The Art of Adaptation: Narrative Manipulation and Reinterpretation of Ragnar Loðbrók from Saga to Screen

The thesis investigates the representation of the figure of Ragnar Loðbrók across different sources starting from the medieval period to the modern adaptations. Ragnar Loðbrók is a semi–legendary Viking character who appears interchangeably in diverse sources as a hero, a serpent–slayer, a king or a raider, which makes the mutability of medieval literature clear. Some of the main sources for the character's presence are Ragnars Saga Loðbrókar, Ragnarssona þáttr, Saxo Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorum, Ragnarsdrapa and the skaldic poem Krákumál. For this reason, the study is framed within the framework of rewritings, as delineated in the works by Hutcheon (2013), Genette (1997), Eco (1979), Ferrari (2005) and Jakobson (1959) which collectively provide the basis of an analysis on both the adaptation of the character and its narrative manipulation. As for the modern narratives, the focus of analysis is on the TV Series Vikings (History Channel, 2013-2020) which is reimagining the character while carrying traces of the sagas and the skaldic poems. Motifs such as the England raid and the snake-pit death appear in both historical and modern narratives while adapting them to the audience they aim to reach. Through detailed adaptation analysis, the thesis ultimately aims to discover if the endurability of Ragnar's character as a shifting figure is a result of its instability. The study thus contributes to Germanic Philology and adaptation theory by investigating how legendary figures remain active participants in cultural memory across centuries thanks to the continuity between medieval narrative multiplicity and modern adaptation techniques.