50 free Ragnar Lothbrok trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Ragnar Lothbrok trivia quiz covers the legendary Viking from three angles: the medieval sources (the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok, the Tale of Ragnar's Sons, Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum and the death-song Krákumál), the history behind them (the 845 siege of Paris, the Great Heathen Army of 865, King Ælla of Northumbria and the very real sons Ivar the Boneless, Björn Ironside, Halfdan, Ubba and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye), and the History Channel drama Vikings, in which Travis Fimmel made the farmer from Kattegat a household name. Expect questions on where the nickname 'hairy-breeches' comes from, the riddle Ragnar set for Kráka, why the serpents would not bite him, what Lagertha kept guarding her house, and how much of any of it modern historians believe. BrainPickle also has a broader Vikings quiz if you want the whole Viking Age. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia and each question carries a citation to the page it came from.
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Q 01What does the Old Norse nickname 'loðbrók' literally mean?
Hairy-breeches
The sagas say he earned it from the strange protective clothing he wore to fight a giant serpent.
Q 02According to the sagas, Ragnar earned his nickname from the unusual clothes he wore while doing what?
Fighting a giant serpent
The snake guarded the home of Thora Borgarhjort, whom he then married.
Q 03In the sagas, who is named as Ragnar's father, a legendary king of the Swedes?
Sigurd Ring
Sigurd Ring is said to have beaten his uncle Harald Wartooth at the Battle of Brávellir.
Q 04In the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok, who is Ragnar's first wife, won by killing a serpent?
Thora
Their sons were Erik and Agnar.
Q 05Ragnar's wife Kráka turns out to be Aslaug, the secret daughter of which hero?
Sigurd Fafnesbane
Sigurd was the dragon-slayer of the Völsunga saga; Aslaug's mother was the shieldmaiden Brynhildr.
Q 06How was the infant Aslaug smuggled to Norway by her foster-father Heimer in the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok?
Hidden inside a harp
The peasants murdered Heimer for the harp's supposed treasure and raised the girl as Kráka, meaning 'Crow'.
Q 07How did Kráka come to Ragnar neither dressed nor undressed, fasting nor eating, alone nor in company?
In a net, biting an onion, with a dog
Ragnar's men had first noticed her when they let their bread burn while staring at her.
Q 08Which chronicler's Gesta Danorum, written around 1200, is the first source to make Ragnar a Danish king?
Saxo Grammaticus
Sven Aggesen's chronicle of about 1190 is the first Danish text to use the full name Regnerus Lothbrogh.
Q 09In Saxo's account, Ragnar wins Lagertha only after killing which two guardians at her home?
A bear and a great hound
Saxo says he later repudiated her to marry Thora.
Q 10Per Saxo, Lagertha first fought at Ragnar's side to avenge whose death at the hands of King Frø?
His grandfather Siward
Historian Judith Jesch regards Saxo's warrior women as largely fictional.
Q 11How does the legendary Ragnar die?
Thrown into a pit of snakes
The saga adds that for a long time none of the snakes would bite him.
Q 12Which king of Northumbria is said to have executed Ragnar?
Ælla
The real Ælla died on 21 March 867 when the Vikings took York.
Q 13Per the sagas, Ragnar sailed to conquer England with how many ships, trying not to be outdone by his sons?
Two
The saga presents the tiny fleet as the hubris that got him killed.
Q 14Ragnar's death-song, put in his mouth as he lies dying in the snake pit, is which skaldic poem?
Q 21Björn Ironside's foster-father and fellow raider in the sagas and Norman chronicles was which Viking?
Hastein
According to late sagas Björn became King of Sweden and Uppsala.
Q 22Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye's nickname refers to a mark in his left eye said to resemble what?
An ouroboros
He may be the same person as Sigfred, who ruled Denmark alongside Halfdan in 873.
Q 23Which of Ragnar's supposed sons is the least securely historical, according to Wikipedia?
Hvitserk
Contemporary academia regards most of the stories about Ragnar himself as fiction.
Krákumál
The name means 'Kráka's lay', but philologists date it to the 12th century in its present form.
Q 15Ragnar's sons are said to have executed King Ælla by which gruesome method?
The blood eagle
Sigvat Thordarson's Knutsdrapa of about 1038 already says Ivar 'carved the eagle on Ælla's back'.
Q 16In what year did the Great Heathen Army, said to be led by Ragnar's sons, land in England?
865
They landed in East Anglia, where King Edmund gave them horses in return for peace.
Q 17Which of Ragnar's sons led the Great Heathen Army from 865 to 870?
Ivar the Boneless
Halfdan Ragnarsson took over and led the invasion of Wessex.
Q 18The son of Ragnar who led the Great Heathen Army is often identified with Ímar, a Viking king of which city?
Dublin
That would make him founder of the Uí Ímair dynasty that ruled York and Dublin.
Q 19According to the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok, why was Ivar born 'boneless'?
His father ignored Aslaug's three-night wait
Another theory is that a scribe misread the Latin exosus, 'the hated', as ex os, 'without bone'.
Q 20Björn Ironside co-led a famous Viking raid of 859–861 into which sea?
The Mediterranean
William of Jumièges says Hastein wanted to make Björn Roman Emperor.
Q 24Per the Annals of St Neots, the 'Raven' banner captured from Ragnar's sons in 878 was woven in a day by whom?
His three daughters
A live crow was said to appear on the flag before a victory and hang limp before a defeat.
Q 25A Viking leader named Reginherus, often tentatively identified with Ragnar, besieged which city in 845?
Paris
He hanged 111 Frankish prisoners on an island in the Seine in honour of Odin.
Q 26How many Frankish prisoners did Reginherus hang on an island in the Seine in 845?
111
He returned to King Horik I but soon died of a violent illness that spread through Denmark.
Q 27Which Frankish king assembled an army to stop Reginherus reaching the Abbey of Saint-Denis in 845?
Charles the Bald
The same Charles is said to have granted a Ragnar land at Torhout in Flanders around 841.
Q 28Ragnar's fleet in 845 owed allegiance to which Danish king?
Horik I
Horik I is himself one of the candidates scholars have proposed for a 'historical Ragnar'.
Q 29The only runic inscription mentioning Lodbrok is carved on which prehistoric tomb?
Maeshowe on Orkney
It speaks of 'her sons', prompting a theory that Lodbrok was originally imagined as a woman.
Q 30The Maeshowe inscription refers to 'her sons', which led some scholars to theorise what about Lodbrok?
The name originally referred to a woman
The inscription says the howe was built long before Lodbrok's time.