The Last Kingdom: How Old Stiorra Is In Season 5 | Screen Rant
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last Kingdom season 5.
The Last Kingdom season 5 picks up after a significant time has passed following the events of season 4, with many viewers of the series wondering how old Uhtred’s daughter Stiorra is in the new season. The Netflix series recently debuted the historical drama’s fifth and final season with many of the young actors seen in season 4 needing to be recast to accommodate the large time jump. This is not the case for Stiorra, who is played by Ruby Hartley in both seasons 4 and 5, leading many to wonder as to the young queen’s age in The Last Kingdom season 5.
The Last Kingdom follows Uhtred, a boy caught in the middle of the war to build England. Born to an Anglo-Saxon lord, but kidnapped as a young boy and raised by the Danes, Uhtred lives torn between two heritages. Forever in pursuit to reclaim his birthright, the fortress of Bebbanburg, Uhtred finds himself in service to the Anglo-Saxon kings whilst still drawn to Dane principles and customs. And while The Last Kingdom seasons 4 and 5 focus on Uhtred’s love with the Mercian queen, Aethelflaed, it is his previous marriage to Dane, Gisela, that bore Uhtred his three children, Oswald, Stiorra, and Osbert. Uhtred’s dual loyalties result in his son, Oswald, becoming a Christian priest, while Stiorra is drawn to the Danes’ way of life.
The Last Kingdom season 4 ends with Uhtred rescuing Stiorra, who is held captive by the new Dane leader Sigtryggr, only to discover that Stiorra and Sigtryggr have fallen in love and she is to become the new queen of Eoforwick. Though Uhtred initially refuses to allow the union, it is pointed out to him that Stiorra is no longer a child, though her age is never given. This leads to the idea that Stiorra is a girl on the brink of womanhood at the conclusion of The Last Kingdom season 4, and with further investigation into the source material, Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories, it is revealed that Stiorra would be around the age of 19 when she falls in love with Sigtryggr.
The Last Kingdom season 4 adapts books seven and eight in Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories, The Pagan Lord and The Empty Throne, and, though creative liberties are taken in regard to plot in The Last Kingdom, Stiorra’s character follows much the same path in both. The Last Kingdom season 4 sees the death of Aethelred and the ensuing Mercian succession conflict which took place in 911. Stiorra was born in 892, which means that she is approximately 19 at the conclusion of The Last Kingdom season 4.
The time-lapse between The Last Kingdom seasons 4 and 5 is not specified - however, Edward’s sons Aethelstan and Aelfweard are seen as young boys at the end of season 4 and are grown into young men at the start of season 5, leading to the idea that many years have passed. As the first episodes of The Last Kingdom season 5 show the death of Mercian Queen, Aethelflaed, who died in real life in 918, Stiorra begins the final season around the age of 26 and will be 27 by the end of The Last Kingdom season 5.
All episodes of The Last Kingdom are available on Netflix.