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Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsson) is one of the main characters of Netflix’s historical drama action-adventure series ‘Vikings: Valhalla.’ It serves as a sequel to History Channel’s popular show ‘Vikings,’ set 100 years later. As the end of the Viking Age rapidly approaches, Scandinavia is embroiled in a conflict between the old pagan faith and Christianity. When the English king Aethelred II orders the massacre of the Norse people living on the island, King Canute of Denmark brings together all Vikings for revenge.
Freydis of ‘Vikings: Valhalla’ is based on the historical figure Freydís Eiríksdóttir, who is associated with the Norse arrival in North America or Vinland in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. She is mentioned in the ‘Saga of the Greenlanders’ and the ‘Saga of Erik the Red.’ However, the accounts of the two sagas distinctively vary from each other. If you are wondering whether Freydis survives in ‘Vikings: Valhalla’ season 2, this is what you need to know. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Freydis Fights for Survival
No, Freydis doesn’t die in the second season of ‘Vikings: Valhalla.’ In episode 1, she arrives in Kattegat with her brother Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett) and a few companions in search of the Christian man named Gunnar Magnusson, who raped and marked her. In Kattegat, she meets Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter), a prince of Norway, with whom she has a sexual encounter. After finding Gunnar in the halls of Jarl Haakon (Caroline Henderson) of Kattegat, she kills him, inadvertently jeopardizing the English invasion plans of King Canute of Denmark. She also earns the enmity of Olaf Haraldsson for this, as Gunnar was one of his close aides.
Eventually, Harald comes to her rescue and convinces Canute to accept Leif’s service in exchange for sparing Freydis’ life. After learning that they are the children of Erik the Red and about Leif’s remarkable sailing abilities, Canute agrees to the proposal with Jarl Haakon’s approval.
As Leif and Harald leave for England, Freydis stays behind in Kattegat. Unlike her brother, who has a crisis of faith during his journey, she remains steadfast in her beliefs. She gets ambushed by a Christian berserker while making a pilgrimage to Uppsala. All her companions perish, including two who came with her from Greenland, but she manages to kill the berserker. At Uppsala, she experiences a vision in which she meets the Seer. He claims that she is “the Last,” likely referring to her probable fate of being the last Viking. During the pilgrimage, he also receives a sword that distinctively looks like the one wielded initially by Ragnar Lothbrok.
Her destiny draws the attention of Jarl Kåre, a fanatic Christian who burns down the Temple of Uppsala. After returning to Kattegat, Freydis begins training to be one of Haakon’s shieldmaidens. After Leif and Harald return, she passes her final trial. Freydis dutifully serves Haakon in her battle against Olaf and Kåre. After Haakon’s apparent death, she leaves the fallen city with a wounded Harald.
As the second season begins, Freydis lives in the woods with Harald. They are happy, but Harald has much bigger ambitions than spending his entire life as a peasant. Eventually, Freydis agrees to come with Harald as he goes to speak to Forkbeard for what Canute promised him. Fortunately, they run into Leif on the way, who tells them that Forkbeard has released Olaf, who has announced bounties on their heads. This is when Freydis meets Jorundr the Jomsviking, whose arm tattoo is similar to the one she saw on the Seer. Believing this to be a sign, she decides to go to Jomsborg with him, parting ways with her brother and her lover. She doesn’t tell Harald that she is pregnant, not wanting her child to become the ruler of a Christian nation.
After arriving in Jomsburg, things initially go well for Freydis, and she becomes the priestess at the temple. However, she soon discovers that the natives there discriminate against the refugees. This prompts her to stand against the local ruler, Lord Harekr (Bradley James), who massacres the refugees and takes Freydis’ child from her. Later, Harekr is killed by his own people, and when Olaf comes to Jomsburg to kill her and the remaining followers of the old faith, she burns his people to death before driving a spear through him. As the second season ends, she delivers Svein, who accompanied Olaf, to his mother, securing peace with Kattegat.
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