We have finally reached Season Four in our recap of the History Channel’s Vikings.
This was one of the most anticipated seasons because Ragnar’s sons finally reached adulthood and started to play a major role in history.
It was also a special double season with 20 episodes, so let’s jump in.
Episode 1 “A Good Treason”
Ragnar is still close to death after the siege of Paris.
He dreams that he is approaching Valhalla, but the doors slam shut on him.
While the show implies that Ragnar abandoning the gods might block him from Valhalla, it was a stronger belief among the Vikings that those who died of sickness, even as a result of battle, could not enter.
The Vikings might kill someone with Ragnar’s injury after battle to open the path for him.
Bjorn, ruling in his father’s stead, arrests Floki for the murder of Athelstan.
The Vikings believed that for murder to be legal, it had to be performed openly and you must claim your action, so Floki hiding his role in Athelstan’s death rendered it a crime.
Family members could then take vengeance.
Bjorn also decides to venture into the wilderness to test himself.
Aslaug develops ambitions to rule Kattegat independently if Ragnar dies, while Lagertha and her nemesis Kalf split power in Hedeby, which was a major trading center in the Viking Age.
Episode 2 “Kill the Queen”
Floki is bound in the center of Kattegat for his crimes and is freed by his estranged wife, Helga.
Ragnar confronts her about her actions, but forgives her, saying he understands because he too still loves Floki.
Ragnar’s oldest son with Aslaug, Ubbe, accompanies the group that tracks down fugitive Floki, and Floki is chained up in a cave.
This is a deliberate reference to the story of Loki being chained up in a cave for his role in the death of the god Balder.
Helga is then cast as Sigyn, Loki’s Aesir wife, who was by his side during his imprisonment, but in the show, she is burying her dead daughter.
Episode 3 “Mercy”
Kalf hires a berserker warrior to kill Bjorn during his wilderness ordeal on behalf of Erlunder, the son of Jarl Borg.
Berserker warriors are often described as being commissioned by Viking kings, usually in large battles. Bjorn defeats both the warrior and a bear.
Kalf also starts sleeping with Lagertha and tells her that he loves her.
Meanwhile, both Wessex under Ecbert and Francia, with the help of Rollo, are preparing for future Viking attacks.
Rollo learns the local language and customs to try and win over the affection of his wife, Gisla.
Episode 4 “Yol”
Aslaug asks Floki to teach her youngest son, Ivar the Boneless, the ways of the gods; in reality, Ivar was the oldest son of Ragnar and Aslaug.
Floki also visits a Seer and is led to believe that he has a special fortune.
It was a mother’s job to teach the children of the household about the gods through storytelling.
Ragnar develops a close relationship with a slave girl from China who gives him addictive hallucinogenic medicine.
While the Vikings did have an extensive slave trade, there is no evidence that Viking contacts reached China.
Bjorn returns home to see Torvi, the widow of Jarl Borg, being badly treated by her new husband, Borg’s son Erlendur.
For the Yule feast, King Harald Fairhair arrives in Kattegat, declaring he wants to be the king of all Norway.
Ragnar arrives to find Harald sitting in his hall.
According to historical tradition, Harald Fairhair was the first king of Norway between 872 and 930 CE.
Episode 5 “Promised”
Ragnar learns that the settlement in England has been destroyed, keeping it a secret and only sharing the information with his Chinese slave.
Harald’s brother Halfdan arrives in Kattegat, planning to join the English expedition, telling Ragnar that he is keen to kill Christians.
There is little evidence to suggest that the Vikings killed due to their hatred of Christians; raiding was rather an economic proposition and a way of life.
There is evidence that the Vikings tattooed themselves.
Torvi reveals to Bjorn that Erlendur was behind the berserker attack.
Lagertha reveals to Kalf that she is pregnant, and he proposes marriage, but just before the wedding, she kills Kalf and reclaims her status as sole leader of Hedeby.
Episode 6 “What Might Have Been”
Ragnar announces his intention to raid Paris again rather than return to England, as he is still hiding what happened to the settlement there.
