If Ragnar had known the nightmare that Rollo would turn into for his family, he would have killed him alongside Jarl Borg. Ragnar chose blood ties over reason, though, and that was his downfall in the end. Ragnar Lothbrok was a complicated leader that accomplished so much while making so many mistakes along the way.
While he went down as the greatest leader of the Northmen in all the six seasons of Vikings, he wasn't exactly the best. He made mistakes that proved costly, leading to his disgraceful end, but his mistakes were not nearly enough to overwrite the good he brought to Kattegat and all of Norway.
10 Best: Raiding England
Earl Haraldson didn't have the nerve to sail to the unknown in the hope of finding new fertile land to settle his people. Actually, before Ragnar's voyage, no one in Kattegat had the ambition to discover a new place to raid and probably colonize.
Ragnar understood that the barren Kattegat wouldn't be enough to keep his people alive in the future and realized the need to go somewhere that no one else had been to. His trip to the unknown land became the eye-opener that changed the entire region forever. Although Ragnar's raid had its downsides, it bore fruit in the end by giving the Vikings an alternative place to make a living.
9 Worst: Sleeping With Aslaug
Ragnar and Aslaug started as a joke that became bigger than anyone expected, dividing the most prominent family in Norway badly. It was the first huge mistake Ragnar made, and it hurt his family until the end. Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) was willing to forgive Ragnar's infidelity as long as it stayed away from her home.
However, it came haunting her on her doorstep in the form of a heavily pregnant Aslaug, and there was nothing she could do about that. She loved Ragnar, but she understood that he needed sons that she couldn't give him, so she left him to deal with his mistakes. It gave him another family in the end, but it also denied him the happy life he had with Lagertha.
8 Best: Fighting Earl Haraldson
Ragnar had been obedient to his Earl up until the time he chased him out of his home and threatened to kill him and his family. He had tolerated Haraldson's humiliation when he confiscated most of his loot from the first raid and would have left him most of the second as well, but he couldn't stand the injustice he did to his family.
While beaten and injured, Ragnar stood up for himself and challenged Haraldson to a fight that would either kill him or make him the earl of Kattegat. It was the first step to the rise of Ragnar Lothbrok and also the end of Haraldson's tyranny in Kattegat.
7 Worst: Forgiving Rollo
It would have been unfair to leave his brother to die at the hands of the lawmaker, but Ragnar didn't have to take his treacherous brother back either. Rollo had proved that he didn't have Ragnar's back, and it was obvious that he would betray him again.
Ragnar chose to be the bigger person and save his elder brother's life, hoping that he would become family again. His loyalty only lasted a short while until Frankia gave him the chance to be everything that Kattegat couldn't give him. He betrayed Ragnar and defeated him, which contributed to Ragnar's death.
6 Best: Keeping Athelstan
Athelstan attracted Ragnar's attention when he begged for his life in the Vikings' tongue at the Lindisfarne monastery. He was obviously the most resourceful thing he would need on his future raids of England.
Ragnar also saw a part of himself in the young monk. When Haraldson told him that he could only keep one piece of all he got in England, Ragnar chose to keep Athelstan. Athelstan turned out to be the brother Ragnar needed in the end.
5 Worst: Keeping The Massacre Of The Settlements Secret
Keeping his army focussed on the mission to Frankia was important, but not at the risk of stirring up a revolution in the future. Even with the defeat to Rollo in Frankia, the Vikings still respected Ragnar, and he would have remained powerful if he told his people everything.
It was a mistake to trust Ecbert, but he wasn't the only one at fault. His people would have come back from Frankia and brought hell on Ecbert under Ragnar's guidance if he had told the truth, and everyone would have benefitted in the end.
4 Best: Saving Ivar
Ivar was a monster that hurt Ragnar's legacy more than any of his other sons, but he was a Lothbrok, and that name meant something. Killing the crippled boy would have haunted Ragnar his whole life.
Besides, Ivar wasn't all bad; he was the only person that agreed to come back to England with him and eventually led the mission to avenge Ragnar's death. He managed to secure York as a holdfast for the Vikings when they came to England and also did some good in Kattegat while he ruled it. It would be hard to imagine the future of Ragnar's family without Ivar.
3 Worst: Abandoning Kattegat
Losing the battle in Frankia was devastating for Ragnar. He had done everything right to make life better for his people, but Rollo destroyed all that. However, Ragnar was still a good leader, and his people needed him more than ever.
Instead of standing up and becoming the king he was supposed to be, Ragnar abandoned Kattegat and left his children to grow up without him. By the time he came back, everyone had lost faith in him, and that was the beginning of the end for him.
2 Best: Allowing His Sons To Follow Their Own Paths
Ragnar Lothbrok was still king when his sons refused to accompany him on his final trip to England. He had the right to behave like Horik and Haraldson and order everyone to do as he wished or have them punished, but he didn't. Ragnar was not a dictator; He preferred to let everyone have their own way.
He allowed Bjorn to follow his dream of exploring the Mediterranean and for the rest of his sons to stay in Kattegat as they wanted. It was like the maturity test for his sons and the beginning of their boldness which helped them become great leaders after his death.
1 Worst: Going Back To England With No Army
Ragnar was a warrior and a king, and he deserved to live long into his old age and watch his children take over the world, but he decided that that wasn't the death he wanted. He hated himself for getting his people killed and losing the respect he once had, so he decided to die in the very place where it all started.
If he had given himself enough time to regain the respect of the people in Kattegat, Ragnar would have come back to England with an army strong enough to punish Ecbert. He would also get the chance to sort the succession issue in Kattegat to prevent the bloodshed that came after his death.
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