‘Vikings’: Is Ragnar Lothbrok the Only Person to Ever Defy the Seer?
Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) is arguably the most famous Viking to ever live on the hit History series Vikings. Throughout his life, he is known to go to the Seer (John Kavanagh) for advice on the future and his potential choices. Could he have defied the Seer’s prophecy about his death? Read on to find out how. There are spoilers ahead for Ragnar Lothbrok’s story on Vikings.
Ragnar Lothbrok defies the Seer
The Seer tells Ragnar that he will die on the day the blind man sees him. Well, that day finally comes, yet Ragnar doesn’t die that day, but several days later at the hands of King Aelle (Ivan Kaye) in the snake pit. The blind man sees him on his way to King Aelle in Northumbria.
“You’re blind,” Ragnar says to the man leading the horses to the final destination.
“Sure am, but the horses know the way. But don’t worry, I can see you Ragnar Lothbrok. I can see you,” the blind says as he laughs.
Ragnar doesn’t die that day
Ragnar doesn’t die that day, but days later. A Reddit user breaks it down. “The only person in the entire series who determined his own fate was Ragnar Lothbrok,” the Reddit user began. “The Seer said, ‘You will die on the day the blind man sees you’ and Ragnar died a few days after that happened of his own volition.”
Ragnar seems to have been ahead of everyone. He went to England with a skeleton crew knowing he couldn’t properly get revenge for the settlement in Wessex that way. He purposely brought his son Ivar (Alex Høgh Andersen) with him to bring back the story to his other sons so they could get revenge.
“He decided that that would happen. He decided to go to England knowing he would die and become a symbol to all Vikings with his speech echoing on for generations,” the user continued. “He took Ivar to England with the intention of molding him into a monster because he knew what kind of world it was.”
Ragnar returns to England for revenge
Ragnar could have stayed in Kattegat to somehow reclaim his thrown, but he doesn’t. He came back for the sole purpose to avenge what happened in Wessex. He made sure that Ivar knew that King Ecbert (Linus Roache) was also responsible for his death. He told his son to seek revenge before he left to return to Kattegat.
In the end, Ragnar had to defy the Seer to fulfill his own destiny. He had to die in England in a terrible way so his sons and his people would fight to avenge him. He had to keep living until the last moment. His sons needed to know the terrible fate that he suffered.
Some fans think King Ecbert is the real blind man
However, there are other people who believe King Ecbert could be considered the blind man who sees him, since he witnesses Ragnar’s execution while in disguise. He could be considered blind since he loved Ragnar in his own way not knowing his true intentions. It’s left up for interpretation, but either way you see it, Ragnar orchestrated his own fate. He knew that his actions would lead to a reckoning for his people, and it certainly did.
