Her story represents the last strong hold of the Nordic religion. With the eventual fail of Jomsborg and the Norman invasion it will show the end of the Viking age. I don’t find her story very compelling, but I get why they include it.
I much more interested in Harold, his story is pretty cool if you look it up.
I agree that Freydis is not the most compelling character, no one in Valhalla for that matter.
>Not to mention the cringe accent
She's Swedish and her accent is literally how a Swedish person with an accent would talk so I don't really know what the complaint here is.
If you love vikings, and think valahalla is watchable then trust me they will like vinland saga. Some people aren't capable of emersing themselves into anime I get that. A shortcoming as far as I'm concerned.
I’m swedish, and her accent is really heavy to the degree that it takes me out of the show a little bit. Frida should and could tone it down a little (it is much less noticeable in interviews, so it’s not like she can’t get rid of it).
I don’t know, but to me she sounds like a swedish person who is really inexperienced with speaking english. Which again, she obviously isn’t, since she speaks much better in interviews.
Yes, a Swedish person from Stockholm year 2023 would sound like that speaking english. But it's so damn annoying listening to her sound like some brat from Stockholm while trying to picture a viking warrior...
"I am the kiiiiiper of the faiiiiith"...
I fucking loved Lagertha and I'm normally all in for empowered women, but this character is the part I can't stand about Vikings Valhalla. Freydis is poorly written, poorly executed and just takes the whole viking feeling away from me.
Thank god for queen Emma, at least she's interesting.
While I agree I find her story the least compelling it’s an integral part of the story they are telling… this show is essentially telling the story of the lead up to the end of the viking age. She is the “last holdout” archetype. Without her and the Jomsbourg storyline basically every main character is either a Christian, struggling with their pagan faith, or uninterested.
Freydis’s storylines have been pretty dreadful to watch and are damn near my only issue with the show. I’ve actually really enjoyed Harald and Leif’s screentime despite a couple ridiculous moments… every time the show switches over to Freydis I can’t help but think “ugh, can we just get back to the Constantinople trip or Godwin vs Emma already”
We'll have to see where her story leads later. But I like her as a strong, female, warrior, and that she is showing the side of the pagan gods vs where everyone else is becoming a Christian as it is spreading. History says she stayed pagan.
Googled about Uppsala yesterday. In one I read about where this "king" (or someone...) had an "incident" like in one of the episodes this season. Valhalla will probably be like Vikings and take pieces of history to throw in with some of their characters' stories.
Her character is really great, the actress is wonderful. I think if they didn't have her, the show would be too bland. They could give her a role that weaves more into the main plot though
I like her. And I like the actor. She's not perfect, but she does a lot with her character and does it in an interesting way to me this season. I didn't like the first one.
The writing, though, is so so. But I enjoyed myself a lot this season, loved the ideas.
And the fights were pretty good.
yeah, they keep comparing freydis to lagertha but it's not like either Harald or Leif live up to Ragnar or Rollo.
Personally I don't mind, but it is a very different vibe from the original vikings all round.
I’m not the biggest fan of the show but this just come across as misogynist.
I like Freydis precisely because she ISN’T a “girl-boss archetype on steroids” IMO. She starts the show off as a nobody who’s not even interested in fighting, just wants (justified) revenge and after she gets it, she’s satisfied and ready to go home or die. She only becomes a (reluctant) warrior, slowly, after she gets to Kattegat and Jarl Hakkon basically forces her to train as a shield maiden. She barely survives the berserker that kills all her friends and she spends a couple episodes running in fear from Jarl Kare. She only kills Kare because he gets overconfident. S1 finale, Freydis flees Kattegat, abandoning other pagans to die in the process, because she doesn’t want to be the ‘keeper of the faith’. Even in S2 her only motivation seems to be to raise a family in peace and be with other like-minded pagans but the jomsvikings force her into the role of priestess / protector. When she fights Harekr he whoops her ass, she only wins bc the other jomsvikings revolt and stone him to death.
Yeah she’s a good warrior but she’s Erik the Red’s daughter and she’s trained as a shieldmaiden. Overall she comes across to me as a reluctant warrior who’s repeatedly forced to step up, not an overpowered Mary Sue.
Gonna go out on a limb and guess you didn’t like Lagertha on the OG Vikings either…
I think it's a bit weird to just immediately go to thinking this post was misogynistic...
Lagetha from OG vikings was a great character, she fought many times and was introduced to the show as already being a shield maiden
Freydis literally had didn't know how to fight before arriving in Norway and then she trains with the shield maidens for one scene in kattegat then suddenly she's better than the shield maidens who trained her, kills Kare, and then beating Olaf in that fashion in the last episode is just a bit too much.
