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House of Bebbanburg

    Uhtred 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Pale Horseman | The Lords of the North | Sword Song | The Burning Land | Death of Kings | The Pagan Lord | The Empty Throne | Warriors of the Storm | The Flame Bearer | War of the Wolf | Sword of Kings | War Lord

The protagonist and viewpoint character

  • Action Dad: Becomes one by Mildrith at the end of The Last Kingdom, and then again by Gisela between Lords of the North and Sword Song.
  • Anti-Hero: He's not a nice person (most of the time), he's ruthless, violent, and a straight up dick if he wants to be. However, he is a hero.
  • Appropriated Appellation: Rather enjoys being known as 'Uhtredaewe' - Uhtred the Wicked.
  • Arranged Marriage: To Mildrith in The Last Kingdom. It is not a happy one.
  • Barbarian Hero: A textbook example.
  • Barbarian Longhair: Makes a point of keeping his blonde hair long.
  • Been There, Shaped History: As with most Cornwell protagonists, he's heavily involved in most of the important events of the era.
  • Berserk Button: Oath-breaking.
    • Someone else taking credit for his achievements drives him nuts.
    • And insulting Gisela after her passing. He literally beats someone to death for it (granted, by accident, though he didn't exactly regret it).
      • Even before her passing when Aldhelm calls her a bitch Uhtred breaks "his jaw, his nose, both his hands, and maybe a couple of his ribs" and had him spitting up his teeth. Really trying to stab Uhtred just gave him the excuse.
    • Domestic Abuse also seems to set him off. It first appears in regards to Aethelflaed's abuse by Aethelred, though that initially appears to be a case of It's Personal because Uhtred is particularly fond of Aethelflaed and terrorises Aethelred into never raising a hand to her ever again. However, in War of the Wolf, it's noted that this is a more general tendency - he generally punishes his men if they beat their wives (unusually, for the time), in part because of how he saw his father treat his stepmother.
  • Blood Knight: He loves fighting, particularly as a young man, when he's borderline psychotic. After he breaks his very first shield wall, slaughtering four enemies with nothing but sword and borrowed shield, his veteran commander's awed response is, "God love me, but you're a savage one." As he later notes, this wasn't entirely praise, and as he gets older, he gains a much greater appreciation for the peaceful life and begins to admit fear of the shield wall. This does not stop him picking pitched battles into his eighties.
  • Book Dumb: He didn't really learn to read until he was an adult, but he was already an intelligent man, expert sailor, and decent commander.
  • Born in the Wrong Century: He would have been right at home with his pagan ancestors invading Britain, as he occasionally complains.
  • Call to Agriculture: Surprisingly, gets this in later books - he still enjoys a good fight, but in contrast to his previous total lack of interest in cultivation and agriculture, he comes to enjoy it.
  • Child Hater: Zig-Zagged. He professes to hate small children, but once they're at least talking, he tends to quite like them. However, given that his own father was a gruff and frightening abusive parent, he's very bad at showing it - per Aethelflaed, Alfred very accurately pegged him as 'a kind man who tries to hide his kindness'. The children who can see past/get past the gruffness, like Aethelflaed, Stiorra, Aethelstan, and Alaina love him and are loved in turn. The shyer ones, like Father Judas/Oswald, and to a lesser extent, the second Uhtred (though he grows out of it), tend to have much more difficulty.
  • Cool Sword: Serpent-Breath and Wasp-Sting.
  • Cynical Mentor: To Osferth and Aethelstan.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Possibly the most prone to this of all Cornwell's protagonists - if he isn't snarking at someone he doesn't like, his narration is.
  • Death Seeker: Downplayed. While Uhtred doesn't go out of his way to try to get himself killed, he frequently mentions his desire to die with a sword in his hand, and thus ascend to Valhalla.
  • Dented Iron: Slowly accumulates a large amount of wounds as he ages, starting with the mild limp he gets at Ethandun.
  • The Dreaded: Becomes this as his reputation grows, and even in his early 80s, he's feared across Britain. He rather enjoys it, even after he's long lost his Blood Knight tendencies.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Uhtred is infuriated by Aethelred's abuse of Aethelflaed and later terrifies him into not raising a hand to her again. As it turns out, he isn't at all fond of Domestic Abuse in general and punishes his men if they beat their wives. This is noted as very unusual for the time, and explained as a product of seeing his father (also abusive towards him) beat his stepmother.
    • He also despises - and usually murders - rapists, to the point where he has a particular reputation for it.
  • Famed In-Story: He becomes this, to his delight - as he repeatedly notes, reputation is all. Even after he starts to prefer a peaceful life, he rather enjoys his reputation as the most feared man in Britain, which lasts well into his eighties.
  • The Fatalist: His motto is pretty much 'destiny is all'.
  • The Fettered: Uhtred takes oaths very seriously; the oath he swore to Alfred early on in the series is essentially the only thing that has kept him from running off to the Danes a long time ago - and when he does run off to the Danes, it's the one thing that keeps dragging him back, much to his displeasure.
  • Foreign Culture Fetish: Despite his limited knowledge of them, Uhtred expresses great admiration of the Romans.
    • He's sometimes noted in his younger days as having become more Danish than the Danes, though this is later toned down somewhat.
  • Generation Xerox: It's remarked at points that he's turned out much the same way as his father, somewhat to his despair, something underlined by his son's POV section.
  • Genius Bruiser: At first, most people take him to be little more than a large, violent, and generally bloodthirsty pagan savage - and, to be fair, that's a large part of it. However, he also speaks both Saxon and Danish fluently, learns to read and write very quickly as an adult and acquires a surprisingly extensive knowledge of Christian scripture (which he hates), is an excellent tactician, and when he wants to be, a highly accomplished political schemer. Later, he is acknowledged as the greatest general in Britain.
  • Glory Seeker: As a young man. Possibly what angers Uhtred the most in The Pale Horseman is that Alfred refuses to give him the glory for killing Ubba - mostly because someone else claimed it first (though it is hinted that Alfred knew what happened and went with the other explanation for political expediency, and because he didn't really care). As he gets older, it wears off - though it never entirely goes away.
  • Handicapped Badass: Takes a wound to the leg at Ethandun, mentions the limp it gave him for several years. Becomes this even more as he ages and becomes more Dented Iron
  • Happily Adopted: By Ragnar and his family, to the point where he spends most of the first two books angrily insisting that he's a Dane (and generally being more Danish than the Danes).
  • Happily Married: With Gisela, Eadith, and in a common law marriage sort of way, Benedetta. With Mildrith, not so much, not after the honeymoon phase wore off. In the latter case, it was unhappy enough that his narration is consistently sympathetic towards her, noting that he was a bad husband and completely wrong for her (she was a pious Country Mouse and he was an arrogant pagan warrior who was angry at the world and hungry for glory).
