Over the years, Vikings and their stories have grown in popularity. The first hit series, Vikings, came out in 2013 and focused on the world-renowned Ragnar Lothbrok and his adventures. Then two years later, fans got to follow a fictional character, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, on his own journey in The Last Kingdom.
Vikings fans were happy to add another show to their binge-watch list when Vikings: Valhalla was released earlier this year in February. This new series is a sequel to the original Vikings as the timeline is set 125 years after Ragnar's rule over the seas. Like Ragnar Lothbrok and many other famous characters, many Vikings in this sequel are also historically based on real people, and Freydís Eiríksdóttir was one of them. These are some facts about the shield maiden the show doesn't have in their storyline yet.
4 Freydís And Harald Probably Never Dated In Real Life
In the series, Freydís meet Harald, the great-grandson of Harald Finehair and Prince of Norway, in the very first episode. It isn't long before the two quickly catch each other's eyes and become the show's main lovers.
However, historians doubt they ever dated in real life. According to the sagas, the only information found about Harald is that he was married twice in his lifetime, and none of his wives were Freydís. In around 1044-1045, he got married to Elisaveta Yaroslavna of Kyiv, and then in 1048, Harald married Tora Torbergsdatter.
3 Freydís Was Also Known As The Murderess
Freydís appears in two sagas, Erik the Red and The Saga of the Greenlanders. In the first saga, she is depicted as a heroine and as an evil murderess in the second one. Depending on which stories, fans choose to believe, Freydís could have been two different people.
In The Saga of the Greenlanders, Freydís accompanied her husband (not Harald) and his party to Vinland, known as today's Newfoundland in Canada. Once she arrived, she found herself disliking a group of people, so she conjured up a lie about how the men abused and beat her. After convincing her husband to avenge her by killing them, which he did, she ordered him to kill the women as well. When he refused, she picked up an axe and brutally murdered them all, thus gaining a horrible reputation.
2 Freydís Fought Pregnant
In the saga Erik the Red, Freydís also sailed to Vinland with her people, but unlike the other story, she was a heroine in this one. Once she arrived and settled in this new place, the natives gathered and attacked her and her group. They fought back, and once they started to lose, they ran away to safety.
At that time, Freydís was eight months pregnant and struggled to keep up with the rest of her kin until she decided to take matters into her own hands. She picked up a sword from a fallen warrior, stood her ground, and began to pound it against her naked breasts while screaming at her attackers. Historians are unsure why this tactic worked, but their enemies backed down.
1 She Was Married
There isn't a lot of information regarding Freydís Eiríksdóttir's love life, but in The Saga of the Greenlanders, her husband gets mentioned since he traveled to Vinland with her during his fourth expedition. Her husband's name was Thorvard. No one knew his last name.
He was the owner of Gardar, one of the richest estates in Greenland, and it is also unclear whether he was the father of the child Freydís was carrying. As for the child, there is no information regarding his life or if Freydís had any more kids.