The Gotaland princess who becomes Ragnar Lothbrook's second wife on Vikings, Aslaug is mysterious from the moment she is introduced. She is beautiful, refined, and an orphan looking for a family. When she first meets Ragnar, she feels their union is fate and that she will be the next queen of Kattegut, even though Ragnar is still married to Lagertha.
Their entire storyline is complicated, dramatic, and tragic in many ways. Aslaug is also a seer of sorts. She has her own gift for telling the future and that in itself is full of hidden details and things that seem to be coincidence later on. Look a little closer and you'll find that Aslaug's mystery is revealed in tidbits throughout her story.
There Are Hidden Symbols In The First Encounter
When Ragnar first happens upon Aslaug bathing at the lake, she demands an apology and he says he will oblige only under certain conditions. She must come to them "neither dressed nor undressed, neither hungry nor full, and neither in company or alone." Aslaug comes to him dressed in a net, biting an apple, and in the company of a wolf-like dog.
These symbols have different meanings aside from Aslaug's ingenuity. The net she is dressed in is reminiscent of the fishing and farming village of Kattegut where Ragnar is from. The apple is a symbol of Idun, the goddess of all life and fertility. Aslaug later bears Ragnar four sons. The dog looks very much like a wolf, the ultimate symbol of Ragnarok, the Norse mythology's version of the end of times. Aslaug is the beginning and the end for Ragnar and it is symbolized from their very first encounter.
Bjorn Is Not Happy With Aslaug From The Beginning
When Ragnar quickly takes Aslaug as his new lover while still married to Lagertha, Bjorn takes it badly. He shows serious disdain for Aslaug and later on when Lagertha leaves and Ragnar and marries Aslaug, Bjorn leaves with his mother. Aslaug then bears several sons, Bjorn's younger half brothers.
Aslaug appears afraid of Bjorn when they first meet and she is later afraid of how he will react to her sons. They end up in fights back and forth all the time, culminating eventually in war with Ivar.
"Be Careful With Whom You're Familiar"
Aslaug tells a slave girl that is flirting with Ragnar to be careful with whom she is familiar, referring to her jealousy over Ragnar with other women. She fears he will grow bored or displeased with her and that Lagertha is first in Ragnar's heart, not her. At the end of Season 2, Aslaug and Lagertha share Ragnar.
It's clear he always wanted them both and the appear to be friendly after that. Later in Season 4, after Lagertha takes Kattegut, Aslaug agrees to accept defeat under the condition that Lagertha gives her safe age out of Kattegut. Lagertha agrees but when Aslaug is leaving, Lagertha shoots her dead with an arrow. She trusted Lagertha and ended up dead, similar to her veiled threats to the slave girl she threw out when she was the one with the power.
Aslaug And Ivar Are Profoundly Intertwined
Ivar is a clear favorite of Aslaug when he is born and she fights for him. He has a disease that makes his legs appear to be boneless. Ragnar advocates for killing Ivar, saying that he will have no good life and will probably be in pain until he dies. When Aslaug is killed, Ivar vows to avenge her.
Earlier, she says that Ivar is not like his father, that he is her responsibility. When she is killed by Lagertha, Ivar immediately challenges Lagertha to single combat. Just as Aslaug said Ivar is her responsibility, Ivar made her his responsibility.
Apparent Disdain For Sigurd "Snake In The Eye"
The viewers don't see a lot of Aslaug parenting throughout the series, especially in season 4 after her death. When Sigurd is still in the womb, Aslaug tells Ragnar that he will have an image of the dragon Fafnir in his eye, the dragon slain by her father in legendary stories. She tells Ragnar this to prove she is a "volva" which is a kind of seer in Viking .
When Sigurd is born as a "snake in the eye," Ragnar begins pulling away from Aslaug. Shortly after that, he goes on a raid to England and doesn't return for many years. After Aslaug is killed, Sigurd doesn't want to avenge her because he feels she was neglectful. This suggests that when Ragnar left, Aslaug checked out as mother to her third boy.
A Woman Will Rule Kattegut
Aslaug asks the Seer if a woman will rule Kattegut and he says that a woman will, leading Aslaug to believe that it will be her. When Harold comes to Kattegut to win her as his queen, she tells him that he must overthrow her husband Ragnar.
She thought she was making the prophecy come true for herself. Instead, she sends Harold on a mission he becomes adamant to complete in his search for power and in so doing she does make the prophecy come true...for Lagertha.
Aslaug Doesn't Want Her Children To Live In Filth
When Aslaug runs with her sons and Siggy, she complains about the living conditions where Floki helps to hide them. She insists that living in filth is bad for the children. Later, Bjorn and his wife Porunn have a daughter named Siggy and Porunn falls seriously depressed.
She abandons her daughter and so does Bjorn, leaving her in Aslaug's care. After her protestations about children living in filth, she lets baby Siggy run around in the dirt all day. One day Sigurd finds baby Siggy dead on a muddy riverbank and Aslaug expresses no care for the child at all.
Aslaug Bears A Close Resemblance To The Norse Goddess Freyja
Love, beauty, fertility are all things that easily come to mind when considering Aslaug's character. But did you know that her story is often mixed with Frigg who was the God Odin's wife? Ragnar wanted to be ruler of all. He saw himself as the man imbued with holy strength, his mission to rise to power.
He wanted to be the father of all and Lagertha couldn't give him more sons. The mysterious and mystical Aslaug was the goddess he hoped for, the one who could be his queen.
Lagertha's Goddess Affinity Runs Parallel To Aslaug's Story
Lagertha bears resemblance to the goddess Frigg. She is the goddess of marriage, along with other things. She isn't fertile the same as Aslaug but her insistence on Ragnar not breaking their marriage vows is very much like the recorded persona of Frigg.
Throughout Season 3, Aslaug and Lagertha appear to be competing for Ragnar, even though Lagertha already left him. His wanting both women is a detail similar to that of many Norse religions where Freyja and Frigg are the same Goddess. Curious, since Ragnar wanted them both.
Aslaug Was A Poor Orphan
When Ragnar first finds Aslaug, she is living on a farm as an orphan, even though she says she is a princess. She tells people that her mother was the famed shield maiden Brunhilda and her father was a dragon slayer, whom she names her third son Sigurd after.
She styles herself “Princess” even after Ragnar marries her. Since her parents are dead, all we really know about Aslaug when she first appears is that she is a farm girl.