There is a main thread running through seasons one to six, and that is: Where is the way out for the Vikings?
Ragnar, like other Viking farmers, has cultivated barren lands for generations, ruled by lazy local lords. Ragnar's good friend Floki builds a boat for him and helps Ragnar and his brothers go to sea to new land. There they see the land of the oil-spilled church, and by plundering the appeal of the riches, Ragnar defeats the old lord to become the new boss of Kattegaard.
Ragnar's wealth was also coveted by other Scandinavian kings, so Ragnar also took them out to loot, but the bloodthirsty of the Vikings was not only reflected in aggression but also in infighting. Dou consumes the strength of the Vikings. Ragnar knew clearly that going to sea to rob and divide the spoils was not a long-term solution.
At this time, the young monk Ethelstein who was snatched back gave him new inspiration. Ethelstein taught Ragnar love and forgiveness, so Ragnar felt that the Viking God and the Christ God could communicate. Getting the Vikings to settle on English soil was a great way to grow the population. However, the ferocity of the Vikings also aroused the resistance of the Saxons. Ethelwolf was the main war faction. He destroyed the settlements of the Vikings, and the plan of the Vikings to seek settlement in England failed.
Whether killing or peace is the way out for the Vikings, Ragnar did not find the answer until his death. He hated the peaceful life of Kattegaard, but the Vikings also didn't have enough people to go out to sea and loot repeatedly, so he bet on his two children: Uber had been fighting to find new settlements, and the Boneless would be killed. Teach hatred, cunning and violence, which is what Othere calls "Old ways". Of course, due to the length of the episode, the two important characters Snake Eye and Witthark became soy sauce.
The Ragnar sons swept England with their father-killing hatred. When they hacked the Saxon kings to death, they came to a crossroads again. Should they rule England, or sail further afield?
Later in the series, two leading characters are also trying to solve this problem: Bjorn and Harald, one eager to bring peace to the Vikings back home, and one who hopes to continue the "Old ways".
Harald's thoughts are not difficult to understand. He is like a Ragnar who was born at an untimely time. In this era, going to sea to rob him can no longer win him a title, and he can't even get a woman. He can only rape a woman or be raped by a woman (). However, indulging in the old culture, he has been walking on one leg, and there is no love in this character.
Bjorn has all the glory left by his father, whether titles, wealth or women are at his fingertips, but his strategy is to turn looting into trade. But at this time, the Viking strength was still unable to protect itself. Looking at the shabby city wall there, the guards could not know that the per capita chain armor was like Alfred's men. As a result, Ragnar's sons were still unable to stop the infighting, and Bjorn was killed by the swords and arrows of his siblings.
The Boneless who killed Bjorn for revenge, unpopular for his tyranny in Kattegaard (no wonder he, he barely knew what love was), this war madman meets another madman, Oleg. Although Oleg is an Orthodox believer, his behavior is no different from that of Vikings, and he is also a love-deficient guy like Boneless. The difference is that Oleg lacks love to the point of being psychopathic, so abnormal that even Boneless can't stand it. . The little puppet Igor and Katia, who looks like their first love, make up for the shortcomings of the Boneless. In the first half of this season, the Boneless rescued Igor and Katia from Oleg's hands and even made people see the brilliance of humanity.
From Dir's victory over Oleg to restore Ross, it's already clear what the final season is trying to say: hatred and revenge will only make things worse, and it's time to break out of the cycle of revenge and establish a new order.
Back in Cattgard, the Boneless thought again of the mission his father had given him, and together with Harald, prepared to set foot on England for the last time. To be honest, the plot here is really not well arranged. I thought that the character of Boneless had already sublimated when he said goodbye to Igor, but he did not expect to return to the fight. Of course, we can also say that Boneless is a genius strategist born in war. If there is no war, what can this cripple who can't stand up do? But war can only be the way out for Ivar, it is not the way out for the Vikings. Alfred refused and declared to the Vikings that unless they could step over all the Saxons, they would never get a city or a pool. So, could the Vikings kill all the Saxons?
At this time, don't forget Floki and Uber, who took their family and brought their mouths to the west. They met another "Old ways" in Iceland, Shotier with a flat nose. The man is still playing the family solidarity in Iceland, and even in Greenland. By the time he tried to swallow the whale alone, Uber already knew that the man was hopeless, but instead of killing his family, he continued to look for farther lands. Indeed, it is the best punishment for him to leave his crippled nose and his whale to fend for themselves.
In the end of the story, it was Uber who found the answer for Ragnar and found the land of America where the Vikings could settle for a long time. Witsek said beside Ivar's tomb, "The sky has turned dark, and the Ragnarok of the gods has come." When Ragnar's sons and Vikings found a way to survive other than aggression and killing, the old Viking gods naturally wanted to Give way to other gods. Why did the Nordics finally convert to Catholicism in history? It is indeed only the teachings of Catholicism that can make their people grow more and more.
Of course, since Ragnar's death, the show has been running wild on the road away from history. To put it mildly, the characters in the show are all used to serve the main line. Don't try to find the historical truth in TV dramas. No TV series can restore history. Didn't "Fu of Qin" also make Chu people fall in love with Qin's unification? Only if we don't compare the real history with the costume drama, then we can understand what the screenwriter is thinking.
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