Vikings: Valhalla Season 1 Review

Vikings: Valhalla is a 2022 Netflix TV Series that is a sequel to History's Vikings Series and is set centuries after the first Viking invasion in England. Vikings: Valhalla takes us through the journey of Ragnar Lothbrok's descendants and how they navigate a changing world as Christianity creeps in, even amongst the Vikings themselves. The old Norse ways and religion are in danger and someone must defend Nordic culture against Christianity.

Vikings: Valhalla Season 1 Review and Summary

Prince Harland

Prince Harland Sigurdsson of Norway, played by Leo Suter, has a brother Sten, who lives in England under the Danelaw. The English opted to give Vikings a place to settle in England to ensure peace, with some of them becoming naturalized. Things change, however, after King Aethelred of England decides that the Vikings must be exterminated. A massacre ensues and all the Viking settlements in England are burnt down and the Viking families killed. Prince Harland is lucky and gets out just in time.

Jarl Olaf

Prince Harland's older brother Jarl Olaf, played by Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, is a Christian and the apparent heir to the throne of Norway. He promises his brother Harland that he will be next to ascend the throne. Things get complicated, however, after the Viking massacre in England, and both brothers join King Canute of Denmark to avenge the murders of Viking families.

Jarl Olaf is boisterous and is the half-brother of Prince Harland. He is very sly and has plans of his own. He even makes a wild request of King Canute to allow him to conduct a "mass conversion" of the army to Christianity before they leave Kattegat.

King Canute

King Canute of Denmark, played by Bradley Freegard, gathers all Viking tribes from all over to Kattegat where he puts together an army to sail to England and avenge the Vikings who were killed in England. Canute succeeds and they head out to England, with one intent and one intent only, to bring back King Aethelred's head on a pike.

Leif Erikkson

Leif Erikkson, played by Sam Corlett, is a Viking from Greenland who's in Kattegat, at the same time Canute has called for all tribes, with his sister Freydis, played by Frida Gustavsson. Leif and Freydis are accompanied by their friends and are in Kattegat for vengeance of their own. Freydis is looking for the man who raped her and cut a cross across her back. As the tribes arrive, she spots the man and she, her brother, and their friends plan an attack against him.

The Debt of Freydis

The man is a close associate of Jarl Olaf and when the time comes, Freydis exacts her revenge and cuts a cross across his chest. Olaf is up in arms and demands her head. Harland intervenes and suggests that since the man had attacked Freydis that she be indebted. Through Jarl Haakon, the leader of Kattegat, Freydis is ransomed to her and her debt is to be paid by her brother Leif, a good fighter and ship captain, who is to fight alongside Canute's army in England.