The other day, it was announced that Netflix had secured the rights to the rights to make a spinoff/sequel to History’s most successful show, Vikings. Set 100 years after the current show, which has a sixth and final season airing in December, Vikings: Valhalla will feature a whole new core of characters who are, again, loosely based on actual historical figures. With 24 episodes already ordered by Netflix, now’s the time to get to know our four principles: Leif Erikson, Freydis, Harald Harada and William the Conqueror.
First up, like its predecessor, we should note that Vikings: Valhalla already appears to be playing it fast and loose with real-world history. Norse explorer Leif Erikson died five years after Harald was born and a full eight before William was born. Any moment these figures interact will be purely fictional, much like Ragnar and Rollo’s relationship on Vikings (Ragnar reportedly lived nearly a hundred years before Rollo). Meanwhile, Freydís Eiríksdóttir has never been historically proven to exist, and like Ragnar, could simply be an amalgam of several real world people.
A loose handling of history won’t be the only thing Valhalla has in common with the original series. In Vikings, Ragnar and Rollo are depicted as the first people from Norway to discovery and explore England. Likewise, Leif Erikson is credited with being the first European to discover North America around 1000 A.D., hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus arrived. Leif presumably had more than a few encounters with Native Americans, as well as adventures in Greenland and Iceland.
The stories differ on Freydis. In one, she was a respected shield maiden — not unlike Lagertha — who once fought a band of Native Americans while eight months pregnant. Other accounts mention a bloodthirsty woman of lesser repute, willing to massacre innocents as part of a blood feud. In both tales, Freydis is Leif’s sister and journeys with him to North America, so we can expect lots of interaction between those two characters.
Image: Vikings/History
The other two characters, Harald Harada and William the Conqueror, will also likely share a lot of screen time as they vie for control of England. William, the Duke of Normandy and a real-world descendant of Rollo, ruled a large portion of France before adding England to his domains in 1066, thus fulfilling the Seer’s prophecy on Vikings that Rollo’s descendants would enjoy great success. William would rule England for nearly 20 years until his death. He instituted sweeping changes in the country, although William usually resided in Normandy.
The final character, Harald Harada, was the King of Norway from 1046 until his death in 1066. Harald died in battle against Harold Godwinson (who was in turn defeated by William), while attempting to seize the throne of England for himself. We could have a juicy onscreen rivalry on our hands. Before claiming the Norwegian throne, Harald also served the Rus, who we see introduced in season 6 of Vikings, as well as the Byzantine Empire. Like the other characters, he has quite the backstory.
Of course, this is only scratching the surface of these figures, and the show will probably make up plenty of adventures for them to go from whole cloth. If all goes well, Valhalla will be an action-packed successor worthy of the original Vikings. How the stories of the four characters weave together will take some creativity, but with England, Norway, Iceland, France and North America all part of the saga, we should be in for quite an experience. Skoal!
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