So episode 32, when Ivar snaps and starts lashing out in anger, makes it a point of telling a guard he's sparring with/basically just attacking that if this guard can't keep up, he should go tend to the sheep with the women.

And that's been in my head.

 

On one hand, this show does like to weirdly slip in some misogyny as the "I am in the wrong" indicator, and we're supposed to see that Ivar's in the wrong right now. He's lashing out.

But Ivar's also the diplomat, and this is the only instance of him being all "Women serve a different role" we've seen in the show. Even though it feel wrong whenever Angus does it, at least that's a trait they've built up by referencing it in multiple episodes, and he - and everyone else who gets sexist - gets his comeuppance almost immediately afterwards. For Ivar to go for that angle, and never have it mentioned or addressed again, makes it seem very out of left field for him, and for the show itself.

Again, with Angus, he's a peasant, he's dumb, blah-blah-blah, but Ivar is an educated prince. That matter 'cause the other time you see Ivar going this below-the-belt in his attitude is when he can't figure out how to pickpocket the mannequin, and starts mock-apologizing for not having had it included in his royal education - basically calling the other two (Angus and Rohan) poor and common. That is a little more in-character, because Ivar and Deirdre have chatted about their royal duties many times, and Ivar's said that until Garrett showed up, no one understands what it's like to be a prince. So this fits him. It's aggressive, but it's in character.

 

Last, the "go tend to the sheep with the women" thing - did you notice he's not saying that to a woman? He's saying it as insult to another man. He's being sexist, yeah, but the goal is to put the guard down. Everyone else who's sexist is saying it directly to... well - specifically to Deirdre's face. 🥲 But not Ivar. Not for this.

 

So that's been rattling in my brain for a while. Why on earth did Ivar say that, and why did it feel so different from the rest of the show?

Then it hits ya: this episode is about Ivar hitting the absolute end of his rope, lashing out at everyone, telling these guards that they deserve to be treated this way because they need to learn how to be proper warriors or whatever...

 

... 🥲 100%, this is exactly how Ivar got treated growing up.

 

Idk if it was his dad, his mom, siblings, teachers, other guardians - doesn't matter. This is a guy who's angrily regressing to how other people treated him when they thought he was a failure, and when he's at his lowest for failing to get the chalice back, he's dishing it out exactly as he remembered getting it.

 

So "go tend to the sheep with the women."

He says.

In Ireland.

Famously known for its cows.

 

Oooooooh, that is some projection and echoes from someone else in his life 👀 I did not give that episode its credit for how much it really revealed about him, but all his sudden snapping between peaceful to kicking ass makes a lot of sense now. In fact, I'm more curious than anything to know why he has such a calm demeanor, because he clearly got raised in an environment of hot tempers. 👀

Maybe it was with siblings or cousins, who were always competing aggressively with each other? And parents who placidly allowed it, expecting the cream to rise to the top? I was got the feeling that was Garrett's backstory, but tbh? Garrett seems like a little mama's boy and daddy's boy. Silver spoon, mouth, all that. Failure is never failure, just a misinterpreted success, and Deirdre and the others rejecting him is like the first time it's ever happened. But Ivar seems to sharply bristle at a challenge, being way too eager to respond to it, absolutely holds a grudge, and gets mean when he's denied something truly important to him. He struggles to stay calm, so clearly that outward expression is a priority value he's been taught, but it doesn't shake that he has this sharpness under it. A riptide, if we wanna put it in elemental terms. 😝

So it makes sense that he gets along with Garrett when they're speaking academically about their lives, but are at each other's throats when it's a competition. It makes sense that Ivar and Angus get along when there's someone else needing to be put in their place, but they fight when Angus is making jokes or being rude about something serious. It makes sense that Ivar and Deirdre get along as royalty, but Ivar turns on her whenever he thinks she's putting petty emotions over reason (including adherence to tradition). And it makes sense that Ivar and Rohan get along when they're talking about strength and other warrior-based virtues, but fight when they jostle to put their own priorities above the other's.

There is SO MUCH MORE to glean from that. 👀 ivar really does like to mock people when they screw up (like when Rohan can't make the onion turn into a skeleton), and loves when others join him in mocking someone else (like when he and Angus make fun of Aideen fighting with a little twig). He also loves being wise (like when he calmly explains betrothals to the others), and posh (from how he calls others ruffians and someone let it slip to Deirdre off-screen that his kingdom's bigger than Rheged (and therefore also Kells)).

I think the version we see when he's hanging out with Angus, picking fights and playing jokes and knocking people down a peg, is closer to his actual self when he's on his own. But he was raised to be noble and stoic and calm, so revealing that is a BIG NO and just sloppy, which gets in the way of him and Angus being closer. But with how pompous and snobby Deirdre and Garrett can get, there's only so close he can get to them either before he's humbling them somehow. If Rohan had more princely polish, they'd be much better off, because Rohan's pretty chill (and meek tbh) a a lot of the time. But Rohan's also spontaneously reckless and Ivar sees the mistakes that leads to - which is, once again, sloppy. Great warrior, dumb guy, not the most admirable combination, even if he's been growing into his role as a leader.

 

Alllllll that. ☺️ It's just cool. There's tons more under the surface than I was appreciating before, and it helps to explain why Ivar came to find the chalice on his own. It was a rough, royal upbringing, and while he tries not to hold other people to his standards ('cause he's not a dick), he can't help that when he's on a rampage (and acting like a dick).

 

Love 'im. Great character.

Btw, I'm not saying Ivar is secretly mean. He's just closer to Angus' impishness and Rohan's recklessness than he can allow himself to admit, because with that comes Angus' rudeness and Rohan's terrible decisions. But to truly toss those messy traits of a ruffian away, he'd have to take on more of Deirdre's and Garrett's unbecoming traits of snobbiness and elitism. He doesn't like that either, so he sits in the middle.