floki. Though, I didn’t seen Athelstan’s chest move so I imagined that was a fatal blow.

L: I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t. I was trying to figure out ways it could be untrue even as we watched Ragnar lugging Athelstan’s body up the hill to bury him at the spot where the two of them recited the Lord’s Prayer last season. It was, as Ragnar said, the closest he could get Athelstan to his god.

S: It took Ragnar’s words to confirm it for me, too.​

L: He weeps as he speaks to Athelstan’s grave. ‘How could you leave me when we have so much more to talk about?” Later, he slices his flesh at the creek, dripping his blood into the water as he dons Athelstan’s cross. “Forgive me for what I am about to do.”

S: When Ragnar shaved his head, I figured it had a dual purpose. One, it was a sign of mourning. Two, it would have had a cleansing effect. Like he was ready to start something new. Why did he choose to wear Athelstan’s rather elaborate cross? What purpose will it serve?

And why did he feel the need to ask for forgiveness about it? I imagine we’ll find the answers in Paris. Ragnar always has a plan.

And that’s a wrap this week! If you have questions or comments, let me know and I’ll get right on them. :) Predictions for the rest of the season? I’d love to know what they are. Only five more episodes to go! Next week: Paris.

Heill þú farir, heill þú aftr komir, heill þú á sinnum sér!

Hale go forth, hale return, hale on your ways!         – Vafþrúðnismál 4

This and all images from Vikings are the property of the History Channel. I use them only for illustrations regarding their show.

I am missing my cohort as I type this. Historical fiction author Lissa Bryan, who wrote the wonderful Tudor love story, Under These Restless Skies, is a brilliant researcher. But, alas, she didn’t make it to Paris last night, so I’m on my own today. Next week, she’ll be here!

I’d also like to encourage my readers to check out the podcast done for last week’s episode by The Wild Hunt of the No Ship Network. They do a podcast for every VIKINGS episode and their insights are keen and broad. Also, they include interesting cultural references that I’ve found entertaining.

On to the show!

Last week, in episode six, there was nonstop action, beginning even before the first commercial on my end, which culminated with the murder of Athelstan. This week, things were all about preparation.

This struck me as particularly apt, as there is a great deal of preparation to be done before any major military undertaking. This whole season, as I see it, has been about undergirding Ragnar and those who look to him to ready him for the invasion of Paris. There has also been a great deal of politicking in Wessex and Mercia that has occupied the fans of this show and this has not abated.

The episode begins with a seeming face-off between Ragnar and Floki. At this juncture, we have no idea if Ragnar knows that Floki was the one who killed Athelstan, but as it appears the men are playing a sort of mental chess game, I imagined that Ragnar does indeed suspect Floki’s guilt.

Of course, Floki would not acknowledge any guilt. As he tells Helga later, he performed a needed sacrifice and he’s not unhappy about that at all.

The silhouette of a well fortified Paris looms in the background and next thing we know, we’re in the court of the Emperor Charles of France. He’s known in history to be steadfast against the Northern Invaders, insisting on fortifications to be erected, among other things. When Charles is advised by the iron-handed Count Odo to leave the city for his own safety, he refuses.

He is no doubt at least partially influenced by his daughter, the Princess Gisla. Now, here is a woman with a backbone. I look forward to seeing great things from her in future episodes. She is dignified, proud, and seems fearless as she confronts the men of power in her sphere. Is she the Princess who has been prophesied by the Seer to wed the Bear? I believe so.

Back at the Viking encampment, Floki—looking a bit wild and electrified—and Ragnar have a little chat. Ragnar doesn’t confront his old friend on the Athelstan issue, but he does decide to make Floki the leader of battle for the invasion. Which visibly freaks the shipbuilder out, but he steps up to the task. Everyone else, as they meet around the planning table, is also rather unnerved at Floki’s appointment. (To say nothing of the Game of Thrones-type chair in which he sits.) Lagertha and Rollo impress me with their decisiveness, while Jarl Kalf (I still call him the Kalfling) seems to continually encroach upon Lagertha’s space. Björn and Rollo together make up the best part of the battle plans, after which Rollo looks to Floki—who has been squirming uncomfortably in his chair—and tells him to build whatever was necessary.

Floki agrees. Let’s face it, we all know who was really in charge of that meeting, don’t we? Aside from Ragnar who roamed behind the seated participants, watching carefully with an intrigued light in his eye.

Back in Wessex, King Ecbert is unmanning his son, Aethelwulf. Now, I’m not a fan of the prince, but he’s been given a bit of a raw deal. Ecbert has clearly expected his son to acknowledge—despite a public declaration of cuckoldry—his wife’s son by Athelstan: Alfred. And Ecbert is asking Aethelwulf about his wife’s opinions regarding King Aelle (her father) to see if Ecbert would cause a massive row if he were to seek to overthrow the other king. In addition, there is talk of disenfranchising Princess, er, Queen Kwethrith of Mercia!

King Ecbert is showing himself to be an ambitious, corrupt man who looks smooth and persuasive but is actually quite heartless, no matter how soft his words are. He sends Aethelwulf to see Kwenthrith as a warning, no matter that many Wessex nobles have perished at her hand.

And while Aethelfwulf is obeying his father? Ecbert is applying the same academic seduction techniques he was using early on with Athelstan – with his focus now being his daughter-in-law, Judith.

I saw this coming weeks ago. He kissed Judith, who was trapped, really. Judith is in a really bad place for her own peace of mind, I think. Now that she has proven herself unfaithful toward her spouse, and now that King Ecbert has promised (like anyone can believe a promise of his?) to protect her, she is unable to leave. She’s married. She has position – but everyone knows what she’s done. She’s disfigured. And if her lord and king and father-in-law puts the moves on her, how can she say no? A truly untenable position and I am worried for her.

Let’s peek in at Kattegat. Porunn—also disfigured this season—tries to give her daughter, Björn’s daughter, to Aslaug to raise. We have no clear idea as to why, except that Porunn seems to feel ill-equipped to raise the girl as a Viking. Jill on Facebook said:

I think Porrun has some PTSD or brain damage from her head injuries… I felt horrible for her, but at the same time wanted to shake her!

I fear for Porunn if she were to relinquish care of her daughter. She might do herself further injury, run, or worse.

Aslaug, though, stepped up and imparted wisdom to her stepdaughter-in-law and managed to keep Porunn with her and to engage the younger woman to keep her child for the time being. The domestic sphere is Aslaug’s and she inhabits it well.

Floki finally tells Helga that he killed Athelstan. He does this while gripped in a passionate frenzy of faith in himself and his gods, and Helga listens to him as she always has, but there is a hesitancy in her expression, now. Her husband has hurt her and she won’t forget that, though she forgives. But when he grabs her face, her concern is clear. And when he confesses, she breaks from him and runs. We never find out what happened with her after that, but I am very curious. Will she keep this knowledge to herself? Will she run to Ragnar?

We go back then to Mercia, where Aethelwulf is finally in a meeting with Kwenthrith. She tries to seduce him, but he prays audibly to be delivered from temptation and…she leaves him. In the morning, though, she threatens him with death. He, with a show of his own spine, defies the naked blades at this throat and reminds her that she is in the inferior position, no matter that she waves Ragnar’s supposed son in his face. Ragnar is said to have had many children—far more than we have yet seen in this series—but none of them are named Magnus.

In France, Princess Gisla meets with Count Odo and he reminds her he has offered for her hand. She still isn’t accepting it, though she does say she’d be in his debt if he managed to save Paris. She herself goes masked to Mass, which would seem to indicate she was not expected to be there. But it also shows the strength of her faith and, when she takes off her mask, that she wants others to know she was there, praying for her people, the night before the Vikings were due to invade.

For of course they’d been seen that day. Approaching the seaward wall in the longships, Rollo and his crews were attacked by ready crossbowmen. The power of the crossbow is what made it a superior weapon in many ways to the longbow. The bolts from a crossbow could pierce armor and shields where a regular arrow might not, so much power went into the firing of them. Still, it seemed that Rollo and the men came through that well enough.

Well enough that he was able, back on shore with his men, to engage in a fight. Where, yes, fangirls, he fought shirtless once again. His hair, though, had been wrapped into a semblance of a flat bun on the back of his head. This would keep it out of enemy hands during a battle.

As the episode concluded, Floki himself was with the main cast on a ridge overlooking Paris. He led a battle cry and the people took it up, shouting into the torchlit night. It seems that, at last, Paris will be invaded next week.

Now, I know that without Lissa I’ve missed a bunch of stuff, so if you have anything you’d like to discuss about this episode, let me know! See you next week!

Heill þú farir, heill þú aftr komir, heill þú á sinnum sér!

Hale go forth, hale return, hale on your ways!         – Vafþrúðnismál 4

(If there are formatting issues, I will see to them when I am back in my usual abode with my usual wi-fi. Thank you for your patience!)

By elithanathile on Tumblr

The Shieldmaidens of History (Protecting the Innocent from Anachronisms) welcome you back to our review series on the History Channel show Vikings. 

Historical fiction author Sandi Layne is with me again to discuss the historical aspects of the show. Sandi has written her own series on Vikings, both well-written and carefully researched. (You can read my review of the third book in the trilogy, Éire’s Devil King, here.)

Lissa: Ah, raiding Paris. Good times! I once raided Paris, but I didn’t bring an axe or do much conquering. I drank too much champagne and swam in the Seine, though.

Sandi: So…you went inSeine, eh? Sorry. I had to. I have never raided Paris, but I’ve been to Lake Perris in Riverside, California. I don’t think that counts. But! Boats were involved. ..

Courtesy of history-vikings on Tumblr

Lissa: Floki’s floating siege towers were a marvel, but the Parisians are fierce defenders of their city walls.

Courtesy of easy-company on Tumblr

Sandi: Fierce on both counts, Lissa. Floki might be having a rough time right now, but he proved that Rollo’s decision to have him in charge of making things to make the invasion happen was the right one. Floki performed brilliantly. And the Parisians defended brilliantly as well. Their crossbows were wickedly effective.

Lissa: After barring the gates, they use archers and boiling oil to repel the Viking advance. We were both a little skeptical about the usage of oil, especially when it instantly burst into flame when hit by a burning arrow. They didn’t have petroleum oils at the time, and most oils from plants won’t instantly burst into flame when merely touched by a burning arrow. They will burn, but it takes a bit more coaxing than that, and usually a tinder source for a wicking effect.

I did a quick search and I found a mention of incendiary oil being used in the 12th century (a mixture of cannabis, nut, and flax oils) but as I noted during the episode oil was a very expensive item to use during a battle. Boiling water works just as well to injure/disable troops scaling the walls, and is easier to heat.

Sandi: They might have been thinking of the legendary Greek Fire which was basically burning naphtha. Which has largely been a term used for crude oil. It’s been around for perhaps two thousand years (Ancient Greece!) but it requires distillation. Boiling water would have been far more predictable to use, less dangerous to those who were using it, and also easier by far to acquire.

Lissa: Gisla sets out to inspire the troops defending Paris. She gathers up a scarlet banner embroidered with a burning flame and hurries it to the bishop praying in the cathedral. It’s the banner of St. Denis, she explains, and if he blesses it, it will rally the troops and give them the strength to overcome their enemies.

Courtesy of easy-company on Tumblr

Sandi: The belief in symbols at this time is huge. Today, we might be more inspired by a living hero rather than a dead one, but then, just a banner that was rumored to have a saint’s blood on it was hugely empowering to the people.

Lissa: The real banner of St. Denis (the oriflamme) first makes its appearance in the 11th century, so it’s a bit anachronistic. There is a mention of a scarlet or saffron-colored banner being used at the battle, but it doesn’t seem that it was the same as the oriflamme. However, holy relics were of deep importance to early Christians. According to a monk who wrote about the Viking siege of Paris, the relics of Sainte Geneviève were brought into the cathedral for safekeeping during the battle, and it was those holy relics which rallied the troops.

Sandi: We read of Chaucer, centuries later, who mocked the men who would sell supposed relics to common people. They were taken advantage of because of their beliefs. It goes to show, though, that the beliefs were very real and the faith in relics lasted for hundreds of years. Today, they are still revered by many, though not in the same Defend the City! kind of way.

Funny, you should say that Princess…that’s actually the #Vikings way! pic.twitter.com/J1NVecH3c1

— Vikings on HISTORY (@HistoryVikings) April 10, 2015

Lissa: I mentioned I had a bit of a nerd-gasm at the scenes in the cathedral. There were no pews, which I though was one of those lovely little Easter eggs that Michael Hirst inserts just so he can watch us geeks squeal during the episode.

Sandi: The cathedral scene was well done. Not too many cathedrals in the ninth century, so I am guessing that the church they were in was the Basilica of Saint Denis, which was built in its original form in the 7th Century. No seats! It was perfect. Yes, we have our nerd-gasms and they’re wonderful.

Lissa: Gisla goes out and gives a stirring speech to the men on the ramparts, hoisting the banner high. The whole scene is strongly reminiscent of Jehanne D’Arc, who also used holy banners to rally her troops for battle against the English. She urges them to fight to the death to defend their city.

I also appreciated that she felt empowered enough to stand in plain sight, without armor or weapons. That took courage and faith, I think.

Gisla watchin’ Rollo Courtesy of vikings-shieldmaiden on Tumblr

Lissa: The Vikings break through the gates and Lagertha is with the men making the initial charge, but Kalf grabs her by the shoulder and tells her to wait. When she tries to break away from him, he slugs her in the chin, and drags her dazed form back from the front lines. Turns out he was right… The Parisians launch bolts and arrows, taking down a good number of the Vikings.

Courtesy of history-vikings on Tumblr

Sandi: Now, I don’t know about you, but I was really surprised by this turn of events. We know that Kalf has a thing for his former leader, but when he usurped her earldom, that would have seemed to have taken priority. Still, he’s clearly in pursuit of her, to some degree, and she hadn’t yet had him neutralized. The woman has patience. It was good to know that Kalf was indeed acting on her behalf at this juncture, rather than his own. At least, I hope he was!

