‘Vikings’: Travis Fimmel and Michael Hirst Talk About Ragnar Lothbrok’s Emotional and Moving Farewell Scene to His Daughter
Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) has endured a lot of loss in his exciting life in Vikings, but one loss is extremely hard to deal with for Ragnar, even as he ages. As a young man, Ragnar has two children, Bjorn and Gyda by Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick). But when Gyda dies from a plague when Ragnar isn’t home, he grieves her loss for a very long time after he returns.
Ragnar Lothbrok says goodbye to his daughter, Gyda
Gyda was a young girl when she died, and it was evident that she was a well-rounded person. She had her whole life ahead of her, until her untimely end. When Ragnar comes home and learns of his daughter’s fate, he mourns her loss and goes to the edge of the water on the beach to say goodbye to her. He loves his daughter so much and he’s clearly grieving for her and the life she could have lived.
“Gyda, I have come to say goodbye to your properly,” Ragnar says. “I’ve been thinking about you. About when you were small. You were so lively you could run as swiftly as the wind. You were like quicksilver. But then before I knew it, you stopped running here and there and everywhere. And you became still. 12 years old, yet the stillness and the calm of a fine woman. What children you would have produced. What joy that would have brought to all of us.”
Ragnar has a special place in his heart for his daughter, and he will miss her every day of his life. He calls her “the light in his life,” and hopes she will come and talk to him while he’s by the water.
“Dear child, Gyda. You are not gone because you are always in my heart,” Ragnar continues. “They say a man must love his sons more, but a man can be jealous of his sons. And his daughter can always be the light in his life. I know very well that you are with the gods, but I will wait here awhile and if you want to come and talk to me, then come and talk. And I’ll gently stroke your long and beautiful hair once again with my peasant hands.”
Travis Fimmel talks about Ragnar’s emotional goodbye to his daughter
Fans were recently treated to an at-home panel for San Diego Comic-Con@Home 2020 called Vikings: A Look Back with the Lothbroks. Fimmel took part and was joined by Clive Standen, who plays Rollo, Katheryn Winnick, who played Lagertha, Alexander Ludwig, who plays Bjorn Ironside, and Jordan Patrick Smith, who plays Ubbe. The creator, Michael Hirst, also took part in the panel.
During the panel, Fimmel spoke about Ragnar’s emotional goodbye to his daughter. The moderator asked Fimmel what it was like to shoot that scene in particular.
“That was written so well. I mean, Michael, you have three daughters… It was written so beautiful,” Fimmel said. “I don’t know why, but that took me about three minutes to memorize that whole thing because it was just written so well and that sort of stuff. It’s just amazing writing. Always the best writing I feel like I can memorize compared to other stuff on other shows that isn’t quite as good.”
Michael Hirst weighs in on the scene
Michael Hirst also added that the scene became “powerful and very meaningful” to him. He notes that Fimmel clearly felt something deep from it, and Hirst was very aware of that. It comes out in the moment, and you can feel the anguish Ragnar is feeling at the loss of his daughter.
“I was writing literally thinking about a father talking to a daughter, a dead daughter. And it became very powerful and very meaningful to me, but it seemed from the start to be very meaningful to you too,” Hirst said to Fimmel. “That was one thing that struck me. It was very interesting and fascinating. In terms of the show, it seems like a moment cut out of time. it’s a very simple scene, but it’s very deeply emotional. And I did feel you were totally inside the scene, that it meant something very deep to you, and I was aware of that.”
Ragnar saying goodbye to his daughter, Gyda, will always be a very memorable and emotional moment for fans of the series Vikings.
