Vikings (2013–…): Season 5, Episode 16 - The Buddha - full transcript
Previouly on Vikings...
To battle! For England!
(MEN YELLING)
God works in mysterious ways.
(GRUNTS)
Ask yourselves,
do you know his ways?
What's wrong with you?
The gods are watching!
(YELLING IN NATIVE TONGUE)
Lagertha!
(EXCLAIMS)
ALFRED: The day and the battle
had belonged to us!
My mother always carried Thor's
hammer around her waist.
I don't think
we are going to find her.
- (HELGI SCREAMS)
- FLOKI: Eyvind and his entire family
are expelled
from the settlement.
JUDITH:
The conspiracy against you.
I know their names.
Aethelred is their leader.
(IF I HAD A HEART PLAYING )
♪ More, give me more,
give me more ♪
♪ If I had a heart
I could love you ♪
♪ If I had a voice
I would sing ♪
♪ After the night
when I wake up ♪
♪ I'll see
what tomorrow brings ♪
(VOCALIZING)
♪ If I had a voice
I would sing ♪
(MUFFLED YELLING)
Play one of the best new FPS shooters,
search Steam for PROJECT WARLOCK
Well?
No one has seen her.
If she's still alive,
she has vanished.
I swore upon my life and my God,
if with your help
we defeated our enemies,
that I would honor
the pledges made to you
by my grandfather, King Ecbert.
Here is the treaty giving you,
by our royal consent,
all the lands that constitute the
ancient kingdom of East Anglia.
These lands I grant you
in perpetuity,
to settle and to farm
as you see fit.
Now, there is not
a great population there.
But still, there are
settlements and farms.
Some have moved away but
others have chosen to remain.
I suggest you treat them well.
They are not so ill disposed
towards you,
but they will be wary
and apprehensive.
- The last time this happened...
- ALFRED: Yes.
All I can say is that
this time will be different.
I will leave some of my bodyguards
as a gesture of my support,
and I will use my authority as
King to protect your rights.
You have no reason
to fear otherwise.
Here I do affix the royal seal.
And so it is done.
And now I welcome you,
formally, as allies
and as friends.
That is not the end
of our business today.
Guards!
Arrest the traitors!
(CROWD CLAMORING)
EALDORMAN 1: No!
You can't do this!
EALDORMAN 2: Take your hands off me!
- EALDORMAN 3: Unhand me!
- No, Lord! I'm innocent!
You'll soon have cause to regret
these actions, Lord Alfred!
That I promise you!
EALDORMAN 1: I'm innocent!
I'm innocent!
(CLAMORING CONTINUES)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
So, King Harald,
you return... Defeated.
Having been made a fool of
by Bjorn Ironside.
And with no sign
of Jarl Olavsson, our leader.
Jarl Olavsson
died well in battle...
And is certainly now
in Valhalla.
What is that to us?
You must believe
in your leaders.
They can suffer
reversals, defeats...
(SIGHS)
But you must give them
a chance to prove
just why they rose
in the first place.
I don't believe
in giving second chances.
Not to fools and failures.
(SWORDS BEING DRAWN)
HARALD: No.
(EXHALES)
Exactly my words
when I was younger,
but, uh...
You live and you learn.
(ALL GRUNTING)
- (GRUNTS)
- (CROWD GASPS)
(PANTING)
Friends. I didn't have
the chance to present to you
Magnus, son of Ragnar Lothbrok.
- WOMAN: Hail Ragnar!
- (CROWD CHATTERS INDISTINCTLY)
With him beside us,
we can achieve great things.
This city of York
will be a great city!
The center of an empire!
Our empire!
(CROWD CHEERS)
That will stretch
from here to Kattegat,
from Ireland to Frankia,
from Scotland
to the steppes of Russ!
- (CROWD CHEERING)
- Yeah!
Sit.
(SIGHS)
You killed Heahmund,
one of the greatest
of all Saxon warriors.
He was already badly wounded.
I just finished him off.
Why are you fighting
for King Harald?
I was at York, with my
husband, Jarl Olavsson.
We agreed to join
the King's army.
And where is your husband now?
He was killed in the battle.
It's a pity,
he was a good husband.
A good man.
I lost my mother in the battle.
Your mother?
Who are you?
Bjorn. Bjorn Ironside.
You're famous.
I suppose that means
you can do what you want.
Ask people anything you want.
What is your name?
Gunnhild.
Gunnhild.
I would like to know you better.
What am I supposed to say?
You see how it is with me.
I am bound. Prisoner.
My husband is dead.
Am I supposed
to refuse your advances?
I could take advantage of you.
But I don't want to.
You and I, we are equals.
