Who plays Halfdan the Black in Vikings?
Halfdan the Black is played by Jasper Pääkkönen in the original Vikings series.
Explore family, allies and rivals or follow the story sections below.
Cast references: Jasper Pääkkönen.
Explore Halfdan the Black’s story
The brother at Harald’s side
The official premise calls him Harald’s violent and devoted younger brother. He joins the Frankish campaign and participates in its brutality. The family bond is therefore introduced through shared conduct as well as affection; their closeness should not be mistaken for moral innocence.
A different loyalty takes shape
Travel with Bjorn opens a horizon beyond the campaign for Norway’s crown. Halfdan chooses to continue exploring with him, a departure that Harald cannot easily absorb. Their bond persists emotionally while their political destinations pull apart.
Brother against brother
The civil conflict puts Halfdan and Harald on opposite sides, and Harald kills him. The tragedy does not require either man to stop recognizing the other as family. Its force comes from a shared past becoming insufficient to prevent the action demanded by their present loyalties.
Relationships & loyalties
Memorable scenes
A reason to keep traveling
Season 5, episode 3
On the voyage with Bjorn, Halfdan says he wants to live with intensity and discover more of life. The conversation gives his departure from Harald an attraction beyond simple rebellion against an older brother.
Why this moment matters
Halfdan gives the journey value beyond treasure or territorial gain. Wanting intensity and discovery places him beside Bjorn for a reason that is not simply hostility to Harald. That distinction makes the eventual family conflict more painful: he is choosing another possibility for life, not necessarily announcing that his earlier affection was false.
The brother who will not change sides
Season 5, episode 10
Before the renewed battle, Halfdan remains with Bjorn despite the prospect of fighting Harald. When they meet, Harald kills him. The division is political, but the episode makes the shared life between the brothers impossible to forget.
Why this moment matters
The meeting refuses to let the civil war remain a contest between distant leaders. Halfdan’s chosen companions now require him to face the brother who defined his earlier place in the world. His death shows the limit of assuming that family history can always remain a reserve of safety after political commitments have moved apart.
Why fans keep talking
Halfdan becomes more interesting when travel gives him a destination of his own rather than leaving him as the extra strength at Harald’s side. That development can generate affection without erasing the violence of the Frankish campaign. The contrast matters because a freer, more curious life does not retroactively change what its seeker has done. His death can therefore feel tragic without making him innocent. It closes the possibility opened by the voyage: that he might retain a brother’s love while refusing to make the brother’s ambition the whole measure of his future.
What resonates
Travelling with Bjorn reveals a character with interests beyond family obligation. For some viewers, exploration adds layers that change their first impression.
What divides viewers
His early characterization and the brothers’ violence against a Frankish family make that later transformation difficult to embrace without reservations.
Who plays Halfdan the Black?
Jasper Pääkkönen portrays Halfdan the Black.
Jasper Pääkkönen’s work beyond Vikings includes Matti Nykänen in Matti: Hell Is for Heroes (2006); Harri in Heart of a Lion (2013); Felix Kendrickson in BlacKkKlansman (2018); Seppo in Da 5 Bloods (2020); Max Tanner in Omerta 6/12 (2021).