'viking' Ragnar Lothbrok

Those who have watched History TV's series 'Vikings' knows whom I am talking about, but for those who don't, let me tell you something about him. Ragnar was a Viking in 8th and 9th Century B.C. He is one of the legendary Vikings, who, some consider as a myth, and some as a real personality or combination of several Vikings leaders, narrated as single folklore. Nevertheless, he is considered as a ruthless, ferocious Viking, who raided England and France, and killed many, and made Viking stronghold in foreign lands.

My wrytup here is to narrate the story of Lothbrok(Lodbrok) and the character of Ragnar what I have perceived from various sources, because a great character dwells into great adventure, so be a part of this adventure.

Ragnar was born in the 8th century, as the son of Swedish King Sigurd Hiring, (it is said he was born in a farming family) , yet what is common is that he is was a well-trained warrior in sword and axe fighting, from a very young age. As he grew older, he became a raider, raiding in eastern provinces of Finland and Russia. From that age, he had a dream to ride in the west, as he had heard stories of western raids in past, and he wanted to explore it for himself. West, a place of abundant wealth and, riches and slaves, but not everybody agreed withhis idea, as many believed that, it's an only infinite sea in the west, and there is no land out there to explore.

Though against all odds, he set sail to find England, along with his companions, including Floki Vilgerdarson and Rollo, yet it's disputed that Rollo was not born when Ragnar was there. They reached Monastery at Lindisfarne in Kingdom of Northumbria, England, it was evening that day, and monks were all inside the Monastery, when these huge, tall Vikings attacked them with axes, killing them in their way, and taking away every kind of gold, or wealth they could find, and left the place, with mass murder, blood spilt everywhere, unarmed monks were killed brutally.

This was the first of many terror attacks they were going to face in future, 'cause, they came back, once everyone realised that there is a world in west, which can give them enough riches for lifetime, and this time they came with a bigger army, with an aim to hunt villages and churches. Along with Ragnar, was Lagertha, his wife and well-renowned shield maiden among the Vikings. Ragnar had to fight a boar, according to legend, to marry Lagertha as a condition kept by her father. When attacks were done, the Northumbrian army was unable to defend their people and was defeated several times. King Aella of Northumbria was furious with this and decided to revenge it.

Ragnar soon realized, that he needs to shift the region of raid, so this time they landed in Wessex, and they raided similar to that of Northumbria, but it came with a slight change here, King Ecbert to make peace with them, gave him land in Wessex for settlement, which will go on as the first strong foothold of Vikings in the west, but the settlement didn't come so easy, and will take the second generation to actually begin a settlement in England. Ragnar's dream was to do grand for his people, so that he can go to Valhalla, to meet Odin. Mythologically, it is said that Ragnar was descendant of Odin himself, or it was a way to portray the good and great he has done for his people, can' be said.

As England had been raided several times, Ragnar turned his vision to Paris, place with wealth and riches more than England. This time he gathered an army from not only his kingdom but from neighbouring kingdoms too, 'cause he heard Paris had huge walls and biggers army than English had. When Ragnar attacked Paris, at first, he wasn't able to defend the army, led by Count Odo of Paris. In this army of Ragnar was also Bjorn Ironside, in future to be the great king of Sweden. Though this time he attacked in dark, he faked his death to enter Paris and attacked from inside, and soon they raided Paris from Inside. What happened next is always in contradiction to timeline, Rollo was married to Gisela, Princess of Paris, and he was given northern territory called as Normandy( Land of Northmen).

Soon Ragnar grew older, he made his final attack on England, but he was defeated this time, and King Aella took him and tortured him, and threw him into a pit of Snakes and that was the end of Ragnar Lothbrok.

His legacy is still talked about, some see him as an explorer, raider, and some as a terrorist of past, but whatever he may be, he opened gates for future generations to attack West and establish great Viking Empire.

He married Aslaug and had 4 kids with her. Aslaug is a figure of beauty in Vikings era, she did influence the life of Ragnar in many ways. Ragnar as for himself was very saint, he even proclaimed to not follow God at his life end. Even today people talk about Ragnar, for what he achieved with his vision, he was a mass murdered for many but a great king, warrior and father for his people. People associated with him too have been quite famous. Floki was one of the first people to discover Iceland and start civilization there. But it's not the end of the story here, Sons of Ragnar, Bjorn, Ivar, Ubbe, Sigurd, Hvitserk would go on to avenge the death of his father, but that's for another day

The next half would be about 'Sons of Ragnar Lothbrok'.