I will cut your ropes
if you answer me a question.
Yes?
After Heahmund died,
my mother was wounded
and she vanished.
I need to know if you were
witness to anything
that could give me answers.
I need to know if her disappearance
was of her own making...
Or against her will.
I cannot help you.
I saw nothing.
(SIGHS)
(DRAWS KNIFE)
You're a free woman.
You can do anything you like.
(GRUNTS)
(EXCLAIMS)
What was that for?
I was just
exercising my freedom.
Perhaps we shall meet again.
Who knows?
You can leave now.
(DOOR OPENS)
What happened to her?
How do people just disappear?
UBBE: Well, you know how.
Didn't our father
just disappear?
Lagertha isn't like that.
She doesn't just run away.
And in the middle of a battle?
And how did she
even manage that?
It was like she
was sucked into thin air.
- I know her...
- No, you don't!
You know nothing.
Lagertha killed your mother.
As far as you're concerned,
you'd rather she be dead.
Why am I even talking to you?
I do know Lagertha.
I loved her and I trusted her,
and she loved and trusted me.
She wouldn't have just disappeared,
not unless there was a reason.
What does that even mean?
Perhaps she had come
to the end of reason.
ALFRED: He saved my life.
He was implicated.
- You have...
- I've already decided to forgive him.
(GASPS)
Have you told him that?
(SIGHS)
Alfred...
He has to talk about it.
He has to be honest.
Then, then you can forgive him.
(SLAMS TABLE)
For God's sake!
I understand. I do.
But if you won't talk to him,
please give me
your permission to do so.
Please. I need
to know why...
so perhaps I can forgive him.
MAN 1: Treacherous scum.
(GASPING)
MAN 2: Treason.
Death to the King!
(HORSE NEIGHS)
(YELLS)
(CROWD GASPS)
MAN 3: Traitor!
MAN 4: Long live the King.
Ugh.
(GAGS)
Food! (CHUCKLES)
MAN: (IN DISTANCE) Floki!
What was that?
MAN: Floki!
Wait here.
AUD: Helgi!
Come inside.
FLOKI: You have bad frostbite.
You will lose
at least one of your fingers.
Why did you travel
all this way in such weather?
I... I had no choice.
Why?
Everyone is dying.
What do you mean, Helgi?
Who is dying?
Soon after we left here,
my father fell ill.
We went a long way.
We built a house.
But there is so little food
and everyone is sick.
I think Eyvind is dying.
And my sister Jorunn
was very sick when I left.
And we've already
had to bury two of the...
Two or three of the young ones.
Shh, don't talk anymore.
(SHAKILY)
I beg you. Please help us!
Go and save my family.
I know we don't deserve
to be saved, but please, Floki.
Try and save them
before it's too late.
Please!
Think of Mjolnir,
Thor's hammer, for strength.
(HELGI SCREAMING)
(HELGI SOBS)
(SCREAMS)
(DOOR OPENS)
Why do you want to see me?
You know why.
If I knew, then I would not ask.
All your friends
are arrested, Aethelred.
Lord Cyneheard
confessed everything.
Very well.
- It's true. I was approached by them.
- (SCOFFS)
I was still angry
that I had been forced,
so it seemed, to renounce the crown
that I thought was mine by right.
They persuaded me that Alfred
had no support as king,
that he'd be overthrown
in any case...
But that, if I agreed to replace
him, the coup would be bloodless.
And you agreed
to go along with them?
AETHELRED: They wanted to stage the
coup just before we left for battle.
They wanted me
to give the signal. I refused.
Then you were involved.
I told you, I refused.
I regret ever having
listened to them.
I was foolish and too proud.
I tried to make amends
on the battlefield.
I would have gladly lost my own
life to save my brother's.
I will never,
ever betray him again!
VIKING: (IN DISTANCE) Go
and find your mother, boy!
Knives to grind! Bring your knives here!
Bring your knife!
Is this a god?
No god.
That is the Buddha.
And who is the Buddha?
(LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY)
Thank you.
Hvitserk, I have just received
some very interesting news.
It seems King Harald
was defeated in Wessex
by the new king, Alfred.
But with the help of
Lagertha, Bjorn, and Ubbe.
Then you knew all along that
you didn't sacrifice Lagertha.
Did Harald survive the battle?
IVAR: Yes, he retreated to York.
(SIGHS) It seems to me
that now it is time for us
to return to England.
Harald has learned his lesson.
He cannot win without me.
(BANGS CHESS PIECE)
What is that?
When our father took me to England,
and was imprisoned by King Ecbert,
I played chess with Prince Alfred.
Now I would like to play chess
with him again,
only this time,
on the battlefield.
