The first season of Vinland saga focused on the war arc which involved the Danish Vikings declaring war on England. Naturally it was more action-based although we did get glimpses of heavy dialogues and themes foreshadowing the direction of season 2. Vinland saga season 2 is highly acclaimed and it deserves all the credit it gets. The second season brought real life themes to the anime and it was executed through Makoto Yukimura’s eloquent writing.
This was probably the best season of Anime I have ever watched and is definitely one of the best things I’ve watched on TV recently. Vinland Saga’s second season starts out by introducing us to a new character – Einar who lived with his sister and mother in a village in north England. The village they were living in was attacked by Danish vikings twice during their 10-year battle for the English throne. As a result of the second attack, Einar’s family is killed right in front of him and he is taken captive and sold as a slave.
The man who buys him is a wealthy farm owner known as ‘Iron Fist’ Ketil. When Einar arrives on his farm, we are reacquainted with Thorfinn who surprisingly has been working on the farm as one of Ketil’s slaves. Thorfinn looks like an adult now, taller and stronger like a true viking which makes sense because Vinland Saga season 2 picks up after a 4-year time skip where we last saw him as a teenager.
Thorfinn’s Character Development in Vinland Saga
The pacing of Vinland saga season 2 is comparatively slower than season 1 but is worth the buildup because the season predominantly focuses on Thorfinn’s character development and maturity through his PTSD and internal struggles. In my opinion, this is one of the most well-written character developments I’ve witnessed and I was extremely invested in his arc throughout the season.
At the start of Vinland Saga season 2, Thorfinn is pretty much broken, after Askeladd’s death he has completely lost the will to live. He and Einar are constantly bullied by the bodyguards on Ketil’s farm but Thorfinn never fights back, he just does as he is told, his eyes are completely lifeless and he basically just goes through the motions everyday.
Ketil is a reasonable man and he offers most of his slaves a chance to buy back their freedom from him. Einar and Thorfinn were also offered this deal and Einar is pumped everyday to work as hard as he can in order to achieve his freedom as soon as possible, Thorfinn on the other hand doesn’t seem to care about this at all because he believes he has nothing to live for.
Every night he is tormented by dreams of all the people he killed while he was travelling with Askeladd in season 1. He is trying to cope with all the suffering he caused, all the people he killed and his feelings of resentment and revenge towards Askeladd which he never got to carry out because in the end Askeladd was killed by Canute.
There is a scene early during Vinland Saga season 2 which is extremely painful to watch but it illustrates Thorfinn’s state of mind vividly. The bodyguards of the farm surround Einar and Thorfinn because they want Ketil’s younger son to kill one of them in order to build self-esteem and awaken his true viking blood. Einar is the one fated to die here but Thorfinn intervenes and says that they should kill him instead, one of the bodyguards repeatedly slashes and cuts Thorfinn all over his body to try and get a reaction out of him but instead he doesn’t flinch nor does he fight back.
Thorfinn then says that he doesn’t want to live because in all the years he has been alive he has never been happy. Those words almost made me tear up. This was definitely his lowest point as he was ready to die without hesitation even though he is skilled enough to defeat and kill all those bodyguards.
From this point, Einar acts as a catalyst towards Thorfinn’s redemption, he talks to Thorfinn each day and tries to comfort him about his past sins. He also helps Thorfinn wake up from his nightmares every night and even asks about them until Thorfinn eventually opens up to him about Askeladd and how he was living entirely for the sake of revenge as we saw in season 1.
They also get acquainted with the ‘old master’ of the farm who is Ketil’s father, he accepts them and is very kind to both of them despite their status as slaves. Throughout this time, Thorfinn gradually becomes more outspoken and begins to appreciate the kindness shown to him through various people on the farm, however he still wrestles with his past self. The turning point occurs when some farmhands notice the growth in Einar and Thorfinn’s farm and become jealous. They ruin all the wheat which they have grown and Einar is vexed when he finds this, Thorfinn tries to stop him but he is determined to fight it out with the farmhands.
