Richard the Lionheart:
I'm Richard I, from the Third Crusade!
(Richard the Lionheart was coronated as Richard I, and he is notable for being involved in the Third Crusade, which was an attempt to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187.)
That only leaves room for you in second place!
(Richard the First and the Third Crusade's names include the numbers one and three, respectively, meaning the only number missing is two, which Richard says fits Lodbrok's position in the battle as second place to Richard's first place, thus making him lose.)
The chivalrous swinger of the sword and mace,
(Richard practiced chivalry, a code of honor used by knights to uphold honor and defend the innocent and weak. His primary weapon was a sword known as the Lionheart, which is named after him. A mace is a handheld weapon tipped off with spikes, which Richard also used in battle.)
And I kill you when I spit like a pit full of snakes!
(According to legend, Ragnar was executed by King Ælla of Northumbria, who threw Ragnar into a pit of venomous snakes. Some snakes, like the spitting cobra, are capable of spitting their venom when threatened. To "spit" also means to rap. so Richard says that he will kill Ragnar with his rapping like the snakes killed Ragnar in the legend.)
I'm the number one Dick rising up to make you feel small!
(Richard again makes a play on his regnal name of Richard I, saying that being the first makes him number one, and "Dick" is the shortened version of Richard as well as a term for the penis. For a penis to rise up would mean it gets erect, so Richard says that he is superior to Lodbrok and has a larger penis, thus making Lodbrok feel small and inferior.)
My battering ram slams through your shield wall!
(A battering ram is a weapon that is mounted on wheels and used to bust down walls and castle gates to allow besieging forces to enter fortresses. The Crusades featured many prominent sieges in which a city's gate would be broken down by the use of a battering ram. Vikings fought in formations known as shield walls, which consisted of Vikings raising their shields to conceal their bodies in an interlocking formation, preventing the use of arrows or other missiles from penetrating the wall. Richard says that his battering rams will plow through Ragnar's armies, possibly using the battering ram as another euphemism for his penis.)
I'll announce at the next of your things
(A "thing" refers to a public assembly in a single-chamber parliament as used throughout Scandinavia, which dates back to earlier Germanic cultures. Richard says he will present his next argument at a thing when it meets, which follows.)
That I'm chomping through your family like boneless wings!
(Boneless wings are chunks of formed and breaded chicken served as an appetizer or party snack. One of Ragnar's sons was Ivar Ragnarsson, also known as "Ivar the Boneless." Richard uses chomping through as a way of saying he will kill Ragnar's family as easy as chomping through the meat in boneless wings.)
Of course you got avenged by a kid with no bones!
(After Ragnar's death, his son Ivar the Boneless went to England with an army in order to avenge the death of his father. Richard says that it was expected for this to happen, in a way calling Lodbrok boneless, meaning to be weak physically.)
Your own story ended worse than Game of Thrones!
(The series Game of Thrones was notable in the late 2010s for having an ending that many fans considered disappointing. Richard says that the ending of Ragnar's legends are even more disappointing than that of Game of Thrones. Vikings also had similar problems in its final season, with some of the last episodes being considered weak as a finale.)
Your son killed your ex; your ex killed your wife.
(In the series Vikings, Ragnar's second son, Hvitserk, was hallucinating and, mistaking her to be his brother, Ivar, kills Ragnar's first and former wife, Lagertha. Prior to this, Lagertha murdered Ragnar's second wife, Aslaug, out of revenge for taking her husband away from her.)
I'm the Lion King, man, but that's a messed up circle of life!
(A reference to the widely popular 1994 Disney animated film, The Lion King, Richard makes a comparison with his position as king and his title of Lionheart to call himself a Lion King. "The Circle Of Life" is the opening song from The Lion King and refers to the life and death of all living creatures and their place in the food chain. Richard says the line of Ragnar's family killing each other forms a circle of life in itself that is messed up. Coincidentally, in another animated Disney film, Robin Hood, the character of King Richard, based on the real-life Richard I, is portrayed as a lion, also as a reference to his nickname of the Lionheart.)
Half-assed head tats can't be condoned!
(Richard takes a jab at the tattoos on the top half of the sides of Ragnar's head and says that no one could approve of them because they are ugly and incomplete from too little effort. Ragnar is depicted with these head tattoos in the series, Vikings.)