He also gives his two eldest sons with Aslaug, Ubbe and Hvitserk, their arm rings, acknowledging them as men and allowing them to accompany him during raiding season.
Chiefs presented arm rings to their warriors as symbols of mutual loyalty.
Ragnar arrives in France with Lagertha and Harald. Harald and Halfdan take French prisoners and burn them alive, cheered on by Erlendur, in an act of brutality.
News of the Viking arrival reaches Paris, and the emperor begs Rollo not to abandon them.
When the Vikings arrive at Paris, Rollo is there at the head of the Parisian army.
Meanwhile, Ecbert sends his son Aethelwulf and Alfred, Judith’s son with Athelstan, to Rome on a pilgrimage, as was common for noblemen in the day.
Harbard returns to Kattegat.
Episode 7 “The Profit and The Loss”
The Vikings launch a coordinated land and sea attack on Paris, which Rollo thwarts with his knowledge of Viking tactics.
Bjorn saves Harald and Halfdan in the fight, and as they retreat, Ragnar reminds Rollo that he saved his life when everyone else wanted him dead.
When they return to camp, they find that it has been raided. Helga is alive but wounded, and Ubbe and Hvitserk are safe, hidden by the Chinese slave.
Bjorn demands a fresh plan from Ragnar, who says he will retreat, but is showing erratic behavior, such as talking to a skull.
Back in Kattegat, Sigurd, the third son of Ragnar and Aslaug, watches the relationship between Aslaug and Harbard develop.
Extra-marital affairs were common for men but frowned upon for women.
According to some Viking laws, Ragnar was free to kill both Aslaug and Harbard for this transgression, but laws changed over time.
Episode 8 “Portage”
During the retreat, Harald questions Ragnar’s leadership, but Ragnar stops the retreat and reveals that the plan is to carry the ships overland behind the Frankish forts blocking their path.
We know that the Vikings sometimes carried their ships overland to move between strategic waterways.
As the Vikings regroup, Ragnar demands more opium from his slave, and when she denies him, he drowns her in a fit of madness.
In Wessex, over previous episodes, Kwenthrith has been expelled from Mercia with her son, and her younger brother has been made king, but agrees to give Mercia to Ecbert.
When Ecbert tells Kwenthrith that he no longer supports her leadership of Mercia, she sneaks into his bedroom to try and kill him, but instead she is killed by Judith, who is still carrying on a relationship with Ecbert.
In Kattegat, Aslaug becomes jealous when she realizes that Harbard is also sleeping with other women.
She confronts him, and he leaves.
The implication is that Harbard is Odin, visiting the mortal realm.
Odin has many lovers, mostly gaiantesses, and many children with women other than his wife Frigg.
Episode 9 “Death All Round”
As the Vikings return to Paris, Harald and Halfdan kill Christian Frankish families, and Lagertha has a miscarriage.
Back in Kattegat, Bjorn’s daughter Siggy is found dead by Sigurd.
When he tells a drunken Aslaug, she doesn’t care but makes cruel jokes with Ivar.
Aethelwulf and Alfred reach Rome, where the Pope recognizes Alfred’s special destiny and makes him a consul.
Meanwhile, Ecbert is made king of Wessex and Mercia, making him the most powerful man in England.
Ragnar seems uncommitted to the Paris attack, and when Bjorn tells Ragnar that he is needed, he makes it clear that his only concern is getting revenge on Rollo.
Episode 10 “The Last Ship”
The episode covers the intense battle for Paris, which Rollo eventually wins. Halfdan, Lagertha, and Floki are all injured in the fighting, and Ragnar tells Bjorn to retreat with them while he makes a final run at Rollo, in which Ragnar is defeated.
Historically, Rollo of Normandy was a Viking-turned-Frank who defended Paris from siege in 885-886, but this historic Ragnar was involved in an earlier siege in 845.
Following this, Ragnar disappears for ten years, leaving Aslaug as the sole ruler of Kattegat in cooperation with Bjorn.
