Aelfweard

Aelfweard is Alfred's younger son, born late into a court already arranged around his elder half-brother Edward. Sheltered and doted on by his mother, he is quick to remind anyone who forgets his birth, resentful of the attention paid to Uhtred, and eager for a status his age and temperament haven't yet earned.

The show uses him as a needling reminder that Wessex's future isn't settled by competence or virtue but by blood and maternal ambition. Ewan Horrocks plays him without softening the petulance, so every scene he's in quietly raises the question of what happens to a kingdom when entitlement outranks capability.