  • Hates Everyone Equally: As both a young and an old man, he hates just about everyone - though in the latter case, it's more a case of being old, tired, and somewhat bitter (and the final books reveal a few nuances that suggest he's not quite as crusty as he acts). In between, he mellows out.
  • Heritage Face Turn: Played with. He spends the first four books caught between being a Dane and a Saxon. His affections and friends are mostly pagan Danes who respect him, but his heritage is Saxon, and crucially, so is his chance to be his own man. As early as the first book, he's aware that while he's held in high regard in Danish society, that's dependant on powerful friends - the Danes could raise him up or bring him down, and even Ragnar the Younger tacitly assumes that if Uhtred joined him and they took Bebbanburg together, Uhtred would serve him.
  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: He's a hero, usually the one with the sarcastic commentary, and also usually the one to advise Alfred or his successor to straight up murder somebody. It gets to the point where, during The Pale Horseman, Alfred's immediate reaction to Uhtred being cheerful is to assume that he's just killed somebody.
  • Hidden Depths: He has more than a passing knowledge of Christian scripture, even if he hates it. He also likes building things - which is surprising, considering how often he usually winds up destroying them.
    • He's also much cleverer, and more cunning, than most people think he is.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: According to Aethelflaed, Alfred pegged him perfectly when he said that Uhtred was "a kind man who tries to hide his kindness." He's not necessarily nice - as a young man, it's rare that he can get through a chapter without insulting, killing or threatening someone - and spends a long time embittered after the love of his life dies. However, he is a good person at heart, there is a good deal of kindness under the snark, he reconciles with his oldest son, and tells him that he is proud of you, and generally kind to children in a gruff sort of way.
  • Kick The Son Of A Bitch: He tends to murder his enemies, who are universally unpleasant people.
  • The Kingmaker: As early as Lords of the North, he's experimenting with being the Man Behind the Man to King Guthred, who he helps rise to power, a position he cements by helping Ragnar take Dunholm and keep Guthred on a tight leash. By the time of Alfred's death, he is one of the foremost powers among the Saxons, deciding the succession of Wessex, Mercia, and Northumbria on multiple occasions. As he angrily points out to Aethelstan, the entire House of Wessex from Alfred through to Aethelstan himself owes their thrones to him. In fact, in every case but Alfred, who was already a King when Uhtred entered his service, he put them on those thrones himself - and Alfred's position after Guthrum's invasion was so precarious that he later admitted that Uhtred had won him back his throne at Ethandun.
  • Life-or-Limb Decision: Starts offering these to Danes he's captured around Sword Song.
  • The Last DJ: Uhtred's "career" as it were is constantly stalled out due to his being a pagan. He later overcomes this.
  • Love at First Sight: With Gisela. "I saw her, and I was stricken."
  • Made a Slave: In Lords of the North. Cue Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the slavers, though not so much against Guthred - as he notes, his enslavement was Nothing Personal. It was both Guthred's means of getting Aelfric's allegiance, and a product of Uhtred's encouragement to be more ruthless. However, he does come to hate slavers.
  • McNinja: Attempts to be a shadow-walker in his youth. For such a big man, he is surprisingly stealthy.
  • Meaningful Rename : Was originally named Osbert. Then his elder brother died.
  • Morality Pet: Father Beocca and Father Willibald, especially Beocca. Uhtred, while sometimes irritated by him, is genuinely very fond of him, and far kinder to him than he is to most people, especially priests. However, he does enjoy winding him up.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: Suggests this to Alfred to the point of it becoming a Running Gag, and is usually right.
  • Odd Friendship: With Fathers Pyrlig, Willibald, Beocca, and Cuthbert (who he finds hilarious), for various different reasons - all priests of a religion that he hates.
    • Ends up with something of this with Alfred, primarily thanks to a development of mutual respect.
  • Old Soldier: He is at least eighty by "War Lord", and still fighting in the shield wall - though he's unsurprisingly less enthusiastic about it.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Outlives his first sons by Brida and Mildrith (the former is stillborn), and both Father Judas/Bishop Oswald and Stiorra, as well as the newborn baby who died with Gisela.
  • Parental Favouritism: His daughter, Stiorra, gets most of her father's affection.
    • Later, his ward, Aethelstan, becomes his favourite and his apparent betrayal breaks Uhtred's heart.
  • Parental Substitute: To Aethelstan and Alaina, both of whom he is very fond of.
  • Parents as People: He's got a mixed record as a father at best, something he freely admits and increasingly regrets as he gets older, one that gets a lot worse after the love of his life dies. He's excellent with Stiorra (but admits that he doesn't actually know her very well), mixed with the second Uhtred, and terrible with Father Judas/Bishop Oswald - when the latter tearfully says that Uhtred was a good father when Uhtred is on his deathbed, Uhtred's immediate, irritated thought is that no, he wasn't, he was terrible at it. However, they do eventually reconcile on the eve of Brunanburh - when the by-now Bishop Oswald tells his father that he's sorry he couldn't be the son Uhtred wanted him to be, Uhtred points out how high he's risen and tells him that he's proud of him. Naturally, Oswald is killed shortly afterwards.
  • Red Baron: He acquires many nicknames - the Shield of Mercia, the Sword of the Saxons, and the Warlord of England. One he takes as an Appropriated Appellation is 'Uhtredaewe' - Uhtred the Wicked. This is partly because of his paganism, and partly because he one of his other nicknames is Uhtred Priest-Killer.
  • Stealth Mentor: To Edward. As he later grumbles, it didn't entirely take - or at least, Edward's inherent laziness, plus a complex about succeeding his already legendary father, overcame it.
  • Really Gets Around: He ends up with a lot of girlfriends over the years, never mind visits to the brothel (as Gisela, his wife, accusingly points out at one point, when they're staying in a tavern/brothel in Winchester, they know him very well there. Uhtred's somewhat weak defence is that it's not just a brothel) in early books. However, with the exception of the thoroughly unhappy Arranged Marriage with Mildrith (who he acknowledges deserved better), he's always entirely faithful to his girlfriend of the time.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Aethelred, Lord of Mercia is his cousin, and he briefly takes the title after Aethelred dies... then cedes it to Aetheflaed. Guthred, the King of Northumbria, was his brother-in-law, and his later son-in-law is a later successor to that title.
  • Servile Snarker: To Alfred, who particularly in later life, thinks it's Actually Pretty Funny.
  • Unreliable Narrator: He grudgingly concedes that he's not perfect in this regard. Add the fact that by the time the series ends he is at least eighty, it really causes one to wonder just how accurate his memories are.
  • Wild Card: For most of the early books, his allegiance is uncertain, which his skill as a commander and a warrior makes very significant. It gets to the point where in The Burning Land, one of Ragnar the Younger's reasons for why the Danes could beat Wessex was because Uhtred was not there, and that a constantly cited reason for why Alfred is so dangerous is that he is the only person who can control Uhtred.

