50 Fun Facts About Ragnar Lothbrok

What does the Old Norse nickname 'loðbrók' literally mean?

The sagas say he earned it from the strange protective clothing he wore to fight a giant serpent.

According to the sagas, Ragnar earned his nickname from the unusual clothes he wore while doing what?

The snake guarded the home of Thora Borgarhjort, whom he then married.

In the sagas, who is named as Ragnar's father, a legendary king of the Swedes?

Sigurd Ring is said to have beaten his uncle Harald Wartooth at the Battle of Brávellir.

In the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok, who is Ragnar's first wife, won by killing a serpent?

Their sons were Erik and Agnar.

Ragnar's wife Kráka turns out to be Aslaug, the secret daughter of which hero?

Sigurd was the dragon-slayer of the Völsunga saga; Aslaug's mother was the shieldmaiden Brynhildr.

How was the infant Aslaug smuggled to Norway by her foster-father Heimer in the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok?

The peasants murdered Heimer for the harp's supposed treasure and raised the girl as Kráka, meaning 'Crow'.

How did Kráka come to Ragnar neither dressed nor undressed, fasting nor eating, alone nor in company?

Ragnar's men had first noticed her when they let their bread burn while staring at her.

Which chronicler's Gesta Danorum, written around 1200, is the first source to make Ragnar a Danish king?

Sven Aggesen's chronicle of about 1190 is the first Danish text to use the full name Regnerus Lothbrogh.

In Saxo's account, Ragnar wins Lagertha only after killing which two guardians at her home?

Saxo says he later repudiated her to marry Thora.

Per Saxo, Lagertha first fought at Ragnar's side to avenge whose death at the hands of King Frø?

Historian Judith Jesch regards Saxo's warrior women as largely fictional.

How does the legendary Ragnar die?

The saga adds that for a long time none of the snakes would bite him.

Which king of Northumbria is said to have executed Ragnar?

The real Ælla died on 21 March 867 when the Vikings took York.

Per the sagas, Ragnar sailed to conquer England with how many ships, trying not to be outdone by his sons?

The saga presents the tiny fleet as the hubris that got him killed.

Ragnar's death-song, put in his mouth as he lies dying in the snake pit, is which skaldic poem?

The name means 'Kráka's lay', but philologists date it to the 12th century in its present form.

Ragnar's sons are said to have executed King Ælla by which gruesome method?

Sigvat Thordarson's Knutsdrapa of about 1038 already says Ivar 'carved the eagle on Ælla's back'.

In what year did the Great Heathen Army, said to be led by Ragnar's sons, land in England?

They landed in East Anglia, where King Edmund gave them horses in return for peace.

Which of Ragnar's sons led the Great Heathen Army from 865 to 870?

Halfdan Ragnarsson took over and led the invasion of Wessex.

The son of Ragnar who led the Great Heathen Army is often identified with Ímar, a Viking king of which city?

That would make him founder of the Uí Ímair dynasty that ruled York and Dublin.

According to the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok, why was Ivar born 'boneless'?

Another theory is that a scribe misread the Latin exosus, 'the hated', as ex os, 'without bone'.

Björn Ironside co-led a famous Viking raid of 859–861 into which sea?

William of Jumièges says Hastein wanted to make Björn Roman Emperor.

Björn Ironside's foster-father and fellow raider in the sagas and Norman chronicles was which Viking?

According to late sagas Björn became King of Sweden and Uppsala.

Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye's nickname refers to a mark in his left eye said to resemble what?

He may be the same person as Sigfred, who ruled Denmark alongside Halfdan in 873.

Which of Ragnar's supposed sons is the least securely historical, according to Wikipedia?

Contemporary academia regards most of the stories about Ragnar himself as fiction.

Per the Annals of St Neots, the 'Raven' banner captured from Ragnar's sons in 878 was woven in a day by whom?

A live crow was said to appear on the flag before a victory and hang limp before a defeat.