Lissa: In the fray, Björn  is injured, and so is his father. But Ragnar manages to drag Björn back to safety and his wounds are tended in one of those lovingly filmed scenes with lush cinematography.
Seriously, I don’t know how they make these bloody scenes look so gorgeous, but gosh, they do.

In every battle blood must be shed. #Vikings pic.twitter.com/rRYGuPIfhg
— Vikings on HISTORY (@HistoryVikings) April 10, 2015

Sandi: The lighting and everything are perfect, here. I so appreciate the filmmakers’ skill. How to make a dim, close room totally accessible yet still feel right? They do it every time.

Lissa: The siege towers are burning, and the Viking dead are piling up around the walls. Floki has a meltdown in the midst of the fray, retreating under a burning tower to pray. He can’t understand why the plan he lovingly crafted has gone awry. Have the gods forsaken them? Was it his sin which caused them to abandon the Vikings?

Courtesy of pantherpause on Tumblr

Sandi: What struck me was that he was STILL blaming Athelstan! Floki did seem to rather lose it here, for a bit.

Lissa: My friend Jill Peterson wondered if perhaps Ragnar had placed Floki in charge of the battle itself knowing the losses would be high and it might shake some of Floki’s faith that his actions are especially blessed by the gods. The look Ragnar gave Floki as he retreated under the siege tower seemed significant. Confidence and faith are good – fanatical arrogance is not.

Courtesy of its-blee on Tumblr

Sandi: I think that’s an excellent observation!

Lissa: As the battle cools, he wades out into the Seine and gets himself a healthy, heaping dose of hypothermia. As he shivers in the water, he sees Helga wade out to him. She tells him, in no uncertain terms, “It’s not always about YOU, Floki.” She leaves him sobbing in the water, afraid he has lost her.

Courtesy of pantherpause on Tumblr

Sandi: Oh, also we have the sense that Helga is not accepting of the murder/sacrifice her husband committed in slaying Athelstan. She was appalled when he told her and she still seems to hold it against him. Her rejection of his entreaties left him devastated.

Lissa: In Kattegat, we see Porunn standing on a hill above the village. She looks back one last time before walking away. As we discussed last night, I don’t really understand her motivations. She’s a Viking. She knows the price of battle, and she earned her scars in honorable combat. But perhaps, as you said, she romanticized being a warrior, and the price has been too much for her to bear.

Courtesy of easy-company on Tumblr

Sandi: Porunn was fine for a concubine for the son of a king, but she was not wife material for a young man of his standing at that point in time. Marriages were arranged for the betterment of families, lands, and finances. I feel bad for Porunn, and it’s terrible that she abandoned her child—albeit to Queen Aslaug, who has proven herself to (mostly!) be a fine mother (who might appreciate a daughter amidst all her sons)— and I wonder how Björn will react to that.

Lissa: In her lodgings, Lagertha is bathing her scratches when Kalf comes in. He tells her how much he desires her as he takes the cloth from her hand and runs it over her skin. Lagertha responds to the caress, even as she tells him how much she resents the fact he stole her earldom from her. She tells him she will enjoy the pleasures of the flesh with him, but she will kill him one day. If he’s okay with that, they can proceed.

Courtesy of canislupusalces on Tumblr

Kalf either doesn’t think she’s serious about the “you are a dead man” comment or he is willing to pay with his life for time in the furs with her, because he takes her into his arms.

Oh my stars and garters! Gah! #LAGERTHA NOOOOO! The fic! THINK OF THE FIC! #VIKINGS

— Lissa Bryan (@LissaBryan) April 10, 2015

Sandi: This scene completely surprised me. Maybe it shouldn’t have, but it did. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Lissa: Ragnar makes his way in to visit his injured son. He’s hurting a bit himself, having fallen from one of the towers and hitting every single obstacle he could on the way down.

#SEER‘s next prediciton: “I see #RAGNAR visiting the chiropractor with some regularity…” #VIKINGS
— Lissa Bryan (@LissaBryan) April 10, 2015

Björn asks him what he intends to do about the siege, and Ragnar says he has to talk to an old friend about it first.

Sandi: I was really impressed with Ragnar when he was speaking with his son. So often, we see Ragnar as either the fond father of small children or the harsh father of his adult son, but here? He did just right, I think. He treated Björn as an equal, or near enough, and neither patronized nor criticized. He supported and confided, to a degree. Well played, all.

Lissa: When he scoffed at Rollo saying Björn should never have been allowed to climb the siege tower, I sensed a shift in their relationship. “He is a man. Treat him like one.” Björn, it seems, has finally “grown up” in his father’s eyes, and now he will treat him as an equal, not a child. It remains to be seen, however, as to whether his jealousy over Björn’s superior destiny will rear its ugly head once more.

He goes outside and sits on the forest floor, looking up at the sky as he speaks to … Athelstan.

Courtesy of its-blee on Tumblr

Sandi:  I so appreciate that Athelstan hasn’t been forgotten. Ragnar truly did seem to be confiding to his friend, even about his concerns regarding Floki.

“I’d worry less about the gods and more about the fury of the patient man.” – RAGNAR. How badly is he injured, @LissaBryan #VIKINGS

— Sandi Layne (@sandyquill) April 10, 2015

Lissa: I’m still not over the loss of the Tiny Viking. :(

Sandi: Me either. But what a marvelous character he was and continues to be!

Thanks for joining us! Tune in next THORSday for another episode!

Hale go forth, hale return, hale on your ways! – Vafþrúðnismál 4

This and all images from Vikings are the property of the History Channel. I use them only for illustrations regarding their show.

The Shieldmaidens of History (Protecting the Innocent from Anachronisms) welcome you back to our review series on the History Channel show Vikings. 

As this season is ALMOST OVER, I continue in appreciation for my cohort in awesome: Lissa Bryan, author of the wonderful Tudor love story, Under These Reckless Skies. Her comments are below in blue.

Also, dash over to The Wild Hunt on the No Ship Network for their excellent podcasts! They are three knowledgeable folk who bring historical and philosophical backgrounds to their commentary, as well as well-reasoned predictions.

Lissa: Did you enjoy watching Lagertha go all Navy Seal like I did?

Sandi: That was pretty darn awesome, seeing the Shield Maidens go all Navy Seal, yes. Was it an entirely feminine force? If so, I wonder why? Smaller? Better swimmers? I have no idea.​

L: I would guess it was because they were more stealthy. The Viking men are great at “berserker” type attacks, but they’re a bit… lumbering. Lagertha and her girls are more fleet of foot. And if a man turns and sees a woman’s face, he might hesitate just an instant, giving them the advantage.

SagaThing on twitter said, “The Age of the #Vikings kicked off with the Lindisfarne raid of 793,but the siege of Paris proved no European near navigable water was safe.”

L: Ragnar is still suffering serious debilitation from his injuries. He’s urinating blood, and coughing it up, too.

S: We discussed whether this was plague related or due to his injuries. The blood in the urine would indicate an injury, but there are historical notes that indicate Ragnar came home from Paris with dysentery. Dysentery doesn’t usually lead to the kind of bleeding we saw, but I just thought I’d note that, here.​

L: They decide to try a stealth attack at night, and Lagertha and her shield maidens lead the way. They head in, swimming across the river to slip into the city under cover of night. From shadow to shadow, they flit on silent feet, reaching deeper into the castle. They slit the throats of the guards who are atop the walls, inexplicably still wearing their battle helmets at night, and thus suffering from limited peripheral vision.

S: The Northmen did wear helmets on occasion, but not nearly so often as the City Dwellers of this time. And though the fortified cities were not often conquered, they did wind up paying the Northmen a great deal to be left in peace for a season or two. So…did the helmets help or not? ​

L: When the alarm is raised, a pot of that incendiary oil is dropped on one of the women warriors. They must keep it boiling at all hours, which as you noted is a huge investment in fuel and effort… But I digress.

S: Should we add this to the Boot Sole file? ;-)

L: Lagertha lights it on fire and it burns away the doors. They kick down the weakened panels to admit Rollo and a team of Viking men who rush in, axes swinging.

S: ​I’ll get you to write a Viking novel yet, Lissa!​

L: Count Odo orders the release of some weird spiked Barrel of Doom, which rolls down a ramp into the Viking horde… well, actually into the Frankish troops. But still, it was kind of a neat idea.

S: We were not the only people who tweeted a shout out to the Indiana Jones franchise. I did a quick bit of research and was unable to find anything of this sort that was made in the 9th Century, which is when this show is taking place. There are, however, many spiked weapons used for hand to hand combat that were wicked.​

L: Of course, once the spikes get all clogged with guts, it becomes sort of useless. But still, quite wicked looking. I can’t really call it anachronistic, because I don’t know of any time period in which that sort of thing was considered a practical weapon. It strikes me more along the lines of those things Leonardo Da Vinci sketched for the French king, who nodded and said, “Yeah, sounds really cool,” but never actually got around to building.

S: I could totally see that.​

L: Gisla passes out knives to the women of the castle, telling them that the barbarians are breaching the city and they mustn’t be taken alive… Then she goes downstairs to watch the battle from the distance of a few feet. Perhaps someone let her know that Rollo was fighting with his shirt off again.

S: My goodness, Lissa, do I hear a sneer in your words? ​I think what Gisla is trying to do is provide motivation for her people to keep fighting, even against such frightening invaders as the Northmen.

L: Yeah, maybe a bit. “Use this blade for suicide. No, don’t stress your pretty little heads with the idea of trying to defend yourselves. Just kill yourself on the spot.” What a thing to lay on a girl! Yes, being a captive could be awful, but to give the women only the option of death if the “barbarians” broke through the lines isn’t exactly inspiring much hope.  

Count Odo goes into the chapel where the king is praying and begs him to go down to the battle. The king tries to demur, but Odo insists it will inspire the troops. “I am not my grandfather; I am not Charlemagne,” the king says. Truer words were rarely spoken.

S: Very true indeed. And his reluctance to put on the proper face of the ruler is duly noted. His own daughter understands these leadership functions better than he does.​

L: Back at the Camp, Ragnar sees Athelstan come to him, bathed in an eerie light. He smiles and extends a hand to Ragnar. We see Ragnar curled on the ground in a fetal position, lying in a pool of brilliant red blood.

S: To me, this said a couple of things. One, that it was an image of being born again – something Athelstan would of course be in favor of – as well as a violent death from some kind of intestinal or internal problem, due to the way Ragnar was huddled over himself.​ Seeing Athelstan was good, and it gives some ambiguity about Ragnar’s actions later in the episode.

L: One of the Vikings was captured – he was the man Ragnar showed to Athelstan, the one who could speak the language of the Franks. He pleads to act as a liaison and his life is spared. Odo asks him about the “bear-like” Viking man who stopped the Rolling Spike Barrel of Doom.

S: The informant/linguist/crossdresser (not judging, just making an observation) ​seemed to be ill at ease both with the French and the Northmen. I am in hopes that he will be better treated with Ragnar’s people, though, since he wasn’t actually brought in bound.

L: In Wessex, Ecbert speaks to Judith and tells her he can protect her.

S: That miserable excuse for a poetic seduction was just…ew.​

L: He knows what his son is capable of. But there must be “recompense” for his protection. Judith goes to his chamber that night, and Ecbert does a bit of poetic hemming-and-hawing before getting right down to business and telling her he wants Judith as his mistress. She asks him if he will protect her little Albert. Ecbert tells her to get into the bed, which isn’t really an answer, but Judith obeys.

S: SagaThing on twitter said, here: Well, that at least is historically accurate–Judith was indeed married to father & son kings of Wessex!​

What I’m seeing is that Ecbert will perhaps protect Alfred — who grows up to be The Great and all—but there are no promises for Judith. Indeed, he humiliates her and his own son, later.

Cap from vikings-shieldmaiden on Tumblr

L: His son comes home soon after and tells his father he was successful in his mission in Mercia. He didn’t fall victim to the seductive wiles of Kwenthrith. Ecbert praises his piety and chastity and asks Judith if she’s grateful as well. Judith replies that she is, but wouldn’t be so hypocritical as to say so. Athelwulf tells her that he now sees that Judith’s affair with Athelstan was God’s will. He has to ask his father, though… was it part of his father’s plan that Kwenthrith should kill him?

S: I was very much in favor of this question last night. Ecbert is unscrupulous, playing everyone off everyone. And have you noticed, he’s become less “polished” around the edges in the last few episodes? I don’t know if that’s purposeful or not, but it’s working for me.​

L: Ecbert reacts with wide-eyed horror at the suggestion, and says his intention is to leave his throne peacefully to his son, something that has not yet been accomplished in history, and not only the throne of Wessex, but the throne of “England.” Which wasn’t really a concrete concept yet. Given Ecbert’s Roman preocupation, he probably would have referred to the island as “Albion.”

S: Indeed, Ecbert is way overreaching in even bringing up leaving “the throne of England” to anyone. Powerful kings (and queens!) are still forces with which to be reckoned all over the island. Not only Queen Kwethrith the Poisoner and Fratricide of Mercia, but also King Aelle ​of East Anglia. There were also the kingdoms of Essex, Sussex, Kent, and Northumbria. This doesn’t even count Wales or the kingdoms of what is now Scotland.

L: In Kattegat, Aslaug has a problem brought to her in the great hall. A Christian man has insulted the Norse gods. He explains to her that the Norse gods are false as the crowd jeers at him and pelts him with rocks. Aslaug proposes that he demonstrate the power of his god, and the man agrees. The next day, he is given a red-hot iron to carry across the grounds. The man first envisions himself crossing the expanse with a beatific smile on his face as it glows in his palms, and dropping it at Aslaug’s feet to lift unblemished hands to the sky. Real life sees him screaming in agony as the metal burns his tender flesh. He only makes it a few feet before he has to drop it. His hands are a bloody mess. Afterward, Aslaug is asked what they should do with him, and she says in a cool, impassive tone to kill him.

Gif from charlesvvane on Tumblr.

