Ragnar tried to pull an Odin. Even though it wasn't three days, I wonder if he got any wisdom from his brief hanging from the tree.
I'm pretty sure it's implied that it was Odin himself who said "NOPE!" to his attempt. Hence the ravens. (And yes, I'm one of those people who think the gods are active on the show. Sue me!) I have to say, I absolutely love Ivar. He is incredibly awesome so far. The scene where he showed up all three of his brothers in their weapons of choice? Totally bad ass.
Ah, that's a good point. And I agree with you about the gods actually active players (if only in specific, minimal ways). I thought he was a bit of an asshole when he briefly saw him after the time jump in the last episode, but this episode developed his character quite nicely. I look forward to his adventures with Ragnar in Wessex and butting heads with Ecbert. Speaking of the time jump, it's interesting how the first time jump coincided with Ragnar and Lagertha dissolving their union while the second time jump coincided with the two reconciling (at least on a mutual respect and admiration level). Unless it happened last season and I forgot. I know it was leading up to it but I don't recall if it went as far as it did in this episode.
Oh, wow, my memory seems to be going downhill fast. I must have conflated the online theory that he was Odin with Odin having one eye in my mind.
I don't really think the gods are wandering around in the show. Rather, the show gives us situations of stress where from confused senses folks think they are seeing the gods. We're being shown how folks might come to have revelations rather than seeing folks meeting any particular deities.
I think it's very deliberately vague. What might be magic or the influence of the gods on this show is subtle, not demonstrative. It gives us the characters' benefit of the doubt that such forces may be at work, but leaves plausible deniability for non-mystical explanations.
It's hard to argue how the three women in Kattegat dreamt of Harbard's arrival the day before he arrived, though.
Much like leading questions to a witness which can cause a person to recall what they think the questioner wants to hear, each starts talking about a dream about someone coming and they end up creating a common image that they apply to Harbard when he shows up. The mind is a funny thing that is prone to creating quite a deal of what we recall as reality. That's what makes video cameras such better witnesses than people. There is an early interview by Hirst here that goes into how he is approaching Viking beliefs. We are seeing things through their perspective on natural events which is one that is seeing and believing those events as the gods walking around and making things happen. http://uproxx.com/hitfix/interview-vikings-creator-michael-hirst-talks-season-1-and-beyond/ Long before Harbard came along back in s1 when Largetha was doing Earl stuff while Ragnar was looting Northumbria a married couple came to the hall for judgement over the wife who got pregnant while the husband was away. Largetha came to the conclusion the wandering stranger was Heimdall, I recall, and the couple should feel blessed by the gods rather than condemning the woman for adultery.