(CHOIR SINGING HYMNS)
(PRAYING IN LATIN)
Accipite et bibite ex hic...
PRIEST: Corpus Christi.
Est enim calix sanguinis
mei moui et aeterni
testamenti, mysterium...
- PRIEST: Corpus Christi.
- Fidei, qui pro uobis
et pro multis effundetur
in remissionem peccatorum...
PRIEST: Corpus Christi.
PRIEST: Corpus Christi.
(SHEEP BLEATING)
SAXON 1: That's the King!
SAXON 2: Yeah.
SAXON 3: The King and the men.
They're here.
Here is the boundary
of your legal possession.
Beyond this point,
and right to the sea,
is the Kingdom of East Anglia.
It was ever in my gift,
so I have gifted it to you.
Look, Bjorn.
Look at this treasure!
They betrayed every principle,
every dream, every hope
of our settlement.
But they are still my family.
And they need help.
And you can help them.
If we delay any more,
all of them will be dead.
What are you thinking?
I was thinking that at last our
settlement was beginning to work.
There was no more bad blood.
No need for revenge or killing.
And now you want to bring
these people back,
these people
that started the chain.
Who didn't want to listen to me.
Floki, I understand.
I can see your worries,
but it's different now.
My father has learned a lesson.
He is filled with remorse.
And you believe him?
He has changed, Floki.
He has changed.
It can happen.
Isn't that what you said
would happen here, Floki?
That we would live differently.
That we would change.
(CHURCH BELL RINGING)
PRIEST: Welcome, sire.
Hmm.
Welcome.
I cannot go inside.
No. Nor I.
They worship a false god.
GUNNHILD: Do you want to talk?
(SIGHS)
I have lost my father.
And now my mother.
And yet here is my father's dream.
Right here.
Everything he ever wanted for us.
How strange.
It's all right.
Everything will be all right.
Everything.
(MEN SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
Make way! Clear the square!
Clear the way! Stand aside!
Out of the way!
My Lady.
It's the King.
JUDITH: Go and fetch the physicians.
SERVANT: Yes, my Lady.
All of you, leave.
- Yes, my Lady.
- My Lady.
Elsewith, this is not the first time
Alfred been struck down like this.
It's happened before.
What can we do?
(SIGHS)
Well...
there is very little we can do.
I wish there were.
At least I can find
the ingredients
for some hot salves.
Are you...
Yes.
I think I am with child.
(CHUCKLES)
(SIGHS)
Elsewith, you must not
lose this child.
So much depends
upon this unborn child.
Perhaps the future of England.
My poor brother.
He has to live.
Nothing else matters.
HVITSERK: Everything is One.
And only the One is.
Life is a bridge,
build no house upon it.
It's a river,
but don't cling to its banks.
You're on a journey.
This weird old man
told you all that?
And many other things
I've already forgotten.
Perhaps it's all a joke.
Floki would have said so.
What does it mean?
A journey to where?
He told me I can go talk to him again.
That he would enlighten me.
But for now...
let's just have sex.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
(CHUCKLES)
Thank you.
(SIGHS)
That was an emissary
from King Olaf the Stout.
I've invited Olaf
to join our army.
So when do you plan
to sail to York?
We should wait until the spring.
And after the birth
of my divine child.
Why so cynical,
dear brother, huh?
Cynicism poisons your mind,
Brother.
Eventually, you can't see
the good in anyone, or anything.
Can't you see that Freydis
now looks more like Freya,
the goddess of fertility.
No? Oh.
It seems to me that
you are conflicted, Hvitserk.
You jumped ship to be with me,
because you thought
the gods planned it.
But then everything I say
or do makes you unhappy
as if you never meant
to jump ship at all.
There is no contradiction.
(CHUCKLES)
Of course there's a contradiction.
What are you talking about?
There's no contradiction
because it's possible that
everything is part of the One.
What?
You're talking rubbish!
You know, I've often wondered
whether you weren't a little crazy.
I'm crazy?
Just like Margrethe.
You know what happened to her.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(GOATS BLEATING)
We should have arranged
a sacrifice.
We should have made
an offering to the gods
to appease their anger
and ask for their blessing
for this new land.
You think the gods are angry?
Of course they are.
Ubbe renounced them in public!
And now Ubbe and Torvi wear
the cross of the Christian God
around their necks.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
I have to do something
for myself.
I don't belong here.
Do what?
I want to take Kattegat
back from Ivar.
How?
You have no army.
But King Harald has.
I'll persuade him to attack
Kattegat with me.
I remember something
my husband told me.
He said that King Harald
had told him that,
after their attack on Wessex,
they would both return
and attack Kattegat together.
