Vikings: Who Survived the Battle — and Who Didn't?

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the latest episode of Vikings. Read at your own risk!]

We're only halfway through the back half of Vikings' fifth season and the History series has delivered another fatal battle, setting the board for an intriguing lead-up to the season finale.

With King Harald (Peter Franzen) determined to expand his reach of power, he prepares to launch an attack on King Alfred's kingdom. Alfred promises Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig), Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith) and Torvi (Georgia Hirst) that if they fight for him, he will grant them the land that was originally promised to Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) by King Ecbert (Linus Roache). And so an uneasy, but fruitful alliance is cemented between the exiled Vikings and Alfred just when the king needs it most.

As tends to happen on this show, the battle is bloody, brutal and more than a few lives are lost. Some of these lives -- like that of Jarl Olavsonn (Tomi May), whom Harald convinced to betray Ivar (Alex Høgh) and join his cause -- are relatively inconsequential, but the episode does feature one pivotal death: Bishop Heahmund (Jonathan Rhys Meyers).

Prior to the battle, Heahmund has a vision of hell, complete with demonic figures crawling over corpses and a bloody baby covered in maggots. In this vision, a deer appears to him and he hears the voice of God. "He told me that I must renounce my sinful ways once and for all or I would never see his divine face. I would never hear his divine voice. Only the screams and lamentations of the damned," Heahmund recalls to Lagertha, whom he now must renounce in the hopes of avoiding eternal damnation.

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But when Heahmund arrives at the battlefield, he is immediately struck by the similarities between it and his vision of hell, complete with the fiery forest and idyllic deer, whom Alfred says is the embodiment of Christ. But the sinking notion that this may be the day he's destined to die doesn't stop Heahmund from fighting with everything he's got against Harald's army. In a brief respite from the chaos, though, Heahmund finds himself staring wistfully at Lagertha, and it's then that he is struck by an arrow to the chest. As more arrows pierce his armor, Heahmund calls out for Lagertha, who watches on helplessly as a shieldmaiden deals a weakened Heahmund a fatal blow with her sword.

While Heahmund is lost in battle, his king, Alfred (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), survives -- but only thanks to a surprising savior. With the conspiracy against Alfred still gaining power, Aethelred (Darren Cahill) has everything to gain if his brother were to die in battle. However, at a crucial moment, with Alfred lying on his back locked in battle with a Viking, Aethelred saves his brother and declares, "Long live the king!" It's a surprising moment of familial loyalty from Aethelred, and it will be curious to see how this decision will impact Alfred's actions now that he's learned Aethelred is behind the conspiracy against him.

But the biggest question moving forward is: What happened to Lagertha? While Heahmund is being riddled with arrows, Lagertha receives a blow to the leg and falls to the ground, where she watches her lover's death. But after that, the former queen of Kattegatt isn't seen from again. Following the battle, in which Alfred's army is victorious, Bjorn, Ubbe and Torvi go onto the field searching through the corpses for her but she's nowhere to be found.

"I don't think we are going to find her," Bjorn declares.

But why? Where did she go? With Heahmund gone, has Lagertha decided to leave Wessex? If so, where is she going and why didn't she bring her allies with her? She wasn't shown to have been taken captive by Harald or Magnus. So where is she and what is she up to? Hopefully Vikings won't draw out these questions too long, because we already know our days with Lagertha are numbered and want to make sure we're getting the most out of the time with her we have left.

Vikings airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on History.

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