‘Vikings’: Why This 1 Moment Shows a Different Side to Ragnar Lothbrok

Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) may be a fierce warrior on Vikings, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have emotions just like any other person. When he learns of a death that hits too close to home, he takes the time to mourn them the way they deserve. Read on to learn about the emotional moment that shows a different side to Ragnar Lothbrok.

Ragnar Lothbrok mourns someone close to him

Ragnar’s daughter Gyda dies when a plague hits Kattegat. Many other people die as well, but her death is especially hard for many. When Ragnar returns, he mourns Gyda and says goodbye to her in his own way.

Ragnar goes to the edge of the water on the beach and sits to talk to his beloved daughter one last time. You can feel the emotion in his voice when he talks to Gyda.

“Gyda, I have come to say goodbye to you 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 says goodbye to Gyda

Ragnar also talks about how Gyda was the light of his life. He probably regrets not expressing the words to her when she was still alive. He hopes she might come and say goodbye to him, so he stays for a while to see if she will appear.

“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.”

The loss affects Ragnar

Ragnar clearly feels he isn’t worthy of the daughter that he had. This is obvious when he talks about stroking her hair with his “peasant hands.” Ragnar’s life could have been a lot different had his daughter lived. Who knows what might have changed had Gyda lived to be an adult? One thing is certain, she would have held a special place in her father’s heart above everyone else.

Ragnar is never the same after Gyda’s death. He almost hardens in a way after her loss. He carries her memory with him as long as he lives and remembers the sweet child he had with Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) when they were just a simple farming family.