What happened to Ragnar Lothbrok and James Gordon? Anyone watching “Vikings” or “Gotham” knows these two protagonists – it’s hard to call them heroes – have taken turns for the worse recently. What happened, and can they win our loyalties back?
Ragsy and Jimmy boy star on two of my favorite shows on TV: “Vikings” on HISTORY, and “Gotham” on FOX. On both programs, the two stars live in corrupt, amoral worlds. Ragnar lives in the pagan, anti-Christian setting of Scandinavia in the 800s, while Jim resides in the modern, fictional locale of Gotham City. In spite of the environments they live in, both characters managed to win our trust, that is, until recent episodes.
Let’s start with Ragnar. Ragnar is a Viking Horatio Alger: he raises himself up from farmer to king. From the outset, it’s clear he’s not a model of human behavior, at least not by modern standards. Every summer when the temperature rises and the sea calms, he and his band of followers set out to make war against various cities in Europe, this season Paris. He’s killed a slew of people, fought and killed his own former king in a power move, and ditched one wife for another, as well as cheating on both. As I said, not the highest standard of behavior.
What made us root for him then? Two things. The first was that he was so much smarter than everyone else, not only on the battlefield, but as king. He had the ability to read people and situations. He was generally cautious, not prone to rash actions even when slighted. He bided his time, and when he acted he was decisive and ruthless. He was also a linguist, an unexpected talent, learning the language of Wessex, giving him the ability to negotiate with them. He was one step ahead of friends and foes.
The second reason we liked him was that despite his bloodthirsty ways, he was capable of being a good friend. Over the first few seasons, he developed a bond with Athelstan, a monk who became a pagan before reverting back to Christianity. Ragnar showed real sadness after Athelstan’s murder. Between the loss of his friend and the tremendous fall from a siege tower he took during the attack on Paris, his drug addiction this season was no surprise.
On the other hand, James Gordon is a cop living today, if there is such a thing as today in comic books. His goal is to clean up Gotham City. When the show begins, he’s the only honest cop in town, a common trope, but one that creates empathy immediately. We want him to succeed. We want him to clean up Gotham. His character may be as stiff as rebar, but he has his integrity. Jimmy’s not as complex a character as Ragsie. It’s much easier to root for Jim, but both characters draw you in and make you want them to succeed.
Until now.
So what happened? It all spiraled downhill for me in recent episodes. On “Vikings”, Ragnar had become a drug addict, dependent on an Asian slave named Yidu for his fix. She also knows Ragnar’s secret about the colony of Vikings murdered brutally by King Ecbert in Wessex. When she threatens to tell Ragnar’s secret, undermining his position with his legion, he drags her into the river and holds her head under water until she drowns. He commits this cold-blooded murder in front of two of his sons. It’s absolutely brutal. All of his previous murders were during battle or as punishments for crimes. Not this one. This one was about as low as you can go.
As for Jimbo, I’ve had my doubts about him for a while. The writers haven’t drawn him with much depth, which I didn’t really expect being that it is a comic book, but they’ve had opportunities to color him more brightly by giving him romantic interests and having him interact with them. The problem is that just giving him those interests isn’t enough. He kept both Lee and Barbara at a distance even when he was with them.
That’s an aside though, more like the slow erosion of a sand castle then a tidal wave of destruction. The main reason I’ve lost sympathy for him is that he’s murdered two people he should have brought to justice. The first murder he committed was back at the beginning of season two. The Penguin asks him to steal some money for him in exchange for getting Jim his job back with the GCPD (Gotham City Police Department). He hesitates, then takes the offer, and winds up killing someone in the process of committing the robbery.
That was bad enough, but I tried to justify it saying that the person he killed was no angel either. He was trying to chase Jim down to get the money back, and probably would have killed Jim if he had had the chance. Jim shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place, but you could almost – almost – justify it.
The second murder at the middle of season two left no doubt. Gordon became judge and jury. He and Penguin had dragged Theo Galivan, the latest crime lord to try to rule Gotham, to a secluded place where Penguin eggs Jim into killing Galivan in cold blood.
Sure, you can argue that both of the people he killed were criminals, that they both deserved to die, that Galivan would have beaten the justice system and gone free again. But Gordon’s a cop, not a vigilante. This is the type of behavior he’s fighting against. All he has is his honesty, his integrity, his adherence to justice and law, not vigilantism. Once he’s lost that, what else does he have?
Does the end justify the means? Is that an argument Jim should make? If the writers were trying to add shading to Jim, I think there were other ways to go about that without taking away his core value system.
Having said all that, I love both shows and I intend to keep watching them. The most interesting story line for me on “Vikings” is now Rollo’s, whereas “Gotham” is full of villains who are much more interesting than Jim Gordon. Young Bruce Wayne’s journey to Batman is also more compelling.
What do you think? They’re rotten heroes. Do you still like Ragnar and Jim?
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