‘Vikings’ Season 6B: Ragnar Lothbrok’s Words Help Convince Ivar To Return To Wessex
Vikings has finally come to a close after numerous successful seasons. Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) and his sons’ story is over, and it’s a major possibility not everyone was satisfied with the ending.
Season 6B premiered on Amazon Prime Video on December 30, and fans were able to binge-watch it in its entirety. One of Ragnar’s sons, Ivar (Alex Høgh Andersen), makes the choice to go back to Wessex after remembering his father’s words.
Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from ‘Vikings’]
Ivar returns to Kattegat after fighting for the Rus
In season 6, Ivar makes his way down the Silk Road and eventually to Prince Oleg (Danila Kozlovsky), who takes his arrival as a sign to invade his ancestral homeland of Scandinavia. They later encounter Hvitserk (Marco Ilsø), who allies himself with them.
The Rus attack with their large numbers, and the people of Scandinavia fight back, but during the fighting, although it seems like Ivar is somewhere else entirely, he stabs his brother, Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig) on the beach. Bjorn’s fate is the key to the victory that follows. Although he is very hurt and dying, he has a rumor spread that he’s already dead, and the Rus believe it. When they see him on his horse meeting the Rus head-on, he’s shot by three arrows and is still able to unsheathe his sword. It terrifies the Rus, and many retreat during the battle that follows.
Ivar and Hvitserk, defeated, return to Kyiv where they help overthrow Oleg with Prince Dir (Lenn Kudrjawizki) and Prince Igor (Oran Glynn O’Donovan). Ivar even tells Igor to shoot his uncle with a bow and arrow, and he does, which kills him after he falls from a balcony. But Ivar doesn’t stay long, and chooses to go back to Kattegat, his home, even though Princess Katya (Alicia Agneson) is pregnant with his child.
Ragnar Lothbrok’s words help convince Ivar to go back to Wessex
King Harald (Peter Franzén) actually allows the brothers to stay and convinces the people of it. But Ivar can’t be in one place too long, and while in Kattegat, he realizes what he must do. After Queen Ingrid (Lucy Martin), who’s married King Harald, mentions that all of them are used to having power and that there can only be one king, it gets Ivar thinking. Harald and the sons of Ragnar will just end up fighting each other again if they decide to stay.
Ivar still has the game piece a young Alfred gave him as a child before Ivar said goodbye to his father and never saw him again. Ivar starts seeing signs telling him what he must do, and he remembers his father’s words on the last occasion he saw him.
“People think that you are not a threat, but I know differently,” his father told him in their last moment together. “Out of all my sons, it was you I wanted to bring here. And it is you who I believe is the most important to the future of our people. You do not think like other men. You are unpredictable. Anger is a gift. What is in here is a gift. Everyone will always underestimate you. You must make them pay for it. Use your anger intelligently, and I promise you my son, one day the whole world will know and fear Ivar the Boneless. Be ruthless.”
After remembering his father’s words, he watches a drunken man in the street and another sell his arm ring. When he then sees two men playing a board game like the one he played with Alfred, he tosses the table over and heads to Harald to tell him of his plan.
Ragnar’s words help convince Ivar to return to Wessex. Although Ivar does go back to take on King Alfred (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), he loses his life in the process. His eyes are very blue before battle, which has been a sign in the past that he could break his bones. He hurts his legs multiple times in the final episode before his death. During the battle, he tells his brother to leave the thick of the fighting after soldiers recognize Hvitserk as a son of Ragnar and try to kill him. But Ivar does nothing to stop a Wessex soldier from stabbing him repeatedly. He even tells him, “Don’t be afraid.” He falls to the ground where he dies in Hvitserk’s arms.
Ivar is given a burial and Hvitserk converts to Christianity and stays in Wessex with King Alfred. Despite the shocking turn of events with the death of Ivar, he thought he was doing the right thing by returning to Wessex after remembering his father’s words.
