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Lagertha’s days of battling are over.
Vikings Season 6 Episode 1 and Vikings Season 6 Episode 2 marked a nice change of pace for this soon-to-conclude History drama.
The puzzle pieces are moving as the series prepares for the end.
What seems evident after the first two episodes of Vikings Season 6 is that the series is starting to wrap up organically, unlike that show with dragons that fizzled out in its final season.
If you watch Vikings online, you know Lagertha is one of the most badass characters on the small screen.
She’s fought tooth and nail to keep her nearest and dearest safe, survived various brushes with death, and said goodbye to many people throughout the show’s six-season run, including the love of her life.
Her motto is that life goes on, and that’s why her decision to retire from the battlefield to a small firm makes a lot of sense for her.
Bjorn: We have embarked on a new way of life here. That was always my commitment as King. To build the most successful trading station in all of Scandinavia. But I will need your continued support. I need my family. Mother?
Lagertha: I wish you well in your enterprise my dear son, and I’m sure you will succeed, but in the future, you will have to do it without me.
Bjorn: I don’t understand. Why won’t you stay?
Lagertha: I have seen enough of war. I have seen enough of death. I have lost so many. I don’t want to be a public person anymore. I don’t want to be responsible. I desire to live a totally different kind of life.
Bjorn: How can you do that?
Lagertha: I plan to build farmstead. Just like the one Ragnar and I lived in when we were first married. Where we were all so happy.
The character has weakened as a result of the battle on Vikings Season 5, but she’s still a force to be reckoned with.
Her opinions are very different from her son Bjorn’s, but it was a tender moment when he accepted her decision to retire.
They’ve been through it all with each other, and he’s happy enough that his mother can find some semblance of peace even though she’s faced true evil.
The Lagertha of these two episodes was very reminiscent of the Lagertha from Vikings Season 1, and the character picked up on that herself.
She yearned for peace and to be reminded of the good old days when she was a mother and wife, as evidenced by the flashbacks of several years before.
It would be a shame to kill Lagertha off, but given that the traitors who were branded after the battle managed to find their way to her new dwelling, I don’t have much faith that she’ll survive much longer.
Burying her sword and promising to the Gods that she will never fight again was something.
This new chapter might be short-lived for Katheryn Winnick’s alter ego, but I can’t stress how dumb it was to let the traitors go.
On a show like Vikings, revenge is just par for the course, so this falls directly on Bjorn.
He should have tortured the men or gave them a quick death.
People of Kattegat. I told you that when I became King, my rule would be very different from that of Ivar’s. And I mean to keep that pledge, Ivar built a wall around our town. He discouraged foreigners, outlawed free speech, and descent amongst our own people. Kattegat can only survive and grow prosperous through trade. Not conquest. That is my belief. This is your meeting. Your chance to come to me with whatever you want, and I will listen. I am but your humble servant.
Bjorn
Word travels fast, especially the news that someone of Lagertha’s social stature is hanging up her armor and sword.
It’s an oversight that’s difficult for me to let go, and one that Bjorn will think about if anything happens to his mother.
Bjorn is conflicted now that the battle has been won. Still, he recognizes there are more fights to come.
The ultimate driving force for him, though, is learning what became of Floki.
As for Ivar, the last thing I expected was for him to be paired up with someone crazier than him. Prince Oleg is a real hoot.
He’s cutthroat, unpredictable, and will stop at nothing to get power.
The two of them working together is bound to cause mass death and destruction.
They’re both immature and will strike without fully thinking their plans through.
Oleg’s brother’s men getting slaughtered outside the dwelling was an upsetting enough image, but having the brother die of poisoning while Oleg danced around the place is something I’m not going to forget in a hurry.
Just when it seemed like Ivar the Boneless was finished, he has his skin back in the game for as long as Oleg trusts him.
They have mutual enemies, so this team of two will work … for now.
Egor is scared of Oleg, meaning that if it comes down to Ivar killing the Prince at the last second, Egor would happily follow Ivar.
While it seemed like he was trying to make the child laugh, there was so much more going on during those scenes.
Ivar was building rapport with the youngster because he knew that having the child on his side would get him closer to taking back what he thinks is his.
Vikings is zeroing in on religion during its final season, but Oleg using Ivar’s arrival as a sign seemed more like a desperate attempt to press on with his villainous mission to back his family’s ancestral land.
I have decided to treat your arrival here as a sign, Ivar the Boneless.
Oleg
The addition of Dir threw me for a loop. The last thing I expected was for another of his siblings to arrive on a mission of vengeance.
The positive here is that Oleg had his bases covered by kidnapping Dir’s new wife.
Oleg proved throughout the two episodes that he is excellent at turning the tide in his favor.
For now, the world is Ivar and Oleg’s oyster, and they’re going to do whatever they want.
These two episodes were Vikings at its finest.
The set-up with storylines for the next 18 episodes was handled very well, and it will be bittersweet to say goodbye to this iteration of the series.
What did you think of Lagertha’s decision?
Do you think she’ll die before the series finale?
Do you like Oleg? Do you think Ivar is playing him?
Hit the comments below.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.