Ivar

Ivar cuts an imposing, heavily muscled figure. He wears his hair in a slicked-back undercut, the shaved sides and his beard black while the crown is blond, and a pair of cross-shaped earrings hang at his ears. Swirling tattoos curl above each of his eyes, and he is rarely seen without the Ulfberht sword he treasures.

Impulsiveness rules Ivar. He nurses a bitter grudge against Halfdan for seizing his farm and swears he will one day split the man in two with his blade. His temper flares at the smallest provocation, and others have had to physically restrain him from lunging at people he quarrels with, including a heavily pregnant Gudrid. He romanticizes warfare, though nothing in his known past as an Icelandic farmer suggests he has ever actually seen a battle.

For all his glorification of war, Ivar has no desire to be the one who begins it. He is genuinely dismayed to discover that his brother Styrk had tricked him into believing conflict was looming, and his rash conduct ends up ranking among the chief sparks that plunge the settlement into bloodshed.

Ivar is one of many Icelandic farmers stripped of their land by Halfdan, most likely after failing to repay a loan, the same tactic Halfdan used to swallow other farms. Even so, he holds on to his prized Ulfberht sword. He originally intends to kill Halfdan, and only sets that goal aside when Thorfinn announces his plan to found a colony in Vinland and Styrk talks him into coming along. Ivar bristles at the no-weapons rule, and when he fails to change Thorfinn's mind he nearly abandons the venture, until Styrk proposes joining the voyage in order to seize control once Thorfinn falters as a leader. Together with Styrk and Ganglati, Ivar smuggles his sword aboard.

In the new settlement, Ivar distrusts the Lnu from the start and becomes the loudest voice demanding walls, shields, ships, and weapons. His stance splits the colony between those loyal to Thorfinn's peaceful, weaponless path and those who want to arm for battle. He is quick to reach for the blade, first drawing it when Plmk levels a spear at Thorfinn. Cordelia spots the weapon and, despite the brothers' pleas, exposes the smuggled sword during a Thing. When the assembly brings Lnu representatives into the discussion, Miskwekepu'j snatches an axe and lunges at Thorfinn, and Ivar shears off his hand with the hidden sword, an act later revealed to have been part of Miskwekepu'j's own scheme to ignite war. The plan works: the Lnu stop coming to Arnheid Village, and its people throw themselves into forging arms and raising a great wall.

Enraged by how close Ivar has pushed everyone to war, Hild resolves to kill him. When Ivar, Styrk, and Ganglati venture into the forest to scout for Lnu, Ganglati stumbles into one of her traps, and Styrk confesses that the natives most likely want peace and that he had stoked the fear of war only to make the settlement collapse so Ivar could take charge. Ivar, disgusted, wants no part in causing a war. Styrk then trips a second trap, and Hild turns her crossbow on Ivar meaning to finish him, stopped only when Thorfinn arrives and calms her. Later, while Thorfinn, Bug-Eyes, Einar, and Hild are away trying to rebuild ties with the Lnu, a band of non-Lnu raiders under Ga'aoqi assaults the village. Ivar rallies the men to meet them and orders the settlement's women and children to shelter behind the wall. As arrows fly, Ganglati throws himself in front of Ivar as a living shield and is killed instantly by a shaft to the back of the head. Pinned beneath the body, Ivar has his hand stabbed by Ga'aoqi, who wrenches away the smuggled sword. Ivar struggles free and takes up Ganglati's axe to avenge him, only for Ga'aoqi to hack off his hand with the stolen blade.