The Last Kingdom tells the story of Uhtred, named after his father, the Saxon Lord of Bebbanburg.
When the Danish Earl Ragnar and his viking army invade Northumbria, Lord Uhtred leads the charge
on the battlefield, but loses, dying alongside his army. The young Uhtred and a Saxon girl
named Brida are then taken as slaves by Ragnar. Ragnar takes a strong liking to the kids, and
when Uhtred saves Ragnar’s daughter Thyra from an assault at the hands of a young viking named Sven,
Ragnar blinds Sven in one eye, banishes his father Kjartan, and adopts Uhtred and Brida as his own
children. They are raised as Danes and pagans and fully assimilate to the Viking lifestyle.
Years later, Uhtred and Brida, now in a relationship, witness Sven and Kjartan
burning down Ragnar’s great hall, killing the Earl and his family, but sparing Thyra to take as a
slave. Uhtred wants to avenge his adopted father, and makes plans to return home to Bebbanburg to
claim his rightful lordship and command his army against Sven and Kjartan. Unfortunately,
his uncle Aelfric has taken over as Lord and has no plans of giving up his title.
Also complicating things for Uhtred and Brida is the fact that viking warlords
Ubba and Guthrum believe that Uhtred was responsible for Ragnar’s death, making
Uhtred an outsider to both his birth home with the Saxons and his adopted home with the Danes.
Uhtred and Brida flee to Wessex, the last remaining Saxon kingdom,
with the hopes of finding solace there. They alert King Aethelred and his brother, Lord Alfred, of an
impending attack by the Danes. Due to Uhtred’s warning, the Saxons win the battle, although
King Aethelred is killed, leaving the crown to Alfred, enraging Aethelred’s son, Aethelwold.
Uhtred pledges his loyalty to Alfred for one year in exchange for Alfred’s future assistance
in Uhtred’s quest for vengeance. Earl Ragnar’s son, Ragnar the Younger, returns from his own
exploits in Ireland to investigate his father’s murder. He believes his adopted brother Uhtred,
but doesn’t want to wait to enact his vengeance. And so, Ragnar and Brida part ways with Uhtred.
As Uhtred trains the Saxon army to better fight the Danes, he also is persuaded by
Alfred to take a Saxon wife, Mildrith. Mildrith births Uhtred a son, but when the baby dies,
Uhtred and Mildrith separate. Meanwhile, Ragnar has joined the other viking warlords
in their attacks against the Saxons and has entered into a relationship with Brida.
Uhtred and Odda, Alfred’s most trusted general, lead many defenses against the invading vikings.
One battle sees Uhtred killing Ubba. In the season one finale, King Alfred gives a rousing speech to
his troops and Uhtred leads the army into battle, using viking strategies to fight the Danes. They
come out victorious, and Ragnar and Brida are captured as hostages to secure a new peace with
the Danes, while Guthrum converts to Christianity after seeing the Saxon victory as proof of God.
In season two of The Last Kingdom, Uhtred is sent on a mission to rescue a Christian Dane
named Guthred from his Danish captors. Being both a Christian and a Dane, the hope is that Guthred
can unite Northumbria against the pagan invaders. Uhtred rescues Guthred, who is then crowned King.
Uhtred falls in love with Guthred’s sister, Gisela, but Guthred proves himself to be an
ineffective ruler, failing to reach a peace deal with the Danish brothers Sigefrid and Erik who
also laid claim to the north. And to top it all off, Guthred is convinced by the mischievous Abbot
Eadred that Uhtred threatened his power, so Guthred has Uhtred sold into slavery.
Ragnar arrives to rescue Uhtred, and former nun turned warrior Hild helps to nurse Uhtred
back to health. Upon learning that Guthred had promised his sister Gisela to Uhtred’s
villainous uncle Aelfric, Uhtred crashes the wedding, saves Gisela,
and kills the evil Abbot Eadred. Upon learning that Uhtred killed a man of the church,
King Alfred forces Uhtred to once again swear fealty or Ragnar would suffer the consequences.
Uhtred and Ragnar then set their sights on avenging their father’s death and rescuing
their sister. With Brida and their allies at their side, the group storms Sven and Kjartan’s home,
killing the father and son and rescuing Thyra. Father Beocca, a long time loyal friend to
Uhtred’s Saxon family, nurses Thyra back to health and the two fall in love and marry.