It's like you raided the face of Post Malone!
(Post Malone is an American singer known for his face tattoos. Raided refers to entering a place by force and stealing the property's belongings, something vikings often did. Richard jokes that Ragnar looks like he raided Post Malone's face and stole his tattoos.)
I'm scared of no foe! I'm backed by the Trinity!
(Crusaders fought in the name of God. In Christian theology, God is represented by a Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Vikings, with their Norse mythology featuring a multitude of gods, were seen as especially deviant by Christians of the time. Richard claims that he doesn't fear Ragnar since God is on his side. Aside from referring to the Christian trinity it may also refer to the three kings who led the Third Crusade: King Richard I "the Lionheart" of England, King Philip II "Augustus" of France, and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I "Barbarossa")
I'll conquer you on my day off like you were Sicily!
(Richard arrived in Sicily while traveling to Palestine and ended up conquering it despite no initial desire to do so, having only done such because he was threatened and his sister imprisoned. He tells Ragnar that he'll face the same fate.)
Ragnar Lodbrok:
Threatening to conquer Ragnar is bold
(Lodbrok opens his verse by taunting Richard and rebutting the last line of his first verse, telling the latter that challenging a fearless Viking is an unusually gutsy move considering what became of Richard, which follows.)
For a king who got whacked by a ten year old!
(While besieging the castle at Chalus in France, Richard was shot with a crossbow bolt and gangrene set in. Richard requested the archer who shot him to visit his bedside. The archer turned out to be a boy named Pierre Basile who Richard pardoned with a hundred shillings. Despite being pardoned, Basile was executed anyway after Richard's death. Lodbrok continues his line by mocking Richard for getting killed by a child much weaker than him.)
I'll sacrifice you to Odin while drinking horns of mead!
(Vikings were known to drink mead, an alcoholic drink brewed with honey, yeast, and water, and used drinking horns, fashioned from cows' horns, as cups. Drinking horns full of mead were also present at blots, which were Viking ritual sacrifices to the gods such as Odin as a way of communication, which Lodrok threatens to do the same to Richard. Also, this may refer to the fact that human sacrifices were occasionally offered by Vikings during the Viking Age before they were Christianized. )"
Good thing you hold the Red Cross 'cause that's who you're going to need!
(The British Red Cross is a United Kingdom chapter of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, an international humanitarian movement. Additionally, Richard I is commonly seen with a shield bearing St. George's Cross, a red cross on a white background that serves as the national flag of England. Lodbrok says that Richard's shield is convenient, for he will need the Red Cross to recover from his defeat after the battle is done.)
You built your army by raising English taxes!
(Richard spent most of his reign warring, first against the Capetian King of France, Philip II "Augustus" and later in the crusades against Saladin and the Muslims. As a result, he levied heavy taxes on all of his feudal territories, including England to build and strengthen the armies he needed for his exploits, including his wars against Phiip II "Augustus" and the Crusades.)
I raised my army taxing English asses with my axes!
(One of the countries Ragnar pillaged was England, and he claims that his form of taxation was killing English warriors. Ragnar's weapons of choice were war axes, and he funded his army by plundering monasteries or receiving a Danegeld, which was a tribute paid by the English kings to persuade the Vikings to not attack.)
And who are you to talk about the circle of life?
(Ragnar responds to Richard's prior "The Circle of Life" diss on his family, claiming that it is ironic considering the following line in regards to Richard and his own family.)
Your old lady can't feel the love on any night! (Haha!)
(Referring back to The Lion King, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is another popular song from the animated film. Richard was also believed to have very little interest in women and eventually married late to Berengaria of Navarre, whom his mother chose for him to marry. It is believed they never consummated their marriage, so Berengaria would not feel any love from him. This may also refer to Richard's mother, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, and her plot to overthrow her husband, King Henry II, encouraging Richard and his brothers to help with the coup as well. Ragnar points out the irony that Richard previously dissed him for his family members killing each other when Richard was incapable of being a good husband and how his own mother felt no love for her husband and had her sons overthrow him.)
Your only son was illegitimate; you heired on the side!
(Richard had an illegitimate son, Philip of Cognac, whose mother was unidentified. An heir refers to the birthchild entitled to property or rank upon the parent's death. To have "heired on the side," Ragnar refers to the fact that Richard had no children from his marriage to Berengaria of Navarre as they never consummated their relationship and instead had a child with another woman outside his marriage.)
