A history is depicted in this transformative and astonishing first season of Vinland Saga.
In an age of turmoil, where stronger prey on less strong, maintaining a cheerful and lovely mindset is next to impossible.
Many people with many motives are roaming the land.
One of which is specifically told in this season.
Without further ado, let’s dive into it.
Table of Contents
Synopsis
In the distant West, there is a bountiful land.
A land with lush green spreading wide, trees bearing abundant fruits.
A land free of war and slavery.
The land is named Vinland.
Now starts Vinland Saga.
It was a cold day in the year 1002 AD.
Leif Ericson, the sea traveler and self-proclaimed warrior of the sea was telling a tale of his adventure and findings.
Vinland was one of those findings as described in the series Vinland Saga.
A group of children with sparkling eyes were listening to the tale with awe.
A child named Thhorfinn was enamored with Vinland.
The land they lived in was Iceland. Land of winter, harsh and less fertile.
In Vinland Saga, Thhorfinn’s Father Thors, once the greatest Viking warrior, left the battlefield in the year 987AD to live in peace with his family.
War didn’t leave him that easily.
After a silence of 15 years, war came to him and he had to reenlist in the team Jomsvikings of which he was a commander in the past.
Unbeknownst to him, it was a trap to kill him.
As Jomsvikings don’t forgive deserters.
Later, he was killed by a trick with hired Viking pirates in front of his admirers and son, while protecting them.
The story of revenge, in Vinland Saga starts here, as his son Thorfinn swore revenge upon his killer, the pirate Askeladd, and followed him around.
A rule for revenge was imposed by Askeladd, that Thorfinn had to work for him and achieve some great feats.
Only then he will duel with him with revenge as a prize.
The story of Vinland Saga in this season tells the Saga of young Thorfinn as he grows up on the battlefield.
Seeking revenge, walking the path of the warrior, and slowly becoming one in the process.
In the process of seeking vengeance the dream of Vinland was slowly forgotten, he later came face to face with it with a different mindset.
This full circle is shown in this whole season.
Director
Shuhei Yabuta(Vinland Saga season 1)
Leading Characters
Thorfinn
As described in the first season of Vinland Saga, Thorfinn was a cheerful child of Thors the great warrior.
He loved hearing about the adventure stories and was enamored with Vinland, the land of wonder and beauty.
But after his father got killed in front of him due to some cheap tricks, his personality turned.
He became like a hungry wolf, thirsty for the blood of the target of his revenge.
Thors
Thors was once a great warrior commander of the elite squad Vikings, Jomsvikings.
Being the strongest in Jomsvikings, he was named Thors the Troll.
But, he left the war in 987 AD to be with his family.
Since then, he didn’t hold a sword in his life.
His philosophy of life is, that a true warrior doesn’t need a sword.
This philosophy would later be proven useful in the story of the first season of Vinland Saga.
Helga
Helga is the wife of Thors and mother to Thorfinn as described in the first season of Vinland Saga.
She was also one of the daughters of the leader of Jomsvikings.
She is a soft-spoken and warm person.
Due to her sickly condition, she can’t do much in the family but she loves everyone in the family with her.
She was one of the reasons, Thors left the battlefield.
Yulva
Yulva is the eldest child and only daughter in the family of Thors.
She is very attentive to family needs.
She is a strong-minded and practical person.
As her mother Helga is sickly, she is very attentive to her.
She cares for her brother Thorfinn immensely.
Yulva is also an idol to every young boy in the village.
After Thors died and Thorfinn went missing she didn’t cry at first, instead got busier with housework.
Later her mother Helga comforted her as she felt the grief.
She is one of the most strong-minded character of Vinland Saga.
Leif Ericson
Leif Ericson was a self-proclaimed warrior of the sea.
According to him being on the battlefield to kill is not the only place for a warrior.
A warrior can show their mettle on sea waves and also fight their way to new lands.
He sparked the inspiration of adventure into the child mind of Thorfinn.
He was an inspiration for the young mind of Thorfinn in Vinland Saga.
He also has a strong sense of duty.
Thors died protecting his child Thorfinn and him including his other admirers. After that Thorfinn disappeared.
While delivering this news, he promised to find Thorfinn out how many years it takes.
He delivered on his promise and found Thorfinn out after a long 11 years of search.
Floki
Floki is the next commander of Jomsvikings after Thors deserted the battlefield.
He answers directly to the king of the Vikings.
Floki is a scheming individual, who will stop at nothing to achieve his end goal.
He even held the entire village hostage where Thors lived to recruit him back into Jomsvikings.
Floki also used the lie of recruitment of Thors to Jomsvikings to assassinate him according to the rule of Jomsvikings.