Three years pass and Uhtred and Gisela have settled down and had kids,
but that’s all disrupted when Uhtred is asked by Sigefrid and Erik to join their revolt against
King Alfred. Alfred, meanwhile, has married his daughter Aethelflaed to the abusive Aethelred,
Lord of Mercia. When Sigefrid and Erik capture Aethelflaed and hold her for ransom at their fort,
Alfred is forced to choose between saving his daughter and saving his kingdom. Alfred decides
to pay the ransom to save his daughter, an act his trusted general Odda strongly disagrees with.
While in captivity, Aethelflaed falls in love with Erik and the two plan to run away together.
Sigefrid discovers Erik and Aethelflaed’s relationship and sees it as a betrayal.
Odda disobeys Alfred’s orders and leads a charge against the fort as Uhtred infiltrates it to aid
in Aethelflaed and Erik’s escape. During that escape, a bitter Sigefrid kills Erik
and Aethelflaed kills Sigefrid for revenge. Uhtred, Odda, and the Saxon army defeat the
Danes at the fort, burning it to the ground and Aethelflaed is returned to her abusive husband
Aethelred. Odda is killed for disobeying his king, and Alfred releases Uhtred from his oath.
In season three of The Last Kingdom, King Alfred begins to fall gravely ill. He demands
Uhtred swear an oath of loyalty to his son and heir, Edward, but Uhtred refuses. When
Uhtred’s wife Gisela dies in childbirth, Uhtred burns her body on a Pagan pyre,
something the monk Brother Godwin sees as a desecration against his Christian faith. When
Uhtred accidentally kills the monk, he is forced to flee as Alfred banishes him from the kingdom.
And that kingdom was in a very precarious situation,
as enemies surrounded on all sides. Alfred’s bitter and villainous nephew Aethelwold wanted
the throne for himself and rallies the Danish armies to join him in battle.
Following his banishment, Uhtred joins Brida, Ragnar, and Ragnar’s cousin Cnut,
along with the Danish army, in their effort to invade Wessex. Along the way,
Uhtred encounters the witch Skade, who places a curse on him.
Meanwhile, Alfred calls upon his son-in-law Aethelred, Lord of Mercia,
to send troops to combat the Danish invaders, but Aethelred refuses. Instead, Aethelflaed
is forced to rally the troops herself and lead them into battle. This results in the people of
Mercia rallying around Aethelflaed as a leader. In retaliation, Aethelred tries to have his wife
killed. Aethelflaed sends for Uhtred’s help, and he ditches his Danish allies to come to
her aid. Although Aethelflaed and Uhtred have developed romantic feelings for each other,
Uhtred doesn’t act on them, fearing the curse that has been placed on him by Skade. And to lift
that curse, Uhtred finds Skade and drowns her, allowing him to be with Aethelflaed.
Meanwhile, Aethelwold conspires with Cnut to have Ragnar killed. After Aethelwold kills Ragnar,
Cnut is placed in charge of the Danish army. Cnut also begins a relationship with Brida,
who is unaware that her new lover was responsible for Ragnar’s death.
As Aethelwold and his Danish allies prepared for battle, he also stoked the fires of civil
unrest in Wessex, pushing the people toward intolerance and bigotry. Thyra,
who converted to Christianity when marrying Beocca, is killed due to her Danish heritage.
As Alfred’s health continues to decline, he continues teaching his son Edward how to be king.
Edward marries a common woman who bears him twins, but Alfred’s wife Aelswith has them taken away so
Edward can marry a more suitable match, Aelflaed, daughter of Lord Aethelhelm. Before his death,
Alfred pardons Uhtred, an act Aelswith tries to reverse by once again imprisoning him.
Edward goes against his mother’s wishes, fully pardoning Uhtred and inviting him to fight by
his side. Uhtred agrees to join Edward’s army, not under oath, but as a free man.
During the battle between the Saxon and Danish armies,
Uhtred finds and kills Aethelwold on the battlefield, allowing his brother Ragnar to
pass into Valhalla. Edward’s army defeats the viking invaders, living to fight another day.
In season four of The Last Kingdom, Uhtred finally moves forward with his plans to take out his
villainous Uncle Aelfric and reclaim his rightful home of Bebbanburg. He attacks with a small group,
including his friend Beocca and son, Young Uhtred. But it turns out, Uhtred’s just a little too late,
as Aelfric’s son Wihtgar has also arrived to take control for himself. Wihtgar kills his father and
the men of Bebbanburg pledge to him their loyalty. They then turn their focus on Uhtred and his men.
