17) GUTHRED
It’s hard to like Guthred (Thure Lindhardt), the Viking king, so how did he end up on our favorites list? The more we see of Gisela’s brother, the more weak-minded he looks. Guthred’s brutal betrayal of Uhtred — Guthred sells him into slavery, an experience that nearly breaks him — should make him irredeemable. But underneath it all, Guthred has a good heart, and we can’t quite bring ourselves to hate him.
As soon as Guthred is freed from slavery and arrives home, he is the subject of intense manipulation by the ambitious and immoral Abbot Eadred, the holy man who claims to have seen Guthred in a St. Cuthbert-inspired holy vision. (Yet Aedred can’t tell Guthred apart from Uhtred when they first meet in the season 2 premiere, something Guthred ignores, but does mention later on).
“Now I must get used to who I am,” Guthred says. He goes about raising a holy army and considers taking a Saxon as a bride. Guthred is funny, friendly, and wishes to be a great king, but he’s also none too bright and immensely insecure. To make matters worse, he relies too heavily on Abbot Eadred, the man he feels he owes everything and a man who relentlessly pours poison into his ear regarding Uhtred.
After Guthred betrays Uhtred, his much sought-for alliance against Kjarten at Dunholm crumbles. Aelfric quits because Uhtred wasn’t beheaded, and the Viking brothers Erik and Sigefrid quit because Aelfric is gone. Gisela escapes before the frantic Guthram can gift her as a wife to Aelfric. Later, Uhtred returns, now covered in battle gore and quivering with fury, and Guthred is so rattled he never recovers.
The last time we see Guthred (the Danes call him “The Turd King”) in season 2, he has given Uhtred control of his army. Alfred, still believing in the St. Cuthbert prophesy that named Guthred, continues to want him to become the “one true Lord of the North,” and that protects him.