4.7 The Profit And The Loss For example, if you had asked me, in the hiatus between this season and the last, to describe both Ragnar and Ecbert’s attitudes towards the belief systems of their people, I would have sworn up and down that they were almost purely sociological: that is, they saw them as serving the purpose of binding the community together, but at their basest level, that their cultures’ religions are mostly hokum meant to pacify the masses. But as we saw a couple of episodes ago, Ecbert really does believe in God and a Christian afterlife. And we learned at the beginning of this season that Ragnar evidently has corresponding beliefs about the Norse mythology. But it was not until this week that I think it became clear just how deeply embedded in his psyche those beliefs are. And that knowledge has him coming apart at the seams. What was surprising is not that Ragnar lost the battle on the river. Considering how long this season is and where we are in that season, it makes sense that he needs to lose this battle. What was shocking was how little of himself was evident in his plans in the first place. What has made Ragnar so successful as a warlord is not superior forces or technology. It’s pure cunning. And despite the mind-altering drugs, we are so used to seeing him pull a rabbit out when even the hat seemed to be absent, that the very idea that his only backup was to send a smaller force around behind the first fort seemed like a typical ruse; of course there had to be more to it. But the fact that that was not only the entire plan, but that he didn’t even have Lagertha send scouts ahead (who would have discovered the marsh that got her people trapped and ambushed) would have been unthinkable last year. A more positive surprise was the actual battle itself. Last year’s attack on Paris was impressive in comparison to the smaller battles we’d seen up until then. But there had still been a lot of obvious special effects utilised to create the city of Paris. One of the joys of this first battle for Paris in the season was how very realistic it looked. There were a lot of ships and I’m sure some of them were CGI-ed in, but any such work was kept to a minimum in favour of closer shots of the actual combat. This worked well because it created a bit more confusion and immediacy and emphasised that such battles really were fought on a smaller scale than we generally imagine. Even the fort, which may have looked unbelievably tiny to modern eyes, would have been entirely appropriate. And certainly the almost claustrophobic feel among the Vikings struggling to stay alive was both accurate and intense. What was also surprising was Harbard’s agenda back in Kattegat and Aslaug’s seeming complicity in it. Last week, I suggested that he was a conman, but now it appears that he may be a very specific sub-breed of conman: the cult leader. It was hard enough to believe that he had just stumbled back into town at precisely the moment when his former lover’s husband had left, but it is beyond the realm of all credulity to think that he has returned to spread his blessing of fertility to the women of Kattegat while almost all the men of virility were off fighting purely by accident. I’m even more surprised that he hasn’t specifically claimed outright that this moment was specifically chosen. If Aslaug is willing to share him with the rest of the women of her kingdom (as her smiles over the scenes of him deep kissing her female subjects seem to suggest, she’s likely to accept even that tale from him. On the other hand, this may be, in fact, a weird form of providence. Considering the death not only of the Wessex colony and the Paris outpost but the casualties that the current Paris raiding party has already suffered and will continue to accrue, it might not be the worst thing for the Vikings who remain to return to a Kattegat filled with pregnant women—for population stability, if nothing else. What I found most shocking, however, was the scene where Floki, after leaving Helga with healing runes, goes for a walk and suddenly finds himself having sex with Aslaug, who is, of course, hundreds of miles away. The scene is not an easy one to decipher at first. After all, the idea that this is some fantasy of Floki’s makes no sense. He’s never shown the slightest interest in any woman other than Helga, and while he can be a bit of a bastard to her, it’s hard to believe he’d wander away from his dying wife for a wank. The moment becomes only more disturbing once it starts cutting to what Aslaug is actually doing, which is shagging Harbard back in Kattegat. But it may crystalise if we remember one thing from an earlier episode: the reaction of the Seer to Floki’s visit. Floki is, after all, seeing precisely what is really happening (perhaps not the actual details, but at least the general behaviour) back in Ragnar’s kingdom. Maybe this is exactly what the Seer meant that he had been waiting so long for: his replacement. After all, Floki fits the bill: he’s a bit mad, anti-social, and a religious zealot. This then would be Floki’s first vision. And Hirst is letting us see through a Seer’s eyes. If this is what the mouthpiece of the gods experiences, it’s no wonder that the current Seer acts the way he does. That would be a horrifying way to live. If he cannot have Valhalla, at least he might have the life he left behind. Blame the romantic in me. But I know that’s not how the story ends (there are two variations on it, neither happy). It is Rollo’s time now. And Bjorn’s. And Ecbert’s. And unfortunately, the rise of great men all too often happens at the expense of men who were, in their own time, equally great.
