King Horik -- played by the terrific Irish-Canadian actor Donal Logue, best known for Grounded for Life -- has more than demonstrated that he is not about manipulation and treachery to get what he wants on Vikings. As it stands right now, he's got Siggy (Jessalyn Gilsig) whoring herself out all over the place (poor Rollo just can't catch a break -- but that's okay, because he will go on to be the forefather of Kings of England -- as has been mentioned before, he's actually the ancestor of the current House of Windsor, which means that Prince William, and Baby George, are descendants of Rollo!), and he remains a very tenuous frien-emy of Ragnar Lothbrook. The leaked promo for Episode 7 -- titled "Blood Eagle" -- suggests that Horik will help Jarl Borg (previously his enemy) escape the wrath of Ragnar Lothbrook! 

Horik's reasoning for not wanting Ragnar to kill Jarl Borg has nothing to do with friendship -- Horik needs Borg's boats to get to Wessex. Ragnar, however, couldn't give a rat's behind about Wessex, Essex, or anything in between -- he wants revenge for what Jarl did to his family! So who will prevail? Looks like we're going to have to tune in to this week's episode of Vikings -- premiering on Thursday at 10 p.m. on The History Channel; check local listings for channel -- to find out!

But who was the real King Horik? Was he really this manipulative? 

Horik I reigned as sole King of the Danes from 827 to his violent death in 854. His reign was marked by Danish raids on the Franco-German empire of Louis the Pious, son and successor of Charlemagne. Horik and another of Gudfred's sons took power in 811. By 819, Horik was the only son of Godfred's still alive, making him the sole king of the Danes. Horik refused to convert to Christianity, as it was his enemies' religion, and resisted attempts by Archbishop Anskar of Hamburg-Bremen to proselytize the Danes. In 845, Horik's army attacked Hamburg and destroyed St. Mary's Cathedral there. It was Horik's last major war in Germany. In 854, King Horik I was killed by a nephew whom he had driven into exile. While in exile, the nephew had become a successful raider.