The Last Kingdom season 5 ending explained and recap

Uhtred kills Sigtryggr in The Last Kingdom season 5

Sadly, Uhtred didn’t get there in time. He tried to get Sigryggr to stop, but by this point, it was too late. Edward wanted them all executed. It was Uhtred who tried to reason with Edward. After all, this was all a trap set by Aethelhelm, a man who had managed to escape the battle and head north. The only place for Aethelhelm to go was to Scotland, which was where numerous lords of Northumbria were meeting, including Uhtred’s cousin, Wihtgar. You remember the guy who killed his dad to take Bebbenburg, right?

The Last Kingdom season 5 didn’t disappoint when it came to showing Edward as a little like his father. He couldn’t just let Sigtryggr go after everything that happened. He couldn’t afford to appear weak. However, he did allow Stiorra to go because she wasn’t even part of the battle. He wanted Sigtryggr to be baptized.

That was something Sigtryggr refused to do. He would not abandon his gods. That angered Edward, who ordered Sigtryggr’s execution.

Sigtryggr had one request: Uhtred be the one to execute him. It would be at the hands on an honored warrior, and also someone who fully understood that Sigtryggr wanted to go out as a warrior to head to Valhalla. Uhtred agreed even though he really didn’t want to. He would give his son-in-law this last request, even though it would lead to Stiorra’s anger.

Stiorra refused to live under Edward’s rule. She and her Dane followers left to live in the woods. The only time she would show up would be when Uhtred and Brida finally had their last showdown. When Uhtred still refused to kill Brida and she started to accept her wrongdoings and forgive Uhtred for her losses, she was killed with an arrow through the chest.

Stiorra blamed Brida for everything that had happened up to this point. Had Brida not attacked Uhtred’s children out of revenge, trouble in Northumbria wouldn’t have happened. That’s probably not quite true, but Stiorra was grieving at this point, and I can forgive her for her actions.