History Channel's 'Vikings'

[Monsieur Xavier]

He launched himself off the ledge, deliberately hitting that beam to slow and direct his descent, so that he landed on top of those bodies...

Thanks for the correction, I was sure he was pushed.

 

[James]

It did seem a bit...reckless and dare I say selfish of Ragnar to allow all those able men die just to get back at Floki. It's not like reinforcements are a stone's throw away. It could take months for more Vikings to reach Ragnar and that's not counting the time it would take a messenger to call for reinforcements. I mean I enjoyed Floki's failure, but the whole time I was questioning whether any sensible leader would sacrifice that many men, including his brother and son, to screw with a crazy man's already addled mind.

I feel like it had less to do with revenge (although that was probably a motivating factor too) and more to do with discrediting Floki publicly. Overtime Floki was becoming more and more vocal about his disdain for the Christians and Ragnar's allegiance with them, and Floki's ideas were gradually gaining plenty of support, even from Ragnar's own son. Now, having failed so spectacularly, not even Floki's own wife will hear him out.

In short, I think Ragnar was putting a stop to something he perceived as a very real threat to his crown, as it were.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Thanks for the correction, I was sure he was pushed.

I re watched the scene and Ragnar didn't throw himself of the wall, it looked more as if he lost equilibrium, the action was very quick but he didn't do it consciously.


via Imgflip GIF Maker

Behold The Oriflamme of Saint Denis !
Trivia : raising The Oriflamme on the battlefield was a message to the soldiers meaning : no mercy for the enemies ( as illustrated in the episode ).

 

[squeekness]

Just watched --

Spoiler

...are they really going to kill off Ragnar? I can't imagine this show without him though I get it that most male Vikings didn't see old age. I don't want him to go.

 

[mocomic]

Did not see this coming

 

[squeekness]

Me neither.

 

[James]

Yeah, Ragnar's usually so clever but this seems like kind of a dopey move. I mean I get he misses he pal and all but geez...

In other news, the hair-holding was funny. That scene was also followed by the people in Kattegat laughing at the young monk burning his hands, Vikings sure do have a morbid sense of humor!

 

[zeroapoc]

Yeah trolling the execution was hilarious.

 

[Marvolo]

Why would they kill Ragnar so soon and in such a lame way? Legend/history says Ragnar [BLACKOUT]was thrown into a pit of snakes by King Ælla of Northumbria[/BLACKOUT]. He didn't die of internal bleeding in Paris.

 

[James]

He's not dead yet!

Ragnar's no doctor, he probably has a kidney stone or something. I'm sure he'll bounce back.

 

[Evelisse]

hmm, I don't see the show going on without him, so he must somehow pull through, in the lore [BLACKOUT]he eventually ransacks Paris on Easter day and only leaves after getting a crazy large ransom[/BLACKOUT], him getting baptized seems like just another way Ragnar will use mind games to soften them up before his final attack

 

[squeekness]

Well, I hope it's all just a publicity ploy, because if it isn't I'm not going to be very happy.

 

[Teelie]

Why would they kill Ragnar so soon and in such a lame way? Legend/history says Ragnar [BLACKOUT]was thrown into a pit of snakes by King Ælla of Northumbria[/BLACKOUT]. He didn't die of internal bleeding in Paris.

Exactly. I guess you can call something that happened several centuries a spoiler in this instance, unless they decide to diverge wildly from the historic record of what happened.

 

[Drz]

I'm just worried they're rushing this Paris story too fast, since this season ends next week.

 

[BestGirl]

The shield maidens being stealth warriors was wonderful, but I also still love how creative the French have been about protecting Paris.

I'm with everyone else that Siegfried trolling his own execution was hilarious.

Who would've imagined last year that soft-spoken, intelligent King Ecbert was going to be revealed as a Magnificent Bastard villain? His son's got him pegged, though. That'll be interesting going forward.

I really don't believe Ragnar will die. His death was already foreshadowed in a previous season when [BLACKOUT]Aelle showed off his snakepit.[/BLACKOUT]

 

[chamber-music]

The 'old' hold my hair while you execute me trick

Parisians must have their own Q with all their defence tech

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

As always, a good episode.
Ninja Lagertha and crew
Rollo is being noticed by the Princess.
Nice tech with the spiked barrel, never saw that before.
AFAIC, Ragnar really meant it about his baptism, the heavenly bromance with Atlesthan is just too strong
The conversion process has begun in Vikings land, the scene in Kattegate was funny and Aslaug sentence was as swift as casual. I wonder how the priest was able to withstand the first hot iron bar, something on his hands maybe ?

 

[Evelisse]

As always, a good episode.
Ninja Lagertha and crew
Rollo is being noticed by the Princess.
Nice tech with the spiked barrel, never saw that before.
AFAIC, Ragnar really meant it about his baptism, the heavenly bromance with Atlesthan is just too strong
The conversion process has begun in Vikings land, the scene in Kattegate was funny and Aslaug sentence was as swift as casual. I wonder how the priest was able to withstand the first hot iron bar, something on his hands maybe ?

I took that first part of the scene as all in the priests/missionary's head, like "This is how it's going to go down, check me out, look how God has proven himself in front of these savages." Then he snaps out of it and reality hits and, well he got burned.

 

[James]

Yeah, I took the first scene as the priest imagining how it would go as well. The second version of him carrying the bar was what actually happened.

 

[Marvolo]

Yeah, I took the first scene as the priest imagining how it would go as well. The second version of him carrying the bar was what actually happened.

This. The first time was all in his head. It was a fake out by the show runners to make us viewers go "oh ****". Then it reveals it was just him imagining himself proving the pagans wrong. Which is in itself was hubris. Silly missionary.

 

[Teelie]

The show does dance very carefully around mythological and supernatural occurences by keeping them vague. Something that obvious was a red herring.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

I didn't realized that the first time it was not real Silly me.

 

[Loki882]

The reactions to:

Spoiler

Ragnar's baptism

were interesting. Floki's angry of course, but Lagertha and Rollo's expressions were harder to read. Lagertha in particular seems like she's not quite sure what to think about it, or at least that was my reading of it.

 

[Marvolo]

Lagertha looked genuinely shocked. She probably had no idea how much influence Athelstan had on Ragnar or that Ragnar would betray their gods to be with Athelstan in the afterlife.

Rollo looked let down and a bit like he was thinking "wtf?" and like he might be doubting Ragnars ability to lead and his mental state.

Floki is as usual a wet blanket and will whine and ***** and Ill love every minute of it. If he doesnt die this season Im guessing that he will betray Ragnar next season or outright try to kill him.

 

[Siby]

I understand that Ragnar and Athelstan had a close relationship but I didn't think it would trump everything Ragnar believes in. I understand that Ragnar is a progressive thinker but it just doesn't make sense for him to convert to Christianity just for one guy's friendship and throwing away all the beliefs.

I think Ragnar is doing this as he does everything to get what he wants. He is a cold and calculating person. In this case what he wants is Paris. I also think he is making the best of his situation (having what I suspect is an acute kidney injury) to manipulate everyone to his will.

The best part of the Paris siege has been the subtle development of Bjorn and Rollo into future leaders.