    Uhtred the Elder 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom |

Uhtred's father. His appearance is very brief, but he has a lasting impact on Uhtred himself.

  • Abusive Parents: Much to his son's lifelong resentment, being both physically and psychologically abusive.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Outlives his eldest son by about ten pages. Also survives several children from his second wife.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: It's noted by more than one character (including Uhtred himself, who isn't especially pleased by it) that he's slowly turning out much like his father, something underlined by his son's narration, in which his descriptions of his father mirror Uhtred's own of his father.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies early on in The Last Kingdom

    Uhtred the Younger 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom |

Uhtred's elder brother.

    Uhtred Uhtredsson I 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Pale Horseman

Uhtred's son with Mildrith

  • Death of a Child: He dies choking on a pebble by a river, at roughly the same time as a magical ritual heals Edward the Aetheling.
  • Equivalent Exchange: If you favour the magical explanation - and the timing is very specific - he dies to power the ceremony that cures Edward
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The author typically plays with this trope, but Uhtred believes his death was magic, and the timing of his death was just a little too coincidental.

    Father Judas/Bishop Oswald 

Appearances: Sword Song | Death of Kings | War Lord

Formerly: Uhtred Uhtredsson.

Uhtred's first son by Gisela, who breaks his heart by running away to become a priest.

  • Badass Preacher: He might not be a fighter, but as even his father grudgingly notes, he's got the family courage - as Aethelstan notes, it takes serious nerve to stand up to Uhtred, who terrifies most of Britain and beyond. He also inherited willpower from both parents, as shown by his accepting the name Judas from his father.
  • The Fundamentalist: A mild example by War Lord - he hates pagans and paganism, but he does still love his father (though he's buried it deep) and he knows when not to bring it up or to let it blind him.
  • The Good Chancellor: He's an honest adviser to Aethelstan, amidst all the flatterers and liars, and a rare good senior churchman in a series riddled with corrupt examples.
  • Groin Attack: is castrated by Brida.
  • Heroic Willpower: His father grudgingly notes he has it, and as Aethelstan remarks, it takes serious strength of will to defy Uhtred - a man who terrifies all of Britain and a considerable chunk of Scandinavia - even when you aren't one of his children, let alone his oldest living child. Plus, he not only survives a crude and brutal castration, but becomes a powerful and decent churchman and politician.
  • The Un Favourite: At first as a result of his being a soft, quiet child when Uhtred wants a brash warrior in the making, then later as a result of converting to Christianity, then finally as a result of becoming a Priest, which by Uhtred's own account, broke his heart. Uhtred later laments that his eldest child was arguably the best of his children, and in War Lord, he's relieved to get the chance to reconcile with him, telling him that he is proud of the man he has become.

    Stiorra 

Appearances: Sword Song |

Uhtred's only daughter, and by his own admittance, his favourite child.

  • Daddy's Girl: She's basically Uhtred's main soft spot.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: Even her enemies were fairly impressed by her dying defiance, which inspired her troops to rally and kick the enemy out of Eoferwic.
  • Generation Xerox: She's uncannily like Gisela, right down to the Seer tendencies, though she inherited her father's more bloodthirsty instincts. It's enough that looking at her as a grown woman is sometimes painful for her father, because she looks that much like her mother. This is possibly part of why Uhtred later admits he doesn't know her so well.
  • The High Queen: Becomes this after her father makes her husband, Sigtryggr, King of Northumbria.

     Uhtred Uhtredsson 

Uhtred's second son by Gisela, who ends up narrating a chapter in later books.

  • Deadpan Snarker: As he gets older and more confident around his father, he proves to be every bit the snarker his father is.
  • Generation Xerox: Going by his POV section and his appearances in his father's sections, he's basically evolved into a young version of his father - albeit less brash, Christian (mostly), and with a less forceful will (though everything is relative). He's even noted to look a lot like him. Being an Uhtred, he promptly snarks, "God help me, then."
  • Indy Ploy: Like his father, he's excellent at them, enough to impress said father, who calls him an idiot, then congratulates him.
  • Interfaith Smoothie: He's mostly Christian, but still semi-pagan, occupying the middle ground between his older brother, who's a priest and later bishop who hates paganism, and his sister, who's defiantly pagan.
  • Nice Guy: He's the gentlest of his siblings, and while he's got shades of his father's brash cockiness, he doesn't have anything like the borderline psychotic edge his father did as a young man.
  • Really Gets Around: Like father, like son, it seems.
  • Youngest Child Wins: He's Uhtred's only surviving child by Gisela, who becomes a war-lord of renown like his father and is set to inherit Bebbanburg and a large swathe of Northumbria.

House of Wessex

     Alfred 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Pale Horseman | The Lords of the North | Sword Song

Alfred the Great

King of the West Saxons and effective leader of the Saxons as a whole. Pious, yet ruthless, he plans the submission of all the Saxons to one King.

