The main characters of Vikings have some big ambitions. These are not people who simply want to lead a simple life, but who want to crack open the world, explore lands that no one else has ever heard of, raid them, and bring their riches home. Some characters (like Ragnar and Bjorn) are focused on exploration, while others (like Harald and Ivar) are more concerned with conquest. But of all the main characters across six seasons, few have small or simple dreams.
That isn't to say that everyone managed to achieve their dreams, of course. Many of the Kings and Earls have big ambitions to rule, but are cast down or fail to rise to power in the first place. Many plans and betrayals go awry, and many others die before achieving what they set out to. However, these main characters all managed to achieve something that they initially wanted - even if it was a temporary victory. (Note: Because so many of these characters do not appear in the first season, their original 'want' is taken from their first season as an adult character.)
10 Athelstan - To Return To England
Athelstan actually achieves a surprising number of his goals from the first season, given that he initially appears in the series as a monk who is kidnapped and enslaved by Ragnar. In his earliest appearances, Athelstan wants one main thing, which is to return home - something that he does manage, although in a way he would never have expected. He eventually returns to England as a Viking, raiding alongside Ragnar. And he even returns to a monastic way of life, working for King Ecbert in transcribing old manuscripts. However, he eventually decides to come back to Norway, and it is there that he is killed - but only after he is able to rediscover his faith.
9 Harald - To Become King Of Norway
Of all the Vikings characters, King Harald is the one who makes his initial desire the clearest from the start - he wishes to become the King of All Norway, and he is happy to tell this to everyone he meets. He manages it, too, although sadly, this doesn't get him what he really wants - the love of Princess Ellisif. He wished to become King to impress her, but she wanted nothing to do with him - and even attempted to kill him! However, despite his professed terrible luck with women, he did manage to manipulate his way into becoming the first King of Norway - even if his rule was short-lived.
8 Ubbe - To Live Up To His Father's Name
Ubbe isn't as vocal about his desires as many of the other characters, but from the time he was a child in the series, he has wanted to live up to his father's name. As the eldest son of Ragnar and Aslaug (and raised for the most part while Bjorn was living far away with Lagertha) he always felt the pressure of being Ragnar's son.
When he was first given his arm ring and went to Paris with Ragnar, it was clear that he wanted to see himself as a man as great as Ragnar was. And in the end, of course, he did. He became famous further afield than Ragnar himself, brokered his own peace with King Alfred in his father's name, and was the first Viking (other than Floki) to reach an entirely new land.
7 Floki - To Find Peace
Floki has many desires throughout the show, and his primary want is to support Ragnar and see him succeed. Of course, Ragnar ended up dying in England, almost alone, having disappeared for years before that, so Floki's main driving desire isn't one that really 'came true'. However, Floki also seemed to always be in search of peace. He lived away from the village of Kattegat in the woods, he wished only to be left alone with his trees and to find peace in himself - and in the end, that is exactly what happened, although in the forests of North America, not Norway.
6 Rollo - To Step Out Of His Brother's Shadow
Rollo is a major player in the early seasons of Vikings, and it's clear from the start that one of his biggest motivations in life is a desire to step out of Ragnar's shadow. Anyone would feel small in comparison to a character as huge as Ragnar, a man who becomes a legend among his people. However, Rollo's desire to be seen as Ragnar's equal often leaves him open to manipulations from Ragnar's enemies. In the end, though, Rollo is able to achieve his goals by settling in France, and marrying a French noblewoman. Here, he becomes a wealthy noble himself (after some struggles to adapt), and finally becomes his own man.
5 Ivar - To Be With A Woman & Father Children
Ivar wants a lot of things over the course of the show, and struggles with the impact of his inability to walk, and how this leads others to perceive him. At various times, he wants to be a King, to be a God, and to be a conqueror. However, in the earliest episodes of Ivar as an adult, one of the first real desires that he expresses is to be able to be with a woman - specifically, Margrethe, the woman that three of his brothers are also sleeping with.
This suggests a deeper desire, though. Ivar wants to be like his brothers, and not limited by his physical condition, and he wants to have a son (a powerful desire for most Vikings). In the end, this actually comes to fruition, as he is able to be intimate with Katia, and when he leaves her behind in Rus, she tells him she is carrying his child.
4 Torvi - To Leave Kattegat
When Torvi is first introduced, it is as the wife of Jarl Borg, and at the time all she wanted was to get out of Kattegat. This is a desire that changes repeatedly throughout the series, as she leaves and returns multiple times, becomes deeply involved in the defense of Kattegat and falls in love with two of the Sons of Ragnar... but in the end, she gets to leave again, and travel with Ubbe to North America. Of course, this may not be exactly what she had in mind in the beginning!
3 Bjorn - To Explore The World
Bjorn first appears as a child, and there may be many things that he wanted at a young age - to keep his family together, and safe, for one thing. However, as he grew older, it became increasingly clear that what motivated Bjorn more than anything was a desire to explore the world, and set out to lands that even his father never knew existed. He manages this, of course, traveling not just to France and the Mediterranean, but even into the North African deserts before returning to Kattegat.
2 Lagertha - To Keep Her Family Safe
Lagertha is always a fighter, and her first appearances clearly show that she wants to keep her family safe, as she fights off potential attackers at the farm she and Ragnar have outside Kattegat. Throughout the series, this desire to protect her loved ones defines her, as she battles to defend the people she loves. In the end, she doesn't always manage this 100% of the time, as Ragnar dies before her, as does her daughter. However, she is able to become known as a protector, and even dies protecting the people who live near her when she retires to farm again.
1 Ragnar - To Travel To A New World
Ragnar wants a lot of things over the course of the show, and he doesn't always get them - in many ways, his tale even becomes tragic, at the end. However, if there is one thing that he wants at the very start of Vikings, it is to be able to travel to lands beyond Norway, and discover what lies to the West. This drives him, as he fights his Earl to be allowed to try and raid across the sea, now that he has a boat (thanks to Floki) and a way of navigating that no one has ever used before... and of course, he does it. In fact, his time raiding and fighting in England, and his relationships with Ecbert and Athelstan become defining in his life. Whether or not it was a good thing that Ragnar managed to achieve this, however, is definitely debatable.
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