S: I am not sure why this particular scene was brought into the episode, to be honest. The life of a Christian missionary to the lands of the North was harsh and often ended in martyrdom for the missionary. I will be interested in knowing if what happened here is reflected in what happens in the season finale next week. Otherwise, it seems to have been included just to make sure Aslaug gets her moment.​

L: Back in Paris, Odo suggests to the king that they should offer treasure to the Vikings to get them to lift the siege, because things are getting bad inside Paris. The people are falling ill and they’re swiftly running out of food.

Plague often broke out during sieges. Sanitation was pretty much limited to “dump your pot in the street,” and with so many people crowded together, water supplies were bound to get contaminated. Secondly, scarcity of food brought in rats and mice, and their fleas carried all sorts of nasty illnesses.

S: The images of the aristocracy wading through the clusters of plague victims was well-done. Gisla in particular looked squicked out. Still, they did make themselves visible. Again, that leadership function thing.

L: Gisla doesn’t want to treat with the barbarians, but the king eventually agrees it’s a good idea. Ironically, she’s of the same opinion as Björn, Floki, Rollo, and Lagertha – they think the city is about to fall. Why else would the people be so eager to bribe them to go away? But Ragnar insists on meeting with the king’s men.

S: Ragnar’s attitude is, to me, a bit sad, here. He’s clearly ill/wounded to a dire degree and everyone knows it. Therefore, as was common for centuries, those who were immediately under him in the hierarchy all faced off to see whose word carried the most weight. Who will succeed the leader? Who will be king after this one dies?

Ragnar’s response to this nonverbalized competition is to state—loudly and with far too much emphasis—that he is king. That he’s in charge. That he’s the one who will make the decisions. Thing is, a leader who IS wielding full power doesn’t have to say so. Only the weaker king does.

So, this made me sad. His mortality is showing. :(​

L: At the meeting, he surprises everyone by approaching a priest. He says he’s a dying man and he wants to be baptized immediately so he can go to the Christian heaven when he passes. He splashes right into the nearby Seine, and the priest dutifully performs the ceremony. Floki arrives right at the end and is horrified by what he sees.

S: Ragnar’s wish to “see his friend” will be immediately understood by those closest to him, even if they’re appalled. But is that the real reason for Ragnar’s baptism? The man is a plotter—he always has been.

I am eager to see the finale next week to see if his plots bear fruit. The preview, though, showed me I’ll need to bring a handkerchief with me.​

Thanks for joining us! Tune in next THORSday for the season finale: The Dead. Questions or comments? Let me know! I’ll do my best to answer. :)

Hale go forth, hale return, hale on your ways! – Vafþrúðnismál 4

This and all images from Vikings are the property of the History Channel. I use them only for illustrations regarding their show.

The Shieldmaidens of History (Protecting the Innocent from Anachronisms) welcome you back to our review series on the History Channel show Vikings. 

What a season this has been on Vikings! The History Channel has totally delivered once again as Ragnar & Co. raided Paris. The finale was a fitting end for this year—and a killer tease for next season! My cohort in history geekness, Lissa Bryan, whose Tudor love story Under These Restless Skies is a delight you should read, and I will be sharing our thoughts on this final episode: The Dead. As always, Lissa’s comments are in blue.

Lissa: Wow that was a finale!

Sandi: It really was. A roller coaster of an episode. I was still gasping by the end.​

L: Rollo and Lagertha are talking and they say they can’t believe Ragnar has really become a Christian. “Not in his heart,” Lagertha insists. She points out that Rollo was baptized, but he says the gods protected him from the Christian magic. They won’t protect Ragnar, and it’s all because of Athelstan poisoning Ragnar’s mind. Behind him, the other men grumble. A Christian can never be king of the Vikings.

S: The around-the-camp conversations on this I felt were really authentic sounding. Often, we forget there are many people surrounding protagonists in life as in fiction. Here, Michael Hirst (as he has so often) nailed it with the discontented gossip that skirled around the Viking encampment.​

Credit to knighterrantjr.blogspot.com

L: The Franks deliver the wagon full of treasure to Ragnar’s camp and say that they’ve held up their end of the bargain. It’s time for the Vikings to do the same and leave. After the troops depart, the Viking warriors swarm the cart to start divvying up the loot. I think we both had the same thought at this scene – they wouldn’t have dared been so grabby if Ragnar was there to divide it up in an orderly, fair fashion.

S: Yep. I was rather appalled that someone didn’t think to handle this better, but this early on in the Viking Era, there weren’t a lot of protocols in place, yet. I would have expected fighting and so on, as well. ​

L: Björn goes into his father’s tent to tell him the treasure is there, but Ragnar says he doesn’t care. He looks awful, pale and sweat-soaked, trembling in his cot. He’s dying, he says. He rolls over and clutches at his gold cross and says at least he’ll see Athelstan again.

S: I am firmly convinced that Ragnar is dying at this point. Really, the man’s a mess. He’s been holding on for weeks, but yeah.  I’m still not sure that we’re seeing dysentery, here, as a cause for his debilitation. The symptoms aren’t entirely consistent. ​I believe, too, that his wish to see Athelstan is sincere. However, I’m also sure that his actual thoughts on the matter are more like what we heard when he was alone and burying Athelstan on the hill where they prayed together last season. He said, then, that he was pretty sure the Christian God wouldn’t want to see him. And this, I think, is something to hold on to as the finale unfolds.

L: The king of the Franks is in church, giving thanks for his “victory” over the Vikings.

S: I think he plays this like a politician. And the courtiers appear to eat it up. As well as how they treat Gisla. Which, as I mentioned last night, would give me the willies. I’m not a touchy-feely person.

L: I loved the beautiful set and the air of authenticity, except for the fact Charles is wearing his crown. I don’t know why TV and movies have royalty wearing those things around all day, every day. Boot sole file, as you said. Same thing with Gisla’s hair loose and uncovered, but I’ve given up protesting that one. Actresses want their shiny tresses on display, after all, and those heavy veils are so unbecoming.

S: Yep. We do, on occasion, have to sacrifice historical fitness to drama. But overall, the producers of this show get a lot very, very right. Clive Standen, who plays Rollo, has mentioned the care to use the languages of the time, too. Which I know you and I both geek out over!

Courtesy of history.com

L: Gisla is a little snarky about the so-called victory and says they paid the Vikings to go away. Her father more or less ignores her and says he wishes his grandfather, Charlemagne, could be here to see this glorious day. I will have to search the internet diligently for an eye-roll gif that will appropriately express my emotions at the moment.

S: Politician time again.​ When one cannot produce proof of one’s own awesomeness, one should remind everyone of your awesome antecedents.

L: In the camp, the Vikings are celebrating their newfound riches. Floki sees Helga and tries to talk to her, but Helga is having none of it. She still hasn’t forgiven him for killing Athelstan. She stomps away. It seems their relationship is not going to be repaired this season. She has been so patient and understanding with him, but she has her limits, and it seems Floki has finally crossed them. It will be interesting next year to see if he can find his way back to her after all that has happened.

S: Those who know him best will be of two minds, I’m sure. On the one hand, Floki is known to be in communion with their gods, so his actions might be sanctioned on that score. Many do sympathize with him to a degree. On the other hand, he murdered their king’s best friend. How is that a display of love and loyalty?

So I remind everyone for a final time this season that one saying of the Northmen was that a wise man waits to take his revenge. That was considered praiseworthy. We’ll see what happens next season with this issue.​

L: Ragnar is talking to Björn. He tells him that soon, Björn may find himself in the position of having to assume leadership. But when he does, he needs to make sure he leads with his head, not his heart. Ah, many times over the last three seasons, we’ve seen Ragnar fight that particular battle within himself! He then tells Björn he has a job for him to do – a job that only Björn can do.

S: This is a pretty neat set-up for Ragnar. Björn has long understood that he’s the heir-apparent (as such things go in this time and place) to Ragnar’s leadership. He would have to be vetted and approved and followed by the men, but he’s in a good place for it. To be given a Super Secret Important Job is attractive for such a man, to be sure, no matter what it is that he’s being asked to do. And the viewers don’t know, then, what that job is!

Ragnar is also, as you said, speaking from experience that has nothing whatsoever to do with his own private plotting. He wants his son to be successful—in fact, the Seer has said his sons will be vastly famous—and he is trying to be a good dad in passing along wisdom.

Perhaps he has forgotten the arrogance of young men everywhere. Wisdom is often not appreciated until one has acted without it.​

L: Next, we see Count Odo getting the attentions of a grateful Frankish lady named Therese who is happy he “saved” the city from the invaders. He invites her back to his Red Room of Pain to express her gratitude properly. Seriously … He has cuffs suspended from chains and various whips, which he is happy to explain to her as inflicting varied levels of discomfort. I am surprised he didn’t pull out an NDA and a contract for her on the spot.

S: This really, really puzzled me as to why it was included, here. There was no real resolution to my confusion in this season, either. I am wondering if the #50ShadesofOdo tag will resurface next season. Was this all about titillation for the audience or is there a secret history of this man somewhere? Is the Therese here also the Theodrate de Troyes who later becomes Mrs. Count Odo? (http://www.geni.com/people/Théodrate-de-Troyes/6000000006727888762)​

L: BDSM takes on a whole different dimension in an era in which a man was encouraged to employ corporal punishment on his wife, doesn’t it? In any case, he indicates that the person he really wants to submit to him is Gisla.

S: That was just wrong. I mean, sure, contracts and safe words (he mentioned it but also said he’d rather not have them – shudder) weren’t in play here, but this was really, really odd. *Note: I have no objection to Safe, Sane, and Consensual, understand. But my impression is that Odo isn’t all that concerned with these things.

Not the Gisla aspect, though. I can totally see him wanting her at his mercy. He’s taken a lot from her. I’m thinking his “playtime” with her would be punitive in nature. ​

L: Helga and Floki speak one last time. She sees him on the beach working and asks him what he’s doing. He says Ragnar has asked him to build one last boat for him.

S: She is here trying to build a bridge back to her husband, however angry she might be. This bodes well for their future, I’d like to think.​

L: It’s been a month, but the Vikings are still camped outside of Paris. The Franks send someone to find out why – Odo the Odious, who else? – and Björn tells him Ragnar is to ill to be moved. Odo asks to see him, and Björn leads Odo in to where Ragnar is lying, ​in even worse shape than we saw him before. Björn tells them that Ragnar’s dying wish is to be given a Christian burial in their cathedral, and they won’t leave until it’s done. Odo agrees, as long as the Viking men accompanying his burial retinue are unarmed.

S: So, what one might wonder here is if the mere notion that The Barbarian King became a Christian was enough to bring down these barriers between the people that they would willingly open their city for the burial. Does this speak to their faith and how protected they feel by it or is this mere expediency? “Give the heathens what they want so they’ll go away?”​

L: The next scenes were hard to watch. Björn tenderly fits a coffin lid over his father’s still form, and then goes outside the tent. Inside, on its bier, the coffin is a beauty. It’s crafted in the shape of a ship, with beautifully shaped planks and a carved prows. There are crosses carved into the lid (I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume Floki didn’t make that part!)

S: Ha! Who else would have carved crosses into it? Would Floki have done it if Ragnar insisted? Maybe he did, remembering the pain Athelstan experiences or something?​

L: As I mentioned last night, Vikings loved to bury their dead in ship-like vessels whenever possible. The very rich or blue-blooded might actually be buried in a ship itself, like the famous Oseberg Ship burial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oseberg_Ship). Those of lesser means tried to replicate it as best they could. The poor might put an outline of stones shaped like a ship around an earthen grave, for example.

S: It really is a gorgeous coffin​. “One final boat” indeed.​

L: The Vikings are gathered around Ragnar’s tent, standing motionless in the cold rain. Lagertha crouches down, her eyes swollen with tears. Björn says to her that she can go inside now.

S: Björn, here, is playing it pretty well. Especially since it’s raining – I think that makes his role easier.​

L: Lagertha touches the coffin and speaks to her dead ex-husband, telling him of all the things she hopes they’ll do together in Valhalla. They’ll live, they’ll drink, they’ll love. Emotion chokes every word. We next see Rollo sitting by his brother’s coffin, his head resting against the wood as he speaks to him, and confesses his life-long jealousy. He feels that the gods always favored Ragnar. But he never thought Ragnar would go first in this regard.

S: These two moved me during their farewell speeches. The passion is still there between Ragnar and Lagertha—it always has been, really. And Rollo, too, is so honest and open. Very casual, though. Sitting as if chatting with his brother. This could be interpreted a couple of ways, I think. One, he feels very close to Ragnar at that moment and is comfortable with being honest and treating a coffin-closure as an everyday conversation without tension. Two, he isn’t too emotional as he’s already planning for a future without his brother. Without feeling lesser than or anything. Hard to say for sure.​

L: Floki enters next. Bitterness coats every word as he spits out angry denunciations of Ragnar for betraying him and the gods. But there is pain there, too.

S: There really is. A very emotional time for him. I can’t help but feel for him, even as I’m still mad about what he did to Athelstan.​

L: Ragnar’s casket is carried by his men into the cathedral, where the nobles of Paris have also gathered for the funeral. Nice of them to show the courtesy, I suppose. Gisla is shooting daggers out of her eyes, and has a look of disgust pursing her features, so I’m assuming her father forced her to attend.

S: I very much appreciated the contrast in processionals, here. Outside, with the Northmen, there was one kind of music, the round shields of their warriors and shield maidens, chanting. Then within the walls, there is an abrupt transfer of theme. Elongated shields with crosses on them, priests replace shield maidens, and there is prayer and incense as they walk through the surprisingly clean streets of Paris. (Come on, we know those streets were just awful with offal at this time period. Unless someone opted to clean?)​

L: The coffin is laid down and censed, and the priest sprinkles it with holy water as he starts the words of the burial mass. Suddenly, the lid flies off and Ragnar pops up, still quite ill, but in the land of the living yet. He had been lying on a pile of weapons, which he distributes to his warriors as the crowd stands there and stares in shock. Ragnar takes a blade and slays the priest as the crowd gasps in shock. He grabs Gisla around the neck and drags her back toward the hallway (where the Rolling Barrel of Doom has apparently been removed.)

