I believe these predictions to be so accurate that you should avoid this diary if you are afraid of spoilers (and if you consider the historical accounts spoilers). I decided to document my predictions here before the episode airs to prove to my boyfriend that I knew what was going to happen before the episode airs. Note, that my predictions defy the current online speculation that Bjorn will marry Gisela and that Ragnar dies so they can focus next season on either Bjorn or Rollo.
Predictions over the squiggle...
My summary of the episode that has yet to air is as follows:
Ragnar fakes his death and before doing so makes Bjorn promise to ask the king to allow Ragnar to be buried on consecrated ground. The king agrees because back then, the European Christians loved to provide examples of converted pagans being buried as Christians in the hopes of encouraging more conversions. Thus, Rollo, Bjorn, Lagertha, and probably Kahl are let in through the city gates carrying Ragnar's body.
During the ceremony or wherever they go inside, Ragnar jumps up, grabs his weapon (being buried with him, of course), and runs to the gate to let in the Vikings outside mourning their king. the Vikings take Paris and ransom it back in exchange for a lot of money, Normandy for Rollo, and Princess Gisela--who probably includes herself as part of the ransom to save the city she loves and as a show of good faith (and because she is attracted to the "bear").
Why do I believe these things will happen? Because Bjorn Ironsides reportedly pulled a similar stunt to get into an impenetrable city (as Athelstan described Paris) in Italy, and the show will probably not last enough seasons to show that, so why not incorporate it now? Also, as viewers will recall, the seer said "the dead will conquer Paris." The writers wanted us to think the dead were the plague victims, but that is a red (black?) herring. In history, Rollo (who is not actually related to Ragnar) supposedly did marry Gisela, and started the line from which William the Conqueror descended. The seer essentially predicted this for Rollo, too.
Also, Ragnar's death in the legends is too interesting and sets in motion an important chain of events that I cannot imagine the writers would want to squander in favor of an unexciting death due to sepsis.
Ragnar is playing the long game and faked his baptism just for this reason, and he also wanted to piss off Floki. He already told Athelstan's corpse that they would not end up in the same place after death, so he is not giving up his beliefs just so he can meet Athelstan in heaven. He already resolved that issue, hallucinations not withstanding.
Also, the king in offering Ragnar money to go away has telegraphed his weakness. The city has proven impenetrable so far. Why would he need to pacify the Vikings unless he is afraid they will soon win? The Vikings tried to climb the walls, it didn't work. They tried to go by water, it didn't work. They tried to go in through the gate, it didn't work--because of those French soldiers at the other end. So how do you take Paris? From the inside, where you can control the gate.
If it turns out that I am wrong, which I doubt, I will be sorely disappointed. I've already lost Athelstan (truth be told, he was starting to grate on me this season), and I am not ready for Ragnar to die.
The only part I have not figured out is what will happen to Floki. Nothing good, I am sure.
Thu Apr 23, 2015 at 8:23 PM PT: **SPOILER ALERT** Well, I was pretty much right! I thought it was pretty obvious, so I am not sure why people were predicting Ragnar made Bjorn promise he would marry Gisla. That made no sense. And wasn't Rollo so cute at the end, with his attempt to speak French to his bride-to-be?