How a King Fights

Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 11 starts off with a scene of Canute doing combat training. As a king of Danes, it’s important for him to be able to lead his men into battle. If he doesn’t do this, they won’t consider him to be their king.

During this training, Canute’s sparing partner (I forget his name) points out a flaw of Canute’s. Whenever he’s tired, Canute tends to retreat in an attempt to give himself a break. But, this is a bad idea for 2 reasons. The first is that it only extends the fight.

It’s better to be more aggressive and push forward to defeat your opponent quickly. That will actually lead to expending less energy than if you get into a long, drawn-out fight. And on top of that, if you pull back, your opponent could capitalize on it and push their advantage.

The second reason it’s a bad idea for Canute to retreat is that it looks bad. His men will be looking to him to lead by example. If they see him retreating, that will destroy their morale and cause their ranks to break. This is why he needs to be able to fight.

Additionally, the enemy will be looking at him because he’s the commander. If he shows signs of weakness, such as by retreating, that will bolster their morale. This, combined with the hit his own soldiers’ morale will take, could be costly on the battlefield.

One last thing I want to point out is how Canute defeated his sparring partner. Canute tricked him into looking away so he could launch a surprise attack. This is risky because his men could view it as a cowardly tactic. Or, they could view it as Canute using his knowledge of his opponent.

The Idiot Son and the Merchant

By the time Ketil arrives in Jelling, King Harald has already died. But, that doesn’t mean this trip is all for nothing. King Canute is in town, which means Ketil can attempt to get in his good graces. However, there’s one thing standing in Ketil’s way: Olmar.

As we saw, Olmar made a fool of himself multiple times in Episode 11. The first time was when he bumped into a merchant and caused the merchant to drop his wares. Olmar claims the merchant bumped into him. But, I think we all know whose fault it was.

This merchant turns out to be the adopted son of Leif Ericson — and his name is Thorfinn. At least, that’s what Leif introduces himself as. This “Thorfinn” also goes by the name Bug Eyes. And it’s unclear if his name is actually Thorfinn, or if that’s just the name he’s currently using.

I’m going to assume that Leif offered up a bounty for anyone who could locate Thorfinn. So, this “Thorfinn” could be one of the people who took him up on that. You know, like how people sometimes pretend they’re a kid who went missing 20 years ago.

Obviously, this isn’t the Thorfinn Leif is looking for. But, he seems to have kept him around for 2 reasons. The first is that he could use the help with his merchant business. And the second, and more important, is that Leif can use him to find the real Thorfinn.

I’m not sure how often the fact that Bug Eyes’s name is Thorfinn actually comes up. But, because he sort of looks like Leif’s Thorfinn, he’s a good model to use when explaining who Thorfinn is. If you can say “he looks like this guy,” that could be helpful.

Requisitioning Ketil’s Farm

We finally know how Thorfinn’s and Canute’s worlds are going to collide. Canute plans to requisition Ketil’s farm for the benefit of his kingdom. That means he’s going to take the farm from Ketil and it will belong to the kingdom. Why? So the kingdom can keep 100% of the profits it generates.

Technically, Canute doesn’t need a reason to requisition Ketil’s farm. Ketil is one of his subjects and Canute is the king. He can take the farm if he wants and there’s nothing Ketil can do about it. But, Canute isn’t going to do that.

If Canute began taking the land of his subjects without cause, that would reflect poorly on him. His other wealthy subjects may worry that their farms could be next. And once that happens, an uprising could be on the horizon. That’s not what Canute wants — and that’s also why he doesn’t want to raise taxes.

So, how is Canute going to justify requisitioning Ketil’s farm? This seems to be where Olmar comes into play, once again. Canute and his inner circle believe they can use Olmar because of his stupidity. And the implication was that they’re going to use him to take the farm.

How does that work, though? My guess is that they’re going to trick Olmar into committing some sort of crime against the kingdom. For example, they might get him to unknowingly steal something from the King. Or, he might get antagonized into starting a fight with someone he shouldn’t.

Regardless of what offense Olmar commits, Canute could then use this against Ketil. Let’s say Olmar steals something from the King. Under normal circumstances, the punishment might be death. But, Canute could be merciful and allow Ketil to trade his farm for his son’s life.