Then he will listen to me.
That or he will just kill you.
(WIND BLOWING)
(THUNDER CRACKING)
FLOKI: They killed your son
and they killed your daughter.
Now we're being asked
to save these people.
I'm going to leave
the decision to you, Kjetill.
You know me, Floki.
You know I cannot live
without hope.
I must have hope
for the future of my family.
So...
So you're saying that
we should try to save them.
Yes.
If Helgi says
his father has changed,
then I believe him.
And I will go through this
blasted winter myself.
And if necessary, I will carry
Eyvind home on my own back.
(WIND HOWLING)
(THUNDER CRACKING)
(GRUNTS)
(GROANS)
KJETILL: Helgi!
Help me.
(GROANS)
Move!
Move!
I have made up my mind, Ubbe.
For the sake of my mother,
and for my own sake,
I need to try to regain Kattegat.
We need you here.
There will be more attacks,
and you know it.
You have to defend
Ragnar's dream.
We are all trying to defend
Ragnar's dream,
but perhaps some of us
choose to do it differently.
I understand what you have done.
You have taken a path
I could not have taken.
My brother, still my hero.
And Torvi.
I also want to say
something to you.
You have protected
and brought up our children.
Even when I abandoned you...
you were never spiteful
or vengeful.
You were always loyal
to my mother.
You never sought
anything for yourself.
I love Lagertha.
She has always been
everything to me.
I know that she is still alive
and will return some day.
She's a survivor,
like you.
I love our children...
and I will always make them
proud of you.
Thank you.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JUDITH: My Lords.
You will all have heard the news
of the King's collapse,
and that's why
I wanted to talk to you.
To reassure you that
Alfred will recover.
- What is wrong with him?
- MAN: Yes.
No one really knows.
Then he is weak.
- We need to know the truth.
- What's going on?
(ALL MURMURING)
My mother is right.
Alfred has suffered
these attacks before
and has always survived.
You must have faith.
A king who is always sick.
What kind of a king is that?
We cannot afford a sick king!
(ALL MURMURING)
Aethelred is very popular.
Yes.
You can trust me.
Do you trust me?
I had somehow hoped
he would not be
quite so popular.
- CLERGYMAN: And the church?
- Yes.
Thank you.
What is it that you say
to these men...
except that they should pray
for your brother's recovery?
(GASPS)
I say to them
what I have a mind to say.
Don't interfere, Mother!
Now go and pick
some stinking borage
to heal my poor brother.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(HORSE NEIGHING IN DISTANCE)
- (MOANING)
- (PANTING)
(SIGHING)
Your poor brother.
Yes.
If he died, would you be king?
Yes.
(CHUCKLES)
Then I hope he dies. (LAUGHS)
(CONTINUES LAUGHING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
VIKING 1: It's Bjorn! It is!
VIKING 2: Bjorn Ironside.
(CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)
- Brother!
- BJORN: Magnus.
Bjorn Ironside.
(MAGNUS LAUGHS)
Well, come, come! Come.
HARALD: Bjorn Ironside,
how happy I am to see you.
And Gunnhild.
It seems that fate has,
after all, brought us back
together again.
Who knew what the gods had
in store for us?
(CHUCKLES)
GUNNHILD: Yes.
Who knew.
I don't care about any of that.
I only care that I've
found my brother Bjorn.
That I am Viking.
And that we shall
attack Kattegat...
All together!
So tell me, how is my brother?
There is no change
in his condition.
I don't know
if he even hears us.
I made some potions
to try to relieve his suffering,
as I did before.
You are a wonderful mother.
To Alfred, and to me.
At least I know
you care about your brother.
Why wouldn't I?
(INHALES AND EXHALES)
It's just so terrible
how the nobles begin
to conspire against him...
as soon as he's sick!
They're not real Christians.
They...
They have no charity
in their souls.
They simply want to
get rid of him.
It's true.
And yet, you must
understand their fear.
Not only for themselves,
but for Wessex
and (COUGHS) England.
(GRUNTS)
(GASPS)
(GAGS)
Of course.
I understand.
(AETHELRED WHEEZING)
But surely...
Surely they can see that
Alfred is their best chance.
If they care about Wessex
and England,
then they must care
about Alfred!
What... What have you done?
I don't believe
that you have ever accepted
your brother as king.
(AETHELRED GRUNTING)
I don't think you ever would.
You would always be
a danger to him.
So you've poisoned me?
(WHEEZES)
(BANG ON TABLE)
(SCREAMS)
(WHEEZING)
What kind of mother are you?
(SOBS)
(GASPS)
(INAUDIBLE WHISPERING)
(GUNNHILD CHUCKLES)
(SOBS)
To battle! For England!
