Who plays Siggy in Vikings?
Siggy is played by Jessalyn Gilsig in the original Vikings series.
Explore family, allies and rivals or follow the story sections below.
Cast references: Jessalyn Gilsig.
Explore Siggy’s story
A household changed by defeat
She and Haraldson have already lost two sons, and their daughter Thyri becomes part of his alliance-making. After Ragnar defeats him, Siggy must negotiate a place in the household that replaces hers. She forms a relationship with Rollo and works alongside Lagertha.
Influence without a title
Her involvement with Horik complicates her position, but she also helps keep Aslaug and the children safe when Borg takes Kattegat. Reading her only as a schemer misses the practical knowledge of vulnerability that comes from having lost public status.
The frozen lake
She saves Ubbe and Hvitserk after they fall through the ice and dies in the attempt. The rescue gives her final action a direct connection to the younger generation. Her relationship to Harbard’s mysterious arrival remains part of the scene’s unsettling atmosphere.
Relationships & loyalties
Memorable scenes
Returning the knife instead of killing children
Season 2, episode 10
Horik gives Siggy a part in his plan against Ragnar’s household. When the plot collapses, she hands the knife to Ragnar rather than carrying out the promised attack on his sons. The reveal overturns the allegiance Horik believed he had purchased.
Why this moment matters
Horik mistakes the desire to recover status for permission to demand anything that might secure it. Returning the knife exposes the limit of that assumption. The action matters because Siggy does not need to have forgotten her losses or forgiven Ragnar for them in order to refuse the killing of his children; grievance has not consumed every other judgment.
Into the frozen water
Season 3, episode 4
Siggy follows Ubbe and Hvitserk onto the ice and dives after them when it breaks. The boys are brought out, but she drowns. The rescue completes her role as a protector of the family whose rise displaced her own household.
Why this moment matters
The rescue gives protection a physical meaning after so many scenes in which safety depends on bargaining with powerful people. Siggy enters the water herself rather than arranging for someone else to take the risk. Her death also changes the meaning of her place in the household: the former ruler’s widow becomes indispensable through an act that cannot restore her title.
Why fans keep talking
Siggy’s political attention initially invites suspicion because she knows how fragile a household’s position can be. Yet the knowledge that makes her capable of intrigue also makes her attentive to danger and dependence. Her refusal of Horik and rescue at the lake reveal limits to the ambition others assume will govern her. Admiration for resilience therefore grows from the same history that can make her manipulative. The unresolved promise of a larger power play is part of the frustration with her arc, but her most consequential choices concern whom she will not sacrifice to regain status.
What resonates
Her resilience after loss and refusal to be defined only by a former title win viewers over. Rescuing the boys gives her ending a heroic dimension.
What divides viewers
Political manipulation creates early distrust for some viewers, while others want a fuller resolution to the power plays her story suggests.
Who plays Siggy?
Jessalyn Gilsig portrays Siggy.
Jessalyn Gilsig’s work beyond Vikings includes Lauren Davis in Boston Public (2000); Gina Russo in Nip/Tuck (2003); Shelley Hayes in Friday Night Lights (2007); Terri Schuester in Glee (2009).