Conclusion

What do you think of Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 11? Will Canute’s tendency to retreat come up again and hurt him? Has Olmar’s character gone beyond the point of redemption? And, how do you think Canute is going to justify requisitioning Ketil’s farm? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Freedom Is Right Around the Corner

In Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 10, Thorfinn and Einar are so close to freedom that they can taste it. They’ve been at Ketil’s farm for about 3 years. And, according to Pater, they’ll be able to buy their freedom after the next harvest.

Not only is that great news, but the pair finally cut down the last tree on their allotted land. With the land all clear, they can focus more of their time on growing crops. But, the bigger benefit of having the land all clear is that they don’t need to cut down any more trees.

With all this good news, you’d expect that something’s going to go wrong. But, things actually just keep getting better. Master Ketil informs Thorfinn and Einar that he’ll give them a discount on their freedom. Instead of being free after the harvest, they’ll be free after they till the land and plant the seeds.

Of course, there is a catch. Ketil is traveling to Jelling to visit King Harald. So, he won’t be able to grant Thorfinn and Einar their freedom until he returns. That’s not a huge deal. But, I have a feeling that Ketil isn’t going to return from this trip.

As we find out later in the episode, King Harald is dying. And it’s Canute, his younger brother, who’s poisoning him. So, how are Canute and his supporters going to react to Ketil showing up? He’s a supporter of King Harald, after all.

It’s possible that Ketil being a supporter of King Harald doesn’t matter to Canute. And if that’s the case, he might make it back safely. But, what will Canute becoming King of Denmark mean for Ketil’s farm? It will likely mean Canute’s army coming to it to recruit soldiers.

A Tale of Two Kings

Maybe I missed the explanation earlier in the series. But, I didn’t realize that Canute and Harald were brothers until Episode 10 laid it all out. But, as we saw, Canute doesn’t care that Harald is his brother. He views him as a rival.

This is pretty surprising based on the limited information we have about King Harald. According to what we saw, Harald cares about his younger brother and views him as an ally. When they were younger, he looked out for Canute. And while on his deathbed, he leaves the Kingdom of Denmark to Canute.

It’s clear that Harald both likes and trusts Canute. But, Canute doesn’t see things the same way. Or, if he does, he doesn’t let that get in the way of his own ambition. At the end of the day, Canute wants to be King of both England and Denmark.

I’m not entirely sure when Canute became the ruthless (debatable) person he is today. It’s implied that obtaining the crown and becoming King of England is what did it. But, I’m still not completely convinced that he had nothing to do with King Sweyn’s death.

I know that Askeladd was the one who killed King Sweyn. And Canute definitely seemed surprised by King Sweyn’s killing. But, it was also Canute who benefited from Sweyn’s killing and he’s now haunted by what happened to Sweyn. To me, that shows that he feels guilty. And why would he feel guilty if he had nothing to do with it?

Though, we know that poisoning is more of Canute’s thing, not having people beheaded. I believe it was King Ethelred whom Canute had to fight for control of England. And, if I’m not mistaken, Ethelred’s son (I forget his name) died of poisoning.

The Cursed Head

Is Canute actually cursed? No. I’m very confident that Canute isn’t actually cursed. And I’m also very confident that Thorfinn didn’t visit the afterlife and talk to Askeladd. The dreams and visions these characters have are manifestations of their psychological trauma.

In some ways, their psychological trauma is similar. For example, they’re both haunted by the dead. Specifically, they’re haunted by the dead they feel responsible for killing. Though, in Thorfinn’s case, he killed those people with his own hands. Canute uses proxies to kill those he wants to get rid of.

What really makes them different, though, is how their trauma affects them. Thorfinn’s trauma has changed him. He no longer wants anything to do with war. And early in Episode 10, Thorfinn even told Einar about his dream to rid the world of war and slavery.

Canute, on the other hand, has doubled down on the actions that caused his trauma. In his mind, now that he’s “cursed” due to the death of Sweyn, he might as well keep racking up more curses. He already benefitted from the killing of his father. So, why not also benefit from the killing of his brother?

One thing I do need to point out, however, is that this is the true curse afflicting Canute. Sure, seeing the severed head of his father everywhere he looks is a sort of curse. But, according to said severed head, the true curse is that Canute will always seek greater power.

Now that he knows what it’s like to have power, he’s going to continue to do everything he can to gain more. And, what we see him doing to Harald is a perfect example of this. The only reason Canute is killing Harald is to gain more power.

Conclusion

What do you think of Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 10? Do you think Ketil is going to survive his trip to Jelling? Do you think Canute had a hand in the killing of his father? And do you think Canute will be able to overcome his curse? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 11 is available now.

