Bishop Unwan is a Christian priest in Northumbria and served as a counsellor to King Aelle.
Biography
Season 1
During Ragnar Lothbrok's third expedition to Northumbria, Unwan is certain that the Northmen have come by the will of God to punish his people for their "many sins and transgressions." When Ragnar and Rollo arrive to negotiate the ransom with Aelle, Unwan advises the king to allow him to baptize one of the Northmen in order to cement the deal. Rollo volunteers and is baptized in a stream by the bishop himself. However, Aelle doubts the sincerity of Rollo's conversion and orders an ultimately unsuccessful attack on the Viking's encampment.
Season 4
Many years later, Unwan is still at Aelle's service. He joins his king with the Northumbria's army against Ragnar's sons and their Great Heathen Army. Even though the scene isn't shown, the Vikings decimate the Northumbrian army, Aelle is captured and executed by Bjorn, and Unwan dies soon after his king, succumbing to his injuries in front of King Ecbert, Bishop Edmund, and Prince Aethelwulf.
Trivia
- Unwan may have been the Bishop of Durham, which would have made him the second most powerful Christian bishop in the Kingdom of Northumbria after the Archbishop of Eoforwic (York). The Bishop of Durham also had wide secular authority as the ruler over the "Liberty of Durham," which was ruled by the bishops since King Ecgfrith of Northumbria granted the land to Saint Cuthbert in 684 C.E.
Appearances
| Season One Appearances | ||||
| Rites of Passage | Wrath of the Northmen | Dispossessed | ||
| Trial | Raid | Burial of the Dead | ||
| A King's Ransom | Sacrifice | All Change | ||
| Season four appearances | ||||
| A Good Treason | Kill the Queen | Mercy | Yol | Promised |
| What Might Have Been | The Profit and the Loss | Portage | Death All 'Round | The Last Ship |
| The Outsider | The Vision | Two Journeys | In the Uncertain Hour Before the Morning | All His Angels |
| Crossings | The Great Army | Revenge | On the Eve | The Reckoning |