S: This. Was. Awesome. Okay, so we knew this was a possibility, right? And SagaThingPod on Twitter said she was thinking Ragnar wasn’t dead yet, too.​

Ragnar could have killed any number of people, but killing the priest (bishop? I’m kind of thinking it was a bishop due to the rank not only of the Frankish king but also of Ragnar) made a statement about where his loyalties actually were. Quite strongly, in fact.

His choice of hostage was brilliant, though Gisla herself seemed less so after her capture.

L: His men open the doors to show the rest of the Viking horde waiting to come in. Ragnar looks back at them and then at the princess squirming in his arms. He releases her and she just stands there, gaping at him. He gives her a “go on, shoo!” motion, but she still stands there, jaw hanging down. He has to give her a hard shove before she starts running back toward the church. After she is out of the way, Björn throws up his arms to signal for the men to storm in and they swarm the city of Paris.

S: Her utter “What??” expression cracked me up. Normally, Gisla is vastly self-possessed and in control. Take her into an unfamiliar environment, she flails, apparently.

Nice coordination between father and son as Björn has the gates opened to the Viking Horde. A spool-free invading force is unleashed!​

L: Ragnar stumbles outside into his son’s arms and collapses to his knees. He seems to have used up the last of his energy with this “Surprise, I’m only MOSTLY dead!” routine.

S: Björn’s job, here, was to wait for his father so he could get the ailing man away, it seems. So he didn’t get to stride in with the invading force.  ​

L: The sack of Paris is a success. The Vikings are loaded with loot. But Lagertha is pretty steamed that Björn let her think the love of her life was dead. Björn tells her and Rollo that he did only as his father – the king – commanded.

S: Oh, yeah. That was good. I can bet that there will be repercussions on that one into next season. Björn is projectile-proof, here. That the ruse worked so well and so many of them were enriched thereby can only make him moreso. And Ragnar’s legend grows.

As if the man himself didn’t plan that!​

L: They decide to head home, and take Ragnar with them, but they’ll come back in the spring. They leave Rollo in charge of a force of Viking warriors to keep up their threatening presence outside of the gates.

S: Okay. There was a moment in here that was a bit odd. Rollo and Björn have a silent eye-conversation while this is being decided. Rollo says he’ll stay and….silence. Then, out of the blue, his nephew agrees and so does everyone else. Björn did, by the way, do a good job of chairing this meeting. He seems to be coming more into his own all the time.​

How will this play out in the future?

L: It made me think of one of those horrid komodo ​dragons that poisons its prey with the bacteria in its bite and then just lies there to wait, watching with pitiless eyes until the critter dies. The citizens of Paris would have to look over the walls at their own doom, knowing there was nothing they could do to chase these merciless invaders away.

S: It was very tense. The Parisians were safe, but under the eye of the Barbarian Horde, so what could they do? And if the Vikings could take ransom money and STILL INVADE (bad form, guys, bad form) then what did this mean regarding the safety of their citizenry?​

L: Inside the church, the Frankish king is slumped on the floor. Gisla tells him to get up because it’s all over now. I said out loud, “Don’t worry, there aren’t any kingly duties for you to fail at right now.” The king looks at the body of the priest in horror and says the cathedral has been desecrated. Gisla isn’t very impressed with the job her father has done, to say the least.

S: ​Is anyone?

L: That night at dinner, her father notes the Viking men still camped outside and realizes it means they’re in for more pillaging in the near future. He says he has decided he must give them something more precious than gold or silver… He’ll give them his daughter in marriage.

S: Did you note the huge appearance of fat tears that spilled onto his cheeks as he said this? Still, the notion was not unheard of. They should both have been thinking it over from the moment they saw there were men of rank among the Northmen.​

L: Gisla throws what can most charitably be called a hissy fit. She says in an impassioned heat that she would kill herself for Paris, but she will not marry one of those barbarians. She claims Odo is behind this, because she refused to marry him.

S: What happened to Miss I-Totally-Own-This, anyway? How old is she, twelve? No. I can’t see an historical princess pulling this stunt in front of her father. In front of her maids, maybe. Because a girl has to vent somewhere.

L: I  joked with you last night that I would have to create a Princess Gisla “I forgot how to princess” meme. She is shocked, shocked that her father didn’t consult her about the marriage.

S: This was brilliant of you, by the way. :)​

L: When the marriage was offered to Rollo, he was given the promise of lands, a title, money, and the hand of the princess. Rollo asked what he’d have to do in return, and he was told he would have to defend Paris against his brother.

We’ve seen in this series that Ragnar and Rollo have no problems making false promises to their enemies. Rollo has had his struggles with Ragnar’s authority in the past. What do you think? Do you think he is giving a false oath in order to gain the keys to the kingdom, which he will hand over to Ragnar, or do you think he has finally been tempted too strongly to resist?

S: I am thinking that Rollo will play it all sincere and his men will back him because they’ve seen how he has supported his brother time and again. Even if Ragnar is dying, there is Björn, and the relationship between uncle and nephew remains intact.

False oath? Rollo? Of course it’s a possibility. History shows us a Rollo who does become a Christian – but history was written by the victors. The dirty truth of the matter might be hidden in bloodied flagstones in a church.

L: Gisla seems surprised to discover that being a princess entails marrying the man your father picks without considering your opinion on the matter. Was this chick dropped in from another movie where a modern American girl discovers that she’s actually royalty? Because she seems to have no idea what royalty has been doing for most of human history. The king reminds her that she has to obey him not only as a father, but also as her emperor.

But it gets worse.

We next see them bringing in Rollo for the wedding, and Gisla stands up and goes on a rant in front of God-and-everyone, insulting Rollo as a “filthy pagan animal.” “I’m a princess of the blood,” she says, “not a cheap whore.” She vows she would rather be burned alive or give her virginity to a dog than allow Rollo to lay a hand on her.

S: I was appalled. No one said anything to her. No one laughed a little and made excuses. And the whole time, Rollo is just watching with that kind of open expression on his face.​

L: Rollo’s response is to say “bonjour” to the emperor and grin.

Sacking the city = Several hundred dead Vikings.Cost of a coffin = Several silver pieces

Dat grin? = Priceless

S: And can we give props to the man for even TRYING to learn Frankish? Just a word or two? It showed a consideration for the lady in question, the option of a Frankish lordship, and the people themselves that no one seems to appreciate. That irked me. Because here, I’m liking Rollo.​

L: The episode ends with Ragnar still clinging to life as he lays on the deck of the ship. He calls softly to Floki and he comes over to crouch down by Ragnar’s side. Ragnar looks him in the eye and says, “I know you killed Athelstan.”

S: What a way to end this season! Like many, I’m sure, I was all bug-eyed with this line and the unusual expression on Floki’s face. A bit hesitant, guarded, but also worried. Ragnar IS his king. And his friend, even yet.

Isn’t he?

An amazing season. Brilliant acting, thrilling writing. A few more items in the Boot Sole file, but we can live with that as long as we get our geek on. :)

 My thanks to: vikinks, vikings-gif, vikings shield maidens, bjornstark, gifchannel, and the official history vikings tumblr accounts, where I found my animated gifs this season for the blog.

My thanks also to The Wild Hunt at the No Ship Network for your references, tweets, and fantastic podcasts!

Looking forward to next year! ​ If you have any questions or comments about the finale or anything else that went on this season, let me know below!

Until Season Four:

Hale go forth, hale return, hale on your ways! – Vafþrúðnismál 4

Heillir! We—Lissa Bryan and Sandi Layne—are two historical fiction authors with a serious thing for Vikings. And for VIKINGS, the amazing series that is going to begin its fourth season on HISTORY CHANNEL.

We are SO excited! So, Warriors and Shieldmaidens all, get your weapons and armor ready, because it’s going to be an amazing season!
RAGNAR LO∂BROK
Ragnar is played by the blue-eyed Travis Fimmel who possesses the character of Ragnar Lo∂brok with intensity.

Courtesy of qveenofwinter on Tumblr

Not active in social media, you can still hear about his behind the scenes antics from his fellow cast members. There is no denying that he keeps Ragnar the moving force in VIKINGS to date.

Ragnar is a complicated character, who has shown real development over the prior three seasons of this show.

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From being an adventurous man with a farm, wife, and two kids, he has found himself in positions of leadership.

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He has loved, lost, fought, won, been betrayed, found an unlikely friend in a Christian slave—Athelstan…

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… only to lose him to his longtime friend, Floki, who killed Athelstan in what he believed was a mission from the gods.

Courtesy of historyvikings on Tumblr

The new King of the Danes has not had an easy time of it.

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The Seer prophesied sons for him, but his beloved Lagertha could only give him one, so Ragnar has married again and sired more sons—sons who would earn more renown than he.

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“The sons of Ragnar Lothbrok will be spoken of as long as men have tongues to speak.”

“They will enjoy that much fame?”

“One of them will marry the daughter of a King. Another will discover and sail around a sea that has no tides. All this and more, have I forseen.”

“Then they will have more fame than I, their father?”

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Still, he perseveres, seeking to expand his influence, gain wealth, explore new lands and people, and somehow enter Valhalla with honor.

Which led him to Paris.

Courtesy of historyvikings on Tumblr

Courtesy of historyvikings on Tumblr

Ragnar’s plan for faking his death and storming Paris from inside went off beautifully, but he was still a very sick and injured man when we saw him last.

Courtesy of historyvikings on Tumblr

As symbolized in the preview, the snakes are closing in. Ragnar has to be able to defend his crown from challengers. As he says in the preview, power is addicting and there are many who would try to take it from him.

I’ll admit, this is one place I’m sort of hoping the TV series deviates from the Sagas, and you know us – always nagging about historical accuracy. But fear is slithering through her heart after seeing the previews…

Courtesy of vikingsinuppsala on Tumblr

(All images from Vikings are the property of the History Channel. I use them only for illustrations regarding their show.)

This and all images from Vikings are the property of the History Channel. I use them only for illustrations regarding their show.

Lissa Bryan, author of the Tudor-era love story, Under These Restless Skies, and I are once again live-tweeting during each episode of this show and discussing it—at some length, as you can see—afterward.

Lissa: Tricksy Hobbitses, these show producers! We soon discovered it was a dream, and Ragnar was approaching the door to Valhalla.

from vikinks on tumblr

Lissa: Aslaug is looking over the loot from the Paris raid, which also includes a cargo of female slaves. She walks down the line of shivering, weeping women and finds a lovely girl of Asian heritage. She grasps the girl’s face in her hands and looks her over with a thoughtful expression.

Sandi: I didn’t see it like that, I guess. I was all irked. He usurped her dominion and then offers her half back? Half? Because they’re sleeping together now? (Until, as Lagertha informed him last season, she decides to kill him…)

from wildfloki on tumblr

Lissa: Helga brings Angrbo∂a to see her father. This had to be such a frightening and confusing experience for the little girl, who likely had no memories whatsoever of her father. And now she’s seeing him filthy and bruised, chained to a stake in the center of town. But she helps to feed her father. Later, Floki asks Helga to help him escape, and she jerks away from him. It seems that while Helga still loves Floki and wants to protect him from torture, she believes in justice.

Sandi: He’s aging, is King Ragnar, and his people seemed to give all heed to his son, yet still they are happy to see him and eager to welcome him home. The unrest that would result at his demise is likely not wished for by anyone.

from jorindelle on tumblr

Lissa: Aslaug is telling the children tales of her father, whose deeds are immortalized in the Sagas. (Which hadn’t been written yet, as I pointed out on twitter, but perhaps the oral tales were circulating already.) Ragnar asks Björn about Floki’s arrest. The king is not best pleased by it and says Björn has forced his hand. Now he must get his vengence publicly.

Sent from @HistoryVikings, who have extremely awesome graphics gurus.

Sandi: Really, her histrionics are ridiculous. She’s had her time to protest in private. She made time to protest in public (bad form, Princess, bad form!) but by the wedding, she’s acting like a girl in leading strings, not the young woman who kept Paris fighting against the odds. This strikes me, honestly, as not cool on the part of the writers. Good soap opera, but not something I think one would see in real life.

Sandi: As you pointed out last night, this normally would have been the “bedding ceremony” that was common for royalty. However, Rollo wasn’t bred as a royal and he’s just thinking of his wife. And yes, may we have more shirtless Rollo moments, or was this our last one?

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Lissa: Lagertha gives Kalf a little smile and he returns it with a nod of his head. Lagertha approaches Einar, who is present, and who was the slimy gent who leered at her in the tub ages past. He’d been pinned like a butterfly to a post by an arrow through his throat. Lagertha says she should have done this a long time ago. By “this” she means geld him. Her face is sprayed with his blood.

Sandi: Okay, not exactly. He says he’s going off to find Þorunn, his wife. At least, that’s what he says first, but really?

Lissa: As Ragnar walks away, Aslaug has to stop him. She asks him about Björn’s leaving and says it may be the last time Ragnar ever sees his son. Ragnar reacts with horror and demands to know if Aslaug has Seen anything. He was casually dismissive of his wife’s völva powers in the past, but now it seems he believes her. She says she hasn’t and he snaps, “Why would you say something like that?” as he stomps away. All is not well between Mr. and Mrs. King!

:  gunfire directed from a flanking position along the length of an enemy battle line – “Enfilade.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

This and all images from Vikings are the property of the History Channel. I use them only for illustrations regarding their show.

Lissa Bryan and I like to call ourselves the Shieldmaidens of History: Protecting the Innocent from Anachronisms. We’re excited to bring you our recap and discussion of each episode of History Channel’s series VIKINGS.

Lissa Bryan is an awesome historian as well as a writer of historical and End of the World as We Know It romantic fiction. Check out the review I wrote for her book, The End of All Things here.

Heillir!

Sandi: Before we even get started today, I have to say that I think that this episode was really packed. We’re reaching a point that I can imagine History Channel and the show’s writers will demonstrate that they’ve made some choices on prioritizing characters in terms of how they take the future episodes. We didn’t even see Lagertha last night!

Lissa: We started off this episode with Björn on his vision quest, struggling through the snow, having forgotten to pack his snowshoes. He arrives at his destination: a charming  log cabin vacation rental in the Smoky Mountains. All joking aside, as you and I discussed last night, the Northmen did use wood and logs in their house construction, but they were generally a bit different than the suspiciously-modern style “hunting lodge” Bjorn is going to be using for his winter digs.