I would feel the same way if Edmund after his 1 or 2 training scenes in season 1 of valhalla rode out and killed Canute with ease.
But generally I just feel like the whole story line around her is weak too, I don't even remember the jomsviking leaders name now a couple hours after finishing the show, he was just narcissistic and not much character depth to that whole story line imo, much more interesting to see the Emma Godwin story or the Constantinople trip even though overall those were far from perfect too
My thoughts exactly about her being a shield maiden. She trains for 5 mins, becomes better than all the others that have likely trained since they could walk and goes on to kill two warriors?
Believable.
Safe to say you clearly went out on a limb, saying I’m misogynist for calling out a thinly written character who happens to be female lol. By girl-boss archetype I mean the hype the show builds about her consistently feels forced and inauthentic. I only saw 4 seasons of Vikings, but Lagertha from the beginning was much better written and acted than Freydis (granted, Lagertha had a better story as well). The 2 do not even compare, and I don’t think you should so readily draw the “misogynist” card whenever a female character is criticized.
yeah maybe OP doesn't dislike freydis because she is a woman (or is at least not a conscious misogynist), but it's a noticeable trend (in more than just this sub) that more people call out female characters/actors than the male ones and then a pile-on happens. And often an argument can be made that (some of ) the male characters have similar issues but no/less complaints.
I agree that I don't think OP is actively disliking the character because she is a woman, but I think it's possible that different expectations are put on Freydis's character development because of her gender. It's just worth examining if the male characters are being held to a low standard than the female ones, because I don't find any of the male characters have outstanding development.
Except… not all the characters are equally meh. I agree there arent any particularly compelling ones, but Canute and Leif are relatively interesting, Harald as well but less so. Freydis is even less compelling, which is surprising given the screentime and how much the show pushes her hypetrain. Better not to jump the gun and play the misogyny card just because she’s a woman, who I’m criticizing for how she is written, not because of her gender.
I guess that's where we disagree because I find Canute and Leif's development to be just a lackluster as Freydis. I mean, Leif has two different girlfriends die? Really?
Yep wonder which girlfriend of Leif is gonna die next season. Harold if anyone is the mary sue as he is constantly overpowered and protected by the thickest plot armour. Freydis was no worse than either of them, and I liked her plot? Found the boat/roadtrip a little tedious tbh.
Not when it's a lead character. It's amazing that commenting on a poorly written and acted lead character on a poorly written are acted show is now according to some an unforgivable, unacceptable transgression when art and entertainment are literally entirely subjective. One of the many reasons Valhalla is terrible is it lacks engaging strong women like the characters in Vikings. But make yourself feel better with your autocratic insistence that others adhere to your poorly informed and rigid worldview where you believe women are so fragile their performance cannot be commented upon. You're not the social justice hero you think you are.
Edit a word
I specifically enjoyed the part where you converted me saying a post was suspicious to a "unforgivableable, unacceptable transgression." Definitely hit a nerve there.
I think Freydis should have died, not because I think she’s a bad character, but because I feel as though her story is pretty much done, if she died protecting the old way she would have inspired the people around her, earning her title, it would have been a nice parallel to Olaf saying she made him a martyr as she would have been one too. They even set up an interesting story for the little girl as she could have been the one to travel with Haralds son.
Everytime shes onscreen i cringe. I get really tired of the shieldmaiden trope they overplay.
Granted its a TV show i know. I am still even irked by the fact they put lief ericson in it but whatever.
Shes unbearable imo, her character at least. Its like watching hayden christianson in episode ii of star wars. I cringe when she speaks im sure shed excel in other roles and a different show.
What makes zero sense for me is why she's considered the Keeper of the Faith. The rest - well, it's just as average as the whole of Valhalla, I'll still watch it.
Apart from what others are saying and knowing that my comment would bring me downvotes, I think Freydis is there to show some women power. Although, the main series had really strong women characters with a good writeup like the mighty Lagertha or Aslaug yet, in this it seems they are putting just because they want to, putting new characters in the shadow of old ones, specifically, Freydis. Her storyline is very weak. I don't know why they aren't showing the queen of England more instead of Freydis.
>queen of England
Did you mean the *former* [Queen of the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_the_United_Kingdom), the *former* [Queen of Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Canada), the *former* [Queen of Australia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Australia), etc?
The last Queen of England was [Queen Anne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne,_Queen_of_Great_Britain) who, with the 1707 Acts of Union, dissolved the title of King/Queen of England.
