History Tearjerker / Vikings

--->''"The whole character arc of little [[spoiler: Siggy]] is horrific. Abandoned as a baby by a superficial mother and more or less rejected by an arrogant father. As a 3 year old she is neglected and unkempt in rags left to wander around the royal chamber. When an opportunity comes up to play she skips gleefully outside the door only to be rejected and mocked. She is then clearly left to her own devices which results in her death by the river, presumably by drowning. One can only assume she was trying to play or bathe. An awful and short existence condemned onto one so sweet and innocent. She literally never experienced any sort of kindness or love in her life. Further condemnation on the Viking society."''

--->''"The whole character arc of little [[spoiler: Siggy]] is horrific. Abandoned as a baby by a superficial mother and more or less rejected by an arrogant father. As a 3 year old she is neglected and unkempt in rags left to wander around the royal chamber. When an opportunity comes up to play she skips gleefully outside the door only to be rejected and mocked. She is then clearly left to her own devices which results in her death by the river, presumably by drowning. One can only assume she was trying to play or bathe. An awful and short existence condemned onto one so sweet and innocent. She literally never experienced any sort of kindness or love in her life. Further condemnation on the Viking society."''

* The impulsive murder of [[spoiler: Sigurd]]. Bjorn is shocked, Hvitserk angered, but [[BigBrotherInstinct Ubbe]] drops down beside him, distraught and yelling 'No!'. Even Ivar looks [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone saddened]] by it.

-->"Gyda, I have come to say goodbye to you properly. I have been thinking about you, about when you were small. You could run as swiftly as the wind. You were like quick-silver. But then, before I knew it, you stopped running here and there and everywhere and you became still. At 12-years-old, you had the stillness and the calm of a fine woman. What children you would have produced! What joy that would have brought to all of us. Dear child, Gyda, you are not gone because you are always in my heart. They say that a man must love his sons more, but a man can be jealous of his sons, and his daughter can always be the light in his life. I know very well that you are with the gods, but I will wait here awhile, and if you want to come and talk to me, then come and talk, and I will gently stroke your long and beautiful hair once again with my peasant hands."

-->[[spoiler: "Never knew what a martyr was. I still don’t. You were a brave man, Athelstan. I always respected you for that. You taught me so much. You saw yourself as weak and conflicted. But to me, you were fearless, because you dared to question. Why did you have to die, hmmm? We had so much more to talk about. I always believed that death is a fate far better than life, for you will be reunited with lost loved ones. But we will never meet again, my friend. I have a feeling that your god might object to me visiting you in heaven."]]

* [[spoiler: --> "Siggy is dead!" --> "Who cares?"]]

-->The whole character arc of little [[spoiler: Siggy]] is horrific. Abandoned as a baby by a superficial mother and more or less rejected by an arrogant father. As a 3 year old she is neglected and unkempt in rags left to wander around the royal chamber. When an opportunity comes up to play she skips gleefully outside the door only to be rejected and mocked. She is then clearly left to her own devices which results in her death by the river, presumably by drowning. One can only assume she was trying to play or bathe. An awful and short existence condemned onto one so sweet and innocent. She literally never experienced any sort of kindness or love in her life. Further condemnation on the Viking society.

** [[spoiler: If loosing Astrid was not enough]], Harald faces down [[spoiler: Halfdan on the battle field. Halfdan had earlier revealed he chose to side with Bjorn because he did not want to fight his "viking brothers" anymore. Halfdan suddenly find himself in front of Harald.]]. Harald cuts him down without a moment of hesitation. [[spoiler: Halfdan seems genuinely taken by surprise of what just happened. Then Harald realises what he was done and seems unable to decide if he feels anger or sadness and starts to repeat]] "[[MadnessMantra I will see you in Valhalla]]" over and over.

** [[spoiler: Snaefrid's death. She find her father killed, start to realise that the element of surprise they had in the previous battle is gone and that the Sami are loosing, takes up his weapons and tries to fight on, only to be cut down by a random mook. It's made worse by being filmed in one [[TheOner long take]] which makes her death come out of nowhere. And then there is Bjorn's reaction to finding her]].

* The first battle [[spoiler:between Ragnar and Rollo.]] From the very melancholy way Rollo says the words of the battle-song he first spoke all the way back in the First Season, to Ragnar's despairing roar at [[spoiler: his brother as his ship retreats.]]:

* By Odin and all the gods, the mid-season finale of season 5 is one big tear jerker. Where to begin? Well it start of with Ivar telling Hvitserk that he thinks Hvitserk regrets joining him. Then he says that he does not think Hvitserk loves him, indirectly suggesting he does neighter. Hvitserk does not take it well. Then...
** [[spoiler: Harald asks Astrid to cut his hair, which he would not do until he married the woman of his dreams. He is blissfully unaware that Astrid has betrayed him and the child she is carrying is mayby the son of one of the men who helped Astrid betray him and then gangraped her. Harald notices that something is wrong and asks her to ease her heart. Astrid says she can't tell him and Harald responds by kissing her. When the battle starts she runs into Lagertha and asks her to kill her because the pregnancy might be proof of her betrayal. Lagertha complies, which also helps her get into her HeroicBSOD]]. Lagertha's confused behaviour upon learning that [[spoiler: Astrid is pregnant]] only make it more painfull when [[spoiler: Astrid runs into Lagertha's sword]].
** Floki tries to apply to Eyvind's greed and wisdom and pursuade him to [[spoiler: not take revenge for the death of his son, Bul]]. Eyvind does not listen. Feeling he has the responsibility, Floki volounters as a [[spoiler: HumanSacrifice to absolve the community of their behaviour in the sight of the gods]]. The dramatic irony is strong here.
** [[spoiler: Snaefrid's death. She find her father killed, start to realise that the element of suprise they had in the previous battle is gone and that the Sami are loosing, takes up his weapons and tries to fight on, only to be cut down by a random mook. It's made worse by being filmed in one [[TheOner long take]] which makes her death come out of nowhere. And then there is Bjorn's reaction to finding her]].
** [[spoiler: If loosing Astrid was not enough]], Harald faces down [[spoiler: Halfdan on the battle field. Halfdan had earlier revealed he chose to side with Bjorn because he did not want to fight his "viking brothers" anymore. Halfdan suddenly find himself infront of Harald.]]. Harald cuts him down without a moment of hesitation. [[spoiler: Halfdan seems genuinly taken by suprise of what just happened. Then Harald realises what he was done and seems unable to decide if he feels anger or sadness and starts to repeat]] "[[MadnessMantra I will see you in Valhalla]]" over and over.
*** It's made worse by the fact that the episode suggests that [[spoiler: Halfdan has some sort of disorder or PTSD as he appearently thinks he is back in the desert only to suddenly "wake" and realise he is still on the battle field.]]
** Lagertha's HeroicBSOD, inspired by [[spoiler: Astrid's and Guthrum's deaths, which in themself are really sad]]. [[BadassDecay As well as the implication that she has finally caught PTSD]], implied by her suddenly flashing back to her childhood in the middle of a warzone.

*** Given how little we know of Ragnar's and Lagertha's parents and how little they talk about them it's one can assume that their deaths could have been early and painfull to their children.
** [[spoiler: Which takes us to Guthrum's death. He meets Hvitserk who kills him with ease, while Torvi has to watch from a distanse, unable to help her son.]] And Hvitserk's [[BloodKnight gleefullness]] about it makes it close to nightmarish.