3. Bjorn Ironside
Ragnar and Lagertha's only son in the show (he was actually a son of Aslaug, not Lagertha), Bjorn Ironside was played by Nathan O'Toole as a child and is now portrayed as a man by Alexander Ludwig. A fierce warrior who loves his mother and respects his father, Bjorn wants nothing more than to follow the Gods into battle and his parents into the history books, and in reality he did just that. Legend has it that Bjorn went on to forge his own dynasty after Ragnar's death, becoming King of Sweden and giving birth to offspring that would rule the country for hundreds of year, the last of which - Edmund the Old - dying in 1060 as the final member of the Munso dynasty, so called because that's where Bjorn is thought to be buried. A renowned naval commander, Bjorn lead a large Viking force across the Mediterranean, pillaging Gibraltar and countless settlements along the coast of Spain before hitting the south of France and eventually capturing the Italian city of Pisa. Not bad. From Pisa Bjorn and his men travelled inland to the city of Luna, which they mistakenly believed to be Rome, due to it's staunch defences that they simply could not breach. Here is where TV show writer Michael Hirst uses a bit of poetic license and adds parts of Bjorn's story to Ragnar's - after seeing no other alternative, Bjorn sent a messenger to Luna's bishops claiming that he was on his death bed and had converted to Christianity. Believing Bjorn's trickery, the clerics allowed a small honour guard to carry the supposedly dead chieftain's body to the town's church, where he leapt from his coffin and cut his way to the city gates, opening them and allowing his men to flood the streets and take the city. Leaving Italy with an amassed fortune, Bjorn ran into trouble as he returned to the straits of Gibraltar, ambushed by the Saracen navy who sunk 40 of his ships, though he was able to make it back to Scandinavia where he died a rich man.