On the subject of the ending of 6x06.... ok so I want to separate this into two different things, 1) why from a practical, writing standpoint the story potentially happened the way it did and 2) what I got out of the end result (or rather... didn’t get out of it) on like a thematic level. I recognize that there is overlap between the two, I just find it helpful to separate them.

(under a cut because this is long... so long... why... am I like this.)

1) Ok so, personally I think the most important thing to keep in mind here is the prophecy that Lagertha will be killed by a son of Ragnar. Fun little fact about that... Hirst has stated he didn’t know which son of Ragnar was gonna kill Lagertha when he wrote that scene. I already guessed that, but it’s nice to have confirmation. From a writing POV... it is insane to me that you would create this situation for yourself. This wasn’t some vague purple prose, this was basically a multiple choice prophecy and considering you haven’t made a decision on where the story is gonna go, it feels like you’re creating an unnecessary hurdle for yourself. I would also argue... even if you don’t know where exactly you want to take these characters.... you can pretty easily see why certain scenarios would not be well received for a character like Lagertha. Basically, I think that that one bad decision had a ripple effect.

So, I’m going off of the assumption that Hirst did not know which Ragnarsson was going to kill Lagertha until he started writing season 6, ok? I feel like that’s reasonable to assume, given what he stated in the interview, even though I recognize it may turn out to be incorrect. But, from that perspective.... none of the Ragnarssons could kill Lagertha intentionally (excluding a mercy-kill rn, we’ll get back to that) considering what Hirst wanted to do with them in s6. Bjorn, Ubbe and Hvitserk are obviously the good guys, they cannot go against Lagertha who is framed as so morally good. Even Ivar would not work for this purpose in s6, considering s6 has been pretty committed to walking back Ivar’s extremism and coding as “the ultimate evil” hence the introduction of Oleg, Ivar’s relationship with Igor etc. So, Ivar can’t go against Lagertha while he’s being rehabilitated, unless the narrative acknowledges his cause as righteous... which it cannot do, because of how Lagertha needs to be framed by the story. 

I also see Lagertha as being similar to Ragnar in the sense that their deaths cannot be about them being defeated. That’s why Ragnar masterminded his death, Aelle killed him... but Ragnar had the last laugh and it fulfilled his grand plan. But, Lagertha as a character is framed as more morally pure... so she can’t mastermind revenge from beyond the grave. By season 6... she is above taking revenge (yes, despite taking revenge in s4b), because at this point the show is actively stating that revenge is not a great thing. So, killing her accidentally but having her accept it with grace and wisdom... kind of fulfills that purpose in a very convoluted way. She has to be accepting of and fine with death... but at the same time I don’t think the story is willing to have her actively ask to die. Which is why I think the mercy-killing angle was not considered an option for her. I also think the show wanted her victory against Whitehair to be the episode in which she died, so practicality states that she can’t like succumb to infection before being killed.

So... because Lagertha needs to be framed as completely morally good, as an icon basically, none of the Ragnarssons can have legitimate cause to want her dead. So... you can’t write an arc that really deals with one of the Ragnarssons trying to kill her and succeeding, you instead have to find a separate arc that closes the chapter on her story in a heroic fashion. Which is how you get Lagertha being severely (implied fatally) wounded by Whitehair in combat, before getting finished off by Hvitserk. Basically she dies twice, her first death is the one with thematic importance and an actual arc, her second death is required by the plot.

2) So... what are we left with when the story falls into place, on an emotional and thematic level... not much in my honest opinion. Again, the conclusion to Lagertha’s character arc for this season lay in her combat with Whitehair and Hvitserk stabbing her doesn’t really have any connection to that. So, for her death, we have to look for some sort of overarching, multi-season thematic arc and... I just don’t think there is one to be found in this.

I mean, Katheryn said it best when she said that Hvitserk was the one least expected to do it. He was the one who was least expected to do it because, unlike his brothers, he had no emotional relationship (positive or negative) with Lagertha. And that might be okay because he kills her accidentally, but it means there’s no real emotional tragedy in Hvitserk specifically killing her accidentally. Like, that was the first time Lagertha and Hvitserk have ever spoken to each other... which really takes away from the emotional weight of this moment. There’s no real emotional weight in it on the basis of their relationship, because they do not have one. And looking at them as individuals, I don’t think this does much for them on a thematic level either. 

Lagertha talks about not being able to escape her fate but like... when it comes to the Ragnarsson prophecy she never tried to. She never worried over it, this wasn’t something that was haunting her. Particularly with Lagertha having multiple lines of dialogue where she announces acceptance at the fact various fates/events had always been decided. In fact... her dialogue at the end, combined with how fatalistic she was with Whitehair... it made it seem like she straight up forgot about that prophecy because it was so unimportant to her. And considering the fact that she already thought she was dying (and may actually have been) she’s wouldn’t have been wrong to see that way. So she never tried to escape it nor did she really like... embrace/challenge it (ie. I wont die against you Whitehair, that’s not how I’m fated to die) as she did with her baby in s4a. 

So what’s left for Lagertha is basically... well it was a prophecy... and it happened... because prophecy. Which to be fair, is kind of what they did with Ragnar and the blind man. The difference there is that contained a measure of cruel irony, because Ragnar at that point didn’t believe in the Gods and similarly was able to laugh because the prophecy was off by a day. So it played into the theme of him crafting his own destiny... there was some catharsis there. I can’t say the same for Lagertha’s storyline, she believes in the gods and she’s always accepted the idea that her fate was decided... there’s no cruel irony to be found.

As for Hvitserk... I suppose there’s a bit more thematic relevance but it’s one that’s very clumsily retrofitting onto his character imo. So, Hvitserk’s main conflict, if one can be identified from season to season, is the struggle to identify his destiny and to understand his level of agency in that. That’s why he wonders over whether his jumping ship was free will and explores different religions and such. He finally came to the conclusion last season that his fate was to kill Ivar and his breakdown this season is partially motivated by what he sees as a failure to fulfill his destiny. So to that extent, his accidentally killing Lagertha does contain a level of cruel irony. Haha, Hvitserk... turns out you fulfilled your fate, but your fate wasn’t what you thought and there was no glory in it and you have no agency in the matter both because it was fate and because it was an accident. But again... their lack of connection and  Hvitserk running towards his fate instead of away from it undermines the tragedy of “you could not escape your fate.”

Basically, what I’m saying is that thematically this does nothing for Lagertha as a character, it does a little bit for Hvitserk... but did it really do enough to be compelling? I don’t feel that it did. Especially because any emotion I felt in the scene itself was undermined by how random and out of place it felt in the story overall.