It Was All a Dream

Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 9 opens with Thorfinn waking from a dream. It turns out that everything since Askeladd’s men came to his home village was a dream. His father never died. He never spent 11 years on the battlefield. And he never became a slave.

Of course, this is all incorrect. Thorfinn’s father did die. Thorfinn did spend 11 years on the battlefield. And Thorfinn did become a slave. But, since he took a pretty good blow to the back of the head with a shovel, you can understand why he’s confused.

Unfortunately for Thorfinn, this nice dream doesn’t last long. It quickly becomes a nightmare after his father shows up in it. Thors asks his son who he killed with his knife, and that’s when things take a turn. But, before that, we get to see the life Thorfinn wishes he had.

Something we should keep in mind is that Thorfinn is a victim of war, as well. If Askeladd’s men never showed up at his village, he would have lived a very different life. And it wasn’t a coincidence that they landed there. They were specifically there to find Thors.

From what I remember, their job was to recruit Thors to fight for the King of Denmark. But, Thors didn’t want to fight. His fighting days were behind him and he wanted to live a life of peace. This is why they ultimately opted to eliminate him instead.

So, sure, Thorfinn’s village wasn’t raided in the same way Einar’s was. But, a group from the Danish military arrived to take his father away and ended up killing him. And, let’s not forget that Thorfinn had no way to get back home after this. He was a de facto prisoner.

The Strength to Protect

I didn’t remember this, but I guess Thors was the one who gave Thorfinn his knife. Though, Thorfinn had 2 knives — I don’t remember where the second came from. Either way, when Thorfinn meets his father in the dream, his father says he didn’t give him the knife to kill.

The point of giving Thorfinn the knife was so that he could protect himself. He was never meant to use it to attack other people. However, as Thors says, he died before he could teach Thorfinn these valuable lessons.

In that way, Thors feels responsible for the man Thorfinn became. But, at this point, Thorfinn is starting to understand the gravity of his past actions. And he doesn’t think his father is responsible for who he became. He’s taking responsibility for what he’s done with his life.

At this point, I want to bring your attention to something we’ve seen a few times in Thorfinn’s dreams. We see him killing a young boy who represents Einar. Obviously, Thorfinn never killed Einar. And I don’t believe he ever killed a child either. So, why do we keep seeing this show up in his dreams?

To me, it’s supposed to represent how Thorfinn’s actions have affected more than the dead. Every person Thorfinn killed had a family. So, what we’re seeing here is a representation of that. Thorfinn’s actions killed the innocence of countless children. And he knows what that feels like — he’s been there himself.

In Episode 8, Einar gets mad at the retainers for destroying his and Thorfinn’s farm. What makes him most mad, though, is that the retainers are farmers themselves. They know how it would feel to have their farm destroyed. In many ways, Thorfinn was like the retainers.

The Farthest Place From Valhalla

Toward the end of Thorfinn’s talk with his father, both of them have corpses trying to pull them down. As we later learn from Askeladd, these are the corpses of those they’ve killed. But, there’s a key difference between Thorfinn and Thors in this scene.

The corpses are pulling Thorfinn down and he eventually falls through the ground. Meanwhile, Thors stays standing. This, combined with the fact we don’t see Thors in the underworld, represents how he was able to move on. Thors was able to move beyond his life as a warrior and lead a life of peace.

After falling for a while, Thorfinn manages to stop himself just above a large cavern. And when he looks down, he sees corpse warriors fighting in a lake of their own blood. Surely, this is the Valhalla mentioned in the myths — where warriors go after they die.

There are even some familiar faces in the cavern below Thorfinn. First, he spots Björn. And then, he notices Askeladd perched upon a column above the fighting. Unlike the other warriors below, Askeladd hasn’t gone mad from the continuous fighting. And he has some wise words for Thorfinn.

First, he laughs at Thorfinn’s thought that this is Valhalla. Valhalla is supposed to be a paradise. As Askeladd puts it, this is as far from Valhalla as you can get. With the continuous fighting, this place has much more in common with the world of the living.

Second, he tells Thorfinn to listen to the voices of those he killed. If Thorfinn actually wants to change and save himself from this fate, he needs to face his past. He can’t keep running and looking away from those he killed. He needs to accept his past.