  • Action Dad: To Aethelflaed and Edward and Osferth, among others.
  • Action Politician: Is a political genius literally decades ahead of his time, and a surprisingly capable fighter when required to be.
  • Action Survivor: Isn't a man for the front of a shield wall, but he can fight if he absolutely has to, and has to be held down by multiple priests to be kept from the fight at Ethandun.
  • Actually Pretty Funny: Ends up with this opinion of Uhtred's Servile Snarker tendencies, remarking with amusement that he's missed Uhtred because no one else is impertinent with him.
  • Badass Bookworm: Very literate in multiple languages.
  • Badass Bureaucrat: He's usually busily reforming the administration of the Kingdom of Wessex, something which historically turned Saxon, and later Norman, England into one of the richest and most efficiently governed countries in Europe. He is also a reasonably competent warrior.
  • Batman Gambit: As noted under Manipulative Bastard, he knows exactly which of Uhtred's buttons to press in order to control him, to Uhtred's resentment. Passing comments suggest that Uhtred isn't the only person he does this too, either.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: While he's a devout Christian and an outwardly mild-mannered man, he is revealed to be exceptionally dangerous - for instance, he's just about the only man in Britain who can actually control Uhtred, a feat which is used to underline how dangerous he is.
  • The Chess Master: When narrating The Last Kingdom, Uhtred notes (using a chess metaphor) with the benefit of hindsight that Alfred giving him a fine suit of armour, an attractive heiress, and getting him to swear an oath of loyalty wasn't any sign that he really liked/valued Uhtred. After all, Uhtred was at that point a brash, boorish landless noble, with little to offer beyond political connections and genuine raw military talent. By his own admission, Uhtred hadn't done anything to earn such gifts. Instead, it was merely a way of tying Uhtred to him, for his potential value in the future (and in the case of the heiress, Mildrith, to saddle someone with a massive debt to the church).
  • Good Is Not Soft: Again, this is the man who comes to dominate Saxon controlled Britain, and manages to mostly control Uhtred (though per Aethelflaed, he claimed that really controlling Uhtred was impossible).
  • Good Parents: Zig-Zagged. Even Uhtred at his most cantankerous notes how gentle and playful he is with his children, and how fond he is of them - which actually raises him in Uhtred's estimation somewhat. However, by modern standards, his refusal to intervene in Aethelred's Domestic Abuse of Aethelflaed would firmly disqualify him; even if he might have been pretty certain that Uhtred, who angrily brought it to his attention, was going to do something violent about it.
  • Manipulative Bastard: How he more or less controls Uhtred, to the latter's resentment - specifically, he knows Uhtred's buttons (his Honour Before Reason tendencies, primarily), and precisely how to press them to get the desired result.
  • Odd Friendship: A devoutly Christian, mild-mannered Wise Prince and a brash, openly pagan Blood Knight. Not two people you'd think would get on - and most of the time, they don't. Yet he and Uhtred develop one, first during The Pale Horseman when Alfred is a King on the run and relies heavily on Uhtred to survive, leading to a far greater informality in their dynamic, and later when Uhtred's mellowed out somewhat and Alfred has stopped seeing him as a half-trained attack dog to be a) kept where he can see him, b) unleashed at appropriate moments. The end result is a deep mutual respect, with Aethelflaed remarking that Alfred always called Uhtred "his miracle worker" and "a kind man who tries to hide his kindness".
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: Averted, he's creating a kingdom where the king isn't the best man with a weapon, but the one who commands the best, something Uhtred notes and is begrudgingly impressed by.
  • Really Gets Around: Before he got married, he was famous for getting in the underwear of just about every woman nearby, resulting in at least one Heroic Bastard. Even after his marriage, Uhtred notes that he's still fond of the company of beautiful women, though without anything untoward going on.
  • Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: His introductory scene is him prayer with Father Beocca about this at the age of 19.
  • The Smart Guy: Even a teenage Uhtred picks up on the fact that he's dangerously intelligent, and given what he ends up achieving in the long term (the foundation of England), and the short term (the resurrection of Wessex and consistent control of Uhtred, which is literally impossible for anyone else) it is hard to argue with that.

     Aethelflaed 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Pale Horseman | The Lords of the North | Sword Song

Aethelflaed of Mercia

Princess of Wessex, later Lady of the Mercians.

  • Amicable Exes: She and Uhtred eventually drift apart, but still get on perfectly well - though she disapproves of his womanising.
  • Character Development: She goes from adorable child, to spirited pretty teenager, to wise, devout, and often brusque ruler.
  • Damsel in Distress: Captured by Northmen.
  • Domestic Abuse: Experiences it from Aethelred who rapes her, beats her and does not let her talk to other men.
  • The High Queen: Effectively becomes this in respect to ruling Mercia.
  • In Love with Love: Described word for this as her wedding. It doesn't last the night.
  • Iron Lady: In later life, scaring the living daylights out of most people who aren't Uhtred, including Uhtred's second son.
  • Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Subjected to the trial of "dirty water" by Bishop Erkenwald, Aldhelm, and Aethelred to proved her baby is his. It is.
  • Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: For a given definition of "betrayal" it might have been far less likely that she cheated on Aethelred if he hadn't had her beaten, locked away and publicly and privately humiliated.
  • Pregnant Badass: Kidnapped and threatened with gangrape while - at most - fifteen and pregnant. Doesn't show a hint of fear during the rescue battle.
  • Protectorate: To Uhtred, even after she becomes very capable of looking after herself.
  • Rape as Drama: Aethelred "rapes her like a boar" on their wedding night. She is seen crying and being comforted by the women of the court the next day. Her personality when seen a month later suggests it was a continuous theme. She's fourteen. Later threatened with being whored and gangraped when captured by Norsemen.
  • Second Love: Serves as this to Uhtred, the two getting together some time after Gisela dies.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: With Erik Thurgilson once she's captured by the Northmen thanks to her husband's screw ups.
  • Sympathetic Adulterer: Her husband is an abusive and jealous Jerkass, only prevented from raping and beating her by Uhtred's threats of violent murder. As a result, her affairs with Uhtred and Erik Thurgilson are portrayed quite sympathetically.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: First introduced properly as an adorable child, then a sweet and spirited teenager, until her husband pulls the Marital Rape License on her (until Uhtred threatens him with murder), and even then, she's pretty sweet. Then Erik Thurgilson dies. Over time she becomes the Iron Lady who terrifies everyone who isn't Uhtred.

     Athelstan 

Appearances: The Empty Throne | Warriors Of The Storm | The Flame Bearer | War Of The Wolf | Sword Of Kings | War Lord

Athelstan Of Wessex

Eldest son of King Edward, claimant to the throne of Wessex.