He was one of the antagonistic characters in Vinland Saga.
Askeladd
Askeladd is a shrewd pirate leader. As he led a very capable team of pirates, he was commissioned the assassination of Thors by Floki.
He was one of the most charismatic character portrayed in the entire first season of Vinland Saga.
He was half Viking, and the other half of him came from his slave mother who came from Wales.
He was very sensitive about his origin.
Askeladd was his nickname. He used to be covered in ash all the time due to working in the blacksmith shop.
As his mother was sickly, he had to work since his early childhood for ends meet.
He was given the name Lucius Artorius Castus by his mother, the name of the legitimate king of Britain.
His father was Olaf a local warlord, who treated his mother badly, so he had immense hatred for Vikings even though he is the leader of a Viking warrior’s team. He even hated himself for being half-Viking.
Bjorn
A confidant to Askeladd and one strong warrior was Bjorn.
Bjorn had a strong build and always wore a helmet with a nasal guard.
He used a mushroom named Berserker Mushroom to power up whenever to fight a strong opponent or to overcome a predicament.
He blindly believed Askeladd’s every decision.
Even after Askeladd declared he hated every Viking, he still listened to his order.
He swore unbreakable allegiance to the Askeladd even after his declaration of hatred of biking in the first season of Vinland Saga.
Thorkell
Thorkell was also known as Thorkell the Tall. Having an enormous height and tremendous strength as an advantage, he could easily fight with a group alone.
He may have been the most powerful warrior according to physical strength, in Vinland Saga.
He was on the same team in Jomsvikings with Thors and respected him because he was the only person he ever met who was stronger than him.
Thorkell also was the great uncle of Thorfinn.
He was a war fanatic, and once changed sides to England to enjoy the battle as England was weak and the Vikings were strong.
King Sweyn
Sweyn was the king of Vikings. He has an extremely ugly and tired look on his face.
He was the most sinister Character in the first season of Vinland Saga.
Sweyn had two sons Harald the older one and Canute the younger one.
He usurped the throne of the previous king or his father saying he was greedy and cowardly.
But, after he put on the crown, he also became cowardly.
He attempted to kill his younger son Canute to appease public unrest. Public unrest regarding the enthronement of Harald vs Canute.
Canute
Canute is the younger son of the King of Vikings Sweyn.
He has a weak presence and a beautiful face, so he is often mistaken for a woman.
Canute was a believer in Christianity even though he was of a different religion.
He never talked directly with anyone but through his attendant Ragnar.
He did so because he was concerned about the political repercussions of his words.
Later he became tougher and started to take matters into his own hands when he understood, that god was never going to help in his cause.
His change in the first season of Vinland Saga was paramount.
Ragnar
Ragnar has been an attendant of Canute since his childhood. Instead of bringing him up as heir to the throne, he brought him up as the son of a normal farmer that he was.
He was like a father figure to Canute until his last breath.
Maybe he was the only one in Vinland Saga who knew the true Canute.
Willibald
Willibald was a Christian priest and teacher to Prince Canute in the first season of Vinland Saga. Most of the time he used to be drunk and whenever he was sober preached about the Lord.
He believed True love doesn’t discriminate.
So, true love only can be achieved by death.
Thor’s philosophy, that a true warrior doesn’t need a sword, attracted him.
In the later half of the story, he starts to lose belief in the Lord’s love slowly.
what’s in the story of Vinland Saga?
The time setting of Vinland Saga is 1002 AD and Denmark or the Vikings are trying to conquer Britain while throwing off Anglo-Saxon imperialism.
In this time of turmoil, much stronger power bared fang to gnaw on weak flesh. Weaks were being oppressed strongs were being trampled on by stronger.
Villages were being looted, and lives were being taken for granted.
This kill-or-be-killed situation gave rise to a culture of predation, which needs to be further analysed.
Once upon a time
Everyone has their once upon a time in life.
For some, it’s a cherishable good memory, whereas for some it’s the darkest and most disturbing memory.
In Thorfinn’s childhood, maybe days were tough due to the rough weather and terrain of Iceland, but life was warm due to the closeness of his father Thors, mother Helga, and sister Yulva.
Tales of Leif made his days sparkling.
On the other hand, his father Thors, and mother Helga didn’t have such a pleasant memory.
Being the commander of Jomsvikings, the elite army group of Vikings, Thors had to win battle after battle. Whereas Helga was an extremely sick person and couldn’t do anything except stay at home and worry.
Canute while having a hellish life with the imperial family, had a pleasant life with his attendant Ragnar.
He lived the bountiful life of a farmer, learned cooking harvested crops, and spent warm moments with Ragnar.