Conclusion

What do you think of Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 9? Would you have liked to see more of the life Thorfinn could have lived? Did you like seeing the ghosts of Thors and Askeladd give Thorfinn advice? And, just how many people do you think Thorfinn has killed? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 10 is available now.

His Own Worst Enemy

Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 8 starts off with a nightmare. But, this is a slightly different nightmare than the one we saw in Episode 4. Back in Episode 4, Thorfinn’s nightmare had 2 main components.

First, he was coping with the ever-present threat of death he faced on the battlefield. We saw that the enemy soldiers attacking him appeared as demons in this dream. But, there was a shift toward the end of the nightmare. When he decapitated one of the soldiers, he saw the face of a scared human.

What I took away from this nightmare was that both sides fear the other killing them. Thorfinn fought for his life, as did those he fought against. War isn’t a pleasant experience for either side. And Thorfinn is only now starting to see the effects his 11 years of war had on him.

The nightmare from this week’s episode is a bit different. In it, Thorfinn sees his past self for what he was — a barbarian. He sees his past self entering Einar’s family home as part of a raiding party. He sees the fear and suffering he caused people in the past.

Now, I need to give my thoughts on the elephant in the room. Does this dream mean that Thorfinn was a member of the group that raided Einar’s home? It’s possible. Though, by their ages in the dream, this would have to have been the first raid in which Einar’s father died.

However, I don’t believe Thorfinn was part of that raiding party. It’s entirely possible he was. But, the way I viewed this dream was that Thorfinn is recognizing he hurt people like Einar — not Einar himself. We’ll have to wait for confirmation, though.

Can People Change?

The big question Thorfinn asks in Episode 8 is, “Can people change?” The answer, of course, is yes. And something Sverkel said caused Thorfinn to start thinking about this question. He said that Thorfinn can learn new things and that maybe being empty will actually benefit him here.

So, what did Sverkel mean when he said that? First, he was referring to Thorfinn learning to live a life of peace. Thorfinn only knew war and suffering for 11 years. But now, he has the opportunity to learn something new. He can learn how to farm and provide for himself in peace.

Second, when Sverkel mentioned being empty was good, he meant Thorfinn can start from zero. At this point, Thorfinn doesn’t have to unlearn his rage and anger toward Askeladd. As Thorfinn himself pointed out, he no longer hates Askeladd. He’s already starting his new life from a neutral position.

Moving on to Einar, I think he did more to show Thorfinn that changing is possible. And all he had to do was say one, simple thing. He said that anyone who met Thorfinn today would never guess that he was once a warrior.

By saying this, what Einar really means is that Thorfinn has already begun changing. He’s no longer the person he was when he was a warrior. He already changed a lot without even trying — to the point that he’s unrecognizable as the same person.

If that’s possible, imagine how much more he could change if he puts in the effort to do so. And, of course, Thorfinn doesn’t have to go through this changing process alone. He might not recognize it yet, but Einar is going to be there for him the whole way. That’s what friends are for.

Farmer’s Wrath

Let’s start this discussion of Einar’s anger toward the retainers by mentioning Thorfinn. I thought it was pretty interesting to see Thorfinn be the voice of reason here. Thorfinn is the one who doesn’t want to get into a fight. That alone shows just how much he’s changed.

Now, as for Einar, his reason for being angry wasn’t what I expected. I’m sure I’m not alone in assuming that Einar was angry about how the retainers treated him. And, that’s definitely part of why he’s angry. But, I wasn’t expecting the main reason he’s angry.

What really made Einar mad was that the retainers know how hard growing crops is. They know how much hard work and commitment it takes to grow wheat. And yet, they still destroyed the crops Einar and Thorfinn grew. The retainers knew how much this would crush them.

To me, the reason Einar was angry said a lot about Einar. It implies he would forgive someone for destroying his crops if they didn’t know better. Well, obviously they would know it was wrong. But, if they didn’t understand how much work growing the crops is, it would be less malicious.

Someone who doesn’t know anything about growing crops might think of their actions as a joke. However, there’s no way a fellow farmer would think of something like this as a joke. And this makes Einar seem both mature and a bit ignorant about the world.

He’s mature because he could forgive someone else for destroying his crops. But, he’s ignorant because he fails to understand that there are bad people out there who don’t care. And that’s a little surprising considering his home village got raided twice. You’d think he’d understand that bad people exist.

Conclusion

What do you think of Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 8? Do you think Thorfinn actually raided Einar’s home when he was younger? Did the scene by the ocean give you Attack on Titan vibes? And do you think Einar should have let it go and played nice with the retainers? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 9 is available now.

