6 Awesome Legends Behind 6 Bad Ass Vikings Characters

2. Queen Aslaug

Personally, I'm a Lagertha fan, and found it hard to warm to Aslaug as a newcomer and - let's face it - a home wrecker. That said, her back story is one of the coolest and probably the most bizarre of the lot. Played in the show by beautiful Australian actress Alyssa Sutherland, Aslaug claims to be the daughter of infamous dragonslayer Sigurd and valkyrie Brynhildr, and according to the legends she was exactly that. In the 13th century Tale of Ragnar Lothbrok, Aslaug was raised by Brynhildr's foster father, a man named Heimer. Concerned for her safety with both of her parents dead and gone, Heimer fashioned a gigantic harp big enough for her to hide in and the two travelled Scandinavia with him posing as a poor busker. After arriving in Norway, they found shelter with a peasant couple who took a shining to the harp, realising it was a case for hiding something, though after they murdered Heimer in his sleep and busted the harp open in search of jewels, they were shocked to find Aslaug hidden away in there. With no alternative, they renamed Aslaug 'Crow' and raised her as their own, covering her in dirt and hiding her beautiful face with a hood so that nobody could recognise her as the offspring of warriors, though they couldn't keep her hidden forever. Aslaug was discovered bathing in a lake by Ragnar's men, and they burned the bread they were supposed to be keeping an eye on when they were distracted by her naked body. Demanding an explanation, Ragnar had his men bring the woman to him, and he saw at once why the bread had burned. She gave Ragnar four sons, including Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, born with a serpent-like mark surrounding his pupil. Ragnar took this as proof that Aslaug was descended from the great Sigurd, though in truth it was probably a simple congenital mutation of the PAX6 gene. Duh.