Vikings: Who The Women In The Opening Credits Are (& What They Mean)

Vikings is as historically accurate as possible, though it has obviously taken some liberties for the sake of drama and the story they want to tell, but the team behind the series has added as many details from Norse mythology as they can. Many of these can be found in the opening credits, which feature some mysterious women who represent something very dear to the Vikings. Created by Michael Hirst, Vikings was originally planned as a miniseries, and shortly after its debut on History Channel in 2013, it was renewed for a second season.

Vikings initially followed the journeys of the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) and his Viking brothers, and it gradually shifted its focus to Ragnar’s sons and their own travels, making them the protagonists. The series is now enjoying its sixth and final season, and is currently on a break as it reached its midseason mark. It’s unknown when the second part of season 6 will arrive, but until then, it’s worth taking a look back at the previous seasons and some of their details, for example: the opening credits.

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The protagonist of Vikings’ opening sequence is the sea, as that’s where they spent most of their time, but there’s also a raven (representing Odin), and mysterious women in the sea – and they do have something to do with Norse mythology.

Vikings’ Opening Credits Feature The Nine Daughters Of Rán

The opening credits in the first seasons of Vikings show various women in the sea, and their faces are briefly seen. None of these are Lagertha, nor Siggy, Aslaug, Helga, or any female character that’s an active part of the story – in fact, they are Norse figures, and they’re part of the overall sea theme of the sequence. These women are the Nine Daughters of Rán, and they represent the waves.

They are the daughters of Ægir, a sea jötunn, and Rán, the goddess of the sea. Each of their names reflects poetic terms for waves, beginning with Blóðughadda, “bloody-hair”, which is believed to refer to the reddish foam atop a wave; Bylgja, “billow”; Dröfn or Bára, whose meaning isn’t clear, as Dröfn means “comber” and Bára translates to “wave”, though Dröfn also means “foaming sea”; Dúfa, “wave”; Hefring or Hevring, “lifting”; Himinglæva, “transparent-on-top”; Hrönn, “wave”; Kólga, “cool-wave”; and Uðr or Unn, “wave”, which also appears as a name for Odin and the name of a river. The sisters appear in the Poetic Edda, which is a collection of Old Norse anonymous poems, and the Prose Edda, an Old Norse work of literature written in Iceland.

The Vikings are known for their many travels and raids, and as seen in the series, they spent a big part of their lives in the sea, so it’s only natural that Vikings decided to add the Nine Daughters of Rán to its opening sequence – more so because Hirst and company aimed to be as historically accurate as possible, and Norse mythology was a big (and important) part of their lives.

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