Sandi: Quite. Even a hunting house would have been constructed along traditional lines. At this time, the Northmen used planks or logs inserted vertically into the earth and bound with ropes to keep them tight together. For a lodging of this sort, it might also have been a steep A-frame, designed to keep the snow from settling and collapsing the roof. Some lodges might have had the logs stacked horizontally, but that wasn’t the tradition during this era and they didn’t have the notched joints that held the wood together, not in the 9th Century anyway.

Lissa: In Kattegat, Ragnar is informed that Floki has escaped. He accepts this calmly, casually, as it he had fully expected it to happen sooner or later. He sends his young sons along on the hunt for him. When we see Floki on the run, he’s dressed warmly in a fur cape, so someone must have assisted him.

Sandi: Ubbe led the hunt, and I enjoyed seeing Ragnar’s second son taking a leadership role. I am thinking that he is being groomed for future responsibility, for his own benefit as well as that of the men he might one day lead. Floki does indeed seem to have been provisioned for his escape, and one can imagine those boots were oiled to keep out the freezing water he was traveling through. This is a relief, for during his captivity, he had been sadly under-dressed for the weather. Exposure had to have depleted his resources.

Lissa: It’s not long before we find out who it was. Ragnar goes to visit Helga. He asks her if she released her husband, and Helga doesn’t lie to him. “I might have done.”

Sandi: I really appreciated Ragnar’s obvious compassion for Helga. I mean, he didn’t bring her back to his warm hall or anything, but the look in his eyes said he understood and, for Helga, that was enough.

Lissa: Ragnar merely smiles and tells her he understands it. Floki is her husband, after all, and Helga loves him. Helga replies that Floki loves her too, but on that point Ragnar disagrees. He says that Floki only loves himself, and Helga should know it better than anyone. He pulls a heavy sack from beside him over to Helga and tells her that winter is coming, and she’ll need provisions. As Helga thanks him, little Angrbo∂a coughs.

Sandi: There is no condemnation to be seen with either of them here, which speaks of great mutual respect, I believe. They understand one another. It’s a warm moment in a very painful time. 

Lissa: We turn next to Wessex, where our favorite wily king is lamenting the trouble he’s continuing to have with Kwenthrith. She’s been captured by opposing forces in Mercia and imprisoned in a tower with her child, Ragnar’s son Magnus. (At least, she claims he’s Ragnar’s son. There has been no paternity test, to my knowledge.)

Sandi: Oh, Ecbert. Yeah. So, I was noticing some details about their space, during that initial “talking to” scene. First, the obvious assumption of superiority with the elevated royalty. That’s normal, but Prince Aethelwulf is really working it, here. Not something he’s done before. Also, Prince Wulf is wearing his court finery. Not the usual boiled and studded leather, but rich fabrics. And his hair is a bit grown out. This speaks of not being on a battle footing, though that changes shortly. He’s harder, in this season. Less emotional toward his wife (“Now that I can trust you again….” said without an ounce of sincerity. Does Prince Wulf know of the “arrangement” between his wife and his father? Are they now married on parchment only? Perhaps?

Lissa: Ecbert sends off Aethelwulf to deal with the situation. Once he leaves, Ecbert has a conversation with Judith. She tells him not to assume she’s going to hop back into his bed now that Aethelwulf is on a business trip, and Ecbert can’t force her. Ecbert says he’d never dream of doing that. My goodness! Perish the thought. That’s for enemies, and she’s not his enemy. He wants to see her flourish and be free. He says he imagines she never had much freedom as a princess. Very few choices at all, in fact. What would she do, he asks, if she were free to choose to do whatever she wanted? As always, Ecbert is an expert at finding what tempts each person the most and dangling it right before their eyes. Judith says she’d like to learn to paint. She remembers seeing Athelstan illuminating manuscripts and would like to learn the art. Ecbert says he’ll get her a tutor.

Sandi: I was really struck, here, by the change in Judith’s demeanor. The actress has done a wonderful job of portraying the layer of cynicism that has grown on the princess since last we saw her. Our Gal Judith isn’t quite as reliant upon her father-in-law as she was heretofore. Her position is likely more secure, her husband resigned to the status quo maybe. So Ecbert has to bind her to him in another way and he goes for the “freedom” concept. In return, she rubs his nose in Athelstan’s memory. (Do they know Athelstan’s been killed? I didn’t get a sense of this one way or another.) I wonder if this relationship will become more thorny over time as they continue to dig at one another.

Lissa: In Paris, Rollo is trying to get past the mutual language barrier by using a carved table map of the Seine to demonstrate how to save Paris from another Viking invasion. His idea is to build forts on either side of the river with a chain between them that can be drawn across, blocking any ships from passing through. Count Odo loves the idea and orders the forts to be constructed. He chats it over with his lover, Therese. He says he imagines Gisla will have her marriage to Rollo annulled for non-consummation soon. Therese browses through his collection of floggers and crops hanging from the bed frame while she says that he was always blinded by his desire for Gisla, but Odo deserves a consort with more strength in her. Presumably someone who could mesh with Odo’s “unconventional tastes.” She selects a brutal-looking crop for him to use on her.

Sandi: Rollo’s version of the military sandtable is really elaborate. Fortresses, chains, a fleet of ships, the whole deal. Nicely done! I am hopeful that Rollo will soon gain some command over the Frankish tongue; it might make things easier with his wife. 

And Odo! Oh, my. So. Odo is plotting and his apparent paramour is working to get herself even further into his good graces. The look in Therese’s eyes is direct and I could sense she was being purposeful in her disparagement of the Emperor and Gisla. 

Lissa: In his room, Rollo is getting his hair cut, and is dressed as a Frankish nobleman. When Gisla comes into the room, Rollo stands and proudly bows to her. At this sight, Gisla bursts out in hysterical laughter. Poor Rollo can’t win with this woman.

Sandi: I thought Rollo looked quite as dashing as he could in the new gear and with the new hair. I mean, it’s not the man-bun or anything, but he looks very contemporary to the age. Awkward, but kind of adorable in his way. I was really annoyed with Gisla when the girl just laughed mockingly at him. And of course, so did her attendants (maids are like that, no?) so that didn’t help. However, for a power-play, it’s effective so I think Gisla might be over her whiny phase.

Lissa: Back in Kattegat, Ragnar’s sons are successful in tracking Floki down. They drag him from the river and return him to town in triumph, trussed like a turkey.

Sandi: A turkey would have been cleaner… But then, a turkey would have been better fed, as well. Floki had a rough time of it while he was held captive in the village square. Ubbe, the son who was leading the hunt, got good experience in responsibility and didn’t it just show while he was sitting on Ragnar’s chair arm? I thought that bit was very well done. Grooming sons to their future roles was part of the job of a good father, if the lad wasn’t fostered out, so this was a proper moment, I think.

And…embarrassing for Floki. I do give the man credit for standing firm on his prior words and not needing to try to use more to get his freedom.

Lissa: In Wessex, Judith enters the library and sees a monk standng at the desk. Her eyes widen, because from the back, he looks just like Athelstan. But when he turns, we see it’s not. He introduces himself to her. His name is Prudentius. He collects geodes, apparently. When Judith tells him that she’s the one he’s been brought to teach the art of illuminating manuscripts, he’s horrified. Women don’t do that. She tosses her head and says to ask the king about that.

Sandi: Casting for Prudentius was brilliant. Just brilliant. It is easy to see how Judith could be so immediately drawn to the man. And she is. One hopes she has a care, there! 

Lissa: We see Ecbert deal with the situation quickly. Prudentius goes into the barn where the bishop is tasting this year’s wine production. He appears to take wine seriously, rolling the sample on his tongue, inhaling over the sip in his mouth, and then spitting it back onto the floor. The bishop is a little shocked, but quickly accepts the priest’s explanation about Frankians tasting so many wines they would quickly be drunk if they swallowed them all. Ecbert tackles the subject at hand. He asks the bishop if Judith’s desire to learn illumination is acceptable, giving him a hard, steady look as he does so. The bishop is no fool. He says that if Mary Magdalene wiping the feet of Jesus was acceptable, then surely it is acceptable for such a pious woman to work on the words of the Lord. When Judith sees them emerging from the barn and learns her request as been granted, she breathes the word, “Free.”

Sandi: Father “Sommelier” Prudentius (Did the writers choose a 5th C. Roman Christian poet’s name on purpose or were they shooting for the symbolic prudent meaning for this character?) certainly seemed to see which way the wind blew, here, so one gives him marks for expediency and intelligence. I do wonder how this will shake down, however. And I also wonder if Judith truly thinks her freedom will be “free” for her.

Lissa: Back in Kattegat, Ragnar comes into his house, furious, and kicks a stool. Aslaug saunters over and asks him why he’s still so upset. Floki did nothing wrong in killing a Christian. I think the fandom all over the world gasped at the same moment when Ragnar struck her across the face, twice, knocking her to the ground. Aslaug had prodded Ragnar in the wound he still carries in his heart, but it was wrong of him … so wrong…  to to strike his wife like that. Their relationship has deteriorated to the point where I’m not sure there’s any hope of recovery.

Sandi: This was quite a scene. I think it served a couple of purposes, shocking as it was to see Ragnar lash out in violence against his wife. Ragnar’s issue with trust and loyalty is core, here. Upon reflection, I think that his anger with Aslaug is not the adulterous sex thing—he isn’t innocent of that himself, and though hypocritical behavior is not beyond him, certainly, I don’t see that as his gripe. His issue with Aslaug on the loyalty front had to do with his children. When he found she had left them to another’s care last season, he was incensed. Has that been festering all along? Maybe. And Floki did kill a Christian, but Aslaug is being purposefully antagonistic as she mentions it the way she does. All of Kattegat—and, indeed, Wessex!—knew that Athelstan wasn’t just Ragnar’s “pet priest”. He was his friend. His amchara, one could even say. A friend of his soul, as they say in Gaeilge. Aslaug knew this, and her question disparaged Athelstan to Ragnar’s face. 

He never was very good at hiding his feelings, there.

The writers may have included this scene to deepen the schism between Ragnar and Aslaug for future plot purposes. It also served to further highlight that Ragnar is not always a reliable fellow. Just in case we needed a reminder.

Lissa: We return to Mercia where Aethelwulf is attacking the castle where Kwenthrith is being held. He does very well as a field commander and makes it to the doors of the building itself. One of the Mercians gives the order, “Kill the queen and her child!” They don’t want her falling into Ecbert’s hands. In her room, Kwenthrith fights like a tiger to protect little Magnus, lying on the bed. The child is oddly silent as his mother covers him over, and when he pulls the blanket away to see her covered in blood, fighting for her very life. She manages to bludgeon one of her guards, but the other has her in a stranglehold when Aethelwulf bursts in to save her by running the guard through with a sword.

Sandi: Aethelwulf is certainly tenacious! The grappling hand-to-hand combat was brutal, as was Queen Kwenthrith’s fight above. Magnus seemed very peaceful and wise, too, in terms of keeping out of the way and not antagonizing anyone during the fight his mum was having. Cute kid, too. Will Aethelwulf’s rescue of Kwenthrith mark a new relationship dynamic? She tried and failed to seduce him before, after all. . . Then, too, Amy Bailey (who plays Kwenthrith) tweeted this last night:

Lissa: Back in Paris, Therese is having the wounds that Odo left on her back tended by a handsome Frankish lord, Roland. She tells him everying that Odo said to her, including all of his disparaging remarks about Emperor Chuck. Roland tells her that as soon as the time is right, they’ll reveal to Charles the duplicity of Count Odo. He appreciates the valuable information she brings him, but it wounds him that she’s been so injured in acquiring it. 

Sandi: Our guess last night was that Roland was the “drunken husband” referenced when Therese first went to Odo last season. I’m still on board with this. If he’s not, then he’s her handler, as they say in intelligence operations. So. Therese is the PseudoSub Spy Chick. This makes her pretty darn awesome and my perceptions of her have spun. Nice work there, History Channel!

Lissa: In Kattegat, Helga is chopping at the soil with a shovel when Ragnar comes walking up. He asks her what she’s doing. It’s the middle of winter, after all. She says she’s digging a grave – what does it look like? Little Angrbo∂a has died. I’m so sorry to see her go. She was such a charming character and made a big impression even after appearing in only one other episode. Ragnar takes the shovel and helps her to finish.

Sandi: This was heartrending. Little Angrbo∂a was with us for such a short time. Her illness—”Does it matter?” Helga asks Ragnar—was unknown but likely caused at least in part by deprivation. Floki was the man of the house and while Helga was sure to be skilled at woodcrafts and so on, there wasn’t a lot left in Kattegat that winter. And they were living more or less as outcasts without a lot of resources. In other circumstances, they might have taken shelter with Ragnar in the Hall, but not when Floki had done what he had. Helga didn’t even feel she could ask for help. And their poor daughter paid for that I fear.

Lissa: We see Floki’s punishment, something Ragnar says he came up with especially for him. It echoes Loki’s punishment in the Eddic poems. Loki was bound, using the entrails of his son, and a huge serpent was mounted above his head. Venom drips down from the snake’s fangs onto his forehead, causing him great torment. His wife, Sigyn, holds a bowl above his head to catch the poison, but she has to occasionally walk away to empty it. While she does, the venom causes Loki such agony that he shakes the earth itself with his roars of pain – which is where earthquakes come from.

timeslipblog.wordpress.com

Floki’s punishment is to be bound inside a cave where the icy water drips down on him constantly. As Ragnar says to him, there is no honor or valor in his suffering, just the endless misery of cold…

Sandi: He was screaming as the episode ended. Chained, unable to relax, and tormented by drips of water in the freezing cave. But. May I take a moment to say that Gustaf Skarsgård looked pretty fit, even in the adverse circumstances? My kudos to the actor, who has never failed to bring his A-Game to Floki’s characterization.

Really, this is a stellar cast all the way around. I cannot wait until next week to see what will happen! Thank you for joining us.