Beocca sacrifices himself to save Young Uhtred, as the others flee from Bebbanburg. Young Uhtred,
who resents his father’s violent, Pagan ways, decides to become a cleric of the Christian
church. Uhtred disavows his son, taking back his name. And so, Young Uhtred becomes Bishop Oswald.
Meanwhile, Aethelred conspires with his army commander Eardwulf on how to heighten the power of
Mercia to equal that of Wessex. Eardwulf’s family name had been tarnished, but Aethelred promised to
restore it to its former glory if Eardwulf helps him conquer all of East Anglia. As they begin
fighting to reclaim Viking land in East Anglia, Cnut, Brida and their army take the opportunity to
invade Mercia. Aethelflaed races to rally Mercian troops to fight back the Danish army. Edward
is persuaded by his shady new advisor and father-in-law Aethelhelm to hold back on sending
forces, as a defeat in Mercia could rid them of the nuisance that Aethelred had become. Edward’s
mother, Aelswith, has different thoughts on the matter, wanting to not only protect her daughter,
Aethelflaed, but ensure that Edward would still retain the loyalty of the Mercian people. And so,
Aelswith goes behind Edward’s back to ask the Welsh King Hywel for his assistance. Meanwhile,
Uhtred rushes to be by Aethelflaed’s side and along the way he encounters the Viking Haesten,
who was looking after Cnut’s sons. Haesten reveals to Uhtred Cnut’s involvement in Ragnar’s death.
Uhtred kidnaps Cnut’s sons and joins Aethelflaed in the Mercian village Tettenhall. As the Danes
attack, the Mercian and Welsh armies defend their land. Soon, Aethelred arrives with his army,
as does Edward with the Wessex army. With the combined Christian forces,
the Danish army is finally defeated. During the battle, Uhtred and Cnut fight, and a pregnant
Brida learns of Cnut’s involvement in Ragnar’s death. So she takes her revenge, killing Cnut,
the father of her unborn child. As the battle dies down, Brida asks Uhtred to kill her and
send her to Valhalla, but Uhtred refuses and Brida is captured by the Welsh and made a slave.
During the battle, Aethelred is mortally wounded. On his deathbed,
he must help find a suitable husband for his and Aelthelflaed’s daughter, Aelfwynn,
to ensure their succession of the crown. Eardwulf befriends Edward, who then proposes Eardwulf would
make a perfect match. When Aethelred rejects this idea, Eardwulf kills him. Aethelflaed also rejects
this proposal, so Edward has her imprisoned until after the wedding. Uhtred flees with Aelfwynn and
discovers that Eardwulf had murdered Aethelred. When Uhtred tells Edward this revelation,
the King realizes the error of his ways and dismisses the treacherous Aethelhelm as his
advisor. Edward recognizes the loyalty and respect Uhtred has over the Mercians and
decides to appoint him Lord and Protector of Mercia until a suitable match can be found for
Aelfwynn. Uhtred’s first act on the throne is to immediately relinquish the power to Aethelflaed.
Aethelflaed is made Queen of Mercia until Aelfwynn marries, and takes a vow of chastity to ensure the
succession passes to her daughter. This move at first infuriates Edward, but he realizes
he needed to stay aligned with his sister and Mercia to keep their kingdom under Saxon control.
Meanwhile, the Viking warlord Sigtryggr raids the Welsh settlements and frees Brida. As they
continue to decimate the Welsh army, they come across and capture Eardwulf, who was in hiding
following his murder of Aethelred. Eardwulf tells them that Edward had left Winchester undefended,
so the Viking army turn their attention there. The Danes take control of Winchester and imprison many
of its inhabitants, including Aelswith, Aethelhelm, Aelflaed, Edward’s children
and Uhtred’s daughter Stiorra. When Eardwulf assaults Stiorra, Sigtryggr has him killed.
Uhtred leads a negotiation with Sigtryggr to come to a truce. Sigtryggr is given the Northumbrian
capital of Eoferwic in exchange for his surrender of Winchester. Sigtryggr also takes a willing
Stiorra as a captive to ensure the truce’s legitimacy. As the truce between the Saxons
and Danes is established and the season comes to a close, Brida vows to be Uhtred’s undoing,
Aethelhelm poisons Aelswith, and Edward entrusts his son Aethelstan into Uhtred’s care.
In season five of The Last Kingdom, several years have passed and Uhtred now rules Rumcofa,
while still serving as a vital ally of Mercia. Uhtred is also raising
and training Edward’s son Aethelstan into becoming a formidable warrior.
