He truly changes in a fascinating way. He regrets his entire violent life and takes responsibility for his actions and works to change who he is

i don't think you get what the story is about. if you felt like the part where he gets punched 100 times to talk to Canute is annoying, just drop it and read something else¯\_(ツ)_/¯

No. Sounds like Vinland saga is not for you.

Just found this thread, I agree with you way cooler when he was dicing people up. Rest of the people in these comments are soft

You're asking for a plot that the mangaka is trying to depart from. The story is not about a protagonist who resolve things with his fists but the one who tries to survive by doing the exact opposite. It's the story that will warm your heart rather than pump the adrenaline into the mainline.

Well he was never “cool” in the first place if you think about it: he was a little edgy boy. He was consumed by his idea of the perfect revenge in a honourable duel against Askeladd, a thing that never actualised. Think about it: what made the story of the first part of the manga interesting wasn’t Thorfinn.

You say that the fact that he takes the beatings to talk to Canute bothers you. I really loved that part because it shows that now he is willing to commit to his new ideals. He could have easily whooped that guy’s ass, but decided to not do so. That’s the sign of someone of great virtue: being able to take the “easy” and “wrong” way but willingly choosing not to.

If the only way you could return to enjoy VS is Thorfinn turning again into a murder machine consumed by hate and lust for revenge, I fear that won’t be the case. There are many action scenes after “Farmland Saga”, which admittedly was slow and static. Thorfinn is left with no other alternatives than fighting in some occasions. But again if Thorfinn killing people on the battlefield was the most valuable thing for you I fear that won’t happen that often again.

This question was asked like a thousand times. The answer is Yes.

If he doesnt, would you still enjoy the story? Because if not, you probably won’t. That said, he’ll find himself within conflicts again, but not like season 1

He is forced into a lot of fights in what will end up being season 3, but philosophically he’s a staunch pacifist, only fighting as a last resort.

A true warrior doesn't need a sword

Thorfinn’s true fight is trying to repent for his countless murders.

He will simply continue trying to solve it without violence until he gets killed. His decision lead them to their deaths, there is no sugarcoating it. Hes just too idealistic for such a cruel world. Hes not fundamentally wrong but the only way to make people behave is Power.

Mmmh, the point Is that Thors doesn't care Just about his family but also care about the Village, the peace they have, he was afraid that they would have persecuted the Village or hurted Thorfinn.

I think Thorfinn understands Thors but they both struggle with the reality of living by principles at extreme odds with those of the society they live in. Thorfinn is bothered by fighting to protect Gardar and sees it for what it is, a failure to create an alternative to violence. Similarly Thors' fight with Askeladd's men is a failure to Thors. He isn't those mens enemy and even if he's only injuring them they still don't deserve that. Trying to solve conflict without contributing to the cycle of violence is really hard and being unsuccessful at it is a running theme. Being a true warrior in that sense isn't about perfection so much as continuing to struggle, to climb out of that chasm rather than be swallowed by it.

Yeah def wait to see what comes (or read cause it’s really good!)

I think you’re right in some ways but also misunderstanding Thorfinn in other ways. Where the anime leaves off doesn’t make his feelings perfectly clear yet, more situations in the coming arcs do a lot to inform you how he thinks about violence. From my perspective, he already understands Thors quite well by the end of season 2, the story just needs more time to explore his character. He is less naive than you think.

But Thorfinn did choose to fight to protect Gardar , not even someone that close to him and he understood the necessity to act at that moment.

i would argue that a lot of people don't understand the character of thors because they are blinded by how cool he was. they often think that he was some sort of warrior that was prepared to immediately throw hands when confronted when in reality that was not the case at all. he too ran from fights, just like thorfinn

Season three will definitely expand on this, I'm really excited to see how they frame some of the moments we have coming up!

In the first scene of the show, you can see him thinking about his family and then he sees himself in battle. In that same scene, he fakes his death and deserts the army. Eventually, Floki (the square beard guy) finds out and after Thors refuses joining the Jomsviking again, Floki hires Askeladd, a mercenary, to kill him.

I may be off but It's to portray the true warriors don't need a sword idea. He defeated the enemy by not killing anyone and kept his people safe by giving up his life.

Do you mean from a plot standpoint or an in-universe standpoint?