They are receiving the news that the Viking settlement in England was destroyed ten years ago, and that Ragnar has a son called Magnus with the ex-Mercian queen.
In the midst of this news, Ragnar returns to Kattegat and challenges his sons to kill him if they want to claim his place as king.
Episode 11 “The Outsider”
Ubbe steps forward as though he will challenge his father but instead embraces him and welcomes him home as king.
According to the sagas, Ubbe once wanted to challenge his father for position, but failed to win the support of his brothers.
However, when Ragnar proposes an expedition to England, his sons refuse. Bjorn, Floki, Harald, and Hvitserk are already planning a raid the Mediterranean.
Ubbe and Sigurd say they intend to stay in Kattegat to protect their mother.
Ragnar then rides to Hedeby to ask Lagertha to join him, and she refuses. On his way home, Ragnar tries to hang himself from a tree, the same way that Odin hung himself from the world tree Yggdrasil.
He is saved when ravens, the birds of Odin, bite through the rope.
When he arrives back in Kattegat, he finds Ivar sitting on his throne.
Ivar is contemplating his future as he had tried to sleep with a slave girl only to discover that he is impotent, but she tells him that to be the son of Ragnar is to be more than a normal man.
Ragnar asks Ivar to come to England with him, and he agrees.
There is no record that the historical Ivar the Boneless had any children.
Episode 12 “The Vision”
All the warriors of Kattegat refuse to sail to England with Ragnar and Ivar, saying that the gods have abandoned him.
Ragnar digs up a hoard of treasure he had previously buried to bribe older warriors to sail with the pair.
They prepare to set sail for England as Bjorn prepares to set sail for the Mediterranean with Floki and Harald, telling his father that he intends to seek help from Rollo through diplomacy.
Lagertha arrives to conduct a ritual with Aslaug for their sons setting sail and reveals to Aslaug that she will never forgive her for taking Ragnar from her.
Aslaug also warns Ivar that she had a dream that he will drown if he goes to England.
He goes anyway, and their ship capsizes in a violent storm.
Aslaug is portrayed as a Volva in the show, though these witches conducted rituals to see the future rather than relying on dreams.
But dreams in general were considered prophetic by the Vikings.
Episode 13 “Two Journeys”
Bjorn arrives in Francia and asks Rollo for safe passage.
While Rollo initially imprisons the Vikings, he agrees to give them safe passage if he can join them on the journey, as he misses the Viking life.
They eventually set sail together.
Ragnar and Ivar wash up on shore with some of their men, who blame Ragnar for their misfortune.
News of their arrival reaches Ecbert, who is not worried as Ragnar is just “one man.”
Ragnar convinces Ivar to kill the rest of the Vikings and turn themselves over to Ecbert.
According to the sagas, an arrogant Ragnar did sail to England with a small team to prove that he was still a mightier raider than his sons.
Back in Kattegat, Lagertha attacks to install herself as leader, imprisoning Ubbe and Sigurd.
Episode 14 “In the Uncertain Hour Before Morning”
Aslaug renounces her position as queen and promises that her sons will not seek revenge if she is given safe passage. Lagertha initially agrees but then kills Aslaug.
When Ubbe and Sigurd learn what happened.
Ubbe challenges Lagertha but fails, who is supported by her new lover, Astrid.
Surviving records show some tolerance for male-male relationships in the Viking Age, though men were still expected to take wives.
No surviving evidence exists about lesbianism, but it may have been of little concern to the men writing history.
In Wessex, Ecbert captures Ragnar and agrees to hand him over to King Aelle, but he promises to organize safe passage home for Ivar.
He also introduces Ragnar to Magnus, but Ragnar denies ever having sex with Kwenthrith, and Magnus is expelled.
Episode 15 “All His Angels”
As Ivar prepares to set sail, Ragnar says goodbye and tells Ivar that he and his brothers must take revenge on Aelle and Ecbert, despite telling Ecbert that the Vikings will not seek revenge on Wessex.
Ragnar gives Athelstan’s cross to his son Alfred before being taken to Northumbria, having visions of his youth on his journey.