  • Agent Peacock: His good looks and flamboyant dressing habits (which include coiling gold wire into his hair) leads some of his enemies to dismiss him as a foppish "pretty boy". He is, however, a badass.
  • Ambiguously Gay: By the time he takes the throne of the nascent Englaland, Athelstan's neglect of having taken a wife, extravagant sense of fashion, and seeming preference for the company of his male advisors leads to rumors about his sexuality, although nothing is ever confirmed about this one way or another. Historically, he never married or had children, which certainly raises some questions.
  • Battle Trophy: He hangs his broken sword in his great hall after the Battle Of Brunanburh at the end of the series.
  • Cain and Abel: The Abel to his half-brother Aelfweard's Cain, although in this case Abel kills Cain.
  • Cultured Badass: Received a formal education from the monks he grew up among, and learned the ways of war from Uhtred.
  • Fatal Flaw: As King, he splits the difference between Pride and Ambition. His pride puts him on collision course with Uhtred, as he wants everyone to submit to him, and Uhtred is unwilling to do more than reiterate his oath to protect Aethelstan. Since Uhtred is the most formidable warlord in Britain and has been a Living Legend for more than 50 years, Aethelstan takes it a bit personally (and is worried about what Uhtred might take it into his head to do/be capable of if not leashed). Likewise, he's got all his grandfather and aunt's ambition, but unlike them, it's all about him. He gets better.
  • Good Is Not Soft: To a greater extent than his grandfather, Athelstan proves capable of committing very ruthless acts when the situation calls for it, while still acting as the Big Good. An example of this is when he personally executes his wicked half-brother Aelfweard, who would have been a threat for as long as he continued to live. This is notably something that Alfred could never bring himself to do with Aethelwold.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Like his grandfather, he is a fundamentally noble man who sometimes falls under the influence of malicious advisors, and also tends to trust Northmen too easily when they pretend to convert to Christianity.
  • Locked Away in a Monastery: Spends a good amount of his childhood this way, to protect him from enemies in the West Saxon court.
  • Real Men Love Jesus: Like the rest of his family, he is a pious and formidable Christian warrior, although somewhat more tolerant of Uhtred's paganism than his grandfather.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Personally leads his men on campaign, fights in the front rank of the shield wall, and is generally very active in working toward the realization of his grandfather's dream of a united Englaland.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: He becomes notably more arrogant, Machiavellian, and untrustworthy after ascending to the throne. Uhtred disapproves of how he's let the throne change him, and feels deeply betrayed that Aethelstan breaks an oath he had sworn not to invade Northumbria and not to dispute his family's claim to Bebbanburg. Aethelstan was acting on bad intel from treacherous advisors, fearing that Uhtred was planning to ally with the Scots. Eventually he is brought to his senses.
  • Warrior Prince: Becomes this under Uhtred's tutelage.

     Aethelwold  

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Pale Horseman | Sword Song

Alfred's nephew, son of King Aethelred, was a boy when his father dies. A drunk and philanderer who has designs on the crown of Wessex, he and Uhtred were friends for a time, united in their dislike for Alfred.

     Osferth 

Appearances: sword Song|

Osferth

Bastard son of Alfred by a serving girl, and of all Alfred's children, the most like him in appearance and, eventually, personality.

  • Badass Bookworm: Like his father. He starts out as just a bookworm, but under Uhtred's grudging tutelage, he develops into a serious badass.
  • Badass Preacher: He's not ordained, but he has the knowledge, which Uhtred occasionally exploits to assuage the worries of some of his Christian followers, and he's an excellent fighter.
  • The Conscience: Serves as this to Uhtred from time to time, with varying degrees of success.
  • Generation Xerox: By War of the Wolf, he could quite easily be Alfred, which as Uhtred inwardly laments, comes at the cost of his sense of humour.
  • Heroic Bastard: Alfred's bastard son, and entirely loyal to him and to his legitimate siblings, who he gets on with very well - at least at first, in the case of Edward. By War of the Wolf, their relationship has soured, largely because Edward is now a drunken wreck.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He takes many, starting out as an unwilling novice monk, and fairly useless soldier, who Uhtred only puts up with because he wants to annoy Alfred, before becoming one of Uhtred's most trusted men, then a formidable commander in his own right. This is especially present at the Battle of Ludd's Gate where his first kill is a cripple, but he ends up leaping off the gate onto the attacking forces.

The Church

    Father Beocca 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Pale Horseman | Lords of the North | Sword Song |

Uhtred the Elder's priest and confessor, a member after Alfred's court, taught Uhtred to read and is his lifelong friend.

  • Ambadassador: Is sent as ambassador to King Guthred in The Lords of the North, is badass in his own way.
  • Badass Preacher: Rides along with Uhtred, exorcises Thyra after leaping into a pack of rabid dogs. This latter feat deeply impresses everyone present, including Uhtred and Ragnar the Younger.
  • Good Shepherd: Perhaps the kindest priest Uhtred ever met. Does not approve of Bishop Erkenwald's public sermon justifying Aethelflaed's Domestic Abuse.
  • Handicapped Badass: Cross-eyed, club footed, with a palsied hand. This doesn't stop him from going where Alfred and God send him and leaping into danger. His crowning moment is when he exorcises Thyra in the midst of a pack of rabid dogs, later dismissing them on the grounds that if God couldn't do anything about some dogs, what good was he? Since said pack terrified both the otherwise fearless Uhtred and Ragnar the Younger, the two are nevertheless deeply impressed.
  • Non-Action Guy: Being a crippled priest.
  • Sexy Priest: Averted, his ugliness is frequently mentioned.
  • Straight Man and Wise Guy: The long-suffering Straight Man to Uhtred's Wise Guy from a relatively early age.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: With Thyra post-rescue

     Father Pyrlig 

Appearances: The Pale Horseman | Sword Song

Father Pyrlig

A Welsh Priest, a highly accomplished warrior, and despite the former two factors, one of Uhtred's best friends.

