The hit series Vikings, soon to enter its sixth and final season, has thrilled audiences with its epic Norse power struggles, and brutal and brilliant fight scenes - but the show is not just about men waving their long-swords around. Scandanavian countries are well known for being strongly matriarchal, and the show reflects that with a collection of formidable and fierce female characters. Here are some of the powerful, independent women of Vikings, from savage shield maidens to fearsome Queens, who are not to be messed with...
Lagertha
Katheryn Winnick plays Lagertha, perhaps the most prominent character - male or female - in Vikings. Lagertha, raised to be a shield maiden (a female Viking warrior), was first introduced in episode one, where she is set upon by two men, who see her as a meek mother left alone on a farm - and she promptly sees them off with a sword! In the course of the series we see Lagertha’s progression from farmer and mother to warrior to dethroned Queen, spilling plenty of blood along the way, including that of an abusive husband. Multi-talented Winnick - who is martial arts-trained and who recently directed an episode of the show - does all her own stunts. Lagertha, who is based on a real-life Viking legend, has been praised as being one of the foremost feminist characters on TV. Despite her ordeals, Winnick says of the character “she always comes out stronger at the end”.
Porunn
Shield-maiden Porunn, played by Gaia Weiss, has, according to the actress, “experienced life in a really tough way”. She first appeared in Season 2; a servant girl who catches the eye of Bjorn, son of King Ragnar. She trains to become a shield maiden under the tutelage of Lagertha, and becomes an extremely capable warrior - so much so that she even goes into battle when she is pregnant!
Astrid
Swedish actress Josefin Asplund plays shield warrior Astrid, who first appeared in Season 4 being trained in combat by Lagertha. She becomes Lagethera’s lover - but in Season 5, she gets on the wrong side of her mentor - and hell hath no fury like a Viking woman scorned.
Aslaug
Australian actress, and former model, Alyssa Sutherland, stars in the series as Aslaug, the daughter of heroic parents, her mother a shield maiden and her father a dragon slayer. Beautiful, refined and blessed with the gift of foreseeing the future, Aslaug does not follow in her parents’ footsteps, and is more suited to being a princess, and eventually a Queen, after she becomes Ragnar’s second wife.
Torvi
Shield maiden Torvi is played by English actress Georgia Hirst, daughter of Michael Hirst, the creator and writer of Vikings. She is married to Bjorn, her third husband. She killed her second husband, the cruel Erlendur, with a crossbow bolt through the heart. These Vikings ladies don’t muck around!
Siggy
Canadian actress Jessalyn Gilsig, who played Terri in the TV show Glee, is Siggy, the wife of Earl Haraldson (played by Gabriel Byrne), and she is widowed in the first season of Vikings. Enigmatic, resourceful and tough, Gilsig describes her character as a listener and observer, “forever storing information, that will become ammunition going forward”. Gone are the days where female characters are mere set dressing - in Vikings, it’s the women calling the shots.
Vikings: Season 5 Volume 2 is available now on Blu-ray and DVD. Vikings: The Complete Fifth Season and Vikings: Seasons 1-5 are also available now on Blu-ray and DVD.