"Vikings: Valhalla" is a game of thrones for a new era – specifically, the throne of England.
Here's everything you need to know about the end of the beginning for this new saga of "Vikings."
The beginning of the end of "Vikings: Valhalla" lies in King Canute's decision
to stay in England and rule over the conquered kingdom. That decision kicks
off a chain of events that ends in mass death and destruction.
His supposed ally, King Olaf of Norway, harbors ambitions of uniting his country
under the banner of Christianity, and that means overthrowing the free city of Kattegat.
Olaf knows that Canute dreams of creating a great northern empire that stretches
across the top of Europe and would never allow him to take control of Kattegat,
an important trading post and the real seat of power in Norway. With Canute across the sea and
smitten with the widow of England's King Æthelred, Olaf decides to pay his friend's wife a visit.
That's right: Canute was already married to Queen Ælfgifu when he set sail for England.
Sensing an opportunity, Olaf drops in on Ælfgifu and tells her exactly what has been going on,
hoping to talk her into lending him Canute's fleet. The queen ends up making her own play.
After learning from Olaf that her husband was busy romancing the beautiful Emma of Normandy,
she scoops up their kids and sets sail for England with the fleet in tow,
intending to take her place as – in her opinion – its rightful queen. When she arrives,
she discovers that Canute left to deal with an uprising — and he married Emma before he set sail.
Canute captured England by goading the young King Edmund , son of the late King Æthelred, into a
rash decision. Edmund led a charge across London's prized bridge after being called a coward, but he
rode straight into a trap: the bridge was brought down behind him, stranding the English king.
Prince Harald of Norway wanted to take his head when he found out that Æthelred was already dead,
but Canute kept Edmund alive to act as a go-between with the English nobles.
"You have the support of the nobles, which is important to me,
and will be your job to manage. As long as you do it well, we'll get along fine."
With the boy king under his wing and his marriage to Emma of Normandy (the great-granddaughter of
Rollo) complete, Canute was in good shape, but the arrangement didn't work for Queen Ælfgifu.
With Canute gone, his father — the fearsome Sweyn Forkbeard — came to England to rule in his place.
To help him in his quest to take Kattegat,
King Olaf calls on the Christian zealot Kåre, a murderous Jarl who hates Pagans.
When we get his backstory, it's clear why:
Kåre comes from a Pagan family who put forward one of their sons to be sacrificed to the gods.
Seeing his older brother get his throat cut changed the young Kåre, who turned to Christ.
He's been on a mission to cleanse the Viking world of Pagans, and nowhere is off limits. In a
shocking turn of events, Jarl Kåre gains entrance to Uppsala and proceeds to massacre the priests.
For maximum intimidation, Jarl Kåre decapitates the priests and hangs
their heads from the mast of a ship that he then sends floating towards Kattegat.
Leaving only a few children alive to pass on a message to Freydis Eriksdotter.
Kåre became fascinated with Freydis after finding out that she saw the Seer, and he wants her dead.
He's convinced that he is the subject of the oracle's visions of the future, not Freydis.
"It is I who is the cross that carries the sword, not this girl you prophesied."
Olaf thinks he's crazy (and he's probably right), but he secures him as an ally anyway.
Freydis Eriksdotter got the chance to visit Uppsala before Jarl Kåre burned it to the ground,
which was a huge moment for her: as a Greenlander, Freydis still follows the old gods.
She arrives in Kattegat at the beginning of "Vikings: Valhalla"
not to answer the call of King Canute, but to find and kill a Christian Viking who raped her.
It turns out her attacker is an important man in King Olaf's inner circle,
but she kills him anyway, putting her at the mercy of Jarl Haakon, leader of Kattegat.
Despite Olaf's protests, Freydis is given the benefit of the doubt,
seeing as she was within her rights to take revenge under Greenland's laws. She's ordered to
remain in Kattegat, though Haakon allows Freydis to visit Uppsala, where she encounters the Seer.
The supernatural oracle tells Freydis that she is "the last," but she has no idea what that means.
She only begins to understand the gravity of it when Haakon reveals to her that she has
dreamed about a terrible disaster striking Kattegat: she sees the waves receding,
revealing a bounty of fish for the people, only to come back as a wall of water.
