The second season of HISTORY’s fascinating, sexually charged, and uber-violent epic series, Vikings kicks off on February 27th, and if you’re not watching it yet, you should be.
The series is rooted in Norse mythology, based on the legends of Ragnar Lodbrok, a ruler known as the scourge of France and England. He wreaked havoc on mid-ninth-century Europe, slept with numerous women, and killed hundreds, but there is more to the series than sex and violence: It’s an engrossing drama about how Ragnar came to power, the alliances he made, the political manipulations, and the art of war. While there isn’t a lot in the written record about the era, Vikings makes for a wildly entertaining educated guess about what really went on in ninth-century Europe.
HISTORY and writer/creator Michael Hirst have done a phenomenal job with the series. The scenery is gorgeous and evocative, the cast (of familiar faces) is great, the action-adventure plotlines manage to be both engrossing and fast-moving, and the swordplay, the plundering, and the bloodshed is plentiful and brutal (the beards are pretty great, too).
Speaking of that violence, it’s a huge selling point for the series, not only because it’s historically accurate (the Vikings were not squeamish), but it’s visceral and breathtaking to look at. In celebration of that glorious violence, and to encourage you to check out what you may be missing, here are the 10 Best Kill GIFs from Vikings — plus an exclusive GIF from a battle scene that takes place during the season two premiere.
10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. And now, as promised, here’s an exclusive GIF from the season two premiere of Vikings. It looks like things won’t be getting any less violent.
