No. Cornwell intersperses historical and fictional characters quite liberally, and both Ragnars are fictional. Ubba Lothbrokson - who you’ll meet in the next episode, IIRC - is real, and was the son of Ragnar Lothbrok (though both appear to be amalgamations of multiple real persons).
Some good news - season 2 is confirmed.
http://release-date.info/tv-series/the-last-kingdom-season-2-release-date-5849367281/
Ah, thanks.
I’m a little bit annoyed by what seems to me are anachronistic pronunciations of names.
For example, I have always thought that “Eoforwic” (an old name for “York”) is pronounced [ˈe͜o vor wɪtʃ] (AY-oh vore wich) instead of what they say on the show—[ˈɛf ɚ wɪtʃ] (EFF-er wich).
Both spellings and place names were pretty variable in Saxon Britain, which makes determining pronunciation particularly difficult since you can’t just follow written vowel shifts and such.
Catching up with the series on Netflix. So good!!
Any news on a season 3?
I had totally forgotten they made a second series. New bingewatch project for the week!
Not as strong a start as Season 1, IMHO, but I’m really liking the nun character.
I like that Uhtred is not your typical “hero” in these types of shows, that is, someone with the morality of a 20th century humanist somehow stuck in the middle ages. He’s an arse-hole through and through viewed from our perspective, and hell, even from theirs in some respects 
Looks like Season 2 continues this trend.
I’m going to miss some of the old characters we lost though.
Yep,that’s one thing it does have in common wit GoT; the attrition rate for characters.
I actually preferred S2, it felt more mature. Regarding S3, I guess the BBC is waiting for a partner. Maybe Netflix aren’t convinced by the numbers …
tbh, it’s stretching it somewhat to try and compare this to GoT.
Actually my understanding was just the opposite. That Old Norse and Old English were closer to mutually intelligible dialects than distinct languages, such that as late as the 11th century the Danes at Canute’s court could at least roughly understand the Saxons. Some quick googling spat out this paper that seems to indicate that the idea of the two languages were mutually unintelligible was an older notion, now being superseded by new research.
I also found this comparison:
Old English:
Þæt mælede mín módor
þæt me scolde ceapian
flæge and fægra ára,
faran aweg wið wícingum,
standan úppe in stefnan,
stíeran deorne cnear,
faran swá tó hæfene,
héawan man and óðer.
Old Norse:
Þat mælti mín móðir,
at mér skyldi kaupa
fley ok fagrar árar,
fara á brott með víkingum,
standa upp í stafni,
stýra dýrum knerri,
halda svá til hafnar
höggva mann ok annan.
Yeah Season 2 is actually proving to be even better! Can’t stop binge watching. Should finish it up tonight. I have a feeling it’s goign to be a cliffhanger ending and I’m going to be pissed if NEtflix doesn’t announce a Season 3!
Huh, ok, not cliffhanger ending. Everything came together rather nicely in Season 2. Really, rally enjoying this show and hoping Netflix renews.
The performances from just about everyone here have been outstanding. David Dawson gets special kudos as Alfred. He’s the character I like and love to hate the most.