In Haakon's dream, a tsunami smashes into Kattegat and leaves just one survivor. For
the longest time she believed that survivor was her, but after hearing what the Seer told Freydis,
she's convinced that the Greenlander is actually the prophesized Last Daughter of Uppsala,
and it's her she's been dreaming about.
"You're the last. The last daughter of Uppsala."
We know from the Sagas that Leif Eriksson was a famous Viking in his own right, but when we're
introduced to him in "Vikings: Valhalla," he's best known as the son of Erik the Red.
He goes to England and steps out of his father's shadow in style, bringing down London Bridge,
but it's not without cost: the Pagan Greenlander begins to experience a crisis of faith.
After nearly being killed in an ambush, a local girl puts a cross in his hand. He survives, and
he can't help but wonder if it was Jesus who saved him. His Christian comrade Prince Harald calls it
a miracle. By the time Leif returns to Norway, he's clearly having doubts about the old ways.
Low-ranking Saxon Godwin is a savvy social climber. He let Prince Harald escape during
the St Brice's Day Massacre, which paid off for him when the Vikings came to take their revenge.
He ends up becoming an advisor to King Canute, though he's still loyal to the English king,
young Edmund, at least to begin with. When Canute is called away and his father,
Sweyn Forkbeard, is suddenly calling the shots, things quickly change.
Edmund can't stand Forkbeard, even calling him an "abomination" in a private moment with Godwin.
That chance comment leads to the reveal of a conspiracy.
“How much do you hate it?”
"Your sentiments are not felt in isolation, your highness."
Godwin has convinced the English nobles to back Edmund, but something happens
that makes him reconsider his options. Forkbeard kills the Ealdorman of Wessex,
and, believing him to be trustworthy, he makes Godwin the first Earl of Wessex.
All of a sudden, it's Edmund that Godwin needs out of the picture, not Forkbeard.
Godwin uses a hidden rope to bring Edmund off his horse, and when his injuries aren't quite
severe enough to kill him, he stabs him in the heart for good measure. It appears as though
he's gotten away with murder, though Queen Emma notices the wound and sees right through him.
Forkbeard ultimately stepped in on his behalf, but Emma is unlikely to forget the murder of
her late husband's son in a hurry. Godwin will need to watch his back in Season 2.
With Jarl Kåre and his warriors allying with Olaf, his chances of taking Kattegat and
becoming the undisputed king of Norway seem high. Harald, who is currently undercover for Haakon,
forces Kåre into offering a parlay by playing on the zealot’s own Christianity. He tells Kåre that
their Lord does not look kindly on those who deny entry to the Kingdom of Heaven to those who seek
it. They should at least ask the Pagans to convert before massacring them. Kåre agrees, Begrudgingly.
Of course, Harald knows full well that Jarl Haakon would never agree to a mass Christian conversion
in the proudly multi-faith Kattegat, but the brief parlay gives him time to pass a secret message to
Leif. With a hand signal and some clever wording, he informs him that Kåre will attack by land while
Olaf will come from the sea, using the hide tide of the wolf moon to bypass the defenses.
Trebuchets are brought to the fjord and Kattegat's forces are split in two,
but what Harald doesn't know is that his devious half-brother
has tricked both him and Kåre. Knowing that Harald would share the plan with Kattegat,
Olaf sent a bunch of empty ships floating towards the city. His real intention was to let the
armies of Jarl Haakon and Jarl Kåre destroy each other before swooping in to pick up the pieces.
With Olaf secretly waiting in the wings, the forces of Jarl Kåre descend on Kattegat. The
crazed Christian Viking asks for no payment for his services. Instead, he tells Olaf that
“God has instructed me to build a great church in Kattegat…”
His lord wants him to make it so tall that it touches the sky.
Kåre's berserkers are relentless as they scale the walls and enter the city,
but so are Haakon's shieldmaidens, who manage to get her to safety after she's
hit with numerous arrows. She isn't fated to survive, but before she goes to Valhalla,
she reminds Freydis that she's the Last Daughter of Uppsala
and must live. Freydis won't abandon Kattegat without settling her score first, however.
