Vikings season 5 episode 13 exclusive sneak peek: Ivar discusses a new god
In the video we have for you below we see Ivar decide that the time is right for him to share some rather-special news with his brother Hvitserk — he is not actually descended from gods. Instead, he is one of the gods. He’s come to this realization with the guidance of his wife Freydis, who seems to have an incredible amount of power over Ivar if she is able to help convince him that he is a god. His rational stems from many different things, whether it be the power he has amassed for himself over the past year or the disability that he was born with. For most of his life, that has been a difficult disadvantage for him and hurdle that he desperately wanted to overcome. Yet, at this point in his life, Ivar sees things differently. He feels now that this was always something meant to separate him from the common man and that it was actually a blessing far more than it ever was a curse. Freydis is using her relationship with him to inspire a different sort of confidence in Ivar, one that could spell trouble depending on who Freydis really is and what it is she wants from this. She is still a relatively newer character so her motivations are a bit of a mystery – for now she seems to truly love Ivar and believe him to be a god among men.
Our interpretation of Ivar’s disability is that it was a blessing, but not in the way in which he proclaimed it so. This caused him to think in terms of strategy and critical thinking more so than blunt force and that sets him apart from everyone else. He had to find another way to survive and because few other men within his world considered such thinking, he was able to rise quickly and find a true sense of power for himself. Unfortunately all of this has started to go to his head and we worry that his ego will be his own undoing.
Now, Ivar uses that power in order to rule Kattegat, though it feels very clear that becoming a god could come with its fair share of consequences for people of the city. Gods can require penance, loyal subjects, and at times brutal sacrifices as we have seen over the years with this show. One of these very things was teased in the recently-released promo for this episode. His new state of mind feels very much not like a blessing for the people of this city, and could leave many in fear of him and for their own lives. This is a man who, despite whatever sort of identity he has established for himself, that deals in fear as well as strategy. We just wonder that in a place that seems to be so full of distractions, if Ivar is going to be able to keep his mind focused on some of his goals – like finding Lagertha and getting revenge for what she did to his mother.
Check out Vikings season 5 episode 13 when it airs on History come Wednesday, December 12 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time. We will continue to have episode reviews and previews all season long, so be sure to check all of that out at the link here.
What do you think the impact of Ivar’s god proclamation will be on Vikings season 5? Share right now in the attached comments. (Photo: History.)