>!I dunno why people are talking about Baldr when the kid wasn't even a twinkle in his dad's ballsack at that point. Floki had Thors killed because he was a jealous little prick who'd always hated Thors. He kept believe that Thors thought of himself as superior to him, and Floki was intimidated by Thors who was such a perfect specimen of a warrior, totally unafraid of death. The fact that this guy could not only desert the Jomsvikings but be allowed to return with no consequences made him so jealous he ordered Thors killed out of spite. Sure Floki loved Baldr and did everything he did to ensure that he would gain leadership of the Jomsvikings, but that kid was born like 7 or 8 years after Thors died.!<

Not sure if you're trolling or if I'm not understanding the question lol. Thors dying is the catalyst for Thorfinn's entire story. Thorfinn wouldn't have followed Askeladd with the intent of killing him in a fair duel if Askeladd's band hadn't killed Thors.

Manga spoilers (past the anime) in the block below: >!Thorfinn being deadset on avenging his father leads him to completely go against what Thors stood for, which wouldn't have worked in the story if Thors was alive. He ends up on a very similar path as his father, first as a great 'warrior' in the battle sense (good at fighting and killing) and then later becoming a 'true warrior' who avoids violence and seeks a more pacific way of life. His journey to becoming a 'true warrior' and his character development just wouldn't have happened, or wouldn't have been too interesting, if Thors hadn't been killed off. I guess Thorfinn would be out for blood if his mother and sister or village had been killed by Askeladd's band instead of Thors, but then you'd have an entirely different story and character arc if Thors had been there to guide Thorfinn. And the reason Floki contracted Askeladd's band to kill Thors would need to be switched up too. He had plans to eventually have his descendants lead the Jomsvikings and wanted Thors gone to eliminate him as a potential contender, since he was a renowned warrior and had been a favourite of Chief Sigvaldi (as well as his son in law). In a flashback, Thorkell says his brother (the Chief) was considering Thors as a successor before Thors deserted.!<

Did you read today’s chapter? If so, >!how do you see the need for Thorfinn to sacrifice himself coming to be?!<

I personally hate a two important aspects of your plot - namely Throfinn reuniting with Thors and Askeladd in the afterlife and Thorfinn’s death serving as his atonement.

In my opinion, chapter 154 is either the best or second best chapter in the entire series (chapter 191 takes the other spot). In chapter 154 we watch a nameless warrior die in battle. As he waits for the Valkyrie to come, he finds only cold, dark, and numbing silence. He wrestles with the idea that this is it - there is nothing after this. Everything he fought for was a meaningless. Valhalla is a lie.

This poignant chapter serves to underscore Thorfinn’s desire for peace. That fighting brings about nothing but harm. There is no benefit to killing and dying in war if there is even the slimmest chance that another solution can be found. These are our lives, and we ought to use them to create the greatest peace and happiness we can, and to atone for the harm we have caused and may cause in the future.

In the excellent chapter 191, Thorfinn finally achieves his atonement. All the work he’s done over years of struggling to be a better person, a gentler and kinder person, and he receives that blessing of forgiveness from the only figure in his life who can truly give it. I rarely cry reading manga - I wept when I read this. I immediately read it again and wept again. Thorfinn has already atoned for his past. His actions now are to create a place where others won’t become the person he became.

In my opinion, the ending you’ve created betrays both of those incredible chapters. One could argue that Thorfinn would reach the afterlife because he was a true warrior, but this still undoes the equalizing reality established in 154. “We are all the same and will all return to the earth when we die” becomes “Some of us will be better than others and achieve an afterlife.” Thorfinn finding ultimate atonement in death downplays the significance of his forgiveness in 191. Additionally, it abandons his difficult goal to create a better future in favor of an easy death and ignores the harm his death would bring to those who care about him. We can look toward today’s chapter and ask if Thorfinn believes the outcome was a desirable atonement for the previous chapter(s), or if he would have chosen a different resolution?

I am not opposed to the idea of Thorfinn dying in the end of the series - even dying in the process of saving others. But I really don’t like the inclusion of an afterlife or Thorfinn viewing his death as atonement.

There’s no way they’re killing thorfinn he already had a fake out death and now einar is dead.

A failure is the most historically accurate ending- anyways.

I may be wrong, but i don't see Thorfinn dying. He fails in Vinland (just like the historical Thorfinn), and by that (and all the lives lost for it), he realises his "naivety". Violence is the proper of men. They will always try to be stronger, either to defend themselves or to gather power. I see the loss of vinland not that different in idea than losing a battle (like ketill’s farm losing in front of Canute’s men)

What I'm wondering is how responsible Thorfinn will feel in front of all the dead. He brought them here, they trusted him, he was feeling responsible because it was his idea. He got redemption for the ones he kills by his hands ( and inactions during the prologue) . What about the ones who died because of his decisions as a "leader"? (Or his impossibility to make them trust him) he’s not the kind of man not to worry about that. I can't find peace for Thorfinn. His family is lovely hope, but will he ever be happy?