(MEN YELLING)
God works in mysterious ways.
(GRUNTS)
Ask yourselves,
do you know his ways?
What's wrong with you?
The gods are watching!
(YELLING IN NATIVE TONGUE)
Lagertha!
(EXCLAIMS)
ALFRED: The day and the battle
had belonged to us!
My mother always carried Thor's
hammer around her waist.
I don't think
we are going to find her.
- (HELGI SCREAMS)
- FLOKI: Eyvind and his entire family
are expelled
from the settlement.
JUDITH:
The conspiracy against you.
I know their names.
Aethelred is their leader.
(IF I HAD A HEART PLAYING )
♪ More, give me more,
give me more ♪
♪ If I had a heart
I could love you ♪
♪ If I had a voice
I would sing ♪
♪ After the night
when I wake up ♪
♪ I'll see
what tomorrow brings ♪
(VOCALIZING)
♪ If I had a voice
I would sing ♪
(MUFFLED YELLING)
Play one of the best new FPS shooters,
search Steam for PROJECT WARLOCK
Well?
No one has seen her.
If she's still alive,
she has vanished.
I swore upon my life and my God,
if with your help
we defeated our enemies,
that I would honor
the pledges made to you
by my grandfather, King Ecbert.
Here is the treaty giving you,
by our royal consent,
all the lands that constitute the
ancient kingdom of East Anglia.
These lands I grant you
in perpetuity,
to settle and to farm
as you see fit.
Now, there is not
a great population there.
But still, there are
settlements and farms.
Some have moved away but
others have chosen to remain.
I suggest you treat them well.
They are not so ill disposed
towards you,
but they will be wary
and apprehensive.
- The last time this happened...
- ALFRED: Yes.
All I can say is that
this time will be different.
I will leave some of my bodyguards
as a gesture of my support,
and I will use my authority as
King to protect your rights.
You have no reason
to fear otherwise.
Here I do affix the royal seal.
And so it is done.
And now I welcome you,
formally, as allies
and as friends.
That is not the end
of our business today.
Guards!
Arrest the traitors!
(CROWD CLAMORING)
EALDORMAN 1: No!
You can't do this!
EALDORMAN 2: Take your hands off me!
- EALDORMAN 3: Unhand me!
- No, Lord! I'm innocent!
You'll soon have cause to regret
these actions, Lord Alfred!
That I promise you!
EALDORMAN 1: I'm innocent!
I'm innocent!
(CLAMORING CONTINUES)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
So, King Harald,
you return... Defeated.
Having been made a fool of
by Bjorn Ironside.
And with no sign
of Jarl Olavsson, our leader.
Jarl Olavsson
died well in battle...
And is certainly now
in Valhalla.
What is that to us?
You must believe
in your leaders.
They can suffer
reversals, defeats...
(SIGHS)
But you must give them
a chance to prove
just why they rose
in the first place.
I don't believe
in giving second chances.
Not to fools and failures.
(SWORDS BEING DRAWN)
HARALD: No.
(EXHALES)
Exactly my words
when I was younger,
but, uh...
You live and you learn.
(ALL GRUNTING)
- (GRUNTS)
- (CROWD GASPS)
(PANTING)
Friends. I didn't have
the chance to present to you
Magnus, son of Ragnar Lothbrok.
- WOMAN: Hail Ragnar!
- (CROWD CHATTERS INDISTINCTLY)
With him beside us,
we can achieve great things.
This city of York
will be a great city!
The center of an empire!
Our empire!
(CROWD CHEERS)
That will stretch
from here to Kattegat,
from Ireland to Frankia,
from Scotland
to the steppes of Russ!
- (CROWD CHEERING)
- Yeah!
Sit.
(SIGHS)
You killed Heahmund,
one of the greatest
of all Saxon warriors.
He was already badly wounded.
I just finished him off.
Why are you fighting
for King Harald?
I was at York, with my
husband, Jarl Olavsson.
We agreed to join
the King's army.
And where is your husband now?
He was killed in the battle.
It's a pity,
he was a good husband.
A good man.
I lost my mother in the battle.
Your mother?
Who are you?
Bjorn. Bjorn Ironside.
You're famous.
I suppose that means
you can do what you want.
Ask people anything you want.
What is your name?
Gunnhild.
Gunnhild.
I would like to know you better.
What am I supposed to say?
You see how it is with me.
I am bound. Prisoner.
My husband is dead.
Am I supposed
to refuse your advances?
I could take advantage of you.
But I don't want to.
You and I, we are equals.
I will cut your ropes
if you answer me a question.
Yes?