A Viking leader named Reginherus, often tentatively identified with Ragnar, besieged which city in 845?

He hanged 111 Frankish prisoners on an island in the Seine in honour of Odin.

How many Frankish prisoners did Reginherus hang on an island in the Seine in 845?

He returned to King Horik I but soon died of a violent illness that spread through Denmark.

Which Frankish king assembled an army to stop Reginherus reaching the Abbey of Saint-Denis in 845?

The same Charles is said to have granted a Ragnar land at Torhout in Flanders around 841.

Ragnar's fleet in 845 owed allegiance to which Danish king?

Horik I is himself one of the candidates scholars have proposed for a 'historical Ragnar'.

The only runic inscription mentioning Lodbrok is carved on which prehistoric tomb?

It speaks of 'her sons', prompting a theory that Lodbrok was originally imagined as a woman.

The Maeshowe inscription refers to 'her sons', which led some scholars to theorise what about Lodbrok?

The inscription says the howe was built long before Lodbrok's time.

The 13th-century Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok is written as a sequel to which other saga?

That connection is why Ragnar's wife Aslaug is made a daughter of Sigurd the dragon-slayer.

In the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok, Ragnar is said to descend from which god?

His first feat in the saga is killing a dragon in Götaland.

In Saxo's version, which of Ragnar's sons was captured by the Hellespontian prince Daxon and burnt alive?

Saxo's Ragnar also fights ski-borne Finnish archers and weather-working Bjarmians in the Arctic north.

Saxo says Ragnar's death in the snake pit was God's rightful vengeance for what?

The snake-pit death was traditionally ascribed to the Burgundian king Gunnar in the Icelandic sagas.

In the 1958 film The Vikings, who plays Ragnar, cast into a pit of wolves rather than snakes?

Kirk Douglas plays his vengeful son Einar and Tony Curtis the half-brother Eric.

Who created and wrote the History Channel series Vikings, in which Ragnar is the central character?

Hirst originally planned a single season ending with Ragnar's death.

Which Australian actor plays Ragnar Lothbrok in Vikings?

Fimmel had been a Calvin Klein model and a promising Australian rules footballer before acting.

In the TV series, Ragnar starts out as a farmer from which settlement?

The real Kattegat is a sea area between Denmark and Sweden, not a town.

Where was Vikings filmed?

Longship scenes were shot at Luggala and on the Poulaphouca Reservoir in the Wicklow Mountains.

Vikings premiered on the History Channel on what date?

The final episodes were released on Amazon Prime Video in Ireland on December 30, 2020.

Which event in Vikings' second episode marks the start of the Viking Age in the series?

The show also draws on Ibn Fadlan's account of the Rus.

Who plays Lagertha in the TV series Vikings, and also directed an episode of the sixth season?

Alyssa Sutherland played Aslaug and Jessalyn Gilsig played Siggy.

In the TV series, Ragnar is crowned King of Denmark after the death of which king?

The historical Horik I was the overlord of the Ragnar who raided Paris in 845.

The show's creator originally intended Ragnar to die when?

Fimmel's Ragnar survived until the fourth season, and the show then followed his sons.

The Netflix sequel series that premiered in February 2022 is subtitled what?

It is set roughly a century after Ragnar's era.

Ivan Kaye, King Ælla in Vikings, played which character in Hammer of the Gods (2013)?

Ivar is also a major character in the video game Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

In which English county was a possible Ivar burial mound found with 250-plus skeletons in 1686?

The Great Heathen Army wintered at Repton in 873–874.

Vikings began filming in July 2012 at which newly built Irish facility?

Longship scenes were shot at Luggala and on the Poulaphouca Reservoir in the Wicklow Mountains.

Who plays King Ecbert of Wessex, added as a series regular in Vikings' second season?

The same announcement brought in Alexander Ludwig as the grown-up Björn after a time jump.

Which WWE wrestler joined Vikings' fifth season as the warrior Kjetill Flatnose?

Floki picks his character to lead an expedition to colonise Iceland.