The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die” is the epic follow-up and finale to the eponymous series, which is based on author Bernard Cornwall’s “The Saxon Stories,” which is about important figures in the more than a thousand-year-old creation of England. However, audiences are not need to have read the books or watched the five-season historical drama to watch the concluding feature-length movie. In fact, it appears that many Netflix customers who are new to the genre have given “Seven Kings Must Die” a shot, if rankings are any indication.
While spending time with Uhtred of Bebbanburg (Alexander Dreymon, who is reprising the lead role) in Northumbria undoubtedly improves the experience, the filmmakers cram “Seven Kings” with enough title cards and subtly placed material to rapidly bring the audience up to speed. But that doesn’t mean that everything that occurs in this rapidly paced, action-packed, merging of fact and fiction hour and 51 minutes is simple to understand.
The cast of “Seven Kings Must Die” features just as many, if not more, new characters as “Game of Thrones,” “Vikings,” and both have similar levels of royal intrigue, territorial, and religious struggle, as well as cruelly staged murder. Both literally and conceptually, “The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die” covers a lot of terrain. All of this builds to a crucial historical turning point and a denouement for Uhtred that may need more explanation. Here is a summary of what occurs, what it signifies, and how it relates to the past.
Ingrith makes a grave prediction
Fans of historical fiction and fantasy are familiar with the usefulness of a prophesy as a plot device, particularly when the outcome of the story is already known (as is the case here for anyone tempted to enter “Aethelstan” or “The Battle of Brunanburh” into their preferred search engine). The wife of Uhtred’s right-hand man and the narrator, Finan (Mark Rowley), Ingrith (Ilona Chevakova), experiences the same dream three times early in the movie. She tells her husband and her lord about the vision since she thinks she is a seer. That message read: Seven kings must perish for England to be finally united. She adds one final condition when compelled to do so by Uhtred. All seven kings must perish. with his beloved woman. Uhtred believes he has heard this. However, the current Lord of Bebbanburg in Northumbria neither is nor wants to be a king, and he is unmarried.
However, only a few seconds after Ingrith first describes her vision, Queen Edgifu travels to Bebbanburg and informs the people there that King Edward has passed away. Theoretically, that is one king less. The political situation is suddenly unstable, and Eadgifu is looking for refuge for herself and her small son, Edmund. Finan can’t help but worry that Ingrith’s dreams may have actually predicted the future. From then, “The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die” prompts viewers to speculate as to whether the prophesy will materialise and, if so, which kings will fall prey to fate.
The King’s death leaves behind a power vacuum
When word of ruler Edward’s illness spreads in the opening scene, Danish King Anlaf, who is sneakily invading Northumbria, observes that “Saxons always turn on each other” when a ruler dies. Sure enough, Edward dies from an undiagnosed disease off-screen, and everyone starts jockeying for position.Finan hints in the voiceover that Anlaf intends to take advantage of this.
The instability initially originates inside the royal family. King Edward the Elder fathered numerous sons to numerous women, both in the historical fiction setting of “The Last Kingdom” and in actual British history. His heir, Aethelstan, is of dubious ancestry. He is taken away from his mother in the show and raised by Uhtred. His mother, Ecgwynn, is alluded to be a bastard in the movie, and little is known about her in history. The King’s second son, Aelfweard, who was born to his second wife, attempts to seize control of the situation by putting the third wife of the King, Queen Eadgifu, and her son, Edmund, in prison. Wessex and a few mercenaries are on his side, but Uhtred and other people are loyal to Aethelstan.The kings of Scotland, Strathclyde, Orkney, Shetland, and Man await the outcome of the election and what it will imply for their own monarchies.
In the Netflix film, Uhtred believes he has helped Aethelstan and Aelfweard come to terms, but the former suddenly has the latter put to death. Although Aelfweard passed away inexplicably soon after his father, King Edward, and some tales claim he was supported by Wessex and anointed before Aethelstan, who had the support of Mercia, recorded history doesn’t mention a prince killing another royal.
Aethelstan rules under the influence
Eadgifu warns Uhtred that Aethelstan is no longer the carefree youngster they once knew when he promises to acknowledge him as the legitimate successor. When Uhtred tries to reason with Aethelstan following the needless killing of Aelfweard’s warriors, the prince responds that Lord Ingilmundr is vying for the prince’s attention. The heir apparent, who was in fact highly devout, refers to Ingilmundr as “a great commander and a great friend,” but Uhtred recognises him right away as a Svengali-type character who is using Bible texts to manipulate Aethelstan for his own ends.
