Ragnar returns and no one’s happy
See Ragnar Lothbrok, the great King and the wandering ghost.
What awaits him, this revenant soul, returned now after long years spent away?
His sons do not kill him; that counts as a blessing, I suppose.
Credit: Jonathan Hession
One thing that has happened: It would appear you have another son.
Magnus is in Wessex, and surely Ragnars destiny lies there, also.
Kattegat has changed since you went away, says Ragnars son, Ubbe.
It is a major trading center in the region.
His sons have made plans.
Bjorn wants to sail for the Mediterranean; Hvitserk wants to sail with him.
The sons of Ragnar Lothbrok share ambitions.
Thats not all they share.
An attractive slave girl serves them dinner before serving them in another way.
One after another they seduce her: Ubbe and Hvitserk and Sigurd.
We have to ask her.
Young Ivar the Boneless wants to share the girl, too; they ask her.
And meanwhile, Ragnar Lothbrok is asking.
He is asking for men to travel with him.
He is asking his old friends to… well, forgiveness is a strong word.
Will Floki come with him on his new journey?
Recall, at the start of season 4, how we saw Ragnar dreaming through his illness.
He saw the doors of Valhalla close to him.
Surely he is self-aware enough to know a Christian heaven will be closed to him, too.
(He has sinned, and he doesnt appear to be seeking confession.)
I dont know if I shall see you in Valhalla, Ragnar tells Floki.
And he says: I love you.
It is the moment Floki has been waiting for his whole life.
I love you too, Ragnar Lothbrok!
I love you too, Ragnar!
The old friends part; whether they shall meet again, only the gods know.
NEXT: Old loves
You must be King Ragnar, says the strange woman.
Her name is Astrid, and she knows Ragnar from the stories.
My wet nurse told me many tales of your journeys west, she tells Ragnar.
I think my wet nurse was a little in love with you.
Im old enough to be your father, says Ragnar.
But once upon a time, Ragnar was young enough to be someones husband.
And that someone walks into the hall, joining Ragnar and Astrid.
The years have been much kinder to Lagertha.
She is still beautiful.
There was a time, long ago, when they were lovers.
And a time when, as partners, they traveled to a far-away country and created a colony.
I regret what happened with the settlement, says Ragnar.
And I regret what happened between us.
I have made many bad choices.
We all approved of your ideas, says Lagertha.
But they didnt work.
Ragnar Lothbrok didnt succeed.
She is being cruel to be kind.
Ragnar has such ambition, ambition far beyond what any other Viking lord had conceived.
He wanted to move past an era of raiding into an era of building.
Lagertha believed strongly in that world.
And they have both been let down.
More than that, there was a time when they had no power and were in love.
In my mind, I wish Id never left our farm, says Ragnar.
He has been a great man, and she has been a great woman.
And yet, every regret, says Lagertha.
Would they have been happier on that farm, dreaming of a more ambitious life?
Ragnar leaves and Lagertha remains behind with her lover, Astrid.
She has her own destiny.
Back in Kattegat, Ivar sleeps with the girl.
Things take a turn.
What seems to be a brutal scene becomes something much trickier.
So your prick doesnt work, says the girl.
Does that make you less of a man?
No, it doesnt.
Lots of men can have sex.
Lots of men can have children.
Those things are easy.
Ivar, it seems, wont have those things.
For him, in this society, at this time in history, there is no other choicebutgreatness.
For Ragnar, perhaps, there is no choice, period.
He finds a tree perhaps it is a signifier of Yggdrasil, the World Tree.
Ragnar thinks, considers, and decides.
We see a rope thrown across a branch.
We see a horse run away.
And we see Ragnar, hanging, a crow on his shoulder.
The rope breaks; his story is not yet finished.
Back in his old great hall, he finds Ivar.
Once, long ago, he tried to leave this boy out in the wilderness to die.
And now, amazingly, it is Ivar who is his truest supporter.
Of course Ill come, says Ivar.
Destiny beckons, for old men and young alike.