I'll twist your spine like the end of the Plantagenet line!
(The House of Plantagenet was the Royal house that held the English throne for the longest time. It first took the English throne 1154, with the accession of Henry II and lasted until 1485, when Richard III of England of its cadet branch, the House of York was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field by King Henry VII Tudor (who founded the Tudor Dynasty, though he himself was descended from the Lancaster cadet branch of the Plantagenets). Though Shakespeare's play Richard III depicts him as a hunchback, the rediscovery of Richard III's skeleton showed that Shakespeare's depiction of Richard III as a hunchback is greatly exaggerated as his spine was only bent to the side due to having suffered from adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Nevertheless, Richard III's spine was indeed twisted in some way and Ragnar threatens to twist Richard I's spine just like Richard III's was twisted. Richard III was also the last of the Plantagenet dynasty, so Ragnar also implies that he would end Richard I in the same way his own royal house ended.)
I'm just a warrior; I'm not a linguist,
(Ragnar was a warrior, so linguistics wouldn't be of much interest to him. He follows up on why he states this in the next line.)
But I think the king of England should probably speak English! (Ha!)
(Despite being king of England, Richard I lived in France most of his life and spoke French as his first language, not English (as following the Norman Conquest, French was the main language of the aristocracy and it would not replace by English until the reign of Henry IV of England). Ragnar finds this to be oxymoronic as it makes him seem less qualified to be the ruler of a country where he doesn't speak the language. This confuses Ragnar since when he raided England, it was ruled by English-speaking, Anglo-Saxon Kings.)
You took Acre and Jaffa like a piece of cake,
(During the Third Crusade, Richard joined forces with King Philip II "Augustus" of France battling the Muslim forces of Saladin in the Siege of Acre and succeeded in conquering the city. Three years after this, Richard and his forces marched south and captured Jaffa. Ragnar states Richard conquered these cities easily like he was taking a piece of cake. This also references the biscuit-sized chocolate sponge cakes, Jaffa Cakes.)
But never attacked Jerusalem, for Christ's sake!
(After taking Acre and Jaffa, Richard and his forces headed for the important city, Jerusalem, which was his main goal. However, he was unable to claim it as he was required to head back to England as his brother, John Lackland (who would become King of England after Richard the Lionheart's death), was attempting to take control of the country. Thus, Richard had to hastily arrange a peace treaty with Saladin, ending the Third Crusade. "For Christ's sake" is a blasphemous expression used to express surprise or outrage. The goal of the Crusades was to retake and secure Jerusalem for the Christians, i.e. in the name of Jesus Christ, the rabbi and faith healer who taught there and who is believed to be the One and Only Son of God. Ragnar mocks Richard for failing to claim Jerusalem for Jesus.)
You saw the Holy Land, but couldn't go all the way!
(Following the previous line, Ragnar says Richard was able to see the Holy Land of Jerusalem, but was unable to conquer it like he had intended.)
We should call it the Crusade of Richard the First Base!
(First base is one of four bases to run in baseball. Ragnar makes a play on Richard's title of Richard the First with first base as a diss to how Richard was able to conquer the first bases of Acre and Jaffa, but unable to go all the way in taking Jerusalem. This could also be further insult to Richard's marriage to Berengaria of Navarre as first base also refers to kissing in a relationship before moving onto sexual intercourse, and Richard never consummated his marriage with Berengaria of Navarre, so he never got past first base.)
Richard the Lionheart:
Sail back north with your barbarian goons
(A barbarian is a human who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive and the Vikings were perceived as such by the people they attacked. The Vikings originated from Scandinavia, which is in Northern Europe, so Richard says Ragnar should sail back up north to Scandinavia with his army, calling them goons due to their barbaric nature.)
Because I'm tearing down your legacy, leaving it in runes!
(Runes are the letters of the runic alphabet, initially utilized by the Vikings. "Rune" also sounds like "ruin," making this a pun on Richard's part to say he will destroy Ragnar's legacy until it is left in ruins, meaning it is physically deteriorated.)
Your real self next to your legend disappoints!
(As most of the exciting stories of Ragnar are rooted in legend, it is likely many of his exploits never happened and that the real historical Ragnar would disappoint in comparison to the legend made about him.)
