'Seven Kings Must Die' Takeaway: Aethelstan's storyline shows that all is NOT fair in love and war
Spoilers ahead for 'The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die' is finally out and the movie has managed to tie the knots of five seasons' worth of stories moulded into a single story. And the Netflix movie has managed to shed focus on almost every major character. A direct sequel to 'The Last Kingdom' series, 'The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die' serves as the final chapter to the historical saga.
'The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die' has most of the cast members from 'The Last Kingdom' reprising their roles and the ensemble of the movie includes Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred, Mark Rowley as Finan, Arnas Fedaravicius as Sihtric, Elaine Cassidy as Queen Eadgifu, Harry Gilby as Aethelstan, Ross Anderson as Domnal, James Northcote as Aldhelm, Laurie Davidson as Ingilmundr, Ewan Horrocks as Aelfweard and Zak Sutcliffe as Edmund.
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The love blinded Aethelstan
'The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die' has shed light on the life of Aethelstan and the movie has managed to showcase the workings of his mind. Aethelstan is certainly not the ward that Uhtred had once trained. Aethelstan is completely a religious man now and follows everything that Ingilmundr says. This leads Aethelstan in doing some of the worst things in the movie. Aethelstan went on a pilgrimage to pray for his father King Edward's health while he was supposed to be protecting the kingdom during this vulnerable time. And the reason for every behaviour of Aethelstan stems from Ingilmundr, the main religious influence for Aethelstan. Ingilmundr makes Aethelstan battle against his brother Aelfweard and even kills him. Aethelstan kills several men, including his most trusted ones and abducts the sons of Kings in the name of reuniting the kingdom. He even orders every single person under his rule to pay taxes to build a church. Aethelstan even goes against his most trusted mentor Uhtred and ignores his mentor's warnings. Aethelstan banishes Uhtred and even gets ready for a dangerous war that he does not stand a chance against. And behind every single of his actions stands the manipulation of Ingilmundr. And the main reason for his irrational behaviour is that Aethelstan is in love with Ingilmundr.
The Sting of Love
However, all of the so-called advice that Ingilmundr offered Aethelstan was a trick to manipulate the young king. It has been later revealed that Ingilmundr has been working with the conspirators all along and he has been scheming to kill Aethelstan and win the war. Ingilmundr used the love of Aethelstan and religion as a shield to control each and every aspect of Aethelstan. It is Ingilmundr who destroyed Bebbanburg in the name of Aethelstan and led to the death of most of the people of Bebbanburg. Ingilmundr had no problem in using Aethelstan as a scapegoat.
The redemption of Aethelstan
When Aethelstan realises that he has been betrayed, it is almost too late. But he does not waste a second in taking action. However, Aethelstan was so blinded by love that he was not able to see the brewing conspiracy that unfolded right before him. He realises that nothing is fair in love and war and sets off to fight the powerful joined forces of enemies alone. And Aethelstan had to pay a huge price to learn this lesson. And in a fitting turn of events, during the Battle of Brunanburh, Aethelstan was able to gain the upper hand on the battle and takes Ingilmundr as a prisoner only to kill him later.
'The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die' is currently streaming exclusively on Netflix.