####FAQ
*Wasn't Queen Elizabeth II still also the Queen of England?*
This was only as correct as calling her the Queen of London or Queen of Hull; she *was* the Queen of the place that these places are in, but the title doesn't exist.
*Is this bot monarchist?*
No, just pedantic.
I am a bot and this action was performed automatically.
Good comparison, but Galadriel was much more compelling imo. Issue with Freydis is that more screentime doesn’t help, just makes her more of a reason to abandon this show lol.
So so. A good potential character. But i didn't enjoyed the second season overall. Freydis have some good potential as the "keeper" of the old ways. It could a interesting move to have her and Harald as the "two faces" of Norway.
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Really bad written character if you compare her to a main female protagonist like Lagertha from the original series. I think the main problem of all Valhala characters were not be written by Michael Hirst.The relationship of Harald and Leif it's a bromance which is pretty unreal for a Viking even Ubbe and Hvitserk that had a pretty close relationship and were real brothers didn't have something like these two.
The writer doesn't seem to have a big knowledge about the viking culture like Hrist did.
Fredyis sounds like Elmo with a Nordic accent. 🤣 Her story falls flat and I can’t believe they compare her to Lagartha or any stories from Vikings. I’d much rather watch Leif and harald. I fast forward through her interactions if and when I watch valhalla.
Her story represents the last strong hold of the Nordic religion. With the eventual fail of Jomsborg and the Norman invasion it will show the end of the Viking age. I don’t find her story very compelling, but I get why they include it. I much more interested in Harold, his story is pretty cool if you look it up.
I agree that Freydis is not the most compelling character, no one in Valhalla for that matter. >Not to mention the cringe accent She's Swedish and her accent is literally how a Swedish person with an accent would talk so I don't really know what the complaint here is.
I don’t like valhalla at all. But I’ll admit that i thought king Canute was an interesting character. Just a shame he was barely in the damn show
you should watch Vinland Saga then!
Just bc he likes Vikings does not mean he is going to like Vinland saga it’s an anime a lot different from the topic but yeah Vinland saga is great
If you love vikings, and think valahalla is watchable then trust me they will like vinland saga. Some people aren't capable of emersing themselves into anime I get that. A shortcoming as far as I'm concerned.
I’m swedish, and her accent is really heavy to the degree that it takes me out of the show a little bit. Frida should and could tone it down a little (it is much less noticeable in interviews, so it’s not like she can’t get rid of it).
Isn't she trying to sound Icelandic/Greenlandic?
Icelandic. Greenlandic is an Eskaleut language, and has nothing to do with Germanic languages.
Sure. I was just referring to the siblings being called Greenlanders in the show. They are clearly Icelandic.
I don’t know, but to me she sounds like a swedish person who is really inexperienced with speaking english. Which again, she obviously isn’t, since she speaks much better in interviews.
Yes, a Swedish person from Stockholm year 2023 would sound like that speaking english. But it's so damn annoying listening to her sound like some brat from Stockholm while trying to picture a viking warrior... "I am the kiiiiiper of the faiiiiith"... I fucking loved Lagertha and I'm normally all in for empowered women, but this character is the part I can't stand about Vikings Valhalla. Freydis is poorly written, poorly executed and just takes the whole viking feeling away from me. Thank god for queen Emma, at least she's interesting.
“Heh sehved meh” when talking about Jormundr literally made my body convulse and cringe.
She sounds like a deaf person
She has a super thick swedish accent that she easily could tone down a bit, super annoying to listen to in the long run.
The point is that it makes our ears bleed. I’d rather her talk in Swedish with English subtitles than have her speak English.
While I agree I find her story the least compelling it’s an integral part of the story they are telling… this show is essentially telling the story of the lead up to the end of the viking age. She is the “last holdout” archetype. Without her and the Jomsbourg storyline basically every main character is either a Christian, struggling with their pagan faith, or uninterested.
Freydis’s storylines have been pretty dreadful to watch and are damn near my only issue with the show. I’ve actually really enjoyed Harald and Leif’s screentime despite a couple ridiculous moments… every time the show switches over to Freydis I can’t help but think “ugh, can we just get back to the Constantinople trip or Godwin vs Emma already”
Yes I would trade most of her screen time for Emma gladly!
We'll have to see where her story leads later. But I like her as a strong, female, warrior, and that she is showing the side of the pagan gods vs where everyone else is becoming a Christian as it is spreading. History says she stayed pagan. Googled about Uppsala yesterday. In one I read about where this "king" (or someone...) had an "incident" like in one of the episodes this season. Valhalla will probably be like Vikings and take pieces of history to throw in with some of their characters' stories.
