Ragnar Lothbrok Death: Ragnar Lothbrok’s death marked a significant divergence from historical figures. When bringing the Norse legends to screen, VIKINGS showrunner Michael Hirst used a lot of creative licenses, and some viewers may be surprised to hear how the real Ragnar Lothbrok died. Michael Hirst, the creator and sole writer of the History Channel’s epic medieval drama Vikings.
Took on a monumental task when bringing old Nordic mythology to the small screen. Unfortunately, certain crucial story points may have diverged significantly from how events occurred in real life. History historians have pointed out some notable contrasts between Ragnar Lothbrok’s (played by Travis Fimmel) and his real-life counterpart’s execution. The show’s first lead ended his four-season tenure with one of the show’s most violent death sequences. Ragnar’s feud with Northumbria’s King Aelle (Ivan Kaye) came to a gruesome end when he was tortured and thrown into a pit of deadly snakes.
Ragnar’s death was suitable for a Viking hero, as he demonstrated that defeating him in combat would take more than simply a man. However, the series has now gained a reputation for distorting historical truths. Indeed, rather than drawing story points from actual occurrences, showrunner Michael Hirst frequently adapted the more interesting parts of the series from Nordic mythology. Ragnar’s character is really influenced by three historical persons, which may surprise fans. The first is King Horik I of Denmark, who was portrayed by Donal Logue in the series.
Borrows Characteristics Reginherus, Reginfrid
Ragnar also borrows characteristics from Reginherus and King Reginfrid, whose combined stories form the basis for the television adaption. While legend has it that Ragnar, a Viking warrior, was killed in a pool of snakes after a fight with English forces, the facts tell a different narrative. Despite the fact that Horik was eventually killed by Ragnar in the series, the real King of Denmark was assassinated by his brother, Guttorm, upon his return from exile. Meanwhile, King Reginfrid was most likely killed in battle rather than dying at the bottom of a snakepit during an attempted invasion.
Reginherus’ fate is unfortunately unknown, though reports indicate that he was simply executed rather than tortured by a vengeful king. After witnessing Ragnar’s horrific dying breaths at the end of the Vikings’ fourth season, some viewers may find it difficult to accept the truth behind the legend. Despite this, the majority of fans have been willing to forgive the show for its artistic license with the tale. To this day, Viking papers are extremely rare, so it’s no wonder that writer Michael Hirst had to distort the reality to adapt the stories to six seasons of television.
Viewers have previously pointed out that the series’ conclusion, in which Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith) lands in America, precisely contradicts the premise of Vikings: Valhalla, the impending Netflix sequel. Valhalla will introduce viewers to Sam Corlett as Leif Eriksson, the first European to set foot in the New World, 100 years after the events of the original series. Despite the fact that the popular medieval drama has a new showrunner, Jeb Stuart, it appears that the popular medieval program will continue to be lax with historical fact-checking.
Ragnar Lothbrok Death
Ragnar Lothbrok’s death scene in ‘Vikings’ was nearly completely different. Compare the pages of the original screenplay to the final scene. The death of hero Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel), who has been our eyes and ears in the brutal world of the Northmen since the series began, was the most pivotal and harrowing death of Season 4, which came to a bloody conclusion on Feb. 1 with the demise of three major characters: King Ecbert, Sigurd, and Helga.
Ragnar was killed in a pit of snakes by the merciless King Aelle in Episode 415 (an act that Ragnar’s sons eventually exacted bloody revenge on the king by murdering him via the Blood Eagle). The following episodes addressed the far-reaching ramifications of Ragnar’s death, which will continue to reverberate throughout the series until its conclusion. Exclusively with Mashable, creator Michael Hirst released his original screenplay pages for Ragnar’s death scene, showing how Fimmel took the material and transformed it into an “amazing and dramatic scene.”
With Season 4’s numerous endings, Vikings will begin a new chapter in Season 5, as Ragnar’s remaining sons — Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig), Ivar (Alex Hgh), Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith), and Hvitserk (Marco Ils) — must create their own ways out of their father’s shadow. Now that King Ecbert and Queen Aelle are no longer alive, a new generation must rise to rule England and protect it against Viking invaders, beginning with Ecbert’s son Aethelwulf (Moe Dunford) and Athelstan’s illegitimate son Alfred (Conor Hanlon). Not to mention Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who plays Bishop Heahmund.
A warrior priest with a passion for bedding widows and dripping blood, who will undoubtedly clash with Ragnar’s sons in Season 5. Even if Ragnar was real, it’s doubtful that he could compose a poem while being bitten to death by serpents. In any case, the poem was first written down in a manuscript around 1400. It is still spoken in various northern European languages, but it is said to have originated in Scotland’s Orkney Islands.
The Death Song was passed down orally
There’s a significant likelihood The Death Song was passed down orally before being written down in the fourteenth century. It may have been forgotten if it hadn’t been translated into Latin and included in the appendix of Olaus Wormius’ Literatura Runic (1636). From the late eighteenth century onwards, Wormius’ translation became an important source text for antiquarians interested in Norse Romanticism. Because the television series Vikings recently resurrected the song and brought it to the attention of the viewing public, Einar Selvik performed a song inspired by The Death, which was played, most appropriately, in the episode ‘All his Angels,’ in which, according to legend, Ragnar meets his end after being dropped into a snake pit by King Aelle.
Folk song and ballad collections from the eighteenth century, such as those compiled by Thomas Percy (1729–1811) and Joseph Ritson (1752–1803), depicted British culture in its crude and ostensibly uncivilized state. However, books like these served a purpose: they aimed to place historical British and northern European culture on a par with the “civilized” culture of Ancient Greece and Rome, which was so admired during the eighteenth century and whose admiration was responsible for neoclassicism’s dominance as a literary and artistic mode.
The fact that the songs gathered by Percy and Ritson were “rude and uncivilized” did not imply that they, or the heroes depicted in them, were inferior to works from antiquity. The editor of the 1783 edition of Ben Jonson’s The Sad Shepherd (1641) claims that Jonson’s medieval tale, as well as tales of valor from English medieval history, can compete with any of the Greek and Roman epics.
But, in Vikings, how did Ragnar die? He is thrown into a pit of snakes, where he is bitten by many of them and dies as a result of the venom. When his sons learn of his death, they join the Great Heathen Army and return to England. They exact their vengeance on the English kings exactly as Ragnar predicted. Ecbert is given the option of choosing his own method of death, and he chooses suicide. However, one of Ragnar’s sons, Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig), murders Aelle.