Meanwhile, Brida has become the leader of a fanatical band of Danish warriors. One of her
new loyal followers is Rognvaldr, the long lost violent brother of Sigtryggr. Brida’s
army captures and castrates Young Uhtred before sending him back to his father as
a sign of aggression. Rognvaldr then leads an army to invade Eoferwic,
forcing Sigtryggr and his new wife Stiorra to flee. Upon seeing her people slaughtered,
Stiorra reveals herself to engage Brida in a trial by combat.
Upon hearing of Eoferwic’s invasion, Uhtred leads an army to fight off Brida’s Danish forces. Along
the way, he is joined by Sigtryggr, who helps win back the city. In the battle,
Brida’s young daughter Vibike is killed, and Brida is forced to order her troops to retreat. Seeing
his army has lost, Rognvaldr attempts to defect back to his brother’s side. To earn forgiveness,
Rognvaldr subjects himself to a trial of the gods, which he passes. A defeated Brida
remains determined to kill Uhtred, leading to a final confrontation between the former
lovers and childhood friends. Uhtred defeats Brida, but convinces her to move on and start
a new life. Unfortunately, just as Brida relents, Stiorra arrives and kills her.
Following the victory in Eoferwic, Uhtred is called back to Aylesbury where Queen
Aethelflaed is dying of cancer. She names her daughter, Aelfwynn, as her successor,
before dying in Uhtred’s arms. Despite Aethelflaed’s line of succession being known,
the transfer of power is quickly complicated. The villainous Aethelhelm plots to have his
grandson Aelfweard named King of Mercia and Wessex, but it’s actually Edward who steals
the crown for himself. Aelswith flees with Aelfwynn, wanting to protect her
granddaughter from Edward’s power hungry schemes. Meanwhile, Aethelhelm continues his own schemes,
trying to stoke a war between the Saxons and Danes, in the hopes it would weaken
both sides and create another opportunity to sit his grandson Aelfweard on the throne. Due
to this plot, Aethelhelm accidentally has his own daughter, Edward’s wife Aelfflaed,
killed. Despite uncovering Aethelhelm’s villainous machinations, Uhtred is too late to stop the war
between the Saxons and Danes. The Danish army is ultimately defeated, with Sigtryggr being taken
prisoner. Edward agrees to free Sigtryggr if the warrior agrees to be baptized and swears fealty,
but the pagan warrior refuses. And so, Uhtred is forced to execute his son-in-law Sigtryggr.
Elsewhere, Aethelhelm strikes up an alliance with King Constantin of Scotia. The alliance
would see the Scottish army assisting in an uprising against Edward to install Aelfweard
on the throne. In exchange, Aethelhelm offers a captured Aelfwynn to marry Constantin and
agrees that the Saxons would not encroach on the Scotia lands in the north. The duo,
alongside a captive Aelfwynn, make camp in Bebbanburg as guests of Uhtred’s cousin, Wihtgar.
Although Uhtred wishes to avoid battle and retreat to his family, the uprising taking its start in
his original home of Bebbanburg moves Uhtred to believe God’s plan is for him to fight. And so,
Uhtred rallies the armies of Wessex and Mercia to quell the uprising. Despite Edward’s resistance
to Uhtred’s battle plans and threatening execution to anyone who wouldn’t stand down,
Uhtred’s allies ignore the King and prepare for battle. Resigned to the inevitable war,
Edward relents and joins Uhtred’s side.
Uhtred and Edward lead their army to Bebbanburg for a final battle against
Aethelhelm and Constantin. Joining the fight is Uhtred’s daughter, Stiorra,
and her Danish army. In Bebbanburg, the young Aethelstan confronts the villainous Aethelhelm,
admonishing him for all of the horrible acts he has committed in an effort to put Aelfweard
on the throne. A disgusted Aelfweard abandons his grandfather, leaving him to die. Meanwhile,
Uhtred finally faces his cousin Wihtgar in battle, killing him once and for all. As the battle ends,
Edward comes out victorious. The King names Uhtred the Lord of Northumbria, but Uhtred then reveals
that he has secretly struck a deal with Constantin to rule Northumbria as a region independent from
England. Edward is furious by this revelation, but Uhtred agrees to keep Northumbria an ally of
Wessex, and promises that one day a king will come who will unite all of the kingdoms under one rule.
And so, as the series comes to a close,
Uhtred, the new Lord of Bebbanburg, is finally at peace in his family home.