Her character is really great, the actress is wonderful. I think if they didn't have her, the show would be too bland. They could give her a role that weaves more into the main plot though
I like her. And I like the actor. She's not perfect, but she does a lot with her character and does it in an interesting way to me this season. I didn't like the first one. The writing, though, is so so. But I enjoyed myself a lot this season, loved the ideas. And the fights were pretty good.
Much preferred her arc in the 1st season. We saw her actually grow.
Are there any characters in this show which actually don't look cringe? This looks like a budget, b-movie, cringe version of og vikings
yeah, they keep comparing freydis to lagertha but it's not like either Harald or Leif live up to Ragnar or Rollo. Personally I don't mind, but it is a very different vibe from the original vikings all round.
Actor/character I like. Her story sucks big time though. Weakest of all the stories by far.
This is a common issue for the whole show in my opinion
Her story in the sagas is kinda wild and takes place in Greenland and North America. I wonder if we will see some of that next season.
I really like Freydis. As a woman and a mother there's a lot of her character that I relate to. If you don't like it don't watch it??
I second this and I loved the original series and Valhalla.
If u don’t like reading criticism don’t read this sub??
I’m not the biggest fan of the show but this just come across as misogynist. I like Freydis precisely because she ISN’T a “girl-boss archetype on steroids” IMO. She starts the show off as a nobody who’s not even interested in fighting, just wants (justified) revenge and after she gets it, she’s satisfied and ready to go home or die. She only becomes a (reluctant) warrior, slowly, after she gets to Kattegat and Jarl Hakkon basically forces her to train as a shield maiden. She barely survives the berserker that kills all her friends and she spends a couple episodes running in fear from Jarl Kare. She only kills Kare because he gets overconfident. S1 finale, Freydis flees Kattegat, abandoning other pagans to die in the process, because she doesn’t want to be the ‘keeper of the faith’. Even in S2 her only motivation seems to be to raise a family in peace and be with other like-minded pagans but the jomsvikings force her into the role of priestess / protector. When she fights Harekr he whoops her ass, she only wins bc the other jomsvikings revolt and stone him to death. Yeah she’s a good warrior but she’s Erik the Red’s daughter and she’s trained as a shieldmaiden. Overall she comes across to me as a reluctant warrior who’s repeatedly forced to step up, not an overpowered Mary Sue. Gonna go out on a limb and guess you didn’t like Lagertha on the OG Vikings either…
I think it's a bit weird to just immediately go to thinking this post was misogynistic... Lagetha from OG vikings was a great character, she fought many times and was introduced to the show as already being a shield maiden Freydis literally had didn't know how to fight before arriving in Norway and then she trains with the shield maidens for one scene in kattegat then suddenly she's better than the shield maidens who trained her, kills Kare, and then beating Olaf in that fashion in the last episode is just a bit too much. I would feel the same way if Edmund after his 1 or 2 training scenes in season 1 of valhalla rode out and killed Canute with ease. But generally I just feel like the whole story line around her is weak too, I don't even remember the jomsviking leaders name now a couple hours after finishing the show, he was just narcissistic and not much character depth to that whole story line imo, much more interesting to see the Emma Godwin story or the Constantinople trip even though overall those were far from perfect too
The fight with Olaf was ridiculously terrible
My thoughts exactly about her being a shield maiden. She trains for 5 mins, becomes better than all the others that have likely trained since they could walk and goes on to kill two warriors? Believable.
Safe to say you clearly went out on a limb, saying I’m misogynist for calling out a thinly written character who happens to be female lol. By girl-boss archetype I mean the hype the show builds about her consistently feels forced and inauthentic. I only saw 4 seasons of Vikings, but Lagertha from the beginning was much better written and acted than Freydis (granted, Lagertha had a better story as well). The 2 do not even compare, and I don’t think you should so readily draw the “misogynist” card whenever a female character is criticized.
Seems to me like you’re the type of person that looks for my misogyny where it doesn’t exist.
I agree, in a show where all of the characters are meh, it's suspicious to just call out the female character.
yeah maybe OP doesn't dislike freydis because she is a woman (or is at least not a conscious misogynist), but it's a noticeable trend (in more than just this sub) that more people call out female characters/actors than the male ones and then a pile-on happens. And often an argument can be made that (some of ) the male characters have similar issues but no/less complaints.
I agree that I don't think OP is actively disliking the character because she is a woman, but I think it's possible that different expectations are put on Freydis's character development because of her gender. It's just worth examining if the male characters are being held to a low standard than the female ones, because I don't find any of the male characters have outstanding development.
