september recs, day twenty-three: vikings (the show, not the trope)

Much like with White Collar, there is ONLY ONE CORRECT SHIP for Vikings and it is Ragnar/Lagertha/Athelstan and if you ship Ragnar/Athelstan without Lagertha you are WRONG AND A BAD PERSON OK. LAGERTHA BEST.

Cunningly Carved Upon Me, by randomeliza
The one where Ragnar doesn't invade England so much as get washed up on the shore and is nursed back to health by Athelstan in the monastery. (Spoiler alert: of course Lagertha shows up with a horde of Vikings at her back to break him out. LAGERTHA BEST.)

On Earth as It Is in Heaven, by samyazaz
Soulmates AU! There is also a very good fill to this same prompt by lady_ragnell but that's ok because my favorite Vikings fic by her is...

I Bet A Lot Of Folks Can Sing In Harmony, by lady_ragnell
THE BAND AU.

Wash the Echoes Out, by eleanor_lavish
Ragnar and Lagertha find out something terrible about Athelstan's past, and go on a quest for revenge. I actually think my favorite part is Ragnar's inability to really understand why Athelstan reacts to things the way he does. Their cultural differences are nicely handled, I thought. (Trigger warning for mentions of child abuse.)

and my darkness falls, by paperclipbitch
Ahahahaha BABYSITTER AU yeah that's right.

PS I've been listening to the new album CHVRCHES have streaming on their website pretty much non-stop for two days you should check it out.