Vikings Season 3 (2015)

Before Vikings who have fought only on sea and field rise the great walls of Paris, walls that will not easily fall. Season 3 is the season where Ragnar at last sets his sights on this legendary city and mounts the largest siege in the series’ history. Yet in the very middle of that dazzling climax, as the fleet rows up the river, what the camera fixes on is the moment the body and mind of a hero at his peak slowly begin to collapse. The truth that the higher you climb, the deeper the fall, this season tells quietly, beyond the roar of battle. Before this balance that grasps both spectacle and inner ruin, I had no reason to hesitate over ★4.5.

What it’s about — A New Kind of War Forced by the Walls of Paris

Season 3 sets out from the conflict over the settlement promised to Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) in Wessex, then moves on to the larger goal of the Paris expedition. Paris, the heart of the Frankish kingdom, is ringed by sturdy walls, forcing on Vikings used to fighting on sea and field an entirely new kind of war. Meanwhile the monk Athelstan (George Blagden), who has kept by Ragnar’s side, finally settles his own faith between two worlds, and that choice leaves Ragnar with a deep loss. Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), Floki and other key figures, too, have their ambitions and convictions put to the test.

Direction — A Single Man Crumbling Amid the Largest Scale Yet

Michael Hirst’s direction reaches the highest scale in the series during the siege of Paris. The fleet rowing up the river, the soldiers scaling the walls, and the feast of arrows and fire poured down from above unfold over a long breath. Yet the real strength of this season is not the vast battle but the gaze fixed on Ragnar, growing ever weaker within it. The camera does not lose sight of one man collapsing alone even in the middle of victory’s roar. The way it works through the heavy themes of faith, death and doubt with fog-laden nature and dark interior light is striking.

Acting and characters — A Conqueror’s Dignity and a Dying Frailty

Travis Fimmel gives his deepest performance of the series this season. He holds in one body the dignity of a conqueror and the frailty of a dying man, and the sight of a sick, exhausted Ragnar who will not let go of his ambition to the end is mournful and intense at once. The final stratagem he pulls off before the gates of Paris is, in particular, a standout that reveals his cunning and his desperation at the same stroke. Katheryn Winnick’s Lagertha grows firmer still, moving between rule as an earl and instinct as a warrior. George Blagden’s Athelstan delicately expresses the interior of a man forever wavering between two worlds, and his exit casts a thick shadow over the whole season.

What the series says — A Conqueror Standing Alone on the Border of Two Gods

Vikings Season 3 places the glory of conquest and the finitude of the human being side by side. Ragnar has gone further than anyone, yet at the end of that journey he realises that both his body and his convictions have reached their limit. The drama shows plainly that even the greatest conqueror is, before death and doubt, only a human being. The conflict of faith surrounding Athelstan deepens this theme. The question of what to believe, between the old gods and the new, goes beyond mere religion to symbolise the turning of an age. That Ragnar opened his heart to the faith of another world through Athelstan is because he was a man who tried to see further than anyone else. But that open heart also makes him lonely. Belonging fully neither to the comrades who serve the old gods nor to the enemies who believe in the new, Ragnar comes to stand alone on the border of two worlds. The emptiness he feels at the height of conquest springs from precisely this solitude.

Ratings & reception

Vikings holds an IMDb rating of 8. Season 3 is frequently cited as the emotional peak of the series for successfully drawing both the overwhelming spectacle of the siege of Paris and the inner collapse of Ragnar. The conclusion of Athelstan’s arc and the direction of the battle of Paris, in particular, are rated among the most powerful passages in the whole series.

Verdict

Vikings Season 3 is a season where splendour and sorrow coexist. By staging the largest battle while capturing the moment a hero is at his weakest as a human being, it sits at the centre of gravity of the series. Travis Fimmel’s performance hits a peak this season, preparing in advance the great turning point the series will soon meet. Seasons that render the emptiness met at the end of conquest this persuasively are rare. The rating is ★4.5.

Recommended for

• Those who enjoy the thrill of a large-scale siege
• Those who want to see the inner collapse of a hero at his peak
• Those interested in the heavy themes of faith and death