  • Acrofatic: He's fat, but he's much more mobile than you'd expect, something he exploits in his fight with Siegfried.
  • Badass Preacher: He was a warrior before he was ordained, and still fights, even though he probably shouldn't. He also reckons that he could kill Uhtred if it came to it, pointing out that for all that he is a Welshman and a Priest (for which Uhtred should hate him twice over), Uhtred likes him and would be reluctant to kill him. And while that would only give him three or four strokes of the sword before Uhtred wised up, those are all he needs. Notably, Uhtred, who's touchy about his reputation and is already one of the greatest warriors in Britain, doesn't dispute this at the time, or in the narration.
  • Big Eater: He likes his food - when he first appears, he suddenly turns to Iseult and speaks to her in fluent Welsh, and Uhtred grouchily assumes he's preaching at her. Then he turns back, grins, and reveals that he was explaining a recipe.
  • Big Fun: He's a big man who cheers people up, but never to the point of farce.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: He's big, boisterous, and a Badass Preacher at that.
  • The Conscience: Serves as this to Uhtred on more than one occasion, usually being the one to remind him of his oaths to Alfred and Aethelflaed.
  • Establishing Character Moment: He rolls in during The Pale Horseman when Uhtred is brooding about his dead son and Iseult's conversion to Christianity, and in the space of a single conversation, reconciles Uhtred to her conversion, reveals that the conversation he's been having in Welsh with Iseult isn't about God but the recipe for lunch, and sincerely sympathises with him and comforts him over the death of his son by sharing his own experience of it. Despite the fact that Uhtred is deeply bitter and, as a Welshman and Priest, should hate Pyrlig twice over, he manages to make himself impossibly likeable in the space of two pages.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Makes it quite clear to Uhtred in Sword Song that if he turned to the Danes, he'd be entirely willing to kill him - and unlike Uhtred, who'd hold back because he likes Pyrlig, he (Pyrlig) wouldn't. Not only that, but he could pull it off, something Uhtred notably does not deny.
  • Good Shepherd: Even to Uhtred, staunch pagan and priest-killer, which takes some doing. His Establishing Character Moment is to take over Iseult's preparations for lunch, reconcile Uhtred - who was utterly determined to hate him and grieving his son's death - to her conversion to Christianity, and sincerely comfort him over said son's death by sharing his own story of Outliving One's Offspring. And he makes Uhtred like him. He manages all this in the space of a single, relatively short, conversation.
  • Happily Married: Subverted and Played for Laughs. A Running Gag in all his appearances is that being constantly Reassigned to Antarctica by his exasperated Bishop and running into trouble with Uhtred means that he's away from his wife. Though he could be joking about that, since he seems happy enough to go home in the end.
  • Nice Guy: He's one of the friendliest characters in the series, enough to make even Uhtred at his grumpiest like him. Hell, even Ragnar the Younger (who is admittedly quite easygoing) takes to him, and just about the only person who doesn't is Brida.
  • Odd Friendship: He's a Welshman and a Priest, two things Uhtred - a Saxon and a staunch pagan - hates, but he's irrepressibly likeable. It helps that he's very kind and very perceptive, and not at all scared of Uhtred, meaning that he's well placed to be a Good Shepherd to him.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: He survived at least two of his sons by the time of his
  • Really Gets Around: Implied to have done so in his youth, and is now a platonic charmer.
  • Reassigned to Antarctica: On at least one occasion by his exasperated bishop.

Wessex

     In General 

Tropes applying to the people of Wessex in general

  • Anglo-Saxons: The Kingdom of Wessex is the Kingdom of the Western Saxons.

     Leofric 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Pale Horseman

Captain in the West Saxon Fleet, Uhtred's friend

  • Almighty Janitor: Far more qualified to lead the fleet than any commander he's given, but he isn't nobly born and more importantly, he can't read.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Averted at first, Alfred won't given him command because he can't read. Later promoted to captain of his guard on merit alone in The Pale Horseman.
  • Blood Knight: Enjoys a fight almost as much as Uhtred. Given how bloodthirsty Uhtred is at this point in his life, this is saying something.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: The first Saxon Uhtred meets that really matches the Danes in this regard.
  • The Captain: Of Heahengel, then Alfred's household guard.
  • Large and in Charge: Not as big as Uhtred.
  • Never Learned to Read: A severe handicap in his career.
  • Vitrolic Best Buds: He and Uhtred develop into this.

     Steapa Snotor 

Appearances: The Pale Horseman | The Lords of the North | Sword Song

A Saxon warrior and enemy-turned-friend of Uhtred

  • Ambadassador: Of the, 'listen to what my friend is saying because I'm scary' type
  • Back for the Finale: comes out of retirement in The War Lord to fight for Aethelstan and is every bit the force to be reckoned with he was earlier in the series.
  • Badass Boast: Makes them often enough, even Uhtred listens when he does.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Despite his appearance, Uhtred notes repeatedly that he's a kind soul, a dog lover, and does not like Danes (except for Ragnar) or bullies.
  • Beware the Quiet Ones: Doesn't say much, especially at first, but he's one of the few men who have a good chance of killing Uhtred in his prime - something that Uhtred tacitly acknowledges.
  • Blood Knight: One of the one in a hundred that enjoys battle.
  • Bodyguarding a Badass: serves as a bodyguard, or captain of the guard, for many of the people on this page. Including Uhtred.
  • Boots of Toughness: Starts the trend of badass warriors wearing iron bars in their boots to protect from "the blow that comes below".
  • Deadpan Snarker: While he's the Comically Serious to Uhtred and his straight man when they're both young, as an old man he's 'way snarkier.
  • Death Glare: His passive expression is quite terrifying.
  • The Dreaded: His time in the shieldwall usually ends with "and none dared faced him".
  • Grumpy Old Man: when he comes back in The War Lord he is way snarkier towards Uhtred than he was when the two were younger. For his part, Uhtred, who's one in his own right, just rolls with it - partly because he's genuinely happy to see Steapa again, partly because he finds it funny.
  • Heartbroken Badass: His mother and dog were killed by the Danes.
  • Ironic Nickname: "Snotor" means clever. He is not. However, he isn't half as stupid as most believe him to be, either.
  • Large and in Charge: One of the tallest men in England, big enough that he towers over Uhtred (a notably tall and powerful man in his own right), and eventually commands Alfred's bodyguard.
  • Mighty Glacier: He's huge, enough to tower over the six foot plus Uhtred.
  • One-Handed Zweihänder: His weapon of choice.

     Odda the Elder 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Pale Horseman

Ealdorman of Defnascir.

[[hardling]]

  • Action Dad: Father of Odda the Younger
  • After-Action Healing Drama: The blow he takes at Cynuit leaves him near death for most of a year and let's his son cause all the problems he does.

     Odda the Younger 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Pale Horseman

Son of the Earldorman of Defnascir.

     Wulfhere 

Appearances: The Pale Horseman |

An Ealdorman of Wessex tasked with guarding the Danish hostages and Aethelwold.

Uhtred's Household

     Finan the Agile 

Appearances: The Lords of the North | Sword Song

Finan the Agile

Commander of Uhtred's household troops and his best friend.