Heill þú farir, heill þú aftr komir, heill þú á sinnum sér!
Hale go forth, hale return, hale on your ways!  – Vafþrúðnismál

If you’re looking for a wider divergence of opinions on Vikings, may I recommend Project Fandom and the No Ship Network? The first is a blog and the second a podcast that does recaps of each episode and then does the Althing podcast, which is all about the feedback.

This and all images from Vikings are the property of the History Channel. I use them only for illustrations regarding their show.

Heillir!

Lissa Bryan and I like to call ourselves the Shieldmaidens of History: Protecting the Innocent from Anachronisms. We’re excited to bring you our recap and discussion of each episode of History Channel’s series VIKINGS.

Lissa Bryan is an awesome historian as well as a writer of historical and End of the World as We Know It romantic fiction. Check out the review I wrote for her book, The End of All Things here.

From realworldsurvivor.com

Lissa: We began the episode with Björn still on his vision quest. He’s setting a metal bear trap. A bit of an anachronism, here… The first mention of iron jaw traps like the one Björn used dates to about 1305 in the work of Crescentiis of Bologna. Björn’s trap probably would have been a torsion trap of wood and sinew. But we’ll add this to the “boot heel file” and move along, because it was a very interesting episode, and I’m sure our readers don’t really care much about the history of iron animal traps.

Sandi: For any newcomers, our “boot heel file” is where we tuck away anachronisms we find on the show. Such as modern soles on 9th Century footwear, punitive measures against unfaithful wives, and, er, advanced bear traps. Hard metals were difficult and expensive, in this time and place. Metallurgy included smelting and such, but the techniques were not well advanced until about the 15th Century. Björn must have had a lot of matériel under those furs he was wearing in the first episode, to be able to produce all that he has. Either that, or the hunting lodge was very well supplied.

fangirlofmanyfandoms.tumblr.com

Lissa: In Kattegat, Floki is screaming in torment as the icy water drips on him in his prison cave. Helga – as Sigyn did for Loki – holds a bowl above his head to catch the water and ease his suffering. Her arms tremble from the effort, and when she goes to empty the bowl, she collapses in exhaustion, sleeping on the icy stone for just a few moments, until Floki’s cries of pain rouse her again. It’s a hellish punishment for the two of them. Maude Hirst’s acting was just remarkable in this episode, and the costuming/makeup departments did an extraordinary job, as well. She looked like a woman a hair’s-breadth away from utter breakdown.

Sandi: I saw and read commentary last week about Floki’s position here being almost Christ-like in appearance. I don’t think that was the intention, as the I’m sure that the writers were seeking to imitate the Loki/Sigyn story more than anything. But it was certainly ironic, intentional or otherwise. Many ancient societies used the stretched-torso method of torture, as it wore a person down in a surprisingly small amount of time. To add the water was just awful. Ragnar was certainly on target with his punishment here.

Lissa: In Hedeby, Lagertha is making love with Kalf. He rolls over afterward and tells her he loves her, and he always has. He thinks she’s still young enough to give him a child, and then his happiness will be complete. Lagertha doesn’t tell him of the Seer’s prophecy. She remains silent throughout it all. Kalf announces he needs to heed the call of nature, though not so poetically, and then heads outside.

Sandi: I am so not thrilled with the Kalfling. Wait, he’s getting older, too. Does that make him a bull instead of a calf? We know what bulls are full of, don’t we? I’ve so had it with this man, I have to say. He’s pretty, but I don’t trust him. Not a bit. He says one thing to Lagertha’s face and another to someone else. A politician? Certainly. Lagertha’s face fell when he mentioned having children by her. I imagine her pain at not being able to produce another son for Ragnar—a sad situation that began the dissolution of their wonderful marriage—is combined with the prophecy from the Seer for her, here.

Lissa: He is met by the Princeling, Erlendur, who tells him he’s heard that Björn is out on his own in a cabin – a perfect time to kill him. Kalf thinks that’s a fine idea. They decide to send a berserker to do the dastardly deed. He’s a very large, scarred man with a brutal-looking axe, who seems to communicate primarily with grunts and growls.

@sandyquill Little princeling, if you want someone killed, you gotta do it yourself. First rule of prince-ing. Just ask Machivelli. #VIKINGS

— Lissa Bryan (@LissaBryan) March 4, 2016

Sandi: This does a disservice to berserkers, in my opinion. Not the scars. They’d totally have them. But a berserker was a keen warrior who could be perfectly civilized when not in berserker mode (due to mushrooms or nakedness or whathaveyou). What I want to know is how long Lagertha would make Kalf’s demise last if she knew he was plotting to kill her only son? And if Kalf is not truly thus plotting, how long until the Princeling hamstrings him and feeds him to a bear?

Lissa: Meanwhile, Björn is tracking a bear – or rather, seeing signs of the bear here and there, and catching glimpses of it. He has some bear-murderin’ on his mind, there’s no doubt.

Sandi: Which is good, since he has the ultra-modern trap, no? I get that he is on his I’m a Man journey, but I can’t help but wonder if he’ll meet someone other than the scarred and growling hitman while he’s up in the Greater Whiter North.

Lissa: In Paris, “I Forgot How To Princess” Le Pew is causing embarrassing scenes again.

Sandi: This girl just doesn’t know how “to adult”, I think. Still wondering why she’s been written this way. (I know. I could go on for days on proper comportment of the medieval royal female… I’ll try to restrain myself.)

Lissa: Her father brings in a relic of Saint Eulalia – it must be her feast day, December 10th. Chuck the Simple tells Gisla the story of the saint. It’s sort of an “As you know, Bob,” moment, because Gisla would probably be very aware of this saint. (The real Prudentius wrote about her, as an interesting tie-in.) Girls of that era particularly venerated virgin martyrs. In any case, Gisla remarks that her horrid husband is just like the pagans who slaughtered Eulalia, and he’d probably like to burn her alive, too.

Sandi: This type of thing is actually something one can see Eleanor of Aquitaine saying—but only at the height of her influence and power. Gisla has potential, but she’s unwise as yet.

Lissa: Rollo munches on some chicken, oblivious for the most part, to his wife’s sniping. When she stands up and dramatically demands a divorce, Rollo stands, too. He says, “My woman,” and takes her arm. Gisla shrieks she’ll never be his and throws a goblet of wine in his face before storming out.

Sandi: Rollo has a hard job, here. He knows his wife has taken him in aversion. He doesn’t yet speak the language, he’s doing his level best to conform—knowing that it has cost him men from his own place and people, and knowing it will effectively cut him off from Ragnar forever—and he’s trying, here. Trying to read her cues if not her words. And he gets publicly humiliated. Again. Granted, he’s not Mr. Perfect, but he is trying.

Lissa: Her personal feelings for her husband aside, Gisla has to know how badly they need Rollo as an ally. We’ve mocked her for not behaving with the decorum of a princess of her age, but more important is her complete lack of regard as a politician. She wanted her father to respect her political mind, but she can’t seem to stop herself from going out of her way to publicly humiliate and insult a crucial ally. It’s my opinion the show would have served her character far better by showing her struggling to behave herself in public, and perhaps unleashing on him in their private quarters. I’d have respected her far more, in any case.

Sandi: I am so with you, here.

Lissa: Rollo drinks the rest of his own goblet, then drops it to the table. He then proceeds to walk over the table and start out of the room, but the looks the courtiers are giving him are too much for him to handle. He turns around and roars at a young girl and she screams in terror.

Sandi: . . . Yeah, well. Not perfect. He’s probably figured out some of Gisla’s more colorful and derisive vocabulary at this point. “If they’re going to call me a beast, I can act like one!”

Lissa: Chuck and Darth Odious are alarmed by this turn of events. If Rollo leaves, as he seems bent on doing, they’ll be defenseless when Ragnar returns. Chuck sends Odious to try to soothe Rollo. In his chamber, Rollo manages to use a combination of mime and pointing to books to show Odo that he wants to learn how to speak French. Odo promises to get him a tutor, relieved that Rollo will stay at least long enough for lessons.

Sandi: The quick conference that took place between Darth Odious and Rollo was really well done, in my opinion. No translation was given, as I mentioned last night.

Sandi: That Odo was determined to get Rollo to agree to a joint action was absolutely obvious. That Rollo tried hard to make himself understood was equally certain. But as to how they actually communicated? That remains to be seen. How much was truly understood?

Lissa: Back in Kattegat, King Ragnar strides into Floki’s prison cave. He asks Helga if she’s told Floki yet… and of course Floki wants to know what he was talking about. Helga has to reluctantly inform Floki that Angrboda has died. Floki’s cries of agony increase.

Sandi: I feel as if Ragnar was wreaking as much vengeance/punishment as he could from this situation before he takes a final action concerning Floki. That Ragnar uses, in essence, the death of little Angrbo∂a to further inflict anguish upon Floki was cruel—especially as he used Helga to do so. (Which does make all kinds of proper sense, but it was also harsh.)

@sandyquill @maudehirst If Ms. Hirst doesn’t get an Emmy for this, I’m marching with flaming torches and flailing axes in protest. #VIKINGS

— Lissa Bryan (@LissaBryan) March 4, 2016

Lissa: In Mercia, Aethelwulf is transporting Queen Kwenthrith and her baby, Magnus. She begs him to stop and light a fire, because little Magnus is freezing. He gives her a chunk of raw meat. She says the boy can’t eat it, and he tells her that she must eat it and survive. Which is a very interesting development, since his father told him that Magnus was the one whose survival was important in this scenario. Choking back her disgust, Kwenthrith gnaws on the meat-cicle.

Sandi: We see here a flare of of what Amy Bailey—the wonderful actress who plays Kwenthrith—said last week: Call them “Kwenthelwulf”. Magnus must survive, said Ecbert, but his son is developing a spine of his own. His relationship with Judith is strained at present (oh, how they’ve grown up and cynical, you know?) but he is seeking this for himself, not his father. And, too, it is very practical to encourage the adult to care for herself first. It goes against the grain, for a mother, but even on airplanes today you have the “take care of your own breathing mask first, then the child’s next to you” directive.

Lissa: Rollo has his first language lesson, and it doesn’t go all that well. He tries repeating the phrases the monk says to him, but the accent is difficult for him. He ends up grabbing the monk and hurling him across the room, flipping the table in his frustration.

Sandi: You and I discussed briefly last night that the French accent can be a challenge! And Rollo has a proper tutor, maybe, but the phrases aren’t the best. I think I’d start by having him learn war terms. “This is a boat. This is the Seine. Here is how we protect the city.” And so on.

Lissa: Björn’s vision quest turns into a one-man frat party. He opens a keg of mead and gets “tin-roof rusted,” as the saying goes, howling like a wolf at the Northern Lights. He passes out in the snow, never a good idea, but after he wakes (and pukes) Björn finally sees the bear face to face. it’s a huge, fierce creature, roaring at the sight of him. Björn lights into it with a knife, finally finishing the creature off with an axe, but not before he takes a claw swipe to the shoulder. He roars in victory, and it’s heard all the way back in Kattegat by Ragnar, who looks up at the sound. Later, we see him cauterize the wound, and he roars again, though the people of Kattegat don’t hear that one. (And you’d think they would.) During his last scene, we see Björn taking a dip in the lake through a hole in the ice.

Sandi: As silly as this might have been, it was amusing. And also, I think, very real. A young man, who has lost so much and seen his own vulnerabilities in very physical ways, might indeed be out to prove himself as Björn is, here. And he’d act in ways that he wouldn’t do with the parents around. How many college freshman spend a lot of their first year way from home drunk or hung-over? And I loved the howling. Really, it was a much needed bit of levity in this episode.

Lissa: A bit later, Ragnar is cleaning fish while telling a story of Thor meeting with a strange ferryman. His sons are enthralled by the tale. The stranger turns out to be a man named Harbard. “Did you ever meet him?” Ubbe asks. No, Ragnar says, but perhaps Aslaug has. Aslaug glares at him. Her face is still bruised from Ragnar’s slaps in the last episode. She takes the boys inside for dinner.

Sandi: Ragnar can spin a fine yarn, to be sure. Here, he does so for double-purpose: instructing and entertaining his sons AND taking aim at his wife. That bruise out in the light of day was ugly. Another good move by the Vikings make-up team.

Lissa: Judith is continuing her painting lessons with Prudentius. He tells her the story of Ragnar’s invasion of Paris, but with a pious Christian twist. He says the Vikings were all stricken with disease because of their blasphemy. She asks if there was a monk named Athelstan among them. Prudentius says if there was, he hopes Athelstan would be crucified for it. Judith later relays the story to Ecbert, who is amused by it, though they both regret not getting any news of Athelstan. Judith appears in his room that night and says she’ll be his mistress again, but he has to swear to respect her and treat her as an equal. Ecbert swears it, on the life of Athelstan.

Sandi: May I say here that I am hoping that the plot will soon settle down to two or three places rather than all that are now in use? Kattegat, Mercia, Wessex, Hedeby, Paris, Hunting Lodge in Bear Country… We spend, sometimes, very little time in each locale and it’s distracting. Okay. Anyway. I had to say that.

Back to Judith and her men. Judith seems, by her facial expressions, her invasion into Father Sommelier Prudentius’s personal space, and her careful movements near him, to be planning a seduction. Consciously or subconsciously. I can’t help but think that this is, of course, due to the good father’s resemblance to the lamented Athelstan. Then, she goes on to try to negotiate an “equal” adulterous relationship with King Ecbert, who pretends not to hold it in any hugely important regard. I wonder what Judith is planning—for surely she cannot be naïve enough to think that he’s taking her entirely seriously with her talk of freedom and equality. There are always strings with Ecbert. Always.

@sandyquill #JUDITH, don’t believe #ECBERT. He sits in his Burger King crown on a throne of lies. #VIKINGS

— Lissa Bryan (@LissaBryan) March 4, 2016

Lissa: That night, he wakes, startled out of sleep by some unknown force. He goes into the library. In Kattegat, Ragnar wakes too, and walks out into his silent hall with a torch, looking around for whatever it was that roused him.

