Was Ivar The Boneless The Most Feared Viking? Is Ivar The Boneless A Real Person?

Ivar the Boneless was one of the most feared Vikings in history — and he couldn’t even stand without somebody holding him up.

In Viking tradition, someone like him would’ve been killed at birth, but Ivar was protected because he was the son of a powerful chief.

Ivar the Boneless, aka Ivar Ragnarsson, was an actual historical figure. We know this both from his fame in Old Norse legends, where he was revered as a godlike warrior, and from British sources, which considered him a demon straight outta the depths of hell.

However, Ivar is one of the few Vikings characters based on a real-life person, who was born with weak bones and given the nickname “Boneless.”

While he is considered one of the greatest Viking leaders with links to Norse mythology, it’s not clear how and when Ivar died, with some historians claiming he died in 870.

While Norse legends describe Ivar as being as huge as a bear, they also note that he was as cunning as a fox, making him a truly formidable opponent.

From what history tells us, there was not so much turmoil between Ivar and his brothers as the show Vikings would have us believe.

On the contrary, his brothers appeared to highly respect their boneless brother and rarely made strategic decisions without consulting him.

Given that he was highly loyal to his family, he did not take the news well when he found out that King Ælla of Northumbria had killed his father, Ragnar, by tossing him into a pit of vipers.

In fact, he demanded to know every detail of his father’s death so he could plot his revenge while seething with as much hatred as possible.