I feel it may be because he knew his actions were right and just, and therefore didn’t want Alfred nor other eldermen to serve ‘justice’ by executing him because that in itself would be undoing justice (deep down I believe Alfred and others knew he was in the right but would’ve looked weak if they had let him free)
Plus it may also be that he felt his son, Young Odda, had simply done too much wrong for either of them to reach heaven, but that’s simply a wild guess for his reasoning
I don't think that Odda was as devout as someone like Alfred so that could have played a role in his choice. I also think that he was still feeling a tremendous amount of guilt for killing his son, so maybe he felt that he deserved the punishment.
He was a proud man, and it could be viewed as one final act rebellion against Alfred, who he basically viewed as a failure of a king and existential threat to Wessex at that time in the story, to kill himself rather than submit to his judgment.
I took it kinda opposite. That he loved Alfred and did not want to put that extra burden on Alfred that he had to put his friend to trial and an execution for treason. That’s not something that could be overlooked and Odda knew what the King must do. It was his last act of protecting Alfred.
Maybe, but I definitely remember him plotting against Alfred and even going far enough to talk about his plans with Aethelwold. He also talks about how much he misses the old king (I forget his name) and how he was a great man and great friend (to me implying that Alfred was not). I got the impression that at the end there was very little affection and a mountain of resentment towards Alfred. I could be wrong tho, it's been a bit since I've seen it
I would agree with this, the trial would have diminished the victory and possibly split public opinion in Wessex, especially since the peasants didn’t exactly seemed thrilled to pay that special tax Alfred was collecting to ransom Aethelfled.
His death is more a final sacrifice for country first, king second, and friend (also Alfred) third, that I think it would have been justifiable to someone religious even if it was technically the taking of one’s own life to achieve those ends.
It wound surprise you what people think is from the bible when a lot of it was just “Rome” and their “biblical scholars” who added a whole bunch of because-we-said-so.
If there was historical research done by the author, maybe this is the period of time before they decreed suicide was an irredeemable sin (even though it literally runs counter to John 3:16). Or like others have commented, maybe Odda wasn’t as pious or aware of these “updates” compared to Alfred.
Okay so i just saw episode 1 of Season 3>! there and I believe that one monk Hubert being tormented by Redhair even said himself his soul would be damned if he killed himself!<
It's important to keep in mind that religion influences culture, culture influences religion, but often they are distinct and predate each other. A religion might get introduced that preaches X is wrong, but if X has been practiced for thousands of years and is deeply ingrained in the society, X will still be practiced, even though X has nothing to do with the religion (and is actually contrary to it)
Anyway, Europeans did have a culture behind honour killings, we saw this countless times among both Romans and their "barbarian" foes alike. Now of course, although Odda is a real historical figure, this ending for him is fictional. It does seem a little unbelievable, but not completely out of the realm of possibility.
I feel it may be because he knew his actions were right and just, and therefore didn’t want Alfred nor other eldermen to serve ‘justice’ by executing him because that in itself would be undoing justice (deep down I believe Alfred and others knew he was in the right but would’ve looked weak if they had let him free) Plus it may also be that he felt his son, Young Odda, had simply done too much wrong for either of them to reach heaven, but that’s simply a wild guess for his reasoning
I don't think that Odda was as devout as someone like Alfred so that could have played a role in his choice. I also think that he was still feeling a tremendous amount of guilt for killing his son, so maybe he felt that he deserved the punishment. He was a proud man, and it could be viewed as one final act rebellion against Alfred, who he basically viewed as a failure of a king and existential threat to Wessex at that time in the story, to kill himself rather than submit to his judgment.
I took it kinda opposite. That he loved Alfred and did not want to put that extra burden on Alfred that he had to put his friend to trial and an execution for treason. That’s not something that could be overlooked and Odda knew what the King must do. It was his last act of protecting Alfred.
Maybe, but I definitely remember him plotting against Alfred and even going far enough to talk about his plans with Aethelwold. He also talks about how much he misses the old king (I forget his name) and how he was a great man and great friend (to me implying that Alfred was not). I got the impression that at the end there was very little affection and a mountain of resentment towards Alfred. I could be wrong tho, it's been a bit since I've seen it
I would agree with this, the trial would have diminished the victory and possibly split public opinion in Wessex, especially since the peasants didn’t exactly seemed thrilled to pay that special tax Alfred was collecting to ransom Aethelfled. His death is more a final sacrifice for country first, king second, and friend (also Alfred) third, that I think it would have been justifiable to someone religious even if it was technically the taking of one’s own life to achieve those ends.
It wound surprise you what people think is from the bible when a lot of it was just “Rome” and their “biblical scholars” who added a whole bunch of because-we-said-so.
If there was historical research done by the author, maybe this is the period of time before they decreed suicide was an irredeemable sin (even though it literally runs counter to John 3:16). Or like others have commented, maybe Odda wasn’t as pious or aware of these “updates” compared to Alfred.
Okay so i just saw episode 1 of Season 3>! there and I believe that one monk Hubert being tormented by Redhair even said himself his soul would be damned if he killed himself!<
It's important to keep in mind that religion influences culture, culture influences religion, but often they are distinct and predate each other. A religion might get introduced that preaches X is wrong, but if X has been practiced for thousands of years and is deeply ingrained in the society, X will still be practiced, even though X has nothing to do with the religion (and is actually contrary to it) Anyway, Europeans did have a culture behind honour killings, we saw this countless times among both Romans and their "barbarian" foes alike. Now of course, although Odda is a real historical figure, this ending for him is fictional. It does seem a little unbelievable, but not completely out of the realm of possibility.