Top 10 Toughest Viking Warriors 10. Eric Bloodaxe From age twelve through his teen years, Eric
did what Vikings do and raided along the Baltic and European coasts. His father was the King of Norway and had
plenty of sons to inherit the throne, so Eric solved that problem by murdering his brothers,
which earned him his nickname “Bloodaxe.” One brother remained, though, and after a
brief rule, Eric was driven out of Norway. The Norse sagas tell of Eric returning to
raiding before settling in Northumbria and becoming its king. Northumbria was a hotly contested kingdom,
though, and Eric was ultimately killed in battle. 9. Freydis Eriksdottir Daughter of Erik the Red and half-sister to
Leif Eriksson, Freydis earned her Viking warrior princess mantle by chasing off some hostile
Vinland natives by herself, armed with only a sword, while pregnant. She was also an explorer; Freydis and her
husband led the Viking’s fourth expedition to Vinland. While there, Freydis decided she wanted more
than her share, so she lied to her husband, telling him that their partners had attacked
her and demanded he kill them. (In fact, she threatened to divorce him if
he didn’t.) He did but refused to murder their wives and
children, so Freydis took an axe and did the job herself. When word got out about what she’d done,
she was shunned, but since she was Leif’s sister, she got away with murder. 8. Sweyn Forkbeard In 987, Sweyn Forkbeard rebelled against his
father by going to war against him. Once his father was dead, Sweyn was King of
Denmark. Of course, he’d hardly be a Viking without
raiding, so in 982 Sweyn repeatedly attacked England. In 1000, he turned his attention to Norway,
killed its king, and divided the country with his allies. Meanwhile, the English king ordered the murder
of Danish lords in the St. Brice’s Day Massacre, including Sweyn’s sister, so Sweyn responded
by spending the next eleven years laying waste to England until his death. 7. Harald Hardrada Harald Sigurdsson went to war in 1030 when
he was fifteen to support his half-brother, the King of Norway. Harald’s side lost, so he escaped to Kiev
and spent the next fifteen years there and in Constantinople, where he became the leader
of the Byzantine emperor’s Varangian Guard. Returning to Norway in 1046, he took the throne
and became known as “Hardrada,” or “hard ruler”, both for his harsh rule and constant
warring. Then the King of England died, and, believing
he had a claim to the throne, Harald led a force of 300 ships to Northern England against
another claimant, the man who would become known as William the Conqueror. Harald’s forces captured York, but at the
Battle of Stamford Bridge, he took an arrow to the throat and died. 6. Bjorn Ironside2 Bjorn spent most of his life raiding. He and his fleet raided along the coasts of
France, Spain, Sicily, North Africa and Italy. In one Italian town, Bjorn’s forces were
unable to breach the walls, so he pretended to be dead and had his men ask the town priests
to bury him on consecrated ground. When his coffin was carried into the church,
Bjorn jumped out, fought his way to the city gates, and opened them so his men could invade. He continued to raid until a defeat in the
Straits of Gibraltar where he lost forty ships, then retired to Scandinavia and lived out
the rest of his days in wealth and comfort. 5. Gunnar Hamundarson Hero in the Brennu-Njals saga, Gunnar could
fight equally with both hands and was so fast with his sword that “three seemed to slash
through the air at once.” Along with his swordsmanship, he was reputed
to never miss with a bow and be able to jump more than his height while wearing full battle-gear. His prowess in battle stood him in good stead
as he raided along the coasts of Denmark and Norway, fighting and pillaging. Ultimately, Gunnar killed two men from the
same family, and the rest of the dead men’s clan came after him. Gunnar was holding his own until his bowstring
broke. He asked to use his wife’s hair to repair
it, but she refused because he’d slapped her, and the attacking men overwhelmed and
killed him. 4. Erik the Red Killing was a habit for Erik; first he was
exiled from Norway for murder. He moved, but after killing two neighbors,
he was exiled again. Next he settled in Iceland, but, again, he
fought and killed several men and was kicked out for a term of three years. Clearly, established kingdoms couldn’t hold
him, so Erik sailed west, found Greenland, and spent his exile exploring. Back in Iceland, he recruited five hundred
men and women to found a colony on Greenland, although only fourteen out of twenty-five
ships survived the voyage. Erik founded two settlements in Greenland
and declared himself the chieftain. He remained in Greenland for the rest of his
life, fathering a daughter (Freydis, #8 on this list) and three sons, one of whom was
explorer Leif Eriksson. 3. Ragnar Lodbrok To win the hand of a princess, a fifteen-year-old
Ragnar destroyed a poisonous snake infestation while wearing a snake-proof suit made of animal
skin boiled in pitch and sand, earning him the nickname “Hairy Breeches.” Snake-killing aside, Ragnar spent most of
his life raiding, using his longships to travel the rivers of France, attacking as he went. At one point, French king Charles the Bald
paid Ragnar 7000 pounds of silver not to sack Paris. Those snakes would come back to bite him,
though, because when Ragnar raided England, he was shipwrecked, captured, and executed
by being thrown into a pit of vipers. 2. Ivar the Boneless It’s thought that Ivar was called “the
Boneless” because he had a medical condition that caused his legs to fracture easily. Not one to let broken legs stand in the way
of a good fight, Ivar had his men carry him into battle on a shield and fought with bow
and arrow. After the usual Viking raiding and warring,
Ivar took the throne of Dublin in 856. In 865 , Ivar and his brother led a force
of hundreds of longships toward Northumbria and the city of York. They captured and occupied York and then took
on King Aelle, who’d had Ivar’s father executed. In revenge, Ivar ordered the king given the
“blood eagle,” where the shape of an eagle was carved into his back, then his ribs cut
and lungs ripped out. Following that, Ivar took the kingdom of East
Anglia, having that king used as target practice and then beheaded. After his successful career as a warrior-king,
Ivar returned to Dublin and spent the rest of his days there. 1. Egil Skallagrimsson The warrior-poet Egil started at an early
age; he wrote his first poem when he was three and killed another boy with an axe when he
was seven. Egil continued writing poetry and killing
as he grew and was eventually forced to run from Norway when the king decided he’d had
enough. Being an outlaw gave Egil the chance to go
pillaging and plundering, which he did, along with taking on eleven men by himself, using
his teeth to tear out throats, and gouging out eyes1. After a lifetime of fighting and writing epic
poetry, Egil died peacefully in his 80s, after having killed the slave who helped him bury his treasure.
Beowulf & Eirik Blood Axe were well known to be brave warrior's. Beowulf a Hero.