The end of 'Vikings' and Ivar's redemption
From being the villain of 'Vikings' and one of the most hated characters, Ivar the Boneless (Alex Høgh Andersen) has become the true protagonist of the series for its final episodes. The last chapters arrived Movistar at the beginning of the year and now they have landed on the rest of the payment platforms. In them, we witness the last blows of the sons of Ragnar (Travis fimmel). It is not the final ending. 'Vikings' will return from the hand of Michael Hirst in another series set 100 years later, with new characters and with the tagline of Valhalla, the paradise to which warriors who fell in combat went. We will not only witness a turn of the century, but also a millennium, since the action will take place in 1066. If in the mother series we witness the golden age of the Viking civilization at the hand of the Ragnar clan, here we will see their slope. The pandemic (of course) has delayed the filming schedules and there is still no clear date for its premiere, so for now we have these final episodes that have told the end of an era while closing plots every week and we had casualties.
From now on there are many spoilers for the end of 'Vikings', with which each one who continues reading at their own risk. The end of the previous season had already left us with our mouths open when, in the heat of the battle between Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig) and Ivar, the latter surprised his brother with a fatal thrust, leaving us wondering if he had really finished with him. Now in these new episodes we have seen how, although the wound did not kill him, it left him very badly injured. At the start of this final season, Bjorn had the opportunity to fight a great battle in which, like the Cid Campeador, lead his troops to victory after his death.
In some ways, Ivar's end is very similar to the moment when he hurt his brother. In the middle of a battle, an enemy soldier comes up to him, without him noticing, but while Ivar did not hesitate to strike a sword at Bjorn, the soldier remains paralyzed with terror dagger in hand when you are in front of him. An Ivar more vulnerable than ever because of his disability knows that he is at his mercy and challenges him to do what he has to do. The trembling soldier repeatedly stabs him and runs off as his enemy collapses.
The Ivar who has fallen is not the same one who mortally wounded his brother at the end of the previous season. We have seen him evolve throughout these final episodes. A path in which he has taken center stage in the series and has managed to take his place as Ragnar's heir. We have seen him turn against his bloodthirsty ally Prince Oleg, at which point his redemption begins. After all, Ragnar wasn't exactly a saint, either. Even Ivar manages to become something of a father figure to Prince Igor while try to restore him to the throne. His cruelty and brutality have been the way he sought to survive in a world in which his disability placed him at a clear disadvantage. Being a terrifying warrior keeps the enemy away. Overcome the plot of the Rus, it is the moment in which he decides to return home with his brother Hvitserk (Marco Ilsø) where he realizes that he no longer has great enemies to beat. He then decides to return to Wessex, the place where Ragnar met his death, to seek revenge and that final battle that allows him to enter Valhalla.
Was his death heroic enough? Do not forget that Ivar throws himself into the battlefield to save his brother's life, a gesture with a certain nobility that we would not have believed him capable of a few episodes ago. But it is a terrified enemy who takes him by surprise. His death is not as heroic or epic as Bjorn's. Nor was Ragnar's by the way, who received the embrace of the grim reaper while in captivity. Y the same doubts assailed us also last year when Lagertha passed awayKatheryn winnick).
After the death of his brother, Hvitserk surrenders to Christianity and denies his beliefs, staying with the enemy. For his part, Ragnar's third son, Ubbe (Jordan patrick smith), the series ends in what is now Canada. These scenarios in which the two brothers find themselves leave them completely outside the power struggles on the European continent. From the moment that Ubbe went out to explore new territories beyond the ocean, we knew that sooner or later it would end up reaching the American continent. History tells us that he died in combat in the Great Pagan Army that invaded England. As little is known about the historical figure of Ubbe's character, we are left wondering whether a peaceful retreat in America is the end that the scriptwriters have reserved for him. The natives of the lands where they have landed have already made it clear that they are guests there, they do not have permission to seize them at will. And somehow Ubbe has understood the threat that the white man poses to the way of life of the people of those lands. The fate of the Ragnar dynasty has been sealed. There is a supposed heir of Bjorn willing to occupy the throne of Kattegat but the series has already given more than clear clues that this baby is not his son. The time has come for History to turn the page.