It comes out that Ingilmundr is not only Aethelstan’s spiritual adviser and military strategist, but also his lover. At the same time as he is enticing the prince, he is transforming him into an even more extreme religious fanatic. Aethelstan has been persuaded by Ingilmundr that he must use all available measures to spread Christianity throughout the kingdom in order to atone for his sins. taxation for building churches, destroying paganic holy sites, and funding war. Aethelstan is cautioned by Uhtred not to be duped by persons who profess to know God. Uhtred is a pagan but also very tolerant of the god or gods people follow.
If Aethelstan becomes king and proves to be honourable, he intends to pledge his lands, but he wants to make sure that his people can continue to follow the religion of their choice. As a result, he forgoes the crowning of the new king and imprisons Ingilmundr to purge his former ward of a negative influence and to negotiate Northumbria’s religious independence. By threatening Lady Wassa with eternal damnation, Ingilmundr has the upper hand. Due to having executed his brother, King Aethelstan is unable to put Uhtred to death and must exile him instead.
An alliance forms
After being exiled, Uhtred is captured by Danes and brought to the Shetland Islands, where King Anlaf and his daughter Astrid are hosting an alliance. King Constantine joined forces with Anlaf after Aethelstan invaded Scotland against the advise of practically everyone except Ingilmundr. The Kings of Man, Shetland, Orkney, and Strathclyde are also present. They are informed by Anlaf that war is imminent and that they must pick a side. Some Christians are apprehensive to fight alongside pagans against other Christians, but since Aethelstan sees himself as a conqueror with his eyes on their territory, they essentially have little choice in the matter.
Uhtred is being courted by the Anlaf and the five British kings to support their cause. If he succeeds, there will be seven kings opposed to one (although Uhtred continues to claim he is not a king). But if everything goes according to plan, Uhtred will be able to avert war from breaking out. They implore the Lord of Bebbanburg, who has so far resisted bowing to Aethelstan, to travel back to England and swear allegiance to the King at great personal peril. Uhtred will be able to kill Aethelstan after he has let his guard down and stop him from doing additional harm. He seems to concur.
A little while later, viewers are informed that Ingilmundr is a spy working closely with Anlaf. When Uhtred reached for his sword just before he thought he was about to die, he had a sneaking suspicion that he was still Danish at heart. a sign that he continued to have faith in Valhalla. Anlaf and Ingilmundr had planned to make Aethelstan a despotic dictator so that Britain would turn against him.
Uhtred faces a choice
Uhtred might be excused for carrying out the assassination plot because King Aethelstan had already done more than enough to merit the title of tyrant. He still has affection for the youngster he reared, though, and wants to give him the opportunity to demonstrate his true character. He kneels, but instead of swearing an oath, he tells the king about the betrayal of his lover. Uhtred is taken out of the crowd by Aethelstan because he does not want to hear it.
It becomes worse when his men Finan and Sihtric show there, saying they were dispatched by him. The three realises they’ve been duped when he claims he didn’t. They hastily return home only to discover that several of their people, including Ingrith but excepting Eadgifu, have perished in a cave. Up until this point, “The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die” gently encouraged viewers to believe that Uhtred and Eadgifu were falling in love and that the widowed Queen would be the “woman you love” mentioned in the prophesy. Instead, Ingrid’s dreams predicted her own demise, as is clear when a distraught Finan realises she was looking at him as the scene is replayed in flashback.
Uhtred, who is almost completely broken, must choose whether to fight and who and with whom to fight. He reiterates his support after discovering a remorseful Aethelstan at Wirril, together with his son Osbert and Eadgifu’s son Edmund, who are both still alive. The vastly outnumbered troops of their combined force are ready to take on the powerful coalition that has gathered against him.
Seven kings meet on the battlefield
Aethelstan and Uhtred’s warriors initially battle greatly to retain their shield wall against the five British kings and Anlaf as the armies converge at Brunanburh. However, Uhtred and his son come up with a strategy in which Osbert leads a flanking surprise attack. Uhtred suffers serious injuries while many on both sides are murdered. Importantly, Astrid, the daughter of Anlaf, and the five eldest sons of the Scottish Kings—Man, Shetland, Orkney, and Strathclyde—as well as Astrid are among the deceased. The Kings decide to leave Anlaf in the wake of this disaster.Aethelstan confronts Ingilmundr, who has been kidnapped, hurt and enraged by his betrayal. Prior to passing away, he admits that although he genuinely did like the prince, he had a closer connection to the Danish people.