@LissaBryan All right. Suspense happening. Kings waking up in the middle of the night…why? #VIKINGS

— Sandi Layne (@sandyquill) March 4, 2016

Sandi: I still want to know. I mean, we saw how it played out, but this sequence might be showing that somehow, these men are still connected. Through their mutual regard for Athelstan? It was a powerful sequence of scenes, I think.

Lissa: Ragnar sits down on his throne and someone enters, carrying a bowl of warm water. The stranger pulls back his cowl, and it’s our Athelstan. He tenderly washes Ragnar’s feet. At the same moment, Ecbert feels a gust of wind which scatters the pages of the documents Judith was illuminating. Athelstan enters, but he does not approach Ecbert. He glides by as Ecbert calls for him to come back. Ragnar is enraptured by the sight of his beloved friend. “Mercy,” Athelstan implores. “Mercy.”

@LissaBryan Jesus washed his disciples’ feet just before his final Passover. His death and resurrection. Interesting to do, here.#VIKINGS

— Sandi Layne (@sandyquill) March 4, 2016

Sandi: I was so pleased to see Athelstan. We’ve missed George Blagden on Vikings and, even if it’s a visionary experience, I was happy that he was there. In these paired experiences, it was interesting to me to see how the different visitations were treated. Athelstan washed the “pagan’s feet” yet he scattered the “Christian’s manuscript” with his presence. The former is tender and caring, the latter disruptive. And he speaks to Ragnar but doesn’t approach Ecbert. This is, I’m sure, meant to be a wordless commentary on their behaviors since his death. The plea for Mercy, I cannot help but think was heeded. At least to a degree.

Lissa: As Ragnar reaches out to him, Athelstan vanishes, just as Ecbert’s apparition vanishes.

Sandi: It was very well done of the writers. 

Lissa: In the morning, Ragnar goes to Floki’s cave. He tells Helga she has suffered enough, and cuts Floki’s bonds, tossing the hatchet aside as he walks out of the cave.

Sandi: And the plea for mercy is heard. He tosses the hatchet but, as was asked on twitter last night: Did he bury it? Did he, then, leave all thoughts of future retribution behind him in the cave when he left it?

Lissa: Ecbert goes to find Judith. He tells her of his vision and says he’s convinced Athelstan is dead. Judith bursts into tears and says she loved him.

Sandi: Is it odd to anyone else that she accepts this immediately? Utterly? She loved him; I believe this. But she never even questioned Ecbert’s declaration here. No moment of, “No! It can’t be! How can you be sure?” None of that.

Lissa: Ecbert says he loved Athelstan, too, and embraces her as she sobs. They’re soon called outside.  Aethelwulf has returned with Queen Kwenthrith and her son. Ecbert tells her she’s safe now and takes her inside for food and a bath. Aethulwulf asks Judith why she’s crying. She says it’s because she’s happy her husband has returned home safe. Aethelwulf, the poor fool, seems to be touched by that.

Sandi: I think it’s because he knows he’s got Kwenthrith on the brain and he is not innocent of adulterous thoughts, even if he had yet to go to Kwenthrith’s bed, he was thinking about it at this moment. So he doesn’t have the high road, anymore, and perhaps he has a bit of fellow-feeling for his wife. Mercy, eh?

Lissa: That night, Kwenthrith lies sleepless. Her face says she doesn’t really trust Ecbert’s assurances of safety. Her chamber door opens and Aethelwulf comes inside. Kwenthrith pulls back the covers and invites him into her bed.

Sandi: And . . . Kwenthelwulf is full on happening. Yep. I wonder when—or if?—this will be discovered and what the responses from involved and affected parties will be?

So much to wait for next week! I hope you’ll join us @LissaBryan and @sandyquill!

Heill þú farir, heill þú aftr komir, heill þú á sinnum sér!
Hale go forth, hale return, hale on your ways!  – Vafþrúðnismál

If you’re looking for a wider divergence of opinions on Vikings, may I recommend Project Fandom and the No Ship Network? The first is a blog and the second a podcast that does recaps of each episode and then does the Althing podcast, which is all about the feedback.

“These chicks are machines!” – The No Ship Network

(check them out for their podcasted recaps and feedback ‘casts!)

This and all images from Vikings are the property of the History Channel. I use them only for illustrations regarding their show.

Heillir!

Lissa Bryan and I like to call ourselves the Shieldmaidens of History: Protecting the Innocent from Anachronisms. We’re excited to bring you our recap and discussion of each episode of History Channel’s series VIKINGS.

Lissa Bryan is an awesome historian as well as a writer of historical and End of the World as We Know It romantic fiction. Check out the review I wrote for her book, The End of All Things here.

Lissa: Well, here we are again, and saying as we always do that it was an awesome episode. Some amazing things happened, and there were some huge developments.

Sandi: It really was and there really were! I feel like the stories will be moving forward much more purposefully, now.

Lissa: We began with a scene of Ragnar in a tub in his hall. A wood tub this time, at least. cough copper cough

Sandi: Yes, a smallish tub, as well. Which makes sense, considering. Deep enough to immerse himself if he is sitting or squatting in the water, but it’s not a luxury. The Norse were clean people and liked their baths, but heating up water would have taken a long time so a more compact tub is necessary.

Lissa: He’s talking to Yidu, the Shiny New Slave Girl Aslaug purchased.  He says death has been much on his mind. The death of children, the deaths of friends, and his own death, which has so far eluded him. He says sometimes he doesn’t know whether to kill himself, or everyone around him. He seems to feel safe in confiding his inner torments to her, perhaps because of her slave girl status.  While he’s talking, Yidu struggles to carry over a bucket of hot water to the tub, and when pouring it in, she splashes the king and spills most of it on the floor. Ragnar tsks as he looks over the edge of the tub.

Sandi: And while this is happening, Aslaug is watching from behind the latticework that separates the rooms in the Hall. This is only fair; Ragnar spies on others often from there. I am impressed that Yidu has become so proficient in Norse at this juncture. By her own (later) admission, she’s been enslaved by the Franks, so her ability to learn Norse indicates that she is gifted with languages. [Like some others we’ll discuss later!]

@LissaBryan It was the practice to rename slaves with local names, so that #Yidu doesn’t have a new name is unusual. #VIKINGS

— Sandi Layne (@sandyquill) March 11, 2016

Lissa: In Mercia, Kwenthrith is looking much recovered. She joins Ecbert and his court for Epiphany dinner. Because it’s a fasting meal, they’re having simple gruel. King Aelle is there, and he’s not best pleased with what’s been going on. He’s full of anger and a thirst for vengeance. Queen Kwenthrith asks if that desire for vengeance against Ragnar extends to her son, Ragnar’s bastard. Aelle doesn’t answer.

Sandi: I love how you pick up on the details! It’s good to see King Aelle, here, as he’s quite a major player at this time in history. To date, he’s rather been given short shrift. And I’m thinking, since Magnus’s paternity is so widely accepted, that the consensus is that he will remain Ragnar’s son (Ragnarson!) for the duration.

Lissa: Later, we see Aelle confront Judith, his daughter. He’s outraged that she’s had a bastard baby with a priest who became a Viking, is blaspheming by daring to put her female hands all over the holy scriptures, and he’s infuriated to see her over-familiarity with her father-in-law. Judith gives him a radiant smile and says that no man controls her now. She is free. She is able to say such a thing, of course, because she’s under Ecbert’s protection at the moment and Aelle needs him as an ally, but historically speaking, a woman in the Christian world was under the control of her father or her husband until the day she died. Failing that, it was her son who would grow up to take authority over her. Very few women were “free.”

Sandi: Oh, I have all kinds of worries for Judith, now. She seems to see herself as untouchable, thanks to Sugar-Daddy-in-Law, but we know that Ecbert is a snake in the grass. Corrupt, by his own admission, and willing to turn on his allies if it suits him to do so. Judith, played brilliantly by Jennie Jacques, has such a defiance in her gaze as she stares at her father. She acts as if she’s queen in her own right and unassailable. But, we know that freedom for her is tenuous at best and almost certainly illusory.

Lissa: Back in Kattegat, they’re preparing for Jól, or as it’s usually rendered in English, “Yule.”  The log is brought into the hall and laid on the fire, and they’re decorating with mistletoe. Ragnar watches the boys and approaches little Ivar, who’s sitting to the side. He tries to lift the child and coax him into hanging a mistletoe branch, but Ivar refuses. Aslaug steps in and sweeps the boy into her arms. She angrily tells Ragnar that Ivar is different from the others, despite his protests that the boy won’t feel like he’s a “cripple” if she doesn’t treat him like one. She tells Ragnar that Ivar isn’t like him, and Ragnar can’t make the child like him. From her tone, it’s obvious she doesn’t want Ivar to have a close relationship with his father. The boy is hers and hers alone.

Sandi: I prefer Jól and will continue to use it here. I was pleased to see Ragnar acting all “daddy” with his son Ivar. Ragnar has always been an excellent father to his young children. He cherishes them. But Aslaug’s attitude is understandable as well. Ragnar exposed Ivar—as was his right and as was customary for a father and king to do when a child was so obviously malformed—and Aslaug rescued him. That Ragnar did not insist upon the boy’s death, as he could have done, thereafter shows his love for his child, to be sure. But Aslaug claims this boy because she brought him back from the death that he would have known. Additionally, she knows very well how fond Ragnar is of his sons and I’m sure she’s ready to hit him where it hurts, here. Besides, she has plans.

Lissa: Floki enters the Seer’s hut. The Seer stirs from his bed, seemingly still half in his dreams. He says to Floki that he’s waited years, centuries, for him to come, and it’s time to show the Seer who Floki really is. Floki extends his palm, and the Seer licks it. A shudder passes through Floki and he begins to giggle. Giggle like the old “deliciously mad” Floki used to giggle, but there’s a desperate edge to it, as though his eyes have been opened, and he saw far too much in that instant.

Sandi: The Seer’s whole aspect is different in this scene. I get the sense that he is, in some way, passing the torch to Floki. That the Seer licked Floki’s hand is perhaps symbolic of such a change. As always, there is an air of the supernatural in this show, so it is entirely possible that Floki did see more than he expected at that instant. I was surprised to see that Floki was actually in Kattegat, to be honest. I had expected him to be exiled. But it is clear that Floki and Helga are re-established in their village, and Floki has no fears about visiting the Seer.

Lissa: In Paris, Rollo is confronted by a bishop bearing a scroll. The bishop announces that Rollo’s marriage to I-Forgot-How-to-Princess Le Pew is to be annulled for non-consummation. Rollo steps forward and begins to speak in perfect French. He says he has learned the language, and that he is committed to his marriage, and to Paris. He swears he will die to defend Paris against his brother, Ragnar.

Sandi: This was a pleasant surprise—that Rollo spoke in the language of the Franks, not that there was an annulment in the offing. And Rollo’s promise to fight against his brother is strong and well presented. Many in the Vikings fandom believe that, this time?, he means it. No more doubling back for Rollo. Historically, Rollo becomes Robert (well, that was one of the names he is known by) and remains the first Duke of Normandy. It behooved him, certainly, to become fluent in French.

@sandyquill Thinking of something… Feast of St. Eulalia on Dec. 10. Christmas on 25th. He learned French in 15 days. #VIKINGS

— Lissa Bryan (@LissaBryan) March 11, 2016

Lissa:  But I was wrong about what they’re celebrating by a few days. It was Epiphany, which is January 6th. So, Rollo actually learned his excellent French in little less than a month. Still quite impressive, non?

@LissaBryan He’s good with his tongue? #VIKINGS

— Sandi Layne (@sandyquill) March 11, 2016

Sandi: Oui! And his skills with his tongue, ahem, are later proved, are they not?

Lissa:  His words resonate with Gisla and she dismisses the bishop and all of her attendants. She speaks candidly to Rollo for the first time. She’s touched he took the effort to learn French, but isn’t sure if he’s really sincere. He is still, after all, a Viking at heart. He tells her he slaughtered his own men for her, which she says is a pretty Viking thing to do. She grills him to find out how deeply he’s commitment to this marriage, and his promise to defend Paris.

Sandi: Her entire attitude changes as soon as he opens his mouth. Does she suddenly see him as an incredibly attractive man, (because CLIVE STANDEN) that she has the incredible good luck to be married to, because he speaks in a language she can understand? Is that really all she needed?

@sandyquill @NoShipNetwork @DeeDonuts Holy cow, #GISLA is actually princessing! Pass the smelling salts! #VIKINGS

— Lissa Bryan (@LissaBryan) March 11, 2016

Lissa: In response, Rollo takes off his torc. He holds it up and says that it’s something that matters a great deal to him, and hands it to her to do with as she will. Gisla takes it. The next time we see them together, they’re consummating the marriage.

Sandi: The removal of his armband is hugely symbolic. I’m not at all sure that Gisla has a clue about that; what she likely sees is that he’s offering her a bangle. But for Rollo, that’s a visible symbol about his loyalties, his ties of blood to his brother, nephews, and friends back home. The men he led, the men he’s killed. All of that is encompassed in that slender band. And he removes it. Something he’s condemned others for doing in the past. It’s an enormous moment, I think. So, yes. Now they can consummate the marriage. And they do. Loudly.

Lissa: In Kattegat, Aslaug comes into the bedroom. Ragnar is sprawled on the bed. She speaks to him about her slave girl, Yidu, and asks if Ragnar likes her. Aslaug says Ragnar can have her if he wishes; Aslaug won’t be jealous. Ragnar expresses mild interest in the idea.  Of course, queens have always “managed” their husbands in a similar fashion, trying to steer them toward mistresses who wouldn’t be harmful to the queen’s interests, but Aslaug is probably being more blatant with the subject than queens would usually be, and she’s as casual as though she’s offering Ragnar one of her horses.

Sandi: It may seem cold, but in general, remember, marriages were political things. The marriage of Aslaug and Ragnar here is a deviation rather than the rule. Aslaug is more blatant, yes, but Ragnar—though perhaps a slave to his, er, interests?—isn’t stupid. That his wife was blatant is a double-sided situation. Yes, he has permission after a fashion but there would be suspicion, too. What is Aslaug planning?

