Episode 29: Path of Blood

Canute recalls Askeladd naming himself the rightful king of Britannia before beheading Sweyn. After the Danish king's death in 1014, England and Denmark plunge back into war; Canute takes command of the Danish forces while Ethelred II returns from Norman exile, both men claiming the throne. Reaching a devastated Mercia, Canute rebukes Gunnar for speaking as if the Danes bore no blame, and on learning his soldiers are pillaging and selling captured girls despite his ban, he orders them beheaded and their heads displayed as a warning.

Canute meets Floki and insists on judging Earl Eadric of Mercia himself, since character and usefulness are separate matters. Thorkell then charges at him, furious that his battle was cut short by Mercia's request for truce; he cares only for taking the enemy leader's head. Canute urges him to see the larger picture, but Thorkell warns that the prince is still a mere boy who, like Askeladd, will have no choice but to carve his path in blood and iron before backing off for the day.

In talks, Eadric offers four thousand pounds of silver and another four thousand if Canute withdraws. Canute deems it an insult, reminding Eadric that a vassal cannot pay his own king to leave his territory. He exposes Ethelred as a coward who fled into exile and abandoned his people, then invites Eadric to betray him and help remove him in exchange for keeping Mercia. Eadric angrily calls off the truce, but Canute leads him outside and orders the signal fires lit; as dozens blaze across the land, Eadric grasps that defiance means Mercia reduced to ash, and Canute presses him to buy peace with Ethelred's head.

The following April of 1016, Ethelred II dies of an illness, and his son Edmund takes the throne only to die of an illness seven months later. Asgeir notes that where Sweyn needed a decade to conquer England, Canute finished in under three years, and a coronation is set. Through the convenient deaths of his rivals, Canute is formally crowned King of England in 1018.

Canute assumes command of the Danish army after Sweyn's death and enforces brutal discipline by executing his own pillaging soldiers. Thorkell warns him he must walk a road of blood like Askeladd. Canute coerces Earl Eadric into betraying Ethelred by threatening to burn Mercia. The suspicious deaths of Ethelred II and his son Edmund clear the way, and Canute is crowned King of England in 1018.

Path of Blood aired on February 7, 2023, as the fifth episode of Season 2, drawing on part of chapter 52 plus chapters 61 and 62. Shigeru Fukase directed from a storyboard by Ayumu Kotake. The episode charts Canute's transformation from the conflict-averse prince into a calculating conqueror.