Uhtred, the protagonist, is the second son of a Saxon lord who rules from the nearly impregnable fortress at Bebbanburg (modern day Bamburgh) in the kingdom of Northumbria. Danish raiders kill first his older brother, then his father. Uhtred himself is spared only because the Danish leader, Ragnar the Fearless, is amused when the youngster attacks him. Ragnar takes Uhtred home and raises the boy like one of his own sons. Uhtred abandons Christianity in favor of Danish pagan beliefs, such as the gods Thor and Odin, Valhalla, and the Norns. In particular, he believes that ""Wyrd bið ful āræd"" ("Fate is inexorable").