After Heahmund died,
my mother was wounded
and she vanished.
I need to know if you were
witness to anything
that could give me answers.
I need to know if her disappearance
was of her own making...
Or against her will.
I cannot help you.
I saw nothing.
(SIGHS)
(DRAWS KNIFE)
You're a free woman.
You can do anything you like.
(GRUNTS)
(EXCLAIMS)
What was that for?
I was just
exercising my freedom.
Perhaps we shall meet again.
Who knows?
You can leave now.
(DOOR OPENS)
What happened to her?
How do people just disappear?
UBBE: Well, you know how.
Didn't our father
just disappear?
Lagertha isn't like that.
She doesn't just run away.
And in the middle of a battle?
And how did she
even manage that?
It was like she
was sucked into thin air.
- I know her...
- No, you don't!
You know nothing.
Lagertha killed your mother.
As far as you're concerned,
you'd rather she be dead.
Why am I even talking to you?
I do know Lagertha.
I loved her and I trusted her,
and she loved and trusted me.
She wouldn't have just disappeared,
not unless there was a reason.
What does that even mean?
Perhaps she had come
to the end of reason.
ALFRED: He saved my life.
He was implicated.
- You have...
- I've already decided to forgive him.
(GASPS)
Have you told him that?
(SIGHS)
Alfred...
He has to talk about it.
He has to be honest.
Then, then you can forgive him.
(SLAMS TABLE)
For God's sake!
I understand. I do.
But if you won't talk to him,
please give me
your permission to do so.
Please. I need
to know why...
so perhaps I can forgive him.
MAN 1: Treacherous scum.
(GASPING)
MAN 2: Treason.
Death to the King!
(HORSE NEIGHS)
(YELLS)
(CROWD GASPS)
MAN 3: Traitor!
MAN 4: Long live the King.
Ugh.
(GAGS)
Food! (CHUCKLES)
MAN: (IN DISTANCE) Floki!
What was that?
MAN: Floki!
Wait here.
AUD: Helgi!
Come inside.
FLOKI: You have bad frostbite.
You will lose
at least one of your fingers.
Why did you travel
all this way in such weather?
I... I had no choice.
Why?
Everyone is dying.
What do you mean, Helgi?
Who is dying?
Soon after we left here,
my father fell ill.
We went a long way.
We built a house.
But there is so little food
and everyone is sick.
I think Eyvind is dying.
And my sister Jorunn
was very sick when I left.
And we've already
had to bury two of the...
Two or three of the young ones.
Shh, don't talk anymore.
(SHAKILY)
I beg you. Please help us!
Go and save my family.
I know we don't deserve
to be saved, but please, Floki.
Try and save them
before it's too late.
Please!
Think of Mjolnir,
Thor's hammer, for strength.
(HELGI SCREAMING)
(HELGI SOBS)
(SCREAMS)
(DOOR OPENS)
Why do you want to see me?
You know why.
If I knew, then I would not ask.
All your friends
are arrested, Aethelred.
Lord Cyneheard
confessed everything.
Very well.
- It's true. I was approached by them.
- (SCOFFS)
I was still angry
that I had been forced,
so it seemed, to renounce the crown
that I thought was mine by right.
They persuaded me that Alfred
had no support as king,
that he'd be overthrown
in any case...
But that, if I agreed to replace
him, the coup would be bloodless.
And you agreed
to go along with them?
AETHELRED: They wanted to stage the
coup just before we left for battle.
They wanted me
to give the signal. I refused.
Then you were involved.
I told you, I refused.
I regret ever having
listened to them.
I was foolish and too proud.
I tried to make amends
on the battlefield.
I would have gladly lost my own
life to save my brother's.
I will never,
ever betray him again!
VIKING: (IN DISTANCE) Go
and find your mother, boy!
Knives to grind! Bring your knives here!
Bring your knife!
Is this a god?
No god.
That is the Buddha.
And who is the Buddha?
(LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY)
Thank you.
Hvitserk, I have just received
some very interesting news.
It seems King Harald
was defeated in Wessex
by the new king, Alfred.
But with the help of
Lagertha, Bjorn, and Ubbe.
Then you knew all along that
you didn't sacrifice Lagertha.
Did Harald survive the battle?
IVAR: Yes, he retreated to York.
(SIGHS) It seems to me
that now it is time for us
to return to England.
Harald has learned his lesson.
He cannot win without me.
(BANGS CHESS PIECE)
What is that?
When our father took me to England,
and was imprisoned by King Ecbert,
I played chess with Prince Alfred.
Now I would like to play chess
with him again,
only this time,
on the battlefield.