  • Badass Boast: To Uhtred, while a slave on Sverri's ship Trader
    Finan: Finan the Agile, they called me, because I would dance around my enemies. I would dance and kill. Dance and kill. There was a time when I owned five spears, six horses, two swords, a coat of bright mail and a helmet that shone like fire. I had a woman with hair that fell to her waist and a smile that could dim the noonday sun. Now, I gut herrings. But one day I shall come back here, and I shall kill Sverri, hump his woman, strangle his bastard children and steal his money.
  • Bash Brothers: With Uhtred.
  • Berserk Button: Slavers, and his younger brother.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: After falling in love with and running away with his younger brother's wife, Finan was captured by the Ui Neill and forced to watch his lover raped and murdered, before being sold into slavery himself.
  • Fighting Irish: An Irish warrior, and one of the best and quickest fighters in the series. Even in his sixties, Uhtred maintains he's never seen anyone faster, and Uhtred doesn't really note him slowing down until he's eighty.
  • Fire-Forged Friendship: With Uhtred. They meet on a slave ship and fight to keep each other alive throughout the ordeal.
  • Happily Married: To Ethne, a red-haired Scottish ex-slave. They have at least two children.
  • Heterosexual Lifepartners: Often described as Uhtred's companion, and closest friend. By War Lord, they've been together for nearly sixty years.
    Uhtred: I could not abandon him, not ever. We were closer than brothers, Finan and I.
  • The Lancer: To Uhtred, from book 3 onwards.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Known as Finan the Agile, and one of the fastest and most deadly swordsmen in the series - indeed, Uhtred, an example in his own right, marvels at how fast Finan is even in his sixties.
  • Made a Slave: After running away with his younger brother's wife, offending both his brother and the leaders of the Ui Neill tribe, the parents of Finan's own wife.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: While Uhtred repeatedly teases Finan over his short stature, he also knows that Finan is ightning quick with a blade and much stronger than he looks.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against the crew of Trader after being rescued from slavery by Ragnar the Younger on the Red Ship.
    • A slightly more restrained version against his brother Conall in Warriors of the Storm.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Uhtred, sticking with him through thick and thin.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: His friendship with Uhtred is mostly based on the two being Bash Brothers and insulting each other.

     Clapa 

Appearances: The Lords of the North | Sword Song |

A Danish Northumbrian from Cumbraland, serves Guthred and then Uhtred.

     Rypere 

Appearances: The Lords of the North } Sword Song

A Northumbrian Saxon from Cumbraland, serves Guthred then Uhtred.

     Sihtric 

Appearances: The Lords of the North | Sword Song

Kjartan's son with a Saxon slave.

Danes

     In General 

Tropes that apply to most Norsemen.

    Ubba Lothbrokson  

Appearances: The Last Kingdom |

One of the three Lothbrok sons leading the Great Heathen Army.

    Ivar the Boneless 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom |

One of the three Lothbroksons and a leader of the Great Heathen Army.

    Halfdan Lothbrokson 

    Sveinn of the White Horse 

Appearances: The Pale Horseman |

A Viking who comes from Ireland to lead an invasion of Wessex.

    Earl Ragnar the Fearless 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom |

A feared Viking Earl who is a leader in the Great Heathen Army, Uhtred's adopted father, husband of Sigrid, son of Ravn, father of Ragnar, Rorik and Thyra.

  • Adopt-a-Servant: Uhtred is theoretically his thrall, a form of slave, during the early years, though in practical terms he's mostly Rorik's playmate with chores to do. After Uhtred saves Thyra from Sven, he effectively adopts him, formalising it after Rorik's death.
  • Better to Die than Be Killed: Chooses to burn alive instead of being killed by Kjartan's men outside.
  • Berserk Button: Monks. Abusing his children, especially his daughter.
  • Face Death with Dignity: One interpretation for why he remains in the burning hall.
  • Good Parents: To Ragnar the Younger, Rorik, Thyra, Uhtred, and arguably Brida. At a stark contrast to Uhtred the Elder's parenting, he's a kind and supportive figure to young Uhtred, raising him as his own. Uhtred loves him dearly and after his murder spends the next decade or so of his life plotting revenge against Kjartan and insists on going by Uhtred Ragnarson. More importantly, all his children, biological or adoptive, grow into good people (while Brida does eventually go off the deep end, it's at least 30 or 40 years after his death, and for a host of other reasons).
  • Happily Married: By all evidence, he's happily married to Sigrid, modelling a good relationship to Uhtred.
  • Hired Help as Family: While they're formally his servants, until after Rorik's death, he treats Uhtred and Brida as family.
  • I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Essentially his reaction to ten-year old Uhtred's sword bending when he tries to kill him at Eoferwic.
  • Knight Templar Parent: He's very protective of his children, and responds to Sven half stripping Thyra by putting his eye out (since he only saw half-naked) and exiling his father. This, unfortunately, creates its own problems later on.
  • Like a Son to Me: What Uhtred becomes after he saves Thyra from Sven, with Ragnar calling him his second son after Rorik dies.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Dies in Kjartan's hall-burning.
  • Nice Guy: Like his son, he is very likeable, cheerfully adopting Uhtred and Brida in fact and then - in Uhtred's case - in name, he's shown to be a fair lord, and happily takes in Bebbanburgh's escaped blacksmith (the fact he vaulted over Bebbanburgh's walls under fire to pledge loyalty to Uhtred as rightful lord of Bebbanburgh probably helped, given how both his biological and adoptive sons prize loyalty) who in turn finds himself like the invader.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: His second son Rorik is an Ill Child and dies during the first invasion of Wessex.
  • Plot-Triggering Death: If Ragnar had not been killed Uhtred would have never gone to Wessex.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Goes on one against the monks of Northumbria after they rebel and encourage Christians to murder and rape Danes. It doesn't help that some of the girls were his daughter's age.
  • Sink or Swim Mentor: Lets Uhtred kill his first man alone.

    Ravn 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom |

Ragnar the Fearless's father, a skald and former warrior.

     Ragnar the Younger 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Pale Horseman | The Lords of the North |

Ragnar the Fearless's son, a mighty Viking, and Uhtred's adopted brother.

  • Best Served Cold: Averted. There is much angst about how long it takes for him to rescue his sister and avenge his family.
  • Fingore: Takes a blow to the left hand during his duel with Kjartan.
  • Formerly Fit: Once he settles down in Dunholm, he starts getting slower and fatter. Given that he's still got the same appetite for drinking and feasting that he did when he was a roaming warrior, this is unsurprising.
  • Friendly Enemy: When Alfred's oath drafts Uhtred back into his service, he's pretty easygoing about it - though considering the value he places on his own oaths, and that both probably got it from Ragnar the Elder, this isn't entirely surprising. Brida, on the other hand, is not so understanding.
  • I Gave My Word: He keeps his oaths. No matter what. No matter how long it takes.
  • Nice Guy:
    • He's as friendly and affable as you get, save only when dealing with Kjartan, to the point where he even takes to Pyrlig (though everyone likes Pyrlig), Steapa - who hates Danes - comes to like him, and Alfred trusts his word to come back after rescuing an enslaved Uhtred. He's also the only Dane, aside from Gisela and Erik Thurgilson that Aethelflaed ever likes.
    • He also gives his blessing to Thyra marrying Beocca. Bemused though he might be by the marriage, he notes that it makes her happy, which is the least she deserves after the Trauma Conga Line that his been her life from adolescence, and that Beocca is a good man who'll treat her well. It helps that Beocca was someone already known, liked, and respected by Uhtred, his brother by adoption, and that the man in question had just casually waded into a pack of rabid dogs that terrified both Ragnar and Uhtred and exorcised Thyra, which Ragnar understandably found deeply impressive.
  • Odd Friendship:
    • With Steapa, of all people, who hates the Danes, and Aethelflaed, who isn't that much more fond of them, exempting only Gisela and Erik Thurgilson. Ragnar really is just that likeable.
    • He also seems on good terms with Alfred, who arguably trusts him more during Lords of the North than he does Uhtred.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Battle of Dunholm.
  • Stout Strength: Even once he starts getting fat, he still wins most wrestling contests.

