One of the most unexpected scenes in the last episode of “Vikings" Season 4 is when viewers saw Ragnar suddenly leaving his people that led everyone, including his son, very disappointed with him. So when they finally saw him back, not everyone was really pleased. And that is what show creator, Michael Hirst, have explained why it had to happen in one of his recent interviews.
According to Hirst, everyone thought he was never going back but he did. He loves his children very much so he really planned to return and know what had happened to them. “He loves his children — his boys — and he wants to know what happened to them, and how they’ve grown up,” Hirst explains.
And then there’s the question why he really left in the first place. Hirst says Ragnar has been defeated and it's not really easy for someone like him to accept that in “Vikings" Season 4. Not to mention that his own brother has betrayed him and was the main reason for his defeat. In Viking’s culture, a defeated man must be replaced by the strongest one in the block but it's different in Ragnar’s case. “he was too famous just to forget.” Said Hirst.
Hirst was also asked what Ragnar did in his alone time in "Vikings" Season 4 and Hirst says he doesn’t know either and he prefers it to be that way. He would expect that he lived a solo life while he was away and just thinking. Some fans think he may have thought of suicide but he assures that didn’t happen. Although the recent teasers of the series show Ragnar is already thinking about it.
But his back now and it looks like his people has accepted him, except for his sons of course. The upcoming episodes “Vikings" Season 4 is expected to tackle Ragnar’s quest for revenge in Wessex and King Ecbert. He will also be dealing with the fact that he has another son in Wessex and if dealt with care could be used to his advantage.
