Who plays Gunnhild in Vikings?
Gunnhild is played by Ragga Ragnars in the original Vikings series.
Explore family, allies and rivals or follow the story sections below.
Cast references: Ragga Ragnars.
Explore Gunnhild’s story
From opponent to partner
She fights against Bjorn’s side in England, then becomes close to him after the battle. Their relationship leads to marriage and her position as queen when he takes Kattegat. Harald’s interest in her adds another connection between personal desire and political rivalry.
A complicated royal household
Bjorn’s relationship with Ingrid leads to a second marriage. Gunnhild’s outward acceptance does not make the arrangement emotionally simple. After Bjorn’s death, the question of who will rule involves her, Ingrid, Erik and the returning Harald.
Reading her authority
A useful character reading separates composure from the absence of pain. Gunnhild can act publicly for a household while privately bearing its cost. Her final refusal to marry Harald and death by drowning end a story that repeatedly asks how much choice remains inside dynastic arrangements.
Relationships & loyalties
Memorable scenes
The second marriage negotiated
Season 6, episode 9
Gunnhild addresses Ingrid as Bjorn prepares another marriage. Her measured language and the private cost of the arrangement coexist. The sequence rewards attention to the difference between accepting what will happen and feeling untouched by it.
Why this moment matters
The arrangement depends on treating acceptance as something that can be declared publicly, while the emotional effects remain more difficult to govern. Gunnhild’s composure allows the household to proceed without proving that she is unharmed. The scene gives her strength a cost, making restraint an action she performs rather than an absence of jealousy or pain.
Keeping Bjorn’s name alive
Season 6, episode 11
As the Rus threaten Norway, Gunnhild occupies a public position beside the injured Bjorn and receives a ruler offering support. Her account of his final stand preserves his reputation while demonstrating her own capacity to speak for the political community.
Why this moment matters
Gunnhild’s narration does not merely mourn a husband; it helps establish the account through which a community will remember its ruler. Receiving support while Bjorn lies injured makes her a participant in the defense rather than a spectator to his legend. Her words hold private attachment and public authority together at the moment both are threatened.
Why fans keep talking
Gunnhild’s courage and steadiness encourage admiration, especially when they make leadership look like care for people rather than only possession of a title. That is also why her ending provokes objections: the established capacity to fight and govern makes the abandonment of those possibilities feel consequential. Questions about the speed of her romance with Bjorn concern how the attachment was built, not whether she has value outside it. Her narration and the second-marriage scenes are useful together because they make public competence and private hurt visible without requiring either to cancel the other.
What resonates
Courage, loyalty and leadership inspire strong affection. Her final scene is especially affecting for viewers who value those qualities.
What divides viewers
Her ending frustrates viewers who wanted her political or martial agency to continue. Others find the relationship with Bjorn too quickly established.
Character gallery
Who plays Gunnhild?
Ragga Ragnars portrays Gunnhild.
Ragga Ragnars plays Bain in The Wheel of Time, with episode credits beginning in 2023. Before her acting career, she represented Iceland in Olympic freestyle swimming and later trained at the New York Film Academy.