History Characters / Vikings

* {{Jerkass}}: He is litterary a mix between King Joffrey and Viserys.

!!Chinese

[[folder:Yidu]]
->'''Played By:''' Dianne Doan

A slave from distant China, who comes into the possession of Ragnar Lothbrok after the raid on Paris.

* ImpoverishedPatrician: Because of her manners and lack of skill with household tasks, Ragnar speculates that she made have been nobility before becoming a slave.
* MadeASlave: Pirates captured her and her brothers, selling her into slavery.
* UnexpectedCharacter: A Chinese woman in Carolingian Frankia would've been surprising enough, but she ends up living among the Vikings.

* OnlySaneMan: He gives very sound advice, which is promptly ignored.

!!Chinese

[[folder:Yidu]]
->'''Played By:''' Dianne Doan

A slave from distant China, who comes into the possession of Ragnar Lothbrok after the raid on Paris.

* VestigialEmpire: The Carolingian Empire of Charlemagne has been divided amongst his three grandsons. Then again, as Voltaire once pointed out, it was barely an empire in the first place.

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's not directly implied, unlike with Floki, but Ragnar has some very strange speech patterns and mannerisms that make it seem like he often has trouble finding even simple words to express himself, accompanied by several facial tics, and he's probably the least articulate character on the show despite his undeniable charisma. If this is tied to a disorder then it casts his friendship with Loki in a new light.

A fearsome warrior, a cunning tactician, and a powerful Jarl, Borg is a force to be reckoned with. Rival to King Horik for the lands of Gotaland. Jarl Borg intensely hates King Horik (a feeling that is reciprocrated) and seeks to better his kingdom's position, whatever the cost.

* CelibateHero: Though he's not actually celibate or a virgin, he takes his marriage vows ''extremely'' seriously, and he has slept with no woman but his wife since they were married, and will never cheat on her. Notably, he's the ''only'' male character to NoSell Princess Kwenthrith when she tried to seduce him.

* NotAfraidToDie: He doesn't seek it, but nor will he court it when it comes.

* CelibateHero: Though he's not actually celibate or a virgin, he takes his marriage vows ''extremely'' seriously, and he has only ever slept with his wife since they were married, and will never cheat on her. Notably, he's the ''only'' male character to NoSell Princess Kwenthrith when she tried to seduce him.

* BrattyHalfPint[=/=]MouthyKid: Has his moments, though ''especially'' around Afelstan. Like most of Norse society, Bjorn holds him in scorn for being a Christian and a slave. Thankfully, [[CharacterDevelopment he grows out of it]].

** It also came up in the first season, where Lagertha attempted to keep Knut from raping a Saxon woman. Leaving aside the fact that this was basically the most normal thing that could happen during a raid, Lagertha's murder of Earl Haraldson's man aboard their ship would have been viewed with great suspicion at best. Granted Knut tried to rape her too, so she was ultimately justified in killing him, but that would have been hard to explain without at least one witness to the event. In fact the first thing that Ragnar exasperatedly asks when she tells him is "did anyone else see it happen?". Come the return to Kattegat, Haraldson of course notes Knut's absence and Ragnar, in an attempt to spare his wife any punishment, takes the fall for it. He is then arrested and tries to argue before a court that he had to kill Knut for trying to rape his lawful wife, which seems to work out at first, before Lagertha is provoked by Haraldson into blurting out the truth, in an attempt to save Ragnar. In doing so she basically ruins his case and makes them both look like liars. You can really see this in Ragnar's expression during the scene, he basically has a "What the hell, Lagertha?" look on his face. Had Rollo not come forward and corroborated Ragnar's version of events, they both likely would have been found guilty.

* WomanScorned: Her second husband, the Earl of Hedeby, sends out several of his men to beat her. So she kills him at the dinner table, surrounded by his warriors. When we next see her, ''she's'' the Earl of Hedeby now

* TheConqueror: One of the greatest Viking conquerors to ever live. Over the course of the series, he comes to rule the whole of Denmark and south Sweden, attains land in Wessex and is now poised to conquer the jewel of Frankia itself -- Paris.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Takes several from the beginning to the end of Season 3. In the first season, he is a HappilyMarried devoted husband. By Season 3, he is YourCheatingHeart to Aslaug, WouldHurtAChild, and WouldHurtAWoman after murdering Horik's daughters.

* OddFriendship: With Ragnar, despite their radically different countries, cultures, and religions. One does not expect a raider and a priest to get along so well.

