The End of the Beginning
Emma is banished from Normandy and forced back to her home in France. She doesn’t have a choice, given the influence of Aelfgifu.
What is Aelfgifu’s plan?
After a tense meeting, it is announced that the potential coup is not going to go ahead after all. Aelfgifu agrees not to send the troops to Olaf’s aid, but she refuses to divulge their position. ..
Aelfgifu, the Lady of Mercia, decides to ride to Wessex and convince them to join forces against Godwin. ..
Which side does Harald fight on?
Meanwhile, Harald shows up to see Jarl Kare, warning him that there are armed men and women waiting for him in Kattegat. He makes his decision, and that’s to fight alongside his brother.
Kare is waiting for Olaf’s forces to strengthen so that he can attack.
Harald decides to lead a parlay in order to save Kattegat and allow Haakon to surrender. This way, they won’t be condemned to Hell. The parlay goes about as expected, with the two groups preparing for the worst. ..
How do Godwin and Emma outsmart Aelfgifu?
Aelfgifu, a foreign advisor, shows up at Mercia and presents herself as an advocate for their problems and relays that information to the King. She successfully aligns their causes and negotiations are concluded quickly – Aelfgifu has been successful. ..
Emma is the new queen of England, and as such, she is in control of the government. Aelfgifu, the previous queen, was left with nothing after her fleet was found and her power was taken away. Emma has been playing this game for some time to get Aelfgifu to come back to London so she can take her place on the throne. Now that she’s back, Emma has a clear path to take over the government and become the new queen.
What happens in the battle for Kattegat?
The Shield Maidens mass and march on Kattegat, ready to fight. The Foot Soldiers attack on land while Olaf’s naval fleet arrives.
Kare heads out on foot to try and kill Freydis, while Trebechuts are there to try and stop her. The thing is, the boats out by the shore are almost completely empty save for a few people. It turns out this was a big coup, orchestrated by Olaf. He used Kare to split the Kattegat forces, deciding to use Harald’s emotions against him and hold his forces back on purpose, leaving himself as the most powerful Jarl. ..
Who dies in the battle? What happens to Jarl Kare?
In the ensuing skirmish, Haakon is killed, as are a number of the Shield Maidens. Arne is also killed in the heat of battle, as the gates are breached and Kare watches from the tower. He notices Haakon being taken away by the Shield Maidens on a stretcher and decides to follow with his loyal men. Of course, this is where ‘The Last Daughter’ prophecy comes from – the last daughter of Kattagat left.
In Haakon’s court, Kare decides to fight one on one with Freydis for… reasons? Anyway, he squares off against her and meets an untimely fate, stabbed in the stomach and then beheaded. Outside, Harald rides back, is injured, and fights for his life.
What happens with Harald and Freydis?
Olaf soon shows up to clean house, stabbing Liv and killing her. She asks Leif to follow her to Valhalla before fading from this world. Leif promises to join her in the afterlife, as Freydis heads outside and helps a very injured Harald onto a horse to safety.
How does Vikings: Valhalla end?
In the wake of all this, Olaf takes Kattegat for himself and seizes the throne. However, Forkbeard shows up on the shores with his men, frightening Olaf’s forces who run and flee. Olaf is left alone with no support. Realizing Forkbeard is en-route, he too turns and runs.
As Forkbeard begins marching through Kattegat, the episode ends with Leif killing several men, enraged over the death of his beloved.
The Episode Review
The final chapter of Vikings is full of action, bloodshed, and political power plays. It turns out that Godwin was working with Emma after all, and this clever switch and bait works to oust Aelfgifu and cement Canute as the ruler of England alongside Emma. ..
The inclusion of Forkbeard is a nice nod to history, and the final battle and cliffhanger ending set everything up nicely for a second season. ..
England and Denmark are both in the midst of a heated election campaign, with both candidates vying for the chance to lead their respective countries. However, the outcome of the election could determine the future of both countries.
The consistency with this story now is that there is a renewed focus after a bit of a meandering tone for the past 2 or 3 chapters. However, this doesn’t come without its contrivances. For example, in the beginning of the chapter, we are told that “the detective had been called to the scene of an accident” and then later we are told that “the detective had been called to investigate an accident.” This inconsistency creates confusion and makes it difficult to follow what is happening.
Kare chose to fight Freydis alone because he knew that he had the support of his men, but he also knew that Freydis was a dangerous opponent. He has been ambushed by him several times, and each time the riders have been waiting for him. This makes it difficult for Kare to fight him evenly, and it seems like an odd decision to choose to do so.
It seems like a stretch that Harald would dispatch those men waiting outside, given that he had just killed Freydis. It may have been more believable if Harald had dispatched them himself.
This series has been inaccurately historical and there have been some liberties taken with the real history. However, Vikings did that too so I guess we can’t have too many complaints! Either way though, this was a decent episode and a fitting way to close things out for the next season.
