Vikings: The Places of Ragnar's Story

Ragnar begins as a farmer in the fictional village of Kattegat, from where he rises to fame by raiding England. The show borrows the name of a sea, not a settlement: the real Kattegat is a body of water between Denmark and Sweden, and the Gesta Danorum places Ragnar's royal line at Lejre. The story is inspired by the sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok, not by any single chronicle. The marker is deliberately left off the map: no real place stands behind the village.

Location precision: Kattegat is a village invented by the series; it has no real-world location, so this stop has no pin.

Season one builds to the attack on Lindisfarne, where Father Cuthbert is in charge of the monastery. History places the real raid on 8 June 793, and it is often taken as the beginning of the Viking Age. The show compresses time: season one ends at 793, before the real Rollo was even born. Lindisfarne Priory, founded in 634 by Irish monks, now lies in ruins and is a popular destination.

Location precision: The pin marks Lindisfarne island; the priory ruins are the monastery site raided in 793.

Visitor guidance: Reached by a tidal causeway; check the crossing times before you go.

The show pictures the temple at Uppsala as a stave church in the mountains. A Norwegian newspaper pointed out the mistake: the historical temple stood on flat land, and the one on screen resembles reconstructions of the Uppåkra hof. Real Gamla Uppsala lies on a cultivated plain in the Fyris valley and was famous as the home of the legendary Yngling kings of Sweden.

Location precision: The pin marks Gamla Uppsala, where the historical temple stood; the show's mountain setting is invented.

In Wessex the Vikings meet King Ecbert, played as the cunning king of Wessex, with a Bishop of Winchester at court. The show compresses history: the real Ecgberht reigned from 802 to 839, so by the siege of Paris in 845 he was already dead and his son Æthelwulf was king. Winchester's Old Minster dates to 648, but the court of that age had no fixed capital, so the pin stands for Wessex.

Location precision: The series names a bishop of Winchester, but Anglo-Saxon courts moved around, so the pin marks the city as a stand-in for Wessex.

Season three brings the Vikings to Paris, where Count Odo appears, with Earl Siegfried among the Viking commanders. The show draws on the siege of 845: 120 ships and over 5,000 men came up the Seine under Ragnar, a plague struck their camp, and the Franks paid 7,000 livres to be rid of them. In the show Rollo ends as Duke of Normandy; in history he became Count of Rouen and first ruler of Normandy.

Location precision: The sources do not name a single spot for the siege; the pin marks the Île de la Cité, the old heart of Paris.

In season four King Ælla of Northumbria throws Ragnar into a pit of snakes. The scene follows the sagas, where Ælla puts Ragnar to death in a serpent pit, and the sons set out to avenge him. In the sagas' telling this led to the Great Heathen Army, which captured York in November 866.

Location precision: The sagas do not say where the pit was; the pin marks York, the Northumbrian centre the Viking army took in 866.

Season four follows Bjorn's raid into the Mediterranean, and season five has scenes set in Sicily. History knows a large raid of 859–861 co-led by Hastein and Björn Ironside. They went on to Sicily and North Africa and, at Luni, took the town they believed to be Rome. The fleet reportedly lost 40 ships to a storm. The pin marks Luni, one named stop on that long voyage.

Location precision: The raid crossed many coasts; the pin marks Luni, one named stop on the route.

Floki the boat builder is loosely based on Hrafna-Flóki, who sailed to Iceland in the 9th century. In season five he arrives in Iceland believing he has found Asgard, after Kjetill Flatnose is picked for a colony expedition. Historically Flóki set up a winter camp in Vatnsfjörður on Barðaströnd, then named the land Ísland after seeing a fjord full of ice. Today Vatnsfjörður is a nature reserve in northwestern Iceland.

Location precision: The saga places Flóki's camp at Vatnsfjörður; the show does not tie its colony to one spot.

Ivar the Boneless flees Kattegat and finds refuge in Rus', where Prince Oleg the Prophet welcomes him at his court in Kiev. The real Oleg was a Varangian prince of the Rus' who became prince of Kiev and attacked Constantinople. The show takes liberties: it brings Christianity to Kievan Rus much too early. Kiev, today's Kyiv, is the pin for the whole Rus' episode.

Location precision: The show's court is set in Kiev, but its scenes are not tied to a specific building; the pin marks the city.

Season six follows Ubbe's expeditions to Iceland and North America, with his wife Torvi and a mysterious wanderer named Othere. The show's land across the ocean runs through Greenland and Mi'kma'ki, today's Canada, and it never names the site. The pin is a stand-in: L'Anse aux Meadows on Newfoundland, dated to between 990 and 1050, is the only undisputed Norse site in the Americas outside Greenland.

Location precision: The show does not name where Ubbe lands; the pin marks L'Anse aux Meadows, the one proven Norse site in North America.