Ecbert accompanies his journey in disguise.
In Northumbria, Ragnar is tortured by Aelle.
Held in a cage, he makes no apologies for his actions and says that he welcomes death.
He will be waiting for his sons in Valhalla to hear of their exploits.
Aelle then drips Ragnar in a snake pit, where he is bitten to death, the same cause of death as the historical Ragnar.
Episode 16 “Crossings”
Ragnar’s sons begin to plan their revenge, while Ivar has also sworn revenge on Lagertha for the death of Aslaug.
He challenges her to single combat, but is refused, so he vows that one day he will have his revenge.
Duels were a common way to resolve disputes between individuals in the Viking world, and you could challenge anyone regardless of status.
It was considered shameful to refuse.
Bjorn, Rollo, and Floki reach Spain, where they are intrigued by the Islamic community.
The Vikings are known to have raided Spain between the 9th and 10th centuries.
They also receive news of Ragnar’s death from a cloaked figure presumed to be an incarnation of Odin.
Harald and Halfdan plot to overthrow Ragnar’s sons and take control of all of Norway.
Episode 17 “The Great Army”
Ubbe, Sigurd, and Ivar decide to gather a great army to sail to England and seek revenge; they are joined by an armada of Swedish Vikings.
England prepares, but Aelle refuses to ally himself with Ecbert against the expected attack.
Ivar and Ubbe try to kill Lagertha before leaving, but are stopped by a returning Bjorn.
Floki gifts Ivar a war chariot that will enable him to lead in combat.
Episode 18 “Revenge”
Bjorn and Ivar butt heads over leadership of the great army, while Bjorn also has an affair with Astrid, his mother’s lover.
History suggests that Ivar, as the oldest brother, Ubbe, and Hvitserk were the main leaders of the Great Heathen Army that attacked England in 865 CE.
Earl Jorgensen, the leader of the Swedish Vikings, agrees to sacrifice himself to ensure the success of their endeavor.
After a heated confrontation between Ecbert and Aethelwulf about Ecbert’s affair with Judith and favoritism of Alfred over Aethelwulf, Ecbert convinces Aethelwulf to lead the Wessex resistance to the Norse invasion.
But the army first turns its attention to Northumbria, defeating Aelle’s small force and executing the king via blood eagle.
Episode 19 “On the Eve”
Harald and Halfdan make an unsuccessful attempt to take Kattegat, which Lagertha defends with the women and retired warriors not in England.
However, Torvi is badly injured in the fighting.
In England, the Vikings are attacking Mercia, while Aethelwulf prepares his troops and plans to meet the Vikings at Repton.
There is evidence of a major battle at Repton from the time of the Great Heathen Army.
Ivar persuades Bjorn to scout a potential battlefield and use the terrain to defeat the Saxons of Wessex.
The Vikings harass the Saxons onto the battlefield of their choice with hidden archers, pushing them into a tight valley.
Panicking, Aethelwulf orders a charge.
Episode 20 “The Reckoning”
Aethelwulf loses many of his men in the charge and retreats to Ecbert’s castle to prepare for evacuation, but Ecbert refuses to leave.
He instead gives the crown of Wessex to Aethelwulf.
The Vikings arrive and take Ecbert.
While Ivar wants to execute him via blood eagle, Bjorn reminds Ivar of Ragnar’s dream of Viking lands in England, so they allow Ecbert to choose his own form of death if he signs over land in East Anglia, not realizing that he is no longer king and that anything he signs will be invalid. Ecbert then kills himself in his Roman bath.
The Vikings consider themselves to have won and begin to break up the army.
So Floki buries Helga and sets sail for parts unknown.
Bjorn says he wishes to return to the Mediterranean, and Ivar proposes to continue raiding England.
The evidence suggests that Ivar did stay in England, setting up a stronghold at York.
In an argument that ensues as Sigurd argues for farming their newly acquired land, while Ivar questions who wants to farm when there is glory to be won.
Sigurd insults Ivar for his impotence, and Ivar kills Sigurd with an axe.
