Vikings:Valhalla ‘The Web of Fate’ — Leif and Harald reunited

Vikings: Valhalla Season 2 Episode 1 Recap and Review

I don’t have strong feelings either way about the Harald-Freydis pairing, but I do believe in Vikings: Valhalla, the bromance was a more fun, more compelling story than the romance. The episode certainly picked up once the Greenlander and the one time Prince of Norway shared the screen again. And, when Leif chided Harald as they rowed, on the way to Novgorod and their next adventure, it was like Vikings: Valhalla announcing that they were back. And they were. Welcome to the second season of this great show that should have gone on longer but you know what we will take what we have and recap and enjoy these episodes. As always, thank you for joining in this very belated Recap Lab coverage. 

For a brief period of time, Harald and Freydis lived in peace. Harald was seriously wounded in the battle at Kattegat. His wound was infected. When next we saw them, competing as they hunt, living in a shack in the middle of the woods, spending their days in tenderness, Harald had not yet completely healed but he had recovered. He had strength enough to want to return to Kattegat and press his claim to Forkbeard to the throne of Norway that Canute had promised him.

Freydis did not want to leave their idyllic space. It was a place where she could envision raising their children, away from politics and war that had been Harald’s life since he was born. Stubborn about what he believed was his destiny, Harald’s vision of the future included his children ruling Norway. Of course it was ambition on Harald’s part, but also, a life of ruling, or at least waiting to rule, was all he knew. Freydis very reluctantly joined him on the long trek back to Kattegat. 

But Kattegat had changed. Forkbeard dragged a naked Olaf back into the city and chained his few remaining men. Olaf thought he was going to be executed — everyone did — but Forkbeard had another plan. He needed to join his son Canute to fight the Wends in Denmark. He wanted to leave his grandson Svein as King of Norway. He tasked Olaf to safeguard him, in exchange for his son Magnus’s life. Forkbeard even dangled the kingship of Norway for Magnus.

Has it begun to feel like Canute and Forkbeard just dangled the kingship of Norway whenever it suited them? Yes. If Svein were King of Norway, and presumably he would eventually get married and have children, why would his children be disinherited in favour of Magnus? Svein was Canute’s son by Queen Ælfgifu. Emma and Canute were presumably looking to have their own children soon, perhaps a son who would be heir to the great empire Canute was building. Canute simply had too many heirs to be giving away kingdoms at this point. 

But, what choice did Olaf have? Forkbeard was mad enough to kill a child had Olaf not agreed to his scheme. And so Olaf got his clothes and some of his dignity back, and was announced as the new King Svein’s protector. Queen Ælfgifu was to serve as Regent. Forkbeard sailed away with Queen Ælfgifu's younger son and Magnus. 

It was as though Olaf did not come within a hair’s breadth of execution; he was immediately back to his scheming ways. The people of Kattegat were not happy to have him as their new de facto ruler; he solved that by dangling two things — chests of gold, and a new enemy. He declared that his brother Harald was raising a great pagan army with the help of Freydis (whom he branded a witch) to kill Christians. He offered three chests of gold as bounty for their whereabouts. 

It was this danger that Harald and Freydis were unknowingly walking toward. But, Leif had been amongst the crowd that day in Kattegat. He returned, too, from his hunting of Olaf and his supporters, when he heard that Olaf was back in town. With the ghost of Liv by his side, he had meant to axe Olaf right there in the middle of the crowd. But, with the knowledge that Harald and Freydis were in danger, he stayed his hand. 

Harald and Freydis were recognised on the road; the man immediately ran to his fellow bounty hunters. Leif tracked them and killed them, and after what seemed like long weeks if not months, he reunited with his sister and his friend. 

Where were they to go, now that they had no allies? Novgorod, according to Harald. His uncle ruled there, he would support Harald. Harald still hoped to raise an army so he could take the crown of Norway that he believed was his. 

