King Edwin of
Northumbria is killed during a Viking raid led by
King Ragnar Lodbrok. Because Edwin died childless, his cousin
Aella takes the throne. The king's widow Enid, however, is pregnant with Ragnar's child. To protect the infant from Aella's ambitions, she sends him off to
Italy. The ship is intercepted by the Vikings, who are unaware of the child's kinship and
enslave him. The boy grows into a young man named Eric. Lord
Egbert, a Northumbrian nobleman opposed to Aella, discovers Eric's parentage. When Aella accuses him of
treason, Egbert finds sanctuary with Ragnar in Norway. Egbert recognises the
pommel stone of the Northumbrian royal sword Requiter on an amulet around Eric's neck, placed there by Eric's mother when he was a child, but says nothing. Eric orders his
falcon to attack Einar (his half-brother and Ragnar's legitimate son and heir). Einar loses an eye and becomes furious. Eric is saved from execution when the royal court
Völva Kitala (who loves Eric as a son) warns that
Odin will curse whoever kills him. He is left in a tidal pool to drown with the rising tide by Ragnar's decree to avoid the curse, but after Eric calls out to Odin, the wind shifts and forces the water away, saving him. Lord Egbert then claims him as his slave property to protect his rights, before Einar, aware of the weather shift, can return and finish him. Egbert wants to take advantage of Eric's unknown claim to the Northumbrian kingdom. s at
Fort-la-Latte Eric and Einar fall in love with the Welsh Christian princess Morgana, who was to marry King Aella but is captured in a raid suggested by Egbert, to demand ransom and bring shame, political unpopularity and pressure upon the Northumbrian monarch. During a drunken feast, Einar confesses his feelings to Ragnar, who says that women often need to be taken by force. Einar is granted to take Morgana as his. Einar throws the guards off the ship Morgana is being held on, and begins to rape her — she offers no resistance, denying him his wish to take her by aggressive force. Eric eventually appears and knocks Einar out, then takes Morgana away on a small ship he had constructed for Egbert. Eric and Morgana flee to England, along with Sandpiper (Eric's friend and fellow slave), Kitala and Morgana's maid Bridget. Einar regains consciousness and gives the alarm, and pursuing longships gain on the fugitives. In thick fog, Ragnar's
longship hits a rock and sinks, while Eric's boat is guided safely by a primitive compass, a piece of
magnetite that Sandpiper previously obtained. Einar, in another longship, believes Ragnar to be dead and abandons the chase. Ragnar, however, is rescued by Eric and taken prisoner to Aella. Eric and Morgana become lovers during the trip, and she agrees to seek release from her pledge to marry Aella. Aella orders Ragnar bound and thrown into a pit filled with starved wolves. To give Ragnar a Viking's death (so that he can enter
Valhalla), Eric, who is granted the honour of forcing him into the pit, cuts the prisoner's bonds and gives him his sword. Laughing, Ragnar jumps to his death. In response to Eric's
"treason", Aella cuts off his left hand, puts him back on his ship and casts him adrift. Eric returns to Einar's settlement, and tells his half-brother how his father died, and what had been Aella's reward for allowing Ragnar to have a Viking's death. With this revelation, and the promise that Eric will guide their ships through the fog (thus making a surprise attack possible), Einar persuades the other Vikings to mount an invasion of Northumbria. Putting their mutual hatred aside for the moment, Einar and Eric sail for England. The dragon longships land, and the Vikings begin to move inland in force. The alarm is sounded, and the castle defenders assemble to repel the Vikings' assault. Einar has Vikings throw axes at the closed
drawbridge that bars entrance to the castle's
keep. Several axe-throwers are killed, but enough survive to throw their axes that a "ladder" is created for Einar to climb after he leaps across the moat to the drawbridge. He gains entry to the keep and lowers the drawbridge so that the other Vikings can overwhelm the outnumbered English. Eric and Einar both set off in search of Morgana. Eric encounters Aella instead and shoves him into the wolf pit. Einar finds Morgana in the chapel in the highest tower of the keep and accosts her, saying that she will be his Queen. When Morgana says that she loves Eric, Einar drags her outside and calls Eric to their long-delayed battle. The two rivals engage in a sword fight on top of the tower. Eric is defeated, his sword broken, but as Einar prepares to deliver the killing blow, he hesitates, having learned the truth from Morgana, and seeing Ragnar in Eric's face. This gives Eric (who does not yet know they are brothers) the opportunity to fatally stab Einar with his sword's broken blade. Eric gives Einar a sword so that he too can enter
Valhalla. Einar later receives a
Viking funeral. == Cast ==