So I've finally decided on an AU for the murder!Viking. In canon, Ivar's father, Ragnar, abandoned his family and duties as king when Ivar was five and only came back ten years later. Among other things, this was very bad for Ivar's mental health, since all the parental figures left in his life were drunk and absent or insane most of the time.
In this AU, Ragnar never left, and stayed around to raise his sons. This gave Ivar more purpose and direction as opposed to having a lot of anger and resentment just build up. He was more concerned with proving himself worthy to his father instead of seeing himself as the poor weak runt of the group who had to fight for everything. In canon, he's shown to form a very close bond with his father very quickly and be very loyal to him. With his father around, his rougher edges are smoothed out a little more, so he's a lot less likely to stab someone for no reason, since he actually learned stabbing was bad, and we shouldn't do that unless necessary.
He's still got his psychopathic traits in place, but expect him to be able to fake empathy and more positive emotions easier, which makes it easier for him to get along with people. He had Ragnar to learn them from in this AU. Overall, he's just a lot happier and more well-balanced. His parents are also alive in the AU, which makes for less angsty Viking overall.
Ivar "The Boneless" Ragnarsson | Vikings
In this AU, Ragnar never left, and stayed around to raise his sons. This gave Ivar more purpose and direction as opposed to having a lot of anger and resentment just build up. He was more concerned with proving himself worthy to his father instead of seeing himself as the poor weak runt of the group who had to fight for everything. In canon, he's shown to form a very close bond with his father very quickly and be very loyal to him. With his father around, his rougher edges are smoothed out a little more, so he's a lot less likely to stab someone for no reason, since he actually learned stabbing was bad, and we shouldn't do that unless necessary.
He's still got his psychopathic traits in place, but expect him to be able to fake empathy and more positive emotions easier, which makes it easier for him to get along with people. He had Ragnar to learn them from in this AU. Overall, he's just a lot happier and more well-balanced. His parents are also alive in the AU, which makes for less angsty Viking overall.
tl;dr tsun viking is now kawaii viking.