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Ragnar Lothbrok lies abed, not dead, not quite alive. In his dreams, he rides on a distant mountain. Great golden doors open in the sky. He can hear the great warriors, singing happily as only dead men truly can. He walks toward the light. The doors close before him. Shall this be his fate? Locked out of Valhalla, despite all his great deeds? He is Viking — and he is Christian.

In the realm of the living, his wife, Aslaug, has a question for the seer: Will a woman take the throne of Kattegat? The seer offers a prophecy: “Yes. I have seen it. A woman will one day rule in Kattegat.” But which woman? And what does he mean, precisely: Will she one day rule, or will she rule for just one day? Power gets passed around frequently here in the land of 

. Ask Earl Haraldson. Ask King Horik. Ask Ragnar Lothbrok, who once was a farmer; then an explorer; now a conqueror, a traitor, and betrayed.

While Ragnar slumbers, his sons have grown up. Little Ivar the Boneless is talking, if not precisely walking. Bjorn Ironside mourns the loss of his beloved, Thorunn, who departed Kattegat for parts unknown. She left behind a daughter. Bjorn can’t even look at her, his progeny. “Don’t worry,” says Aslaug, stern and resigned, “We will take care of her.” Perhaps Aslaug prefers it this way. While the men of one generation kill each other, the next generation arises from her household.

Public statements are made. In Kattegat, Bjorn has Floki captured and chained in the town square — long-overdue punishment for the murder of Athelstan. Why punish Floki now? “You also feared his influence on your father,” the shipbuilder declares, unrepentant. Meanwhile, in Hedeby, Kalf declares a new bicameral leadership structure: “I saved Lagertha’s life, and she saved mine. Lagertha and I will share the Earldom, and rule as equals.” Some citizens of Hedeby aren’t too happy about that. Example one: Einar Pornstache, who killed his own uncle for Lagertha before betraying her for Kalf. All Einar’s gambits have left him apparently powerless. He plots a counterattack.

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At last: Ragnar awakes from his slumber. (Perhaps with a little help from the old gods: His loyal friend Floki had carved him some healing runes.) He joins his people in the great hall of Kattegat. A happy man, to be surrounded by so many loving sons. But things are rotten in this state that will eventually be Denmark. Aslaug is raising her sons with the tales of her own father, the great hero Sigurd. (The implication: Her husband doesn’t quite measure up.) A new slave purchased by Aslaug at an auction catches Ragnar’s eye — and we remember that King Ragnar has already left one marriage behind him, one more betrayal in a lifetime of such things.

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