* MeaningfulName[=/=]ShoutOut: In ''The Lay of Harbardr'', a poem in the ''Poetic Edda'', Thor encounters a ferryman named Harbard, who is really Odin in disguise, and enters a ''flyting'' contest - a contest in insults - with him. It remains to be seen, if Harbard is the same person, or just someone who is [[StealthPun very funny]]. For this reason, Floki believes him to be Odin in disguise.

* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: In real life he was a fairly successful king who laid the foundation for King Alfred the Great's pseudo-unification, but in the show he's straight up [[TheChessmaster nearly unbeatable]] in politics.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Realizing that morale is shaky in the face of the Viking onslaught, she personally takes the Oriflamme to the city walls, gives a RousingSpeech to the troops and then waits beside the standard while vicious fighting rages around her.
* SilkHidingSteel: She has the spine that her father lacks, convincing him to stay in Paris during the Siege

** Taken UpToEleven in '''Breaking Point''' when he unleashes [[spoiler: a spiked-wheel contraption]] on the Norsemen that could've come straight out of an Franchise/IndianaJones movie.

** He asks the Emperor to call on his brother the Co-emperor of East Francia for help, but Charles refuses because of his pride.

* GoodIsNotSoft: He's closer to ''Morally Ambiguous'' Is Not Soft.
** Ragnar captures King Aelle's brother and holds him for ransom. Aelle agrees to pay, under several conditions, all of which Ragnar agrees to. Aelle ends up double crossing Ragnar, and Ragnar proceeds to kill Aelle's brother and send him the body to prove that he's not joking around.
** Once again when Jarl Borg invades his lands. Ragnar's response? [[CruelAndUnusualDeath Blood Eagle]].
** Then again in the Season 2 finale when Horik attempts to kill Ragnar's entire family and take over Kattegut for himself. Ragnar's response? Ruthlessly slaughter every man, woman, and child who was connected to Horik, including all of his children.

* PapaWolf: If you value your life, don't screw with his family. His children in particular.

* HappilyMarried: To Ragnar. She was very [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex excited]] when he came home in the first episode. Events in Episode 8 and 9 complicate it and eventually they divorce.

* LargeHam: Has his moments like that glorious bellowing at the end of [=S01E07=].

** He is the first to try to offer himself up as a human sacrifice in the eighth episode, which is a tremendous honour to the Norse. It's only the pleading of Helga that keeps him from doing it.

* {{Badass}}: He's one of the most powerful fighters in the ''hird'', as indicated by how he easily he hews apart Saxons in Episodes 3 and 4. A shield bash from this guy sends Saxons flying, too. It's also notable that while everyone else scurries in battle, Erik strides slowly and confidently like a god of war.

* BadassBeard: Has grown one in the eighth episode as a sign of how close he is to GoingNative.

* GoingNative: He comes pretty close to doing this in Episode 8, adopting the Norse dress and hairstyle, taking part in a pagan festival, and even denying his Christianity (though he wasn't completely sincere about the latter). Fully cemented in "Invasion", when he goes on his first raid. [[spoiler: Then again in "The Choice" when he decides once and for all that his home is in Kattegat with Ragnar and his family.]]

* AManIsNotAVirgin: Averted, as he's a celibate monk. The Vikings all think he's weird. He might have lost his virginity in Episode 8, but it's ambiguous.

* MoralityChain: Like Bjorn, he has become this more and more to Ragnar as the series progresses, especially in regards to religion and attempts at negotiation instead of charging straight into battle.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: When Athelstan speaks of him in the third episode, it's with admiration. However, we see him in Episode 6 as being a cruel ruler with a taste for torturous deaths.

* {{Ambadassador}}: He acts as King Horik I's emissary to Jarl Borg in S01EP9. Apparently, he's the latest in a long line. Borg is initially dismissive of him, though he wises up after he realizes he is indeed speaking to the man who single-handedly defeated a king of England.

* DecapitationPresentation: He does this to an unfortunate Saxon in ''Invasion''.

** Most prominently in his siege of Paris. He sees that Athelstan was right, it is nigh impregnable. What does he do? [[spoiler:pretend to convert to Christianity and infiltrate the place from the inside of course!]]

* MarryThemAll: Rather than choose between Lagertha and Aslaug, Ragnar intead proposes a polygamous marriage, pointing out that such arrangements are not uncommon amongst Earls, which they aren't. Lagertha divorces him.

** He gives an absolutely '''EPIC''' one to the rest of the Vikings, letting them know he's had it up to here with their disunity and jackassery. He's also takes this as an opportunity to intimidate the self-styled "leaders" of the thus far failed siege (Erlendr, Floki, Rollo and Lagertha) into line.