As they fight, Thorfinn takes a strong blow to the head which leaves him unconscious and while he is knocked out he is in a dark place where he can see an endless battle going on with Bjorn involved and countless soldiers just fighting endlessly. I’m guessing this place is hell because he encounters all the souls he killed and also has a conversation with Askeladd. In this dream, Thorfinn is hanging on to the edge of a cliff and a mountain of souls are desperately trying to yank him down to the battlefield.
Thorfinn almost gives up and struggles with his grip but Askeladd tells him that these are the souls of the people he killed and they are trying to bring him down with them but he should not give up, he needs to climb and get out of here because he does not belong here anymore. Thorfinn wakes up and vowes to never use violence again and he understands now all the suffering he has caused and that the people he killed may have all had families just like his or like Einar’s who were killed and so he decides to carry on their souls and their burdens with him instead of allowing them to consume him with guilt.
He now believes he owes it to them not to use violence again to cause suffering and instead find a beautiful resting place for them. This inner-conflict was beautifully written and depicted in the anime, you could relate and feel everything that Thorfinn was going through in his mind and I actually appreciated the slow pacing because it took a long-time for Thorfinn to get to this stage where he realised that he needed to live. It is very realistic because when we are suffering from mental health issues or other inner-conflicts, it is often a slow and gradual process that we undertake to fight off our demons and begin to make positive changes in our lives.
Gradually as the season goes on, we are gifted with more heavy dialogues and thought-provoking themes. For instance when Thorfinn and Einar’s farm begins growing wheat and making profit, they begin to discuss what they will do once they buy back their freedom. Thorfinn says that he wants to travel to Vinland and create a nation of peace far away from war and slavery.
The fact that he has found his purpose shows how much he has grown as a character and this also mirrors the current world we live in because there are countless wars and slavery occurring in various different forms. He also finally understands why Thors chose to give up his life as a warrior and instead walked in the direction of peace, he remembers a conversation he had as a child with Thors and concludes that he has no enemies just as his father once told him.
At the end of Vinland Saga season 2, Thorfinn seeks to negotiate with Canute to try and stop him from taking the farm by violence and he agrees to take 100 punches to the face without fighting back just to get a meeting with Canute. All the soldiers were in awe of this because he denied war in front of everyone and showed Canute and the vikings that there is always another way, it does not always have to be violence.
He also had a long conversation with Canute where he managed to open the king’s eyes to see that the people he was prosecuting were slaves and farmers who were barely scraping by each day. Their conversation ended with Canute retreating and even changing his approach to how he ruled Denmark and England.
This also struck me because it shows us that in real life there are countless people struggling and barely surviving each day and yet they are constantly prosecuted by the people in power and authority. Yukimura used Thorfinn to show us that there is always another way and that if people were able to communicate with each other on a genuine human level then maybe we can make it work and the world could be a better place.
The writing this season was the work of a genius, Yukimura elegantly brought back Thors’ words and themes from season 1 which tied in with Thorfinn’s grown and development. Thorfinn started out the season as an empty shell only filled with apathy and went through a deep self-exploration and therapeutic process where he came out reborn as a kind, caring, respectful and presentable person just like his father. It was extremely painful and rewarding at the same time to watch how Thorfinn went through a tormenting process of self-loathing, filled with guilt and then gradually came to terms with his actions and eventually finding his purpose.
I don’t know if it was just me but Thorfinn’s character development really hit me hard and at times it felt like I was watching my own life story, of course not in such a gruesome form but I think many of us can relate to the self-loathing and guilt that often consumes us.
I even teared up in the second-last episode of the season when after everything the farm had been through, Thorfinn and Einar said their goodbyes and left for Iceland with Leif. I think the tears were building up all season and this wholesome moment just brought out all the waterworks for me. Vinland saga is definitely a masterpiece which mirrors real-life and I cannot wait for the next season and I’m sure Yukimura will not disappoint.