Everything lasted until he was sent to battle.
Askeladd has a miserable life with his sick slave mother, who was of Wales nationality. She dreamt of the hero of Wales Artorius returning to protect his descendants.
He had to work in the blacksmiths for ends meet since his early childhood
His father was Olaf the Viking warlord and Lord of his locality, who didn’t care for his mother.
So, whenever any of the characters of the story thinks back to their once-upon-a-time each of them finds a different colour, which paints a picture-like story in combination with multiple aspects.
Transformation
Each of the important characters in the first season of Vinland Saga went through some major transformations at some point in their life.
Thorfinn was an adventure-loving, cheerful, and warm child.
He went through a major transformation when his father died while protecting him in the first season of Vinland Saga.
According to him, his father was the strongest and in a duel with Askeladd he won fairly.
But due to some cheap underhanded trick, he had to accept his death.
This whole unfair incident in the first season of Vinland Saga and his father’s death transformed that cheerful boy into a vengeful wolf out for blood.
Prince Canute was a timid and reserved person, who always went on with life with the help of his attendant and father figure Ragnar.
But after Ragnar’s untimely death, he broke down and as Willibald was contemplating the true form of love and God’s involvement in human life, he started to lose his faith in God.
He declared to take everything into his hands and never depend on God anymore.
He transformed into a dependable leader.
Aakeladd on the other hand lived a pathetic life with his slave mother, while toiling his life away at blacksmiths.
But when his tyrant of a father attempted to kill his mother, for the first time he retaliated.
Upon attracting his father’s attention he joined the main family and gained his father’s approval.
In the end, using the sword of the brother his father quarrelled with he killed his father in sleep and the process incarcerated his brother and started an infighting in the family, finally gaining all the wealth.
His mind got twisted into a scheming and shrewd person.
All these transformations were worth mentioning because these decided the flow of the story.
Taste of hell
As Thorfinn decided to take revenge on Askeladd a deal was presented to him.
He had to work for Askeladd in the war and gain some great feats, only then he will have a duel with Thorfinn with his life as the prize.
Thorfinn tried to follow through with the deal with great confidence but soon realized the cruel reality.
War was not as glorious and simple as he used to think.
It smells like blood and rotten flesh in the Warfield and each moment is an exchange of life.
He even had to watch the good die, while wicked prevail.
He had to betray the trust of people’s goodwill.
All in all, an entire hell on earth was waiting for him.
Struggling through
Thorfinn had to struggle a lot to follow through with his vengeance.
He had to fight difficult battles.
Fight unbelievable enemies.
Thorkell was one of those enemies.
From the start, he was no match for him, but having the long-awaited duel in mind he plunged into the battle.
Despite being badly wounded, he did cut off two of Thorkell’s fingers
In the future, he once again had to fight against Thorkell for the life of Askeladd as he couldn’t allow anyone else than himself to take his life.
He fought many armies, and man commanded, took quite several hades.
He even had to protect Prince Canute from an entire squad of Askeladd upon Askeladd’s order.
Suppressing his mental and physical wounds he fought on only for the reward of the duel with Askeladd.
11 years in vain
After the realization of God’s true nature, Prince Canute couldn’t wait for fate to take its turn anymore.
He decided to take matters into his own hands.
Uniting Askeladd and Thorkell he decided to take King Sweyn down from his throne and take it for himself.
In the process Askeladd schemes to stage a drama of fake assassination of prince.
After all this, he had a duel with Thorfinn and won as predicted.
He tells Thorfinn that even after 11 years he couldn’t win against him, which means he never can take revenge on him.
This destroyed him.
In such a mindset, he met Leif who urged him to return home reminding him of his dream of Vinland.
On the other hand, not being able to kill Canute due to Askeladd’s staged assassination attempt, King Sweyn is restless and sets a trap for Askeladd with the help of Floki.
In an award ceremony of the conquer of England, he declared to attack Wales, the home country of Askeladd’s mother.
Askeladd had to save Wales and Prince Canute together, so he framed himself as a killer of the king which forced Prince Canute to kill Askeladd.
Thorfinn missed the chance for vengeance, wasting his effort of 11 years.
Upon his desperate call to come back, Askeladd asked him if he had thought of anything beyond the vengeance.
He further advised him, that if he hadn’t found any cause, then follow his father’s trail, which Thorfinn remembered as Vinland.
Conclusion
At the end, this transformative and astonishing story of Vinland Saga follows a joyful child growing up to be a twisted one and finally losing purpose for his transformation.
This season totally left viewers on a cliffhanger.
For further progress, watching next season is advisable.
If you are interested in fantasy, or adventure series then consider reading my Blog Post on Goblin Slayer.