I see you shaking in your shaggy little pants like "Zoinks!" (Ha!)
(Lodbrok's name means "shaggy breeches," which he obtained from wearing thick pants during a fight against a giant snake. "Zoinks!" is the signature phrase of Norville "Shaggy" Rogers from the Scooby-Doo series. Shaggy's personality mostly revolves around eating a lot of food and being a coward, so Richard says if Ragnar were real, he would be extremely scared to face Richard.)
Who invented the royal me? We!
(The "Royal We" is an archaic grammatical rule used by the English monarchy to the effect that individual rulers referred to themselves using plural pronouns (e.g. we, us, our) rather than singular ones (e.g. I, me, mine). The introduction of this rule is accredited to William de Longchamp, the Lord Chancellor under Richard I, thus Richard would have been the first king to use it. In this line, Richard switches the pronouns "me" and "we" from their grammatically correct places to emphasize his use of the rule.)
Who's the predominantly fictional MC? Thee!
(Following from the previous line, the word "thee" is a similarly archaic pronoun equivalent to the word "you." As mentioned earlier, Lodbrok is a legendary figure, and while most said about him is found in legend, there is little evidence if he did actually exist as portrayed in the legends about him, unlike Richard. His most famous portrayal now comes from the fictional television show Vikings, which is based on such legends. "MC" comes from the phrase "Master of Ceremonies" or "Mic Controller," and in rap slang, it refers to someone who is engaged in a rap, thus Richard is calling him fictional, also saying his rapping skills are fictional too.)
You're a wannabe, mon ami! Kneel down and honor me!
(Richard calls Ragnar a wannabe, or a person who tries to be like someone else to fit in. "Mon ami" is French for "my friend," and Richard the Lionheart spoke French (which ironically, Ragnar had previously dissed him for). He tells Ragnar to kneel before him as one would do to a king. )
Richard coming through in the end like Sean Connery!
(In the ending of the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Sir Sean Connery had an uncredited cameo as Richard the Lionheart; he would see his cousin Maid Marian wedded to Kevin Costner's Robin of Loxley. Throughout the film, Marian touted her closeness with Richard and held faith that he would act to quell the brewing conflict between Loxley and Nottingham. He "came through" for her, but halted the wedding to give her away. Richard says he would emerge victorious in this conflict like how he came through the ending of the film. The battle coincidentally came out in the 30th anniversary of the film's release. This could also be a reference to James Bond vs Austin Powers, another ERB battle in which Sean Connery's Bond, played by EpicLLOYD, joins the battle midway through.)
The double-coronated blood and gore gourmet;
(Richard I was officially coronated in 1189, before being coronated once more in 1194 due to fear that his imprisonment and ransom had compromised his title. Richard calls himself a connoisseur of producing blood and gore, causing enough bodies to be killed that one could compare his kills to a large gourmet where animals are similarly killed for eating, meaning he feasts on going to war.)
You might have the axe, but I make a body spray!
(This line makes a play on Lodbrok's preference of axes in combat, as well as on the AXE line of personal hygiene products, among which are body sprays for men. Richard was supposedly ruthless in battle, so he brags that while Lodbrok might use an axe, Richard himself has other, more gruesome methods of putting down his opponents, which would make them spray blood from their wounds.)
Lionheart's the sobriquet, but I strike like a cobra!
(Due to his military reputation, Richard was given the "sobriquet," or nickname, of "the Lionheart". Richard says that he may have the name of a lion, but his striking skills are akin to that of a cobra, which lunges at their prey when ready to strike, referring back to Ragnar's death in the hands of King Ælla of Northumbria as a result of being thrown into a pit of snakes.)
If I wanted to fight loser Vikings, I'd go to Minnesota!
(This line references the National Football League's Minnesota Vikings, who, in spite of their best efforts, have a history of being on the wrong side of close games, especially in the 2010s. Throughout their 40-year history, four Super Bowls and a number of conference playoff games were lost by the Vikings as a result of miscues from players and coaches alike. From this, Richard says that fighting Lodbrok, a figure based on Viking lore, is proving to be a waste of time and that battling the Vikings football team would be a better match for him. Incidentally, the only team consistently worse than the Vikings year-over-year is one of their division rivals, the Detroit Lions; the former hold an overall record of 78-39-2 over the latter as of the battle's release.)
