The fate of Uhtred Bebbanburg has been questioned several times in The Last Kingdom Seven Kings Must Die, leaving fans wondering if he will die at the end of the book.
*Warning: spoilers for The Last Kingdom Seven Kings Must Die
Throughout The Last Kingdom series on Netflix, we’ve followed Uhtred of Bebbanburg as he navigated the perilous landscape of medieval England as various would-be rulers attempted to seize the throne.
Uhtred is in more danger as the foundations are laid for the final unification of England. But what will be the fate of Uhtred at the end of this film? Will he also die, like many of his predecessors?
Seven Kings Must Die: The heart of the battle
Seven Kings Must Die’s plot is triggered when Edward the King, who was ruling at the time of its release, passes away. A power vacuum remains that the Danish King Anlaf and Prince Aelfweard are eager to take advantage of.
Uhtred is dragged into the conflict when he learns that Prince Aethelstan, his former ward, and protégé, is to fight as well, although several parties look to influence the young prince for their own gain.
Aethelstan, after destroying Aelfweard with brutality, then turns his attention to the Danes, who are joined by many kings of the British Isles, including Scotland, Man and Shetland.
The conflict comes to a blood-soaked conclusion at the Battle of Brunanburh where Aethelstan’s forces, marshaled by Uhtred, confront the Danish-led armies.
Despite being outnumbered, Uhtred’s tactics allow Aethelstan’s forces to come out on top, with the five heirs of the opposing kings all falling in the battle.
Alongside King Edward, the five heirs make up six of the seven kings whose deaths are prophesized by Finan’s wife, Ingrith, and the film’s title.
Does Uhtred die in Seven Kings must die?
Seven Kings Must Die ends with Uhtred still alive.
However, Uhtred’s life is in great danger when he is gravely wounded during the battle as he is stabbed with a spear and we see him collapse to the ground as the fighting rages on around him.
When the battle ends and the dust settles, Sihtric and Finan find Uhtred unconscious and quickly arrange for him to be taken back to his home at Bebbanburg where they hope he can be nursed back to health.
Uhtred is able to muster up the strength to get out of bed and swear his loyalty to Aethelstan. This allows him to unite all kingdoms in England.
At this moment, Uhtred touts the possibility that he himself could be the seventh king doomed to die by the prophecy if he doesn’t recover from his wounds.
Uhtred returns to his bedroom to relax. Still, as he nears the door, he experiences a vision of Valhalla, the Norse afterlife, where he sees his fallen comrades feasting in Odin’s great hall, including his childhood friend and first love, Brida, and their adoptive father, Earl Ragnar.
As the film ends, Uhtred is left standing between the worlds of the living and the dead – although he never moves on to Valhalla itself.
In Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Story novels that inspired The Last Kingdom, Uhtred survives the various conflicts of the era and ends up living to old age, which gives us our best indication of his fate following Seven Kings Must Die’s ambiguous ending.
What happened to the ‘real’ Uhtred?
Uhtred, the fictional protagonist of Uhtred von Bebbanburg depicts several historical characters and events.
Although, Alexander Dreymon’s character does get his name from a real-life individual, Uhtred the Bold, who lived around 100 years after the events shown in The Last Kingdom.
Uhtred, the real Uhtred, ruled Bebbanburg Castle (now called Bamburgh Castle), between 1006 and 1016. He was killed in that year.
Uhtred’s creation as a fictional character stems from the ancestry of The Saxon Stories’ author, Bernard Cornwell, as he learned that his family is descended from the real Lords of Bebbanburg, which inspired him to delve into his family’s history and devise the work of historical fiction that would become The Last Kingdom.
Cornwell, who spoke with The Guardian in 2015 Explained: “They had a family tree, it went all the way back to the sixth century. There was an Uhtred. They were Lords from Bebbanburg, Northumberland. We don’t know much about Uhtred, but we do have his autograph on the Charter.
“But most historical novels have a big story, and a little story – you flip them and put the little story in the foreground.”
While Uhtred’s story is fictional, it takes place against a backdrop of real-life historical events. This gives the books and TV shows a genuine feel.
The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die is Streaming is available Netflix, after April 14th 2023.
Is Uhtred dead in Seven Kings Must Die?