Vikings - Blood & Legend

About Vikings - Blood & Legend

Vikings did not vanish quietly. Two hundred longships once filled the harbor at Dublin, and then, in the span of a single generation, the fleet, the king, and the city these vikings built were gone—swallowed so completely that historians spent a thousand years arguing whether Amlaíb had ever existed at all. That kind of disappearance is the engine of this show. Blood & Legend rebuilds one true story per episode from the ground up: court records, saga fragments, burial mounds, coastal geology, and the occasional stray coal seam in Rhode Island that should not exist unless vikings crossed an ocean no map admits was crossed. There is no host chatting between segments. Instead you get a full, narrated reconstruction of a reign, a betrayal, or a vanishing, told the way it likely happened, with the uncertainty left in where the sources demand it. The material moves well beyond vikings mythology into the machinery of actual power: viking sagas that turn out to be political propaganda, a Kentish king who reforges an entire legal code after burning his own throne, an Armenian ruler ambushed unarmed at his own banquet, an English king built into legend and then erased from memory within a century. Expect royal scandals, poisoned successions, saints made from broken bones, and the ordinary cruelty required to hold a crown in an age when kings and queens ruled by force and died by it. This is vikings history and its neighboring courts treated as forensic case files, not folklore. If you want kingdoms that rise on vikings longships and collapse on a single bad decision at a banquet table, subscribe now. New reconstructions post weekly, each one a closed case—one throne, one downfall, one story told all the way to its ending, one more chapter in the long, bloody record of the vikings.

Publisher

OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENT

Category

history

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Sept 2026

Latest episode

20 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

66 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Oct 2026

   The throne he won at Wimborne cost him fourteen years of shadowed rule

   A king seized a royal tomb at Wimborne and won the throne - but his fourteen years after that rule vanished into silence. What did it cost him? The throne he won at Wimborne cost him fourteen years of shadowed rule In this episode we follow the contested succession after Alfred the Great’s death, the rival claim at Wimborne, and Edward the Elder’s march to secure the kingship. The story traces decisions, battlegrounds, and a vanished archive that leaves historians asking what Edward was protecting and why a queen’s embroidered gift never reached its intended bishop. Person: Edward the Elder Person: Æthelwold Date: 26 October 899 (Alfred’s death) Location: Wimborne, Badbury Rings, Winchester, Durham Object: Anglo-Saxon embroidered silk found in Saint Cuthbert’s coffin - Æthelwold seized the royal estate at Wimborne and declared himself rightful king, using his father’s burial place as a political claim. - Edward mustered his forces and positioned at Badbury Rings, an Iron Age hillfort four miles north of Wimborne, preparing for confrontation. - The late Anglo-Saxon state Edward inherited was built from Alfred’s reforms: burhs, a reorganized fyrd, and a push toward an Anglo-Saxon kingship. - Edward grew up amid crisis: born during the Great Heathen Army’s campaigns, possibly present at Athelney, formed by memories of near-collapse and survival. - A richly embroidered silk commissioned by a queen for a Winchester bishop instead traveled to Durham and lay in Saint Cuthbert’s coffin for centuries, tied to choices made in this turbulent succession. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

2. 

   19 Oct 2026

   The knarr carved on the stone that cost Haraldr five years away

   A mother in Sweden carves a runestone after her son sails east with Ingvar-what did it cost him? (search: runestones) The knarr carved on the stone that cost Haraldr five years away In this episode, we follow the discovery and meaning of a runestone found beneath a castle threshold and the wider story of families who raised stones for men who went east with Ingvar. We trace the route, the ships, the carvers, and the choices behind these public memorials-what do they tell us about loss and labor? Person: Tóla Person: Haraldr Event: Ingvar expedition toward the Caspian Sea circa 1036 Location: Gripsholm Castle (threshold find) and Varpsund (U 654 stone) Topic: knarr (merchant vessel) noted on runestone - A caretaker at Gripsholm Castle struck a buried slab of granite while replacing a threshold and found a runestone face-down under tar. - The inscription names Tóla raising the stone for her son Haraldr, who went east with Ingvar and "fed the eagles," implying he died abroad. - Around 1036 Ingvar organized a large fleet down Russian river routes toward the Caspian, a journey known to reach Serkland and composed of traders and fighters. - Many of the surviving Ingvar stones were carved by identifiable runemasters like Äskil and likely Alrikr, showing families chose skilled carvers and expensive placements. - The Varpsund stone (U 654) includes the rare word knarr, indicating merchant ships and a sustained, five-year expedition rather than a short raid. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

3. 

   18 Oct 2026

   The kiss Sigrid demanded that pushed Svein to war and cost Olaf his crown

   A king sails into a trap at Svolder after a demanded kiss lures alliances and betrayal; what did it cost him? The kiss Sigrid demanded that pushed Svein to war and cost Olaf his crown In this episode, we follow Olaf Tryggvason’s rise from exile to king and the chain of decisions that drove him into the Baltic fleet he could not control. We trace the political tensions, personal slights, and the secret of a jarl who sailed with him - and ask how those choices led to a vanished king. Person: Olaf Tryggvason Event: Battle of Svolder Date: year 1000 Person: Sigrid the Haughty Person: Jarl Sigvaldi - Olaf returns to Norway in 995 with followers, English silver, and a Christianizing mission that consolidates power by force. - He enforces baptisms, dismantles temples, and executes resistors, extending control across the western Norse world by 1000. - Exiled opponents include Eirik Hákonarson; Svein Forkbeard of Denmark and Olof Skötkonung of Sweden view Olaf’s expansion as a threat. - Sigrid’s cited insult - Olaf striking her during marriage negotiations - becomes the personal pretext Svein uses to press for war. - Jarl Sigvaldi, sailing with Olaf’s fleet of 71 ships, knows the Long Serpent’s details and holds the inside position that enables the trap. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

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