Lissa: Ragnar goes out to find Yidu, and she’s wrestling with some of the barnyard critters, to no avail. That girl just has no luck with animals. Ragnar pulls her over to the barn, none-too-gently. He asks Yidu how she became a slave. Yidu tells a story of being captured from a ship she was traveling on with her family. Ragnar asks her if she was raped by her captors, and Yidu denies it. Ragnar grips her by the throat and demands to know why. She says they were too afraid. He takes a cloak from a nail and wraps it around her shoulders. He tells her to follow him because he wants to show her something. Yidu looks terrified, but she follows him.

Sandi: So here, we had a ton of speculation on twitter last night. Yidu wasn’t raped, but is she a virgin? Virgins were highly prized but it is vastly unlikely that if she had been one on the journey to Paris, she would have lost that status shortly thereafter once she’d been purchased. Unless. Unless she has some other status she can claim. You mentioned, Lissa, that we don’t know if she’d been married, before. She might be a widow, in which case her virtue would have not been an issue in her slave status; she would have been considered “available”. Which isn’t pretty, I know, but slavery is an ugly thing. She’s young and pretty; if she hasn’t been raped, then she must have some other kind of status that has kept her relatively safe. And we know it’s not her skill with animals! Is she a mystic? A wielder of supernatural powers? There were many opinions.

Lissa: Björn is still in the wilderness man hut. He’s tattooing his own skin with an awl-like implement. He goes outside and encounters the Grunting, Growling Berserker. (Can I just call him Growler for short?) Growler has laid a multitude of anachronistic iron leg traps for Björn, sprung by trip wires with hooks. When Björn reaches him, they battle, and Björn swings a collection of the hook wires he’s collected. They catch Growler across the face, and Björn uses it to bind him to a tree and disarm him. He asks a few times who sent Growler, who replies with… well, growls. He pulls the ring from Growler’s finger and asks who sent him, but Growler refuses to answer. Björn tries a bit of torture, but apparently gets impatient with it and disembowels Growler.

Sandi: Björn’s tattooing methods are painful, but quite accurate I think, for the time and place. So, he’s performed cautery on himself as well as body art. The man must be a glutton for pain. The battle, aside from the anachronistic elements, is good. If Growler is a true berserker, though, he’s not quite on his game. He seems to feel the wounds he’s received with more awareness than was often the case with a true berserker. Those men, whether by virtue of mushrooms or meditation or sheer will, often fought past human endurance because they were unaware of their body’s condition. It was all about the motions of the battle. Here, though, Growler is not so unaware and he is defeated.

Lissa: Farewell, Grunting, Growling Berserker. We hardly knew ye.

@sandyquill #BJORN, you can’t get answers from a dead man, son. #VIKINGS

— Lissa Bryan (@LissaBryan) March 11, 2016

Lissa: Ragnar takes Yidu to a cottage where he has quite a menagerie of animals. He has rats in cages suspended from the ceiling, and apparently a few snakes. At first, I wasn’t sure if Yidu was having a vision because the sight of a huge anaconda slithering down one of the poles beside her seemed so bizarrely out of place. But it appears that it was really there. It may be Ragnar’s replacement for Baby Goat. (Maybe it ate Baby Goat.) Perhaps Aslaug wouldn’t allow Ragnar to keep them in the house, and so Ragnar has retreated to his own King Cave, where he can have rats and snakes, and Shiny New Slave Girls.

Sandi: This was really odd. I mean, sure, they’ve been doing the World Tour for years now, but it is rather convenient that the king has a menagerie that no one’s heard about before. His sons haven’t even mentioned it and boys love menageries. But okay. Suspend disbelief and move on. Ragnar used to surround himself with animals and we all miss Baby Goat. If the anaconda ate it…well…the circle of life and all that, yeah? Bringing his Shiny New Slave Girl here might be construed as ominous, however. She’s another exotic creature, like the anaconda. Is he putting her in his menagerie, too?

Lissa: He tells Yidu that this is his secret place, and no one comes here except for Ragnar. It’s the only place, he says, that he doesn’t feel alone. She’s free to come here any time she wants. In fact, she’s free to come and go as she pleases. Ragnar is freeing her. He tells her she’s a terrible slave. Really bad at it. And so he’s letting her go. Yidu can’t believe it and asks him if she’s really free to come and go as she pleases. Ragnar says certainly, she can go… if she really wants to. Yidu seems to understand this as the price of her freedom. She approaches Ragnar with something in her hand. She says she can tell he’s still in pain from the wounds he sustained in Paris, and she has some Chinese medicine which will help.

@LissaBryan All right. What was that? Herbal meds AND a silent incantation on her part? #VIKINGS

— Sandi Layne (@sandyquill) March 11, 2016

Sandi: So, here we see that she might indeed have had a gift/talent/ability that kept her from being molested during her life as a slave. So far, it’s worked on Ragnar, hasn’t it? But how free is free? Yidu is a slave. And slaves could indeed be free—thereafter to be freedmen or -women—but they had no status in that culture. They had to provide for themselves, and often wound up being servants anyway. If Yidu is a healer (rather like my own herbalist character in my trilogy), then she has status and a possible means of support. But will this be the case?

Lissa:  It seems to be opium, from Ragnar’s reaction to it, because in a few minutes, he’s literally hanging from the ceiling, wearing a bizarre carved mask that he must keep around the house for… some reason.

Sandi: This was surreal, as I am sure it was meant to be. The scene reminded me a bit of the first gathering in season one, when Gyda (sniff!) was still with us.

@DeeDonuts @sandyquill Does he keep those masks lying around the house? For Mardi Gras parades that spontaneously erupt? #VIKINGS

— Lissa Bryan (@LissaBryan) March 11, 2016

Lissa: Yidu contentedly chops herbs while Ragnar swings from the rafters, twirls torches, and apparently swallows one of his snake pets whole. It’s a bizarre scene that ends with him a hair’s breadth away from kissing her.

Sandi: Ah, yes. The classic “romance novel” moment: the almost-kiss. And…cut!  So, we are left to a better idea of what freedom means, here. It doesn’t mean Yidu gets a house of her own; a slave wouldn’t have been freed and given actual property of that sort without a ceremony, in all likelihood. This would have been done so that all in the community would know her new status and that no one would seek to punish her for claiming something a slave wouldn’t have been able to have. So, how free is Yidu? Will she abide with the other exotic curiosities of Ragnar’s Reserve?

Lissa: Aslaug goes to Floki and Helga’s house with Ivar in her arms. She says she wants Floki to teach him the ways of the gods, to teach him how to be a Viking. But most of all, she wants him to learn to hate the Christian god as Floki does.

Sandi: The venom in her voice when she said this was really something! Her whole demeanor was vindictive.

Lissa: As I mentioned on Twitter last night, apprenticing Ivar to Floki to learn carving makes sense. The boy could acquire a very valuable trade that don’t require mobility, and that would make him an important part of their community despite the apparent disability in his legs. But Aslaug seems to be more focused on getting Ivar’s mind trained to hate Christians than in getting her son marketable skills.

Sandi: Oh, yes. But we know, from history, that Ivar doesn’t actually need those carving skills for his future. Still, it is wise of Aslaug to prepare him. She could have chosen any trade, really, but she was deliberate in her choice of Floki as his craftmaster.

Lissa: Björn goes to Hedeby and finds his mother at her loom with Torvi. Kalf and Erlendur are also present. Björn greets his mother first. She’s relieved to see him alive and well, though the two men are most certainly not, and Björn is not warm toward them, either. He’s headed to Kattegat, and he offers to take Torvi with him, because her husband Erlendur treats her like a slave. Torvi doesn’t need to be asked twice. She wants to leave. But Erlendur says she cannot take her small son.

@LissaBryan Regarding Torvi’s kid – in Norse culture of this era, it was customary for young children to stay with mum for the nursing years

— Sandi Layne (@sandyquill) March 11, 2016

Sandi: However, in the Viking culture, if a father died, then the mother was granted custody of her children. That was generally how it went. So, on one hand, the child’s should be free to go with Torvi. Erlandur would have no say over his life as he is not the child’s father. He is head of the house, though, and clearly wants to use the boy as a tool. A lever, likely, or a hostage. Very not cool.

Lissa: Torvi is torn, but Lagertha tells her that life is short. She should go. Lagertha will care for the boy.

Sandi: I regard this as a bad move. Not that Lagertha couldn’t protect the boy—of course she could—but he shouldn’t be left behind. I hope my foreboding is unwarranted!

Lissa: In Paris, they’re sitting down for Epiphany dinner when Gisla enters. She has a confident smile on her face and a strut in her step. She beckons Rollo away from the table and they run off into the kitchen where they make loud, passionate love on the table after knocking all the food and dishes to the floor. Hygiene was not a priority in those days, let me tell you.

Sandi: Oh, Gisla was strutting. Strutting like she owned the world. Rather than pouting and holding her nose up in disdain, she is clearly now a woman empowered by personal, ahem, appreciation. Loud and passionate are understatements, I daresay. In a castle of that era, there was virtually no privacy and if the Lord and Lady were engaging in loud sex, everyone knew. But, I imagine that overall this was viewed with tolerance and relief, if not outright pleasure. (We’re not counting Darth Odious, here.)

Lissa: The dinner guests around the table, including a grouchy-looking Aelle, listen to the banging and the moans. We discussed briefly on Twitter that the Christian faith of the era, sex was forbidden during the 40 days before Christmas, and on feast days, like Epiphany. These two are definitely in for a lot of time in the confessional. (A Penitential from around this era can be viewed here http://www.anglo-saxon.net/penance/index.php?p=JUNIUS_94a&anchor=X15.09.01) It was lessened to twenty days during the medieval times, but boy, there were a lot of confusing rules in the era regarding when and how one could indulge in intercourse.

[Medieval sex flowchart here: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/flowchart.png ]

Sandi: Thing is, what one was allowed to do versus what one actually did were two very different circumstances. And, of course, there was always a way to confess and do penance when one broke the rules.

Lissa: The scene is balanced by a view of the Vikings celebrating Jól, the snowy winter’s night brightly lit with torches. Ragnar, in red and black facepaint, lights the bonfire.

Sandi: I really appreciated the contrasts, here. The differences in atmosphere, in wardrobe, in activity. Ragnar’s facepaint reminded me a bit of ancient Chinese art. (Peking opera painted face here: http://en.gmw.cn/2012-12/12/content_5994715_3.htm) I had to wonder if Yidu did his makeup?

Lissa: An interesting visitor arrives in Kattegat. Aslaug welcomes King Harald Finehair into her hall. After she offers him a drink, she asks why he’s here. Harald says he wants to meet Ragnar. Where is he, by the way? Aslaug smiles coolly and says he’ll meet Ragnar soon enough. They have dinner in the great hall and Harald offers to play a game of hnefatafl with Aslaug’s sons. While they play, Aslaug asks Harald again why he’s here. He says he made a promise to a princess. He wanted to marry her, but he wasn’t worthy of her, so he made it his ambition to become so. Shades of the “Princess Bride,” eh?

Sandi: Indeed! There’s quite a bit happening under the surface of this conversation. That Harald is balancing a game with the king’s sons with diplomatic conversation speaks well of his abilities, as I’m sure it’s meant to. He comes across as worldly and wise, but good-humored. A dangerous combination, all things being equal.

Lissa: His ambition was to become the king of all Norway and win her hand.

@LissaBryan Norway didn’t have a King until the 10th century. #VIKINGS

— Sandi Layne (@sandyquill) March 11, 2016

Sandi: Okay, so I was off a little. Apparently Harald Finehair became king of Norway in AD 872 (sorry!), but his reign extended until AD 930. Which is why I said 10th Century; that’s what was in my memory. I did a fact-check this morning and found the actual years. I also found that he was actually wanting to marry a girl named GYDA. Who wouldn’t marry him until he was king of all Norway. And considering there hadn’t been a king of all Norway to that point, this was being quite a definitive challenge.

Lissa: Historically, Harald Finehair gave the “king of all Norway” the old college try, anyway.

Aslaug smiles and asks why he didn’t just take the princess if he wanted her so badly. Harald says he’s really not sure. Aslaug says that a man who aspires to be the king of all Norway would have to kill her husband first. Harald doesn’t directly respond to that, as I imagine it would be impolitic in the extreme to say, “Yeah, lady, that’s why I’m here. Thanks for the mead and supper, btw.” Harald dramatically loses the game to the boys and congratulates them on their win.

Sandi: He is entirely charming, but also clearly calculating. I really enjoyed this picture of him. Which makes me feel guilty, because I am sure he’s not a “good guy” in this story.

Lissa: I interpreted this conversation to mean that Aslaug and Harald had a history. He was once one of her suitors, but she decided to decline his proposal, and so he went off on a journey of self-improvement, Vikings style, while Aslaug set her sights on Ragnar. Now Harald has come back and the woman he wants as his wife is married to the king standing in the way of his ambition to rule over all of Norway. Seems pretty clear what his path must be.

Sandi: That is a good interpretation, as this is a show of historical fiction, after all. (Consider, if Harald is seeking to be King of Norway in the future it can’t be too far in the future. The Vikings timeline (for this show) began in AD 792, according to the opening of the first season.)

Lissa: Ragnar enters the hall and sees that Björn is there in one slightly-bruised piece, but his attention is pulled away from his son when he spots Harald. He makes his way over to greet the rival king but his mind is obviously already spinning with what it might mean.

Sandi: Oh yes. Is this new fellow (who has more hair!) going to step in on his wife in a personal flirtation/affair? Well, as Harald seems to be quite at home on the dais, it would seem that he is rather more ambitious. Ragnar is well aware of room placement and how to present himself, after all. Yes, the man is suspicious. But he’s also been getting treated by a Chinese herbalist, one can assume, so perhaps he is up to the new challenge!

So much to wait for next week! I hope you’ll join us @LissaBryan and @sandyquill!

Heill þú farir, heill þú aftr komir, heill þú á sinnum sér!
Hale go forth, hale return, hale on your ways!  – Vafþrúðnismál