“Ivar the boneless, scum of the Earth,” Floki told Ivar jokingly before sailing off to the unknown. He was actually prophesying the calamities Ivar would bring to the world on both sides of the Atlantic. Ivar grew up angry at the world because he thought people despised him for being a cripple. The truth is, he was blinded by his hate that he didn’t notice all the love that his family tried to show him. He ended up scattering Ragnar’s family and causing more death than any other leader in the show. He never showed remorse for his actions. He only cared about his legacy becoming greater than that of Ragnar.
Killing Sigurd
Sigurd was the least pleasant of Ragnar’s children as he enjoyed ridiculing his crippled little brother. Ivar was still his brother, and Sigurd would do anything to save him. The same applied to the rest of Ragnar’s sons. Ivar’s impulsive nature and hate got the better of him, though. He threw the axe and killed Sigurd to the shock of his other brothers. The saddest part is that no one did anything to admonish him when e did it. They all believed his lies when he told them he regrated his actions. It was the first obvious sign that Ivar was a monster that would hurt Ragnar’s family immensely.
Declaring Himself God
No one dared challenge Ivar because he was ruthless, and those that didn’t fear him tended to feel pity for him and underestimate him. Bjorn felt to realize the danger he posed until he overthrew Lagertha to become the king of Kattegat. With everyone approving of his actions, Ivar continued to win, even astonishing himself. However, as usual, pride comes before a fall. He decided that deification would make him more popular among his people, and since he thought he was too good to be a human, he declared himself a god. The things he did afterwards only served to make people hate and fear him more.
Scattering Ragnar’s Family
Ivar’s brothers knew that his condition would make his life difficult, but they tried to help whenever they could. Ubbe convinced Margrethe to have sex with him and help break his virginity to save him from depression. However, after they took over York, Ivar decided that he was better than his elder brother and started plotting to oust him. He then convinced Hvitserk to leave Ubbe before convincing him to fight against Ubbe and Lagertha in Kattegat. His hate split Ragnar’s family and destroyed his legacy.
Killing Freydis
Freydis is the only person that truly loved Ivar, but as it turned out, even love couldn’t save Ivar. Ivar was obsessed with Freydis, but that didn’t prevent him from killing her. She was the only person that didn’t see the monster that Ivar was, which was also stupid of her. She encouraged him when he killed innocent people and even declared himself a god. However, when he killed her son, Freydis couldn’t take it anymore. She decided to support Bjorn in bringing him down, but she wasn’t discrete enough. Ivar strangled her to death. It was the first time that Ivar genuinely showed remorse for his actions, but he never changed even after killing her.
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Killing His Son
Ragnar couldn’t imagine a man with a legacy as great as his having a crippled son, so he took Ivar to the woods to kill him, but he couldn’t. He showed mercy on the poor boy and saved him, allowing him to be brought up as his son. Ivar didn’t show the same mercy to his son, though. He left the infant in the forest to whatever fate that came to him rather than have his deformity affect his legacy. It was one of the saddest parts of the entire show as the poor baby was left crying for life as Ivar crawled away.
Burning People Alive
Thora was Hvitserk’s girlfriend but also the smarter of the two. She could see Ivar becoming worse by the day and knew that one-day Hvitserk would have to pay for his brother’s mistakes. It is not clear whether she is the one that defaced Ivar’s wooden statue, but even if she did it, she didn’t deserve to be burned alive alongside her family. It was the first sign that Ivar had lost control and that he had turned into a danger to his own people. Burning women, children and old people alive was just too brutal even by Viking standards.
Killing Bjorn
Bjorn made a mistake when he gave up the leadership of the Great army to his brothers, choosing to explore the Mediterranean instead. He left Ubbe at the hands of the cunning Ivar, who easily took the entire army. Bjorn still considered Ivar his brother, so he never attacked him with the same ferocity he would use when attacking his other enemies.
Bjorn hoped that his little brother would change one day and work to unite the family and Norway rather than tear it apart. Ivar, on the other hand, only saw Bjorn as a threat, so during the first battle against the Rus, Ivar stabbed him while he was still trying to make peace. Ivar killed the only person that would have saved him if he ever needed saving, as he did a short while later.
Killing The Seer
The Seer was the oldest person in Kattegat, and he knew everything about the little kingdom. He lived a life of solitude and seemed to endure everyone’s pain. Everyone still respected and loved him even when his prophecy didn’t agree with their intentions, but not Ivar. Instead of thanking him for his sacrifice and treating him better, Ivar chose to eliminate him. He killed the helpless man in one of the most gruesome ways in the show and had his body dumped without receiving the proper respect.
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Betraying King Harald
Harald was stupid to think that Ivar would die and simply leave him as the ruler of Kattegat. Even with that skepticism, Harald still helped Ivar take the throne from Lagertha. Ivar didn’t wait long before he turned on Harald, though. He immediately got himself a wife and started planning to get a legitimate heir rather than Harald. He also ignored Harald’s concerns despite the fact that he had abandoned him on the field of battle during the first war of Kattegat, and Harald still helped him get the throne. Harald turned around and supported Bjorn to overthrow Ivar, and that was the beginning of Ivar’s fall.
Fighting with The Rus
Kattegat wasn’t exactly the best place in the world, but it was the home to all of the Lothbroks and that included Ivar. He had been its king and was expected to protect its people even for the sake of Ragnar if not himself. Ivar, however, committed the ultimate betrayal by deciding to fight alongside Oleg to take over his home. Oleg was obviously worse than Bjorn, and there was no way he would have left him to rule Kattegat if he won the battle. After fighting alongside the foreigners, Ivar’s fame as Ragnar’s son in Kattegat was doomed. No one wanted him there anymore.