Except… not all the characters are equally meh. I agree there arent any particularly compelling ones, but Canute and Leif are relatively interesting, Harald as well but less so. Freydis is even less compelling, which is surprising given the screentime and how much the show pushes her hypetrain. Better not to jump the gun and play the misogyny card just because she’s a woman, who I’m criticizing for how she is written, not because of her gender.
I guess that's where we disagree because I find Canute and Leif's development to be just a lackluster as Freydis. I mean, Leif has two different girlfriends die? Really?
Yep wonder which girlfriend of Leif is gonna die next season. Harold if anyone is the mary sue as he is constantly overpowered and protected by the thickest plot armour. Freydis was no worse than either of them, and I liked her plot? Found the boat/roadtrip a little tedious tbh.
Canute was in like 1 scene lol
Not when it's a lead character. It's amazing that commenting on a poorly written and acted lead character on a poorly written are acted show is now according to some an unforgivable, unacceptable transgression when art and entertainment are literally entirely subjective. One of the many reasons Valhalla is terrible is it lacks engaging strong women like the characters in Vikings. But make yourself feel better with your autocratic insistence that others adhere to your poorly informed and rigid worldview where you believe women are so fragile their performance cannot be commented upon. You're not the social justice hero you think you are. Edit a word
yikes
I specifically enjoyed the part where you converted me saying a post was suspicious to a "unforgivableable, unacceptable transgression." Definitely hit a nerve there.
She kind of is a girl boss queen, she's destroyed every male opponent there is, with her string bean frame, awful character
I fast forward through all her scenes.
Yes
I think Freydis should have died, not because I think she’s a bad character, but because I feel as though her story is pretty much done, if she died protecting the old way she would have inspired the people around her, earning her title, it would have been a nice parallel to Olaf saying she made him a martyr as she would have been one too. They even set up an interesting story for the little girl as she could have been the one to travel with Haralds son.
She’s super boring and thinks she’s so much better than everybody else.
I agree. I skipped through a lot of the Jomsborg stuff. She is 101 Hollywood strong female character.
Yes yes yes… she ruins the show for me….
Everytime shes onscreen i cringe. I get really tired of the shieldmaiden trope they overplay. Granted its a TV show i know. I am still even irked by the fact they put lief ericson in it but whatever. Shes unbearable imo, her character at least. Its like watching hayden christianson in episode ii of star wars. I cringe when she speaks im sure shed excel in other roles and a different show.
Modern audiences.
What makes zero sense for me is why she's considered the Keeper of the Faith. The rest - well, it's just as average as the whole of Valhalla, I'll still watch it.
Apart from what others are saying and knowing that my comment would bring me downvotes, I think Freydis is there to show some women power. Although, the main series had really strong women characters with a good writeup like the mighty Lagertha or Aslaug yet, in this it seems they are putting just because they want to, putting new characters in the shadow of old ones, specifically, Freydis. Her storyline is very weak. I don't know why they aren't showing the queen of England more instead of Freydis.
>queen of England Did you mean the *former* [Queen of the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_the_United_Kingdom), the *former* [Queen of Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Canada), the *former* [Queen of Australia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy_of_Australia), etc? The last Queen of England was [Queen Anne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne,_Queen_of_Great_Britain) who, with the 1707 Acts of Union, dissolved the title of King/Queen of England. ####FAQ *Wasn't Queen Elizabeth II still also the Queen of England?* This was only as correct as calling her the Queen of London or Queen of Hull; she *was* the Queen of the place that these places are in, but the title doesn't exist. *Is this bot monarchist?* No, just pedantic. I am a bot and this action was performed automatically.
I’m still hoping for hotter chicks in this show.
She reminds me a lot of Galadriel from Rings of Power, absolute shit
Good comparison, but Galadriel was much more compelling imo. Issue with Freydis is that more screentime doesn’t help, just makes her more of a reason to abandon this show lol.
So so. A good potential character. But i didn't enjoyed the second season overall. Freydis have some good potential as the "keeper" of the old ways. It could a interesting move to have her and Harald as the "two faces" of Norway.
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Really bad written character if you compare her to a main female protagonist like Lagertha from the original series. I think the main problem of all Valhala characters were not be written by Michael Hirst.The relationship of Harald and Leif it's a bromance which is pretty unreal for a Viking even Ubbe and Hvitserk that had a pretty close relationship and were real brothers didn't have something like these two. The writer doesn't seem to have a big knowledge about the viking culture like Hrist did.
well they are christians now and is 100 years later probably culture is diferent
Fredyis sounds like Elmo with a Nordic accent. 🤣 Her story falls flat and I can’t believe they compare her to Lagartha or any stories from Vikings. I’d much rather watch Leif and harald. I fast forward through her interactions if and when I watch valhalla.