[this contains SPOILERS]

i love ragnar.

(this is gonna be a long one. WITH SPOILERS, up to like the first half of season 4) i do see why you would say the only reason you like him is the actor (travis fimmel is AMAZING), but i love ragnar's arc and his personality. from what you've said about your favourite GoT characters i can see that you will agree that morally gray characters or characters that have done some pretty shitty stuff can be your favourites. i love ragnar not just because he isn't a cookie cutter leader and hero. but he is also painfully ambitious and often plain selfish. he will chase what he wants like a hound. he's often extremely petty and cares DEEPLY about loyalty, showcased by him punishing the people who have betrayed him (rollo (even though he forgives him countless times), floki, jarl borg (for who im not sure what he did exactly but im pretty sure he tried to take his land when him and ragnar had an agreement, excuse me if im wrong i have a terrible memory, that aslo counts for everything else i say, take it with a grain of salt)). he kept it a secret from floki that he knew he killed athelstan for so long, just to watch how he handles it. he hated floki using the gods as a scapegoat, so he made floki's punishment the punisment the gods gave loki. (kinda petty if you ask me, but ok). he is very creative and witty, he is very good with his tounge and knows how to manipulate people (he often reminds me of tyrion at those moments) (some examples include him tricking ecbert and the british people, him decieving king horik and jarl borg, him lying to floki, and my personal favourite, him lying to the french and getting into paris by faking his death) i also love ragnar's relationship with athelstan. athelstan is one of the only people ragnar only shows affection to (after them first meeting) (which you did mention as a bad thing, but i think it's a fascinating part of his character). he values his intelligence. it's often shown how ragnar just simply and coldly uses the people he considers allies to gain what he wants (ecbert is a simple example). but with athelstan, while his knowledge is useful to him, it isn't the only thing he values in athelstan. he also respects athelstan being christian and because of him the christian religion in general (compared to the other vikings at least. ok not REALLY but he doesnt hate them just because of it like the other vikings). ragnar's respect and love for athelstan is also shown when he burries him and puts a cross on his grave, saying he brought him the closest he could to his god (he carried him up a hill). but he also wore a cross necklace after athelstan's death. now to touch briefly on his, alslaug's and lagertha's relationship. i don't have a special fondness for either alsaug nor lagertha. let's get that out of the way. lagertha is extremely proud, which is not really something i personally often find fond in characters. she takes a great offence to ragnar wanting to have multiple wives (understandable). but she just leaves which i don't really care enough to analyse more deeply. i think that their relationship after her return (the more platonic approach) really works a lot more for me, and that her whole thing with becoming earl is way more interesting than her just staying ragnar's wife. which i do admit is a bullshit answer because it making the plot more interesting isn't an excuse but i don't really agree with him cheating and what he did to her either. as for aslaug... i really don't know what to make of her. where i am with the show right now her arc is just a mess so i won't really comment on that because i don't know where to start. but basically, i agree that ragnar's cheating and all that bs is probably my lest favourite part of his character, so i agree with you on that point, but i still think he's an very interesting character to watch and follow on his journeys. again, i just love him beacause wathing his petty and bold ass do shit's interesting. but also his character building and arc's phenomenal.