‘Vikings’ Season 4 Mid-Season Finale: Will Ragnar And Rollo Fight To The Death?

While there is still two weeks until the mid season finale of History Channel’s Vikings season 4, the official synopsis has already been released for episode 10 entitled “The Last Ship.” Ragnar Lothbrok has been ready to face his brother for the ultimate betrayal to himself and his people for a while now, but it looks like the battle between brothers will erupt in the mid-season finale.

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains information about season 4 of History Channel’s Vikings as well as the historical background of the vikings. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid spoilers.

Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) and his brother, Rollo (Clive Standen) have shared a love/hate relationship for the entire series of Vikings. However, when Rollo married into Frankish nobility in season 4, the betrayal was taken to a level that not even Ragnar could forgive him for. As season 4 has progressed, Rollo’s defenses of Paris had shown Ragnar and his fellow vikings that Rollo is not someone to be messed with and that Paris may be the only country so far they have not been able to plunder.

But episode 8 of Vikings last week saw Ragnar devise an ingenious plan to get around the river forts Rollo had put in place to defend Paris against the vikings. This episode saw Ragnar, with the help of Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard) devise a way in which the viking longships could be raised up cliff faces and then dragged across land. This will bring the ships in front of the impenetrable forts of Paris. It seems episode 9 of Vikings will deal with the approach to Paris and the eventual battle between the two sides. But, the synopsis for episode 10 indicates that when Ragnar and Rollo will come head to head.

The official synopsis for the mid-season finale for Season 4 of Vikings is as follows.

“A ferocious battle between the Vikings and the French eventually comes down to Ragnar against Rollo and the outcome seals the fates of the two brothers.”

Who Will Survive?

Many fans were assuming Rollo would survive this battle because he had not yet bore his son and heir, William I Longsword. However, with Gisla announcing her pregnancy in episode 8 of Vikings, his fate hangs in the balance once more. But how do we know this?

Rollo is based on a real historical character, Rollo, who later was baptized as Robert and married into the Frankish royal family in a diplomatic move. In the TV series of Vikings, Rollo marries Gisla (Morgane Polanski), the daughter of the Emperor Charles ( Lothaire Bluteau). However, according to Normandy Before 1066, Rollo married Poppa of Bayeux. She was the daughter of Berengar, who was the Count of Rennes. There has been some conjecture as to whether this actually happened, or if he did indeed marry a royal woman called Gisela. However, many historians still stick by his marriage to Poppa. If this story is to be believed, Poppa bore Rollo a son, William I Longsword. Meaning, regardless of who Rollo married historically, if Gisla is now pregnant with the heir William I Longsword, it is possible Rollo may not survive this battle at all.

Rollo Seeing double #Rouen #Normandy #RealVikings

A photo posted by Clive Standen (@clive_standen) on Oct 23, 2015 at 9:46am PDT

According to some records, Rollo is also the great-great-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror. The current English royal family also claim they are of his decent. A recent joint Norwegian-French investigation hopes to clear up Rollo’s lineage once and for all with DNA potentially being taken from Robert I’s official grave site. It is also believed that it was Rollo’s assimilation into Frankia that led to the term “Normans” to describe the people of Normandy.

As for Ragnar, historically, his story could end two different ways. Since it is harder to prove his story as the vikings were not as inclined to write things down as the Frankish people were, there are two stories that may–or may not–be related to the same person who goes by the name Ragnar. Ragnar of the TV series is based on a character called Ragnar Lodbrok. While Ragnar’s children are known as historical figures, Ragnar himself is almost like King Arthur, a legend that may not have existed at all. However, according to the viking sagas, a person called Ragnar existed, and he married three times and bore many sons.

At the end of season 3 of Vikings, many fans who are fans of the viking sagas were concerned at just how sick Ragnar was as one of his possible deaths occurred as a result of both Cholera and the wounds he sustained on his original attack on Paris. But there is another death that is more popular among Ragnar Lodbrok fans, and that is that he dies at the hands of King Aelle. Aelle was said to have thrown Ragnar into a pit of venomous snakes, something fans of the TV show have already seen Aelle do with another character early on in Vikings. So could Ragnar also survive the epic battle lined up for episode 10 of Vikings, only to fall at the hands of King Aelle in the second half of season 4? Only time will tell!

As yet there have been no official images released by History Channel of Ragnar and Rollo together in either episode 9 or 10, but once episode 9 screens this Thursday night, it is possible fans might get their very first look at the two brothers going head to head against each other when the publicity stills are released for episode 10.

What do you think will happen in the next two episodes of Vikings? What will happen in the epic battle between the two viking brothers? Let us know your thoughts and theories by commenting below!

Season 4 of Vikings returns to History Channel with episode 9, entitled “Death All ‘Round” on Thursday, April 14, at 10 p.m. ET.

The official synopsis for episode 9 is as follows.

“The labors of the Vikings eventually bear fruit as, within sight of Paris, they re-launch their boats but this time along with some interesting structures that Floki has made. Aethelwulf and Alfred eventually arrive in Rome and honors are conferred by Pope Leo but relations are not so cordial in Wessex between King Ecbert and the disgruntled King Aelle.”

[Image via A&E Network]