The Battle of Brunanburh actually took place in 937, and it went roughly according to plan. King Aethelstan led a united Wessex and Mercia in an offensive against King Constantine of Scotland, who was allied with Owen of Strathclyde and the king of Dublin, Olaf Gutherfrithsson (an Irish Viking also known as Anlaf). Aethelstan was victorious, but there’s no hard evidence he had a relationship with anyone like Ingilmundr (he’s a composite character who differs greatly from Cornwell’s books; he is a passage from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the primary source for “The Saxon Stories” and “The Last Kingdom”) Five kings lay on the field of battle, in bloom of youth, pierced with swords. Even yet, given that he never wed or had kids, there may have been persistent sexuality rumours about him.
The prophecy is open to interpretation
The prophecy that also acts as the subtitle of “The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die” may or may not come true. The message Ingrith received in her dreams was difficult to understand because it was about a lady she loved. Regarding the rest, it is literally accurate that only one king—Edward—was assassinated. In addition, five princes died in the Brunanburh battlefield… Scotland, Man, Shetland, Orkney, and Strathclyde’s descendants. The phrase “a king’s kingdom survives through his son” appears frequently throughout the movie. Because of this, when Uhtred awakens, he is anxious to learn whether his son Osbert is still alive. However, none of the six real kings (five if you add Anlaf) were overthrown during the conflict. Finan and friends still believe that five would-be rulers perished, which may or may not be sufficient evidence that the prophecy was false.
Despite his reluctance to adopt the title, a near-death Uhtred believes he is the seventh king. He is between King Aethelstan’s table, where Eadgifu is calling him to return to the living, and Valhalla, where he can view some of those who have passed on before him (in earlier seasons). Uhtred, was he the unlucky seven? No, not always. Aelfweard, a usurping prince, may have been considered a deceased King by the logic of the film. Astrid, whose father, Anlaf, was grooming her to rule, could have also. Ingrith might not have been a true seer, though that seems improbable given the nature of the practise. Uhtred’s fate is actually left up for interpretation on purpose, allowing the audience to decide whether he lives or dies.
England is united
Before possibly entering Valhalla, Uhtred finds out that their side won the Battle of Brunanburh and that Bebbanburg is once again his. King Aethelstan is sort of informally re-crowned and recites a new oath as Uhtred swears his domains to him, just as he had vowed to do if his former charge proved that he was worthy.
He is given the thrones of Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria this time. As his grandfather Alfred intended, it’s the first time those kingdoms had been united under one ruler. Uhtred demands that Aethelstan make a pledge that he won’t get married or have children in order to ensure that his half-brother, Edmund, will succeed Aethelstan as King of England and pave the way for a calm and prosperous future.
Another question is whether the Aethelstan depicted in the film has been sufficiently atoned for to merit Uhtred’s devotion and that honour. Throughout the course of “The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die,” he commits a number of atrocious crimes, including the cold-blooded murder of many of Uhtred’s companions and allies. Fratricide and forced dialogue are also present, but at least some of them are made up. It appears that he has changed once he admits that Ingilmundr gaslit him. the person who Uhtred and Eadgifu recall as having a nice heart.
Title cards mention that Aethelstan, who is regarded as the first and greatest monarch of mediaeval England, ruled for 15 years. It is accurate to say that a lot of contemporary researchers, like Sarah Foote, author of “Aethelstan: The First King of England,” subscribe to this viewpoint. After Aethelstan’s passing, Edmond, Eadgifu’s son, did actually succeed to the throne.
The hero is left out of history
Uhtred is promised by King Aethelstan that he will order the chroniclers to write about his bravery, but the Lord of Bebbanburg merely wants to be celebrated at a feast for keeping his word. Because of his humility, “The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die” can explain why Uhtred isn’t mentioned in the history.
This character, who is crucial to the “The Last Kingdom” series and had a significant impact on King Aethelstan’s life, has been lost to history. That’s because he didn’t actually exist, at least not in the way that Cornwell and Netflix portray him. Despite the fact that “The Saxon Stories” and “The Last Kingdom” are based on historical texts like “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles” and contain characters, settings, dates, and events that are drawn more directly from verifiable accounts, they are historical fiction, which means they also contain representational, composite, and entirely fictionalised characters and plot points.
The character of Uhtred, son of Uhtred, Lord of Bebbanburg, and thus the entire “The Last Kingdom” series, were modelled after a guy by the name of Uhtred the Bold, to whom Cornwell later learned he was a distant ancestor. They are related by name and place of origin (Uhtred the Bold was also from Northumbria’s Bamburgh Castle), but that is about it. The historical Uhtred was not raised by Danes, lived a century after the fictitious Uhtred, never encountered the characters, and was not involved in the events of the reigns of Alfred, Edward, or Athelstan. But “Seven Kings Must Die” addresses Uhtred’s exclusion from the Chronicles in a deft manner that is appropriate for the lead character Cornwell constructed.
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