Of course the trip to Novgorod was about Harald’s ambition, but it was also about survival. What else were they supposed to do, now that there was a bounty on their heads? All the closest power brokers were against them. Olaf had turned Harald and Freydis into enemies of Kattegat. To survive, they needed power. 

It was not just the bounty hunters and Leif that tracked them, a man named Jorundr did as well. Freydis’s reputation as ‘the last daughter of Uppsala’ had taken root amongst the few who survived who still believed in the old gods. Jorundr said he was a Jomsviking (pirates, per Harald). He led the three to the beach, where dozens of people, refugees of the last war, waited for the Jomsviking ship that was hidden by a thick fog. Whilst Jorundr went to the ship, Freydis, Leif, and Harald were able to quietly say their goodbyes.

Freydis went to Leif first, and gently talked to him about letting Liv go. Leif confessed that he no longer believed in the gods. Freydis had a confession, too, one that she made Leif promise to keep from Harald — she was with child. She did not want him to know because she did not want a child whose destiny was to rule a Christian kingdom. 

There it was, that divide between them that Harald tried to love out of Freydis. Harald’s vision of a Kattegat-esque kingdom, where all faiths were welcomed and accepted, may have been sincere, but his was not the faith that was getting chased out by time and the tides of change. Freydis knew she was holding on to a dying religion. The world that she wanted was one of the old gods, and that was not a world that Harald could give her.

Their voices broke as they spoke quietly, there on the beach where they looked at the fogged up horizon together for the last time. For someone who was not at all invested in this relationship, I felt the heartbreak of this scene, and that was down to the exquisite performances by Leo Suter and Frida Gustavsson. A halo of melancholy surrounded them through this episode; that morphed into a knife-sharp pain as they both acknowledged what they already knew, that their time together, that their blood-drenched, battle-weary, love- above-everything-else-in-the-finite-minutes-of-peace-that-they-managed-to-snatch time together, had come to an end. 

Olaf just had to come in and break the spell. He took young Svein and his men, and surrounded the refugees. Harald, Leif, and Freydis herded them toward the sea, but they were surrounded.

Then, as was appropriate after an emotional scene, volleys of fire came flying from the thick fog, separating the refugees from Olaf’s army. Jorundr had returned with small boats to take the refugees to the Jomsviking ship that was idling nearby. 

Freydis got on the ship, but Harald and Leif remained on their small boat. Their fellowship of vengeance had come to an end. Freydis was certain that her destiny lay with the few who still believed in the old gods. Harald was certain that his destiny was to be King of Norway. Leif, well, he did not want to return to Greenland, and Novgorod would be someplace new. ‘Put your back into it’, he told Harald as they rowed, just a couple of Vikings at the mercy of the sea. 

Strays

⚔️ Ælfgifu arrived in Kattegat thinking that she was only fetching her sons. It turned out that Forkbeard was exiling her there.

⚔️ One of Emma's ladies in waiting, Aelfwynn, was Godwin's secret lover. When asked about his dream, Godwin said he dreamed of his eldest becoming King of England, of his other children being sent to their separate kingdoms. Aelfwynn pointed out that was not possible because neither her family nor his were of royal blood. Even if they were, Queen Emma's two sons and Canute's children would make that dream impossible.

⚔️ Freydis was still seeing the Seer. After one vision, the Seer drew a symbol on the ground. Jorundr had the same symbol as a mark on his arm.

⚔️ Emma was not pleased that Godwin had been writing to Canute about his concerns for her safety. Later, there was an attempted poisoning of Emma at a private mass. The perpetrator was apprehended. Emma apologised to Godwin for not trusting him, but it looked like Emma still did not trust him.

⚔️ A new Uppsala was being built in Jomsburg.

⚔️ On his own, Leif went on a bloody vengeance, killing Olaf's men as he searched for Olaf himself. Later, Freydis told him there was a coldness in his eyes, similar to their father's. Freydis persuaded him to let go of his anger.

Rating: A-

Episode Writer: Jeb Stuart

Episode Director: Ciaran Donnelly

Original Air Date: January 12, 2023