Brownworth recounts the legend of Ragnar Lothbrok's death in a snake pit and his final vow that his sons would avenge him — which they did by leading the Great Heathen Army's conquest of England. ✦ AI generated
Lars Brownworth · Lex Fridman · 2026-04-09 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 30:30
“Who was Ragnar Lothbrok? Did he actually exist?”
His last words are, um, "When the boar bleats, the piglets come," by which he means, "My s- I have sons," he had 12 of them, "and they will avenge me." And they do, they lead the the Great Heathen Army to invade and eventually conquer England.
verbatim transcript · starts at 30:30
30:30and he explains, rather foolishly, that he has these hairy breeches. So, they take the pants off and throw him back, and his last words are, um, "When the boar bleats, the piglets come."... by which he means, "My s- I have sons," he had 12 of them, "and they will avenge me." And they do, they lead the the Great Heathen Army to invade and eventually conquer England. Aella, fun fact, not so fun for him,
30:57is the, supposedly was captured by the son of Ragnar, his name is Ivar the Boneless, which is somewhat terrifying of a name. And he is, he's the first person that a blood eagle was performed on. - What's the blood eagle? - It's when they remove the lungs, they, while you're still alive, they cut you open and remove the lungs and put the lungs on your back. And then when you try to breathe, they flutter like wings, so it's called, like
31:22an eagle. It's called the blood eagle. - That is horrible. - It's disgusting, yes. And this is what Aella, you know, deserves, according to, you know, Bjorn Ironside and Ivar the Boneless, the sons of Ragnar. Like, this is what they get. - Offense. - This is the piglets coming- ... to their own boar, you know? One last thing about Ragnar, is his wife is also an important part. He had
31:47something like 12 sons, the accounts differ, and probably three marriages. But his most famous wife was named Aslaug, and she fell in love with him. He was on a ship, he was passing through, so- ... kind of a glamorous sea king, right? With his, he's living the dream. And she sees him and she wants to be married to him, and he says no. He says, 'cause he wants a clever wife, and so he says, "If you can
32:14accomplish these three things, you can marry me. So tomorrow, I'll be here tonight, and then tomorrow, I want you to come to my ship. I want you to have no clothes on- ... but not be naked. I want you to have not eaten a meal, but not have fasted. And I want you to come without a companion, but not alone." And so she shows up with a dog. She doesn't have a companion, but she's not alone. She's taken a