-->'''Athelwulf''': My friend- (gets shoved backwards)

* WarriorPoet: He recites the ''Runatal'' from the ''Havamal'' very epicly in Episode 9.

** Also to King Ecbert, both on the battlefield and diplomatically

* DesignatedGirlFight: In the season two finale, she is sent to kill Horrik's wife, who is a famous shieldmaiden in her own right.

* TookALevelInKindness: He's noticeably much more mellow and agreeable as an adult than as a child, when he had some serious BrattyHalfPint moments. He's especially much nicer to Afelstan, and, like his father, seems to hold both Christians and slaves in much higher regard than his fellow Norsemen.

** Ragnar gives him a MASSIVE one in Warrior's Fate for [[spoiler:allowing his girlfriend Porunn to join the fights against Princess Kwenthrith's uncle and brother, resulting in a massive head injury that leaves her unconscious at the conclusion of the battle. What pisses Ragnar off is the fact that Bjorn let Porunn fight AT ALL with the knowledge she may be pregnant with their child without much resistance on Bjorn's part]].

* UndyingLoyalty: Like Floki and Rollo, she's not always 100% happy with Ragnar. Nevertheless, like them, she is unwaveringly loyal to him. [[spoiler: To the point that she only pretends to defect to Horik so she can be TheMole for Ragnar. In season three, she gives her life saving his sons from drowning in a frozen lake.]]

* HappilyMarried: As seen in Episode 3. It only makes his death all the more heart-wrenching.

* TheDragon: To Ragnar, after Episode 6 to replace Erik.

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: In real life he outlived Ragnar by a decade. Specifically, he outlived someone called "Reginherus", who is believed by historians to possibly have been one of the candidates for the historical Ragnar. There are even some historians who posit that Horik I and Ragnar might have even been the same person.]]

* CelibateHero: Being a monk, he has a vow of celibacy, but he may have had sex in Episode 8. It's ambiguous if he did or not.

** A DeletedScene in Episode 1 has him correcly identify that Björn will not be harmed easily in battle.

* ReallyGetsAround. Like Rollo he have no problem finding willing women.

* BreakTheCutie: Judith is [[spoiler: mutilated and publicly shamed]] as a punishment for her [[spoiler: affair with Athelstan]]

* AmbiguouslyGay: Acts the most campily effeminate among vikings and likes to dress himself up. Nothing really indicates whether he is CampGay or CampStraight.

* MeaningfulName[=/=]OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Sinric means clever in Swedish. Because of how little modern people know about him, this might be his nickname instead of real name.

* CompositeCharacter: With Harald Greycloak and Sigurd Hring, as Ragnar's predecessor as King of Denmark.

[[folder:Harbard]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/KevinDurand

A mysterious storyteller, dreamed of by Helga, Aslaug and Siggy before he arrives at Kattegat.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: [[spoiler: Let's Siggy drown when he could have easily saved her. It's implied he's letting her reunite with her dead family.]]
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: His arrival comes after the three main women left in Kattegat all share a repeated dream of a man that might be him. Also, if he is being honest when he says that he saw the tale of Utgard-Loke with his own eyes, that means he may be one of two people: [[spoiler: Thor's retainer Thjalfi or Loki himself.]] Assuming, of course, he is not a liar. Floki seems to believe he is actually [[spoiler: Odin, despite him having both of his eyes.]]
* MeaningfulName[=/=]ShoutOut: In ''The Lay of Harbardr'', a poem in the ''Poetic Edda'', Thor encounters a ferryman named Harbard, who is really Odin in disguise, and enters a ''flyting'' contest - a contest in insults - with him. It remains to be seen, if Harbard is the same person, or just someone who is [[StealthPun very funny]]. For this reason, Floki believes him to be Odin in disguise.
* YourCheatingHeart: Seduces Aslaug with his "God In Disguise" attitude. [[spoiler: Which may be true. This is notable because Ragnar is supposed to be Odin's son and he's effectively seducing his son's wife.]]

[[folder: Kalf]]
->'''Played By:''' Ben Robson

Lagertha’s second-in-command at Hedeby, he is left in charge when she goes to England in Season 3.

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's not directly implied, unlike with Floki, but Ragnar has some very strange speech patterns that make it seem like he often has trouble finding even simple words to express himself, accompanied by several facial tics, and he's probably the least articulate character on the show despite his undeniable charisma. If this is tied to a disorder then it casts his friendship with Loki in a new light.

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's not directly implied, unlike with Floki, but Ragnar has some very strange speech patterns that make it seem like he often has trouble finding even simple words to express himself, accompanied by several facial tics, and even his anti-social brother is more articulate. If this is tied to a disorder then it casts his friendship with Loki in a new light.