In Vikings Season 5 Episode 18, Ivar the Boneless makes a heart-wrenching decision after the birth of his son.
When Freydis gives birth to Baldur, Ivar’s joyous moment is ruined when he sees the unspecified deformities that break his heart. The episode reveals that baby Baldur’s deformity affects his ability to
Freydis told Ivar that Baldur’s deformity is a true sign of the Gods’ favor, but the King of Kattegat is unconvinced. King Ivar choose to spare his son from a life of pain and makes the same decision Ragnar did with him by leaving Baldur to die by a tree stump in the middle of the night.
Aslaug eventually rescued Ivar and Ragnar learned to love his crippled son.
In the emotional scene, Ivar tells his son “I cannot allow you to suffer what I have suffered throughout my life.” As the mad king wallowed in self-pity, he gives the departing words before crawling back to his kingdom “You’ll have to make your own way in life, Baldur, my boy.”
No further details are yet known about what was wrong with Ivar’s baby, but further details could well be revealed.
In the promo for Vikings Season 5 episode 19, it appears that Ivar confronts Freydis about Baldur. In a clip of the next episode, Ivar grabs Freydis aggressively and asks: “Is he really my son? You lied to me.”
With two episodes left, fans will have to tune in next week to discover how Ivar grows suspicious that Baldur is not his flesh and blood.
I know I am very late to the party. I assumed cleft palate but then the skull was wrong. There should have been a missing piece of skull from mouth to nose.