Katheryn Winnick’s shieldmaiden has been a potent central figure for History’s saga.
Warning: This article contains spoilers forVikingsseason 6, episode 6, Death and the Serpent.
In season 2, Lagertha left her cheating husband, Ragnar (Travis Fimmel).
Jonathan Hession/History
Her next husband beat her, so she took his eye.
Then, in one terrible battle, she lost her throne and killed the woman she loved.
Her hair turned deathly pale.
So many other people onVikingsseek great things for their glorious future.
They are conquerors, explorers, or sometimes just parasites.
Lagertha was a protector, and there was so much she failed to protect.
WhenVikingsstarted, Ragnar and Lagertha were farmers raising their children in relative modesty.
The days were not easy; the world was dangerous.
Early in the series premiere, a couple wanderers threatened to rape Lagertha and her daughter.
They lost a daughter, each other, and more.
Lagertha became an icon, for the citizens of her world and forVikingsviewers.
Winnicks performance honored that iconography, and challenged it.
She was a devoted (and grieving) mother.
AndMichael Hirsts storytelling could edge her toward worshipful proto-feminism.
She killed one Viking for sexually assaulting an English woman.
She spent later seasons flanked by other shieldmaidens, whole squadrons of femininity.
No ones a saint onVikings, though.
Lagerthas actions could be indefensible, impulsive, once or twice a bit mad.
Lagertha represented relative stability in the clash of civilizations.
At this point in the show, those days are long gone.
Ragnar died, and his legacy has been endless discord.
White Hair was a vengeful follower of Ragnars son Ivar (Alex Hgh Anderson).
And Hvitserk (Marco Ils) was another Ragnarspawn, driven insane by fraternal paranoia.
Hvitserk could have killed Lagertha out of vengeance shedidkill his mother, after all.
But he was too far gone to even realize what he was doing.
In his eyes, Lagertha was a crawling mansnake, a phantom Ivar.
One thing I love aboutVikingsis how little the characters seem to worry about their own deaths.
Its inevitable, not something to stress over.
Weep not, poor Hvitserk, Lagertha said in her last moments.
Tonight Ill sit with my beloved Ragnar in the halls of the gods.
It would be a well-deserved rest if Vikings thought the afterlife was for resting.
(Vikingsas Essay on the Addictive, Cancerous Qualities of Fame: Discuss.)
The most moving part of the episode came earlier.
White Hair was the latest scraggly tower of angry masculinity to duel Lagertha.
Their fight was personal: He killed Lagerthas grandchild Hali (Ryan Henson).
White Hair drew bad blood early, slicing a gory smile into Lagerthas stomach.
That wound might have killed her, if Hvitserk didnt finish the job.
And then Lagertha found her second (hundredth) wind.
Youre tiring, she told the man, Youre weak, arent you?
Physically, White Hair was a specimen.
But life takes more than physical strength.
He must have thought she was helpless.
She sliced his neck, then used his own weapon to finish him off.
Gunnhild (Ragga Ragnars), another walking myth, complimented Lagerthas fortitude.
If I didnt worship you before, Lagertha, I worship you now, she said.
May the gods, in all their wisdom, keep you alive.
Lagerthas followers applauded, clapping swords against shields.
The people always loved her, except the people who always tried to kill her.
What Ill always remember is that Lagertha didnt say anything.
She believed in the gods, and knew their wisdom wasnt kind.
She was already dying, and so she kept going.
