Ragnar Lodbrok in Norse tradition
His shaggy breeches give Ragnar Lodbrok his defining epithet, while serpents, ships, swords and a snake pit mark his heroic imagery. Ragnar Lodbrok is a Norse-Germanic hero associated with raiding, warfare, kingship and seafaring expeditions. His identity is that of a hero rather than a deity, and his story also carries themes of dynastic ancestry and heroic vengeance.
The quick answers
Who is Ragnar Lodbrok?
Ragnar Lodbrok is a Norse hero associated with raiding and warfare, kingship, seafaring expeditions, dynastic ancestry, heroic vengeance.Source
Source
- Norse Mythology
- Price, The Viking Way
- Dictionary of Mythology
- Dictionary of northern mythology
What is Ragnar Lodbrok associated with?
raiding and warfare, kingship, seafaring expeditions, dynastic ancestry, heroic vengeanceSource
Source
- Norse Mythology
- Price, The Viking Way
- Dictionary of Mythology
What family links are recorded for Ragnar Lodbrok?
Father: Sigurd Hring, Mother: Álfhildr Gandálfsdóttir of Álfheimr, Spouse: Aslaug, 7 children.
Ragnar Lodbrok’s family, at a glance
Parents above, children below, and the figure’s consorts named in between, the same family data as the fact box, laid out as a chart instead of a field list.
with Aslaug, Lathgertha, Svanloga, Thora Borgarhjört
The names Ragnar Lodbrok answers to
Ragnarr Loðbrók
Old Norse form meaning Ragnar Hairy-Breeches
SourceDictionary of northern mythology
Ragnar Lothbrok
Common English and Scandinavian form of his name
SourcePrice, The Viking Way
Regnerus Lothbrogh
Latinized form used by Saxo Grammaticus
SourceDictionary of northern mythology
Ragnar Sigurdsson
Ragnar, son of Sigurd Ring, in saga genealogies
SourcePrice, The Viking Way
The myths of Ragnar Lodbrok
2 myths, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources.
Ragnar and Lagertha
Frø seized power in Norway and dishonoured the household of King Siward. Ragnar campaigned against him. The struggle centred on the wrong done to Siward’s household, and Ragnar took action against the situation created by Frø’s seizure of power. Ragnar’s campaign rescued the household, although the nature of Frø’s offence remained unnamed. The dishonour could have involved an attack on Siward’s family, the seizure of their property, or another form of humiliation, but none of these details formed part of the tale.
Lagertha belonged to Siward’s household. She was a shield-maiden and stood among the armed figures linked with the conflict. Ragnar later took her as his bride. The rescue of Siward’s household therefore led to Ragnar’s marriage with Lagertha. No courtship or wedding ceremony followed in the tale. Lagertha’s part in the struggle also remained unstated. She might have fought beside Ragnar, defended the household before he arrived, or met him only after Frø lost power.
The fighting itself went undescribed. Ragnar’s forces remained unknown, as did the places where the battles occurred and the manner in which Frø lost his power. Frø might have died, fallen into captivity, or fled, but his final fate was not given. Siward’s household was rescued, yet its later condition was not told. After Ragnar’s campaign and his marriage to Lagertha, the tale gave no further event concerning them.
In the modern world
No modern rework confirmed yet.
3 sources· checked 2026-08-19
- 1Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the NorthlandT1
- 2the ancient sourcesT1
Quote
“Ragnar fights Frø in Norway, rescues the household of King Siward, and marries Lagertha, a shield-maiden linked with that household.”
the ancient sources
- 3Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the NorthlandT1
The Sons of Thora
Thora died and left Ragnar with their two sons, Eirek and Agnar. No cause was given for her death. No illness, wound, place, or witness was named. No funeral custom, mourning rite, burial site, or spoken farewell followed her death.
Eirek and Agnar were Ragnar and Thora’s sons. Their births were not described. No ages, appearances, characters, education, or childhood activities were given. No home, settlement, household, foster parent, or other relative was named. It was not said whether the brothers grew up together, or whether either son left home while Thora lived.
Both brothers later became celebrated warriors. No battle was assigned to either man. No enemy, king, army, ship, weapon, victory, injury, or visited land was named. It was not said whether they fought in the same campaigns or gained their reputations apart. No individual deed belonged to Eirek, and none belonged to Agnar.
Ragnar later separated from his first family, but the circumstances were not given. It was not said whether he stayed with either son after Thora’s death, whether Eirek and Agnar remained together, or whether they went separate ways. No later marriage, descendant, death, or final deed was given for either brother. Ragnar, Thora, Eirek, and Agnar had no further recorded part in this story.
In the modern world
No modern rework confirmed yet.
3 sources· checked 2026-08-19
- 1Price, The Viking WayT1
- 2Treasury of Norse MythologyT1
- 3the ancient sourcesT1
Quote
“Thora dies, leaving Ragnar with their sons Eirek and Agnar, who later gain renown as warriors.”
the ancient sources
The wider mythology
Works that draw on more of the mythology than any single story: full retellings of the saga, and worlds built out of the material.
The Viking
book
Edison Marshall's 1951 novel centres Ragnar Lodbrok's raids and death in Northumbria as seen through an invented ex-slave protagonist, Ogier (Eric); it reworks Ragnar's wider legend rather than the Lagertha or Thora myths, neither of whom appear.
The Vikings
film
The film reworks Ragnar's wider legend (his raids, a rivalry between his sons, and his death at King Aella's hands) through invented characters Einar and Eric, not Thora's sons Eirek and Agnar.
Vikings
television
The six-season series retells Ragnar's whole legendary arc (his rise, marriages to both Lagertha and Aslaug, raids, death in the snake pit, and his sons' revenge and expansion) rather than staying inside the single sparse Lagertha-courtship myth.
3 works catalogued
This is the candidate catalogue for Ragnar Lodbrok: candidate reworks first, then references, then names used as atmosphere. Nothing here has been checked against a source yet. Only reviewed myth-to-work links are promoted in Overview.
Showing 3 of 3 works.
Film1
- The VikingsRework
Television1
- VikingsRework
Book1
- The VikingRework
These are catalogue candidates, not proof that every work retells this figure. Reviewed myth-to-work links appear in Overview.
What this page is built from
About this page
Written and maintained by MythSource. Last reviewed not yet recorded. How a page gets built.
5 sources are cited on this page, primary texts and corpus scholarship, listed below.
Cite this page
MythSource. (n.d.). Ragnar Lodbrok. https://www.mythsource.com/figures/ragnar-lodbrok
"Ragnar Lodbrok." MythSource, n.d., www.mythsource.com/figures/ragnar-lodbrok.
"Ragnar Lodbrok." MythSource. n.d. https://www.mythsource.com/figures/ragnar-lodbrok.
The mythology summaries and identity fields on this page are grounded in the primary texts and scholarship above. The appearance table records candidates separately; only reviewed joins are presented as modern reworks in Overview.
The film
The Underdrawing video on Ragnar Lodbrok embeds here once it publishes.