That's why i don't see him dying because he’s not done processing this life’s weight. He's not done mourning.

I don't know if the battle ends here or not, but leaving Vinland might not be an option for some who gave up everything to come here. Yet i think the commercial exchanges might exist. And probably with Big Eyes leading them since he's the navigator.

But as i said, i may be wrong. Even if i really hope he won’t die.

Look at what the final arc is called its not vinland. The entire point of Thorfinns ideology is that it was IMPOSSIBLE in the current time period but thanks to Thorfinn being so dedicated to his cause he plants the seeds of peace everywhere he goes spreading his ideals so that eventually a land of peace can come about even if it takes a thousand years.

The boring answer is that that is what actually happened. It's based off of the vinland sagas, and in real life thorfinn and his party did leave after encounters with the natives because there was going to be violence and they felt they could not settle and deal with the natives. Interestingly, in real life they did bring weapons to vinland.

However, I believe the message is human nature. The option would be to leave or fight. No matter where people go in the world, there will always be those who glorify violence or use that as an answer. Even if that wasn't true, the settlers are bringing disease and causing the deaths of many, which thorfinn did not want.

Think about this. What would he do? Some of the tribes were violent and wanted to wipe them out and take their metal for themselves. Inevitably, they would fight. Either he let's his people die or they kill. It's what has to happen. If you look at American history, there were a lot of tribes that begged the early settlers to attack the more aggressive tribes.

Thorfinn wanted to escape the violence of the vikings, but he didn't realize that the behavior of the vikings is not unique to them. The native Americans were the same. Other Europeans were the same. Asians were the same. People are people.

Some messages of the end is about the complexity of changing a society used to violence and also the importance of generational relief to achive the objective Thorfinn can't reach yet (because of many unpredicted factors). But the most important for me is the phylosophycal fingerprint Thorffin leaves on people. He sow the seed for a new world mindset, and he did it with a huge honesty and humble own example

This is just the realistic final result. the expedition was never meant to succeed. Plenty of signs foreshadowing that before.

I think its trying to say that achieving true peace is not impossible, but not easy. Just as Karli says, we will try again and again. Peace will only ever stop being a possibility if everyone stops trying.

Never felt that while reading it. I understand that it may bother some people, but it didn't affect me at all. Maybe because it is not the point of the manga so I don't care, or maybe because they are minor fights with nothing at stake.

The Vagn fight is more a plot point to make Thorkell change sides and to set up Garm, so their confrontation is of no interest.

Thorkell's fight, again setting up Garm and for plot reasons since it makes no sense that Garm is not punished for what he has done, so there needs to be a way of him getting free from what he has done. But there's no way that any of them die there, so no stakes whatsoever.

Honestly I agree. Obviously the point of Vinland is not the fights, but I think most would agree that a badass thorkell fight can only be an improvement imo

Thorkell vs garm a tiny bit, but never lost any sleep over it, just not really thematically or narratively important so the fact that it doesn’t get emphasis doesn’t bother me. Garm vs vagn was barely skipped vagn is joms+ garm probably just blitzed him

Me personally I never really enjoy fights in mangas cause they're a bit hard to follow and most of the time it's just lines that indicate moving. Maybe I lack imagination or something. Unless they do or say something really cool during it (like the mini speech Thorfinn gave before fighting those Jomsvikings on the beach, I liked that more than the fight itself)

I love fights that are well animated though

u really need to grow up bro

At least today we have countries with no war and slaves, such as Iceland itself (and even most Nordic countries are more peaceful today than in thorfinns days), so I would say that today he has a better chance to run from violence

Very good questions. Is it possible to run away from war today? Was it even really possible during Thorfinn’s time 1000 years ago? If it isn’t possible today, but it was possible then, what lesson do we even take from the story? Are we just too late?

I would say the whole rest of the manga is about exactly this, so I kinda think it would be best not to answer and just encourage you to read lol.

I'm poor, so my only manga information is from screenshots and recaps, but >!Thorfinn does fight several times in the story, he never kills anyone but he breaks a lot of bones!<

I mean he would love to see the modern Nordic country, probably the most peaceful region of the world currently, unless he cross Finland and step into the east, there is a literal war going on currently

Can you run away from A war? I would say you can. But can you runaway from war itself no. The only way to live without war is to live by yourself that way there is no one around to fight