‘Vikings’: Why Fans Think Ragnar Lothbrok Was ‘So Eager to Die’
In the hit series Vikings, Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) returns to Kattegat after being gone for many years. He leaves his home and everything he’s ever known after losing his second attempt to take Paris. It’s a disgrace that Ragnar can’t seem to move on from, but he eventually decides to return to get revenge for the destroyed settlement in Wessex.
Ragnar Lothbrok returns for revenge
Ragnar returns to Kattegat, but everyone looks on him in disgrace since it’s now common knowledge that the settlement in Wessex was destroyed many years ago. Someone is to blame, and it’s also revealed that Ragnar knew about it and didn’t avenge his people.
Ragnar is able to bribe a few men to row him over in a ship to Wessex. There, Ragnar convinces King Ecbert (Linus Roache) to hand him over to King Aelle (Ivan Kaye) of Northumbria. Aelle has Ragnar beaten and treated terribly for years of raiding. Aelle has Ragnar suspended in a cage and eventually thrown into a snakepit where he meets his end.
Why fans think Ragnar Lothbrok was ‘so eager to die’
Fans have been known to discuss Ragnar’s death and why he was “so eager to die.” He seemed set on getting it to happen no matter the cost because he knows it will bring his sons over to get revenge for his death and the destroyed settlement.
“Why is Ragnar so eager to die in season 4?” a fan asked on Reddit. A number of fans weighed in with their own thoughts in the comments.
Fans mention triggers that point to the fact that Ragnar was ready to sacrifice himself. “He feels like he has nothing to live for. His sons barely know him, his wife left him, his other wife hates him, he can barely fight, he lost Athlestan…the list goes on,” a fan wrote.
Ragnar never gets over the defeat in Paris
Many fans mentioned the defeat in Paris. It did a number on Ragnar’s reputation and his own self-esteem. He couldn’t defeat his brother, and instead he walks away losing everything in his eyes. “The defeat at Paris did a heavy number on the respect people had for him,” a Reddit user mentioned.
One fan talks about the fact that Ragnar’s own family and friends no longer seem to need him when he returns from being isolated for so many years. They all have moved on and continued living their lives without him. Now he’s returned and everything is different.
“He was defeated in Paris, his people lost faith in him, they didn’t want to follow him anymore, even his own family and dearest friends,” a fan said. “They didn’t need him anymore, they had their own lives to live and yeah, they love him, but their plans were no longer dependent on him.”
Ragnar lost so much
Another fan thinks the guilt really got to Ragnar over time. The loss of the settlement in Wessex and the innocent lives lost only made things he was already feeling so much worse.
“I think he was weighed down by guilt and regret,” a fan reasoned. “The farming settlement being burnt to the ground, abandoning his sons, Lagertha left him, Athelstan dead.”
A fan commented on how Ragnar comes up with a plan to get revenge for the settlement with his own death, which triggers his sons to act in vengeance for him. “He wanted revenge for the settlement and since nobody wanted to sail with him, he instead crafted this plan,” a fan wrote.
Fans have their own theories about why it seemed like Ragnar was so ready to die in Vikings.