    Thyra 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Lords of the North | Sword Song|

Ragnar the Elder and Sigrid's only daughter, abducted by Kjartan and Sven after the hall-burning.

  • The Beastmaster: The only person to really control Kjartan's hounds.
  • Converting for Love: converts to Christianity and marries Father Beocca.
  • Damsel in Distress: Kidnapped by Sven and Kjartan for the better part of a decade. At first Ragnar didn't even know she was alive.
  • Happily Married: To Father Beocca, no less. They're an exceptionally odd couple, as Uhtred remarks. She's a beautiful young Dane, and he's an ugly, handicapped priest who's at least twenty years older than her. As Uhtred also remarks, they are exceptionally happy together.
  • Hot for Preacher: She is for Father Beocca.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Is molested by Sven at a young age, her betrothed is killed in front of her, her family (save her brothers, by blood and adoption) is killed in a hall-burning, she is kidnapped by Sven, raped repeatedly over the better part of a decade, left in terrible conditions and driven mad while her biological and adopted brothers (in her eyes) take no care to her plight.

    Sven the One-Eyed 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Lords of the North |

Son of Kjartan the Cruel, a bully from Uhtred's childhood.

  • And Your Little Dog, Too!!: Threatens to take Hild and two girls they're travelling with as sex slaves.
  • Butt-Monkey: Whenever he appears, something bad is usually about to happen to him (in one case, Guthred, who he'd enslaved, "baptises" him by publicly pissing on him). It is also invariably deserved.
  • The Dreaded: To the people who travel through his father's territory.
  • Eye Scream: Ragnar the Fearless turns his eye to pulp for molesting Thyra, he only takes one of his eyes - half his sight - because she was only "half-naked".
  • Fed to the Beast: Thyra feeds him to his hounds.
  • Groin Attack: He tells Thyra to "touch it", Uhtred offers to touch it-with a sword. Sven's lucky he missed. Thyra has dogs eat him "from groin up" .
  • Karmic Death: Fed to the dogs he tormented others with by the woman he kidnapped and raped.
  • Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Runs a slave trading operation out of Gyruum, takes pretty girls as young as thirteen as sex slaves.
  • Teens Are Monsters: His cruelty as a young boy is only the beginning.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Bullies his father's lord's son and adopted son, molests his daughter and expects it to end well.

    Kjartan the Cruel 

Appearances: The Last Kingdom | The Lords of the North |

Former shipmaster to Ragnar the Fearless, eventually rises to the Lord of Dunholm.

     Ivarr Ivarson 

'''Appearances: The Last Kingdom |

     Haesten 

Appearances: The Pale Horseman | Sword Song | The Burning Land | Death of Kings | The Pagan Lord | Warriors of the Storm

Originally a slave freed by Uhtred, he later betrays him and becomes a powerful Viking warlord in his own right, one renowned for his superficial charm and capacity for scheming.

  • Affably Evil: Zig-Zagged between this and Faux Affably Evil, with interactions between him and Uhtred coming off like two old friends bantering away at each other. He's also exceptionally charming.
  • The Chessmaster: Right up until the end, he's always one step ahead, which is usually enough to at least give him an out, if not quite what he wanted.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Is there a back that he hasn't plunged a knife into? If there is, it's probably not for lack of trying.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: From slave to Viking warlord who plagues Wessex for about 20 years, and is nearly the architect of its fall on multiple occasions.
  • Karma Houdini: For most of the series, he's a Viking warlord who betrayed a life-oath to Uhtred, and back-stabs everyone he allies with.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Despite his Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, he always manages to slither his away back into power. It works on literally everyone but Uhtred.
  • Smug Snake: He only narrowly fails to be a Magnificent Bastard because he schemes don't quite come off - however, stopping him always takes a great deal of effort, and it takes decades for his Karma Houdini Warranty to wear off. If it wasn't for Uhtred, he'd probably be ruling Britain.

Norsemen

     Sigefrid Thurgilson 

Appearances: Sword Song |

A Norse (Norwegian) War lord who comes to Lundene with his brother Erik.

  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He and his brother can kick the most ass so they get to be warlords
  • Big Bad Ensemble: Tries to form one with Haesten, his brother, and Uhtred. All three of them end up betraying him.
  • Evil Cripple: Between Pyrlig and Osferth he's fairly crippled in the first third of Sword Song. Was evil before that.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Initially seems quite cordial, even friendly, to Uhtred but when one of his captives makes the mistakes of referring to Guthrum by his Christian name, Sigefrid flies completely off the handle and beats the poor schmuck into a pulp.
  • Fingore: Father Pyrlig cuts off his thumb in their duel.
  • Handicapped Badass: Little more than two months after his duel with Pyrlig he's fighting in the shieldwall with an axe.
  • Karmic Death: From his point of view, he gets a Fate Worse than Death when Uhtred ensures that he dies without a sword in his hand, meaning that he does not reach Valhalla.

    Erik Thurgilson 

Appearances: Sword Song |

Sigefrid's younger and more charismatic brother.

  • Beware the Nice Ones: Easily the nicest Northman Uhtred opposes in Sword Song. Still a badass Viking.
  • Cool Ship: The Wind-Tamer, actually his brother's ship but he built it and describes it in detail.
  • Foe-Tossing Charge: In the final battle of Sword Song
  • Inertial Impalement: On his brother's sword.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: with Aethelflaed.
  • Thanatos Gambit: Attempts one when Uhtred has him and his men trapped on the broken Lundene bridge. Offers his life to let the others escape. Uhtred let's them all go in return for their valuables.
  • Token Good Teammate: Haesten is untrustworthy at the best of times, Siegfried is evil, but Erik is a genuinely stand up guy - sufficient that Aethelflaed falls in love with him.

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