Ragnar Lodbrok:
You want to fight me? Take off the tin shirt!
(Ragnar says that if Richard wants to fight him, he should take off his armor and face him using pure strength and military tactics instead.)
I'll be waiting in my birthday suit, going berserk!
(Viking warriors known as "berserkers" are said to have gone into battle totally naked except for bear or wolf pelts draped around them. Scholars believe that their reputation as crazed savages in combat who would ignore pain, bite the edges of their shields, and even kill any of their own men who got in the way was caused by the fact that they performed rituals and consumed large quantities of mind-altering drugs and alcohol before fighting. The English word "berserk" comes from this Viking practice, and the phrase "birthday suit" is a euphemism for nudity as babies are born without clothing. Ragnar threatens to fight Richard as a berserker while nude using only his shear strength.)
Ding-dang-dong, morning bells warn about me at the break of dawn,
(This references the French/English nursery rhyme "Frère Jacques" (known in English as "Brother John" and may have referenced the death of Richard's brother King John Lackland). The song is about a friar called Brother John who overslept and must ring the church bells for the morning. Its final lines read, "Morning bells are ringing/[Ding-dang-dong]!" During the Viking Age, church bells tended to be used to alert civilians that Viking warriors like Lodbrok were coming to attack, so that the civilians may run and hide in safe places when the raiders arrive. )
And I'm putting you to sleep like your brother John!
(King John Lackland was the brother of Richard the Lionheart, who, before his actual reign, tried to spread the rumor that his brother had died in the Holy Land to seize the throne. Continuing the "Frère Jacques" reference, Lodbrok repeats his threat to kill Richard like how his brother lied about Richard's death, and he may also referring back to the nursery rhyme, which states that John overslept. Ragnar may also be saying he will leave Richard dead just like his brother. John would later contract dysentery and die in the midst of his own reign.)
Leaving monks in chunks on Northumbrian lawns
(Northumbria was an Anglo-Saxon Kingdom that existed in what is now northern England and southern Scotland long before Richard's reign. It was where the site of the first known Viking raid on the British Isles (Lindisfarne Monastery) was located as well as, per legend, one of Lodbrok's most frequent raid targets. Churches and monasteries were places of frequent Viking attacks due to the rich treasures found inside as well as the fact that the monks were often not trained in combat and so, less likely to resist Viking raiders. )
'Cause I'm the Allfather's spawn!
(Ragnar claims he is the descendant of Odin, also known as the All-Father. Many Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon kings also claimed their descent from him.)
You couldn't even beat a Salad in a fight! (Eh!)
(Saladin was the first sultan of Egypt and Syria. He is described as the Christian Richard I's Muslim counterpart. Richard I and the crusaders had finalized a peace treaty with Saladin, ending the Third Crusade before they could capture Jerusalem. Lodbrok interprets the act of peace-making as weakness on the part of Richard; that he couldn't beat a salad if he were to fight said food dish as a pun on Saladin's name.)
You're as soft as Monty Python knights! (Whaa!)
(A reference to the knights from the 1975 British comedy film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, who are known to be incompetent and cowardly, and in some cases, they are only pretending to have knightly qualities. Ragnar takes a dig at Richard by comparing him to them.)
You went from chainmail to chained up in jail
(Chainmail is a heavy fitting armor that was worn by Medieval Knights (and so was also worn by Richard). After being shipwrecked in the Adriatic, Richard was captured and ransomed by the Duke Of Austria.)
Til Mommy drained England to pay for your bail!
(Following from the previous line, the ransom for Richard's release was costly, and his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine decreed that a quarter of the income of every man in England for a whole year would be used to secure Richard's release, which, in a sense "drained" England.)
But no king's ransom will save you from these bars, son.
(Ragnar makes a play with prison bars and bars in rapping, as the ransom raised was able to save Richard from behind the prison bars. However, Ragnar says that it would not be able to rescue Richard from his raps.)
I'm eating you alive like the gangrene you died from!
(Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. This can spread through the body as it progresses, in a sense "eating" the victim's body alive. Richard developed gangrene after he was shot with a crossbow bolt by Pierre Basile; the shot eventually killed him. Ragnar says he is eating Richard alive (as in dominating him in battle) much like the gangrene caused by Pierre Basile's arrow ate through his body tissue and killed him.)
