Vikings · A Viewer's Companion
Five sons, two mothers — and the monk who secretly fathered a king of England.
Vikings looks simple — one farmer and his family — until Ragnar has sons by two different wives, the wives and brothers start killing each other, and the story splits between Kattegat and Wessex. This chart keeps it straight: steel-blue borders are House of Ragnar (his actual blood), crimson is Wessex (the English royals), grey is everyone who married in or became family by choice — and the two dashed lines are the show's two whispered secrets.
Why the tree matters: every war in the show starts inside it
Five facts on this chart drive nearly everything from Season 1's first raid to the final battle in Wessex.
One son by Lagertha, four by Aslaug
Bjorn Ironside is Lagertha's boy — the eldest, raised on the farm. Ubbe, Hvitserk, Sigurd and Ivar are Aslaug's, born after Ragnar left Lagertha for her. That split never heals: Lagertha eventually kills Aslaug to take Kattegat back, and Aslaug's sons owe their mother vengeance against the mother of their half-brother. Every later "sons of Ragnar" alliance cracks along this line.
Rollo chooses Frankia — and history
Ragnar's brother lives in his shadow, betrays him more than once, and finally defects for good: given land and the princess Gisla to defend Paris against the Vikings, he slaughters his own former crews and becomes Duke of Normandy. The show twists the knife with a tease it never resolves — Rollo slept with Lagertha, and tells Bjorn "you are my son" (the dashed line). Real history's wink: Normandy's dukes lead to William the Conqueror.
Alfred the Great is Athelstan's son
Athelstan — the monk Ragnar seized at Lindisfarne and came to love like a brother — has an affair with Judith, Aethelwulf's wife. Their child is Alfred, raised as a prince of Wessex because King Ecbert protects the boy (he loved Athelstan too). So the one thread tying Kattegat and Wessex together is a dead monk whose son ends up on the English throne.
Which son gets what
Bjorn gets Kattegat and later the crown of all Norway — and dies defending it. Ivar seizes Kattegat by force and becomes its tyrant. Ubbe inherits the dream: Ragnar's ambition to farm and explore, sailing beyond Iceland to the Golden Land. Hvitserk inherits nothing but survival — and, baptized as "Athelstan" in Wessex, closes the show's oldest circle.
Why family gatherings are fatal
Keep the murder ledger straight: Lagertha shoots Aslaug → Ivar kills his brother Sigurd over an insult at dinner → Ivar wars on Lagertha and Bjorn → Hvitserk, ruined and haunted, kills Lagertha → the brothers end up on opposite sides of the final battle, where Ivar dies. Almost no death on the Norse side comes from outside the family.
The name decoder
Half the Norse cast are "sons of Ragnar" and half the English cast are "Aethel-something." Keep these apart:
Ubbe · Hvitserk · Sigurd · Ivar
Aslaug's four, oldest to youngest. Ubbe = the steady one with the braids, most like Ragnar. Hvitserk = the loyal-then-lost middle son. Sigurd = the snake-eyed singer Ivar kills at dinner. Ivar = the crawling, brilliant, cruel youngest — can't walk, wins battles.
Lagertha vs. Aslaug
Lagertha = the blonde shieldmaiden, wife #1, Bjorn's mother, later queen. Aslaug = the dark-haired seer-princess, wife #2, mother of the other four. One kills the other in Season 4.
Aethelwulf vs. Aethelred vs. Alfred
Three generations of Wessex. Aethelwulf = Ecbert's son, the soldier king. His sons: Aethelred, the elder prince who steps aside, and Alfred, the sickly, clever one who gets the crown — and is secretly the monk's boy.
Athelstan vs. "Athelstan"
Athelstan (George Blagden) is the monk, dead in Season 3 — yet his name won't die: it's the baptismal name Hvitserk takes in the finale, and Ubbe names a son Ragnar… the show loves recycled names as fate.
Torvi's husbands, in order
Jarl Borg †, Erlendur † (she shot him herself), then Bjorn, then Ubbe. If you're wondering why she's holding a different brother's hand in Season 5 — she remarried, amicably. Everyone was fine with it. Really.
Gisla vs. Freydis vs. Gunnhild
The three wives people swap. Gisla = Frankish princess, Rollo's. Freydis = the pale ex-slave who worships Ivar as a god — until he strangles her. Gunnhild = the towering shieldmaiden, Bjorn's queen, who chooses the sea over remarriage.
Bjorn vs. Ubbe
The two big blond ones. Bjorn = older, Lagertha's son, "Ironside," dies a king in Season 6. Ubbe = Aslaug's eldest, wears the half-shaved braids, survives to reach North America. Different mothers — that's the whole show.
Not family — but always at the table
Harald Finehair †
The ambitious king who wants all of Norway — and proposes to half the women on this chart. Ally, rival, and enemy of the family by turns; dies in the final battle. †
King Horik †
King of Denmark and Ragnar's first overlord. Tries to turn Floki against Ragnar; Ragnar kills him and takes his first crown (S2). †
Bishop Heahmund †
Warrior-bishop of Wessex with a sword in one hand and sins to spare — Lagertha's lover, dies in battle at Marton (S5). †
Scope: the whole original series, Seasons 1–6 (2013–2020) — spoilers all the way through the finale. The sequel series Vikings: Valhalla is a different century and is not covered here. Fair warning on the daggers: 17 of the 24 faces on this page are dead by the end — this show buries almost everyone it loves. Portraits are stills from the Vikings wiki, cropped and served from this site so they load without an internet round-trip to anyone else.