Vikings Season 6: Who Is Ragga Ragnars? Meet The Olympic ...

Vikings star Ragga Ragnars on the show’s ‘link to her heritage’

Vikings season six airs Wednesdays on History US and Amazon Prime Video on Thursdays. In the latest episode of Vikings season six, titled The Key, Gunnhild (played by Ragga Ragnars) joined Lagertha’s (Katheryn Winnick) fight against the bandits attacking Lagertha’s village. While Lagertha has been a key character in the show since its inception in 2013, Gunnild is relatively new to the Viking world. Express.co.uk has everything you need to know about Gunnhild and the actress Ragga Ragnars who plays her.

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Who is Ragga Ragnars?

Raga Ragnars, full name Ragnheiður Ragnarsdóttir, is a 35-year-old actress from Reykjavík, Iceland.

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In Vikings, she plays the real Gunnhild, Mother of Kings.

However, in the series, Gunnhild is the wife of the King of Kattegat, Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig).

The role of Gunnhild is Ragnars’ biggest acting role to date, having only graduated from the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles in 2015.

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Gunnhild (Image: HISTORY)

Ragga Rangars in Vikings (Image: HISTORY)

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Before acting, Ragnars was a professional swimmer, specialising in sprint freestyle events.

She made her Olympic debut at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens as Iceland’s youngest swimmer at just 19-years-old.

Ragnars then competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Unfortunately, she did not go onto win any medals but she did compete in the 100m freestyle and 50m freestyle in both years.

Ragga Ragnars was a professional swimmer before becoming an actress (Image: HISTORY)

Outside of the Olympics, Ragnars is a multiple-time record holder for both long and short course freestyle.

She did not compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as she was pregnant with her son at the time.

Ragnars retired from swimming in 2012 and went on to pursue her passion for acting.

She studied an eight-week ‘Acting for Film’ course with the New York Film Academy (NYFA) in Los Angeles and enrolled in a one-year program at the school.

In an interview with the NYFA, Ragnars said: “Acting has always been a passion I have had. While I was swimming, acting was always in the back of my head.

“I don’t think it’s something I decided. I just always knew I would be an actress. Since I can remember, I knew that it was something I had to do.”

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Gunnhild and Bjorn Ironside are married in Vikings (Image: HISTORY)

Speaking recently to Entertainment Tonight Canada about Viking season six, the Icelandic actress revealed her familial connections to the Vikings.

She said: “So my name is Ragga and then I’m ‘daughter of Ragnar’ cause we go by our father’s first name then daughter or son.

“So I’m Ragnarsdóttir, which is Ragnar’s daughter.

“My father’s first name is Bjorn and his middle name is Ragnar and he goes by Ragnar. I could be Bjorn’s daughter but he never goes by Bjorn.”

She joked: “When he came to set he was obviously introducing himself as Bjorn Ragnar and I was like ‘Dad! you never do that’.”

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Who is Gunnhild? Is she real?

The character Gunnhild is based on the real Gunnhild, Mother of Kings from the Icelandic sagas, Fagrskinna, Egils saga, Njáls saga and Heimskringla.

In these Sagas, she is mentioned as the wife of Eric Bloodaxe, who was the King of Norway, King of Orkney and King of Jórvík.

However, in Vikings, she is portrayed as a shield-maiden and the wife of Bjorn Ironside.

The real Gunnhild ruled as Queen consort of Norway between the years 931-934, before spending the rest of her life in exile in Orkney, Jorvik and Denmark.

Her father-in-law was Harald Fairhair (Peter Franzén) and after his death, Gunnhild and her husband were overthrown and exiled.

Vikings season 6 airs Wednesdays on History US and Thursdays on Amazon Prime Video.

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