(CHOIR SINGING HYMNS)
(PRAYING IN LATIN)
Accipite et bibite ex hic...
PRIEST: Corpus Christi.
Est enim calix sanguinis
mei moui et aeterni
testamenti, mysterium...
- PRIEST: Corpus Christi.
- Fidei, qui pro uobis
et pro multis effundetur
in remissionem peccatorum...
PRIEST: Corpus Christi.
PRIEST: Corpus Christi.
(SHEEP BLEATING)
SAXON 1: That's the King!
SAXON 2: Yeah.
SAXON 3: The King and the men.
They're here.
Here is the boundary
of your legal possession.
Beyond this point,
and right to the sea,
is the Kingdom of East Anglia.
It was ever in my gift,
so I have gifted it to you.
Look, Bjorn.
Look at this treasure!
They betrayed every principle,
every dream, every hope
of our settlement.
But they are still my family.
And they need help.
And you can help them.
If we delay any more,
all of them will be dead.
What are you thinking?
I was thinking that at last our
settlement was beginning to work.
There was no more bad blood.
No need for revenge or killing.
And now you want to bring
these people back,
these people
that started the chain.
Who didn't want to listen to me.
Floki, I understand.
I can see your worries,
but it's different now.
My father has learned a lesson.
He is filled with remorse.
And you believe him?
He has changed, Floki.
He has changed.
It can happen.
Isn't that what you said
would happen here, Floki?
That we would live differently.
That we would change.
(CHURCH BELL RINGING)
PRIEST: Welcome, sire.
Hmm.
Welcome.
I cannot go inside.
No. Nor I.
They worship a false god.
GUNNHILD: Do you want to talk?
(SIGHS)
I have lost my father.
And now my mother.
And yet here is my father's dream.
Right here.
Everything he ever wanted for us.
How strange.
It's all right.
Everything will be all right.
Everything.
(MEN SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
Make way! Clear the square!
Clear the way! Stand aside!
Out of the way!
My Lady.
It's the King.
JUDITH: Go and fetch the physicians.
SERVANT: Yes, my Lady.
All of you, leave.
- Yes, my Lady.
- My Lady.
Elsewith, this is not the first time
Alfred been struck down like this.
It's happened before.
What can we do?
(SIGHS)
Well...
there is very little we can do.
I wish there were.
At least I can find
the ingredients
for some hot salves.
Are you...
Yes.
I think I am with child.
(CHUCKLES)
(SIGHS)
Elsewith, you must not
lose this child.
So much depends
upon this unborn child.
Perhaps the future of England.
My poor brother.
He has to live.
Nothing else matters.
HVITSERK: Everything is One.
And only the One is.
Life is a bridge,
build no house upon it.
It's a river,
but don't cling to its banks.
You're on a journey.
This weird old man
told you all that?
And many other things
I've already forgotten.
Perhaps it's all a joke.
Floki would have said so.
What does it mean?
A journey to where?
He told me I can go talk to him again.
That he would enlighten me.
But for now...
let's just have sex.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
(CHUCKLES)
Thank you.
(SIGHS)
That was an emissary
from King Olaf the Stout.
I've invited Olaf
to join our army.
So when do you plan
to sail to York?
We should wait until the spring.
And after the birth
of my divine child.
Why so cynical,
dear brother, huh?
Cynicism poisons your mind,
Brother.
Eventually, you can't see
the good in anyone, or anything.
Can't you see that Freydis
now looks more like Freya,
the goddess of fertility.
No? Oh.
It seems to me that
you are conflicted, Hvitserk.
You jumped ship to be with me,
because you thought
the gods planned it.
But then everything I say
or do makes you unhappy
as if you never meant
to jump ship at all.
There is no contradiction.
(CHUCKLES)
Of course there's a contradiction.
What are you talking about?
There's no contradiction
because it's possible that
everything is part of the One.
What?
You're talking rubbish!
You know, I've often wondered
whether you weren't a little crazy.
I'm crazy?
Just like Margrethe.
You know what happened to her.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(GOATS BLEATING)
We should have arranged
a sacrifice.
We should have made
an offering to the gods
to appease their anger
and ask for their blessing
for this new land.
You think the gods are angry?
Of course they are.
Ubbe renounced them in public!
And now Ubbe and Torvi wear
the cross of the Christian God
around their necks.
(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)
I have to do something
for myself.
I don't belong here.
Do what?
I want to take Kattegat
back from Ivar.
How?
You have no army.
But King Harald has.
I'll persuade him to attack
Kattegat with me.
I remember something
my husband told me.
He said that King Harald
had told him that,
after their attack on Wessex,
they would both return
and attack Kattegat together.
Then he will listen to me.