The big showdown between Freydis and Kåre is teased throughout the first season of "Vikings:
Valhalla," and it doesn't disappoint. Freydis is given a sword by the priests
of Uppsala during her visit, and she's almost struck down with it:
Kåre disarms her, but he doesn't act quickly enough. Freydis pounces and stabs him with a
dagger before retrieving her sword. That’s when she utters some very potent parting words to him:
"The cross that carries the sword was never you."
She makes it clear that it was always her destiny to possess the legendary weapon.
Kåre's last word is "no" as Freydis brings her blade down,
decapitating him as he had done to so many at Uppsala.
With both Jarl Haakon and Jarl Kåre out of the way, taking Kattegat is relatively easy
for Olaf. He and his men storm the city and make their way to the great hall,
killing any stragglers who stand in their way.
In a move that he will no doubt come to regret in coming seasons,
Olaf slays the Greenlander Liv, the only person keeping Leif Eriksson on the straight and narrow.
The son of Erik the Red had opened up to Liv, telling her all about his traumatic childhood
and how his father controlled Greenland through fear: He once saw him beat a man
until he couldn't walk because the lamb he owed him had not been born yet. That same
"darkness" lives inside Leif, he says, and he only feels calm and content when he's with Liv.
Liv's death is crushing for Leif, who instantly regrets not being able to
comfort her more in her final moments. Liv tries to calm Leif by telling him that she
will meet him again in Valhalla, but she dies before he can answer.
When his mourning is interrupted by a group of men, he snaps.
They barely even notice Leif hunched next to Liv's body as they burst into the barn he's in,
but they've chosen the wrong Viking to mess with: by the time he's done with them,
he's covered in so much blood that you could call him Leif the Red.
As viewers, we aren't entirely sure which side Harald Sigurdsson is on leading up to the battle
for Kattegat, but he proves himself loyal to the city, and to Freydis. Harald declares his love to
the Pagan shieldmaiden from Greenland before he secretly goes undercover in Olaf's camp,
and when Freydis spots him wounded on the ground, she follows her heart and saves him.
With the city lost, the two flee Kattegat on horseback and live to fight another day. They
finish the season together, but how long their relationship will last is up for debate — their
vastly different outlooks on religion could well drive a wedge between them going forward.
When the Christian Prince dismisses a comment about life being fated,
the staunchly Pagan Freydis says that loving him is sometimes "hard," a word that Harald
is associated with to this day. The Viking Sagas tell us that Harald Sigurdsson went on to become
the king known as Harald Hardrada, meaning Harald Hard-ruler. Olaf's forces flee from Kattegat when
Sweyn Forkbeard arrives with his son's fleet, and he's clearly going to be in Canute's bad
books for a while if he manages to keep his head. That means Harald will likely be crowned king of
Norway in "Vikings: Valhalla" Season 2, but he doesn't seem like the iron-fisted type just yet.
Perhaps heartbreak will turn him into the hard ruler history remembers him as?
We can also expect to see the children of Erik the Red inching closer to their destinies in "Vikings:
Valhalla" Season 2. Leif Eriksson is popularly known as one of the first Europeans to set foot
on North American soil, having landed in present-day Canada around 500 years before
Christopher Columbus set sail. According to "The Saga of the Greenlanders," Leif heard about a
new land with a milder climate from an Icelandic trader. This trader caught a glimpse of the lush
woodlands and vast mountains from a distance but didn't go ashore. Leif set out to do just that,
and he would end up making several stops along the Atlantic coast,
eventually setting up a camp in a place he called Vinland because of the abundance of grapes.
Leif wasn't the only child of Erik to Red to make the trip to the new world, either. Freydis is
also said to have sailed to North America, and she apparently stayed there for a lot longer:
Leif wintered in Vinland, but his sister was away for three years. She helped create a settlement
in Vinland, where the Greenlanders co-existed peacefully with the Native Americans for some
time. Tensions eventually spilled into conflict, however, and, according to "The Saga of Erik the
Red," Freydis went into battle while heavily pregnant. While Norsemen have already set
foot in America in the "Vikings" universe, we still expect Leif to make the journey.
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