That or he will just kill you.
(WIND BLOWING)
(THUNDER CRACKING)
FLOKI: They killed your son
and they killed your daughter.
Now we're being asked
to save these people.
I'm going to leave
the decision to you, Kjetill.
You know me, Floki.
You know I cannot live
without hope.
I must have hope
for the future of my family.
So...
So you're saying that
we should try to save them.
Yes.
If Helgi says
his father has changed,
then I believe him.
And I will go through this
blasted winter myself.
And if necessary, I will carry
Eyvind home on my own back.
(WIND HOWLING)
(THUNDER CRACKING)
(GRUNTS)
(GROANS)
KJETILL: Helgi!
Help me.
(GROANS)
Move!
Move!
I have made up my mind, Ubbe.
For the sake of my mother,
and for my own sake,
I need to try to regain Kattegat.
We need you here.
There will be more attacks,
and you know it.
You have to defend
Ragnar's dream.
We are all trying to defend
Ragnar's dream,
but perhaps some of us
choose to do it differently.
I understand what you have done.
You have taken a path
I could not have taken.
My brother, still my hero.
And Torvi.
I also want to say
something to you.
You have protected
and brought up our children.
Even when I abandoned you...
you were never spiteful
or vengeful.
You were always loyal
to my mother.
You never sought
anything for yourself.
I love Lagertha.
She has always been
everything to me.
I know that she is still alive
and will return some day.
She's a survivor,
like you.
I love our children...
and I will always make them
proud of you.
Thank you.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JUDITH: My Lords.
You will all have heard the news
of the King's collapse,
and that's why
I wanted to talk to you.
To reassure you that
Alfred will recover.
- What is wrong with him?
- MAN: Yes.
No one really knows.
Then he is weak.
- We need to know the truth.
- What's going on?
(ALL MURMURING)
My mother is right.
Alfred has suffered
these attacks before
and has always survived.
You must have faith.
A king who is always sick.
What kind of a king is that?
We cannot afford a sick king!
(ALL MURMURING)
Aethelred is very popular.
Yes.
You can trust me.
Do you trust me?
I had somehow hoped
he would not be
quite so popular.
- CLERGYMAN: And the church?
- Yes.
Thank you.
What is it that you say
to these men...
except that they should pray
for your brother's recovery?
(GASPS)
I say to them
what I have a mind to say.
Don't interfere, Mother!
Now go and pick
some stinking borage
to heal my poor brother.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(HORSE NEIGHING IN DISTANCE)
- (MOANING)
- (PANTING)
(SIGHING)
Your poor brother.
Yes.
If he died, would you be king?
Yes.
(CHUCKLES)
Then I hope he dies. (LAUGHS)
(CONTINUES LAUGHING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
VIKING 1: It's Bjorn! It is!
VIKING 2: Bjorn Ironside.
(CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)
- Brother!
- BJORN: Magnus.
Bjorn Ironside.
(MAGNUS LAUGHS)
Well, come, come! Come.
HARALD: Bjorn Ironside,
how happy I am to see you.
And Gunnhild.
It seems that fate has,
after all, brought us back
together again.
Who knew what the gods had
in store for us?
(CHUCKLES)
GUNNHILD: Yes.
Who knew.
I don't care about any of that.
I only care that I've
found my brother Bjorn.
That I am Viking.
And that we shall
attack Kattegat...
All together!
So tell me, how is my brother?
There is no change
in his condition.
I don't know
if he even hears us.
I made some potions
to try to relieve his suffering,
as I did before.
You are a wonderful mother.
To Alfred, and to me.
At least I know
you care about your brother.
Why wouldn't I?
(INHALES AND EXHALES)
It's just so terrible
how the nobles begin
to conspire against him...
as soon as he's sick!
They're not real Christians.
They...
They have no charity
in their souls.
They simply want to
get rid of him.
It's true.
And yet, you must
understand their fear.
Not only for themselves,
but for Wessex
and (COUGHS) England.
(GRUNTS)
(GASPS)
(GAGS)
Of course.
I understand.
(AETHELRED WHEEZING)
But surely...
Surely they can see that
Alfred is their best chance.
If they care about Wessex
and England,
then they must care
about Alfred!
What... What have you done?
I don't believe
that you have ever accepted
your brother as king.
(AETHELRED GRUNTING)
I don't think you ever would.
You would always be
a danger to him.
So you've poisoned me?
(WHEEZES)
(BANG ON TABLE)
(SCREAMS)
(WHEEZING)
What kind of mother are you?
(SOBS)
(GASPS)
(INAUDIBLE WHISPERING)
(GUNNHILD CHUCKLES)
(SOBS)