Thorgil, Son of Ketil

Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 7 introduces Ketil’s other son, Thorgil. Thorgil looks almost exactly like his father, but with a tan. And he’s also the exact opposite of his younger brother Olmar in every way possible. The most apparent difference between the brothers, though, is their bravery.

As we know, Olmar talks big when it comes to proving himself in war. However, there’s no way he’d actually go to war and not flee. He’s scared of war and of dying, which is understandable. That’s not how Thorgil is, at all.

Thorgil is an accomplished warrior who has no problem spilling blood. And, he was apparently trained by Snake. I already assumed Snake had a military background due to how he interacted with Thorfinn. This is just more evidence pointing toward that being the case. But, we don’t actually have confirmation of that yet.

Anyway, back to Thorgil. Based on the fact Thorgil refers to Canute as King Canute, we know he respects him. But, what I didn’t realize is that Canute isn’t actually the king. I know the name King Harald was thrown around in Episode 6. However, I assumed he and Canute were kings of separate countries. I guess not.

Thorgil’s alliance to Canute could cause issues for his father’s farm later on. Would King Harald still defend Ketil’s farm if Thorgil supports his rival for the thrown? I’m not sure if that will come up. But, it does seem like something is going to happen to the farm.

Previously, I assumed that something would be Canute’s forces attacking. But, that doesn’t seem very likely now since Thorgil is one of Canute’s soldiers. Though, it’s possible that Thorgil is more loyal to Canute than his own father. He might sell out Ketil.

Iron Fist Ketil

You may be wondering why Thorgil would even consider betraying his father. After all, he seems to respect him. To understand that, we first have to look at the legend of Iron Fist Ketil. Apparently, Ketil was quite the warrior when he was younger.

Thorgil learned from the veteran soldiers that his father was called Iron Fist Ketil. He got this name because he was so strong, his weapon would break as soon as a battle began. And so, as any warrior worth his salt would, he continued to fight with his bare fists.

It’s a good story. But, we find out from Ketil himself at the end of the episode that it’s only a story. In reality, Ketil is a coward who’s scared of war. He made up those stories about himself so that others would view him as a strong Norseman.

So, as I said, Thorgil seems to respect his father because of this legend. But, what if he knows the legend is fake? What if the only reason he brought it up was to make his father start sweating? What if Thorgil views his father as a coward for not actually fighting bravely?

If that’s the case, I can 100% see Thorgil betraying his own father for the benefit of Canute. He wouldn’t even view it as a betrayal. In fact, he would think it was his father who did the betraying by lying about his battlefield glory.

Right now, that feels like the direction the series is heading in. I’m convinced that something bad is going to happen to Ketil’s farm. And now that Thorgil is here, the pieces seem to be falling into place. Oh, and maybe Thorgil will take Arnheid for himself, which will get Einar involved.

Ketil the Coward

I don’t have an issue with Ketil being a coward who’s afraid of war. But, I do have an issue with Ketil being a coward who’s afraid to lay down the law on his farm. And no, I’m not talking about him being afraid to punish the Sture and Thora for theft.

Ketil is afraid of more than just war. He’s afraid of the warriors present on his farm. In particular, he’s afraid of Thorgil and Snake. And he believes that if he shows any sign of “weakness,” they’ll get rid of him.

Is he wrong? I’m not sure. I doubt Snake would do something like that since he seems to like his cushy life as a guard. But, as I just laid out, the same might not be true of Thorgil. And looks like it’s Thorgil’s presence that Ketil is actually worried about.

And if Thorgil decided his father was weak, Snake would probably go along with it. Snake likes doing nothing all day. But, he’s still a warrior and doesn’t seem like he’d have any issues going back to that way of life. So, sure, Ketil isn’t in the most secure position.

However, I don’t believe Ketil’s weakness comes from how he doesn’t want to punish people. His weakness comes from him not asserting that his word is final. All he has to do is say that Sture and Thora are going to work for him now and that’s the end of it.

And then, if anyone speaks up against him, he only needs to remind them of who their master is. It’s hard to respect a master who bends to the wishes of those beneath him. It doesn’t matter if he’s scared. He needs to be the one making the decisions.

Conclusion

What do you think of Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 7? Do you think Thorgil is going to betray his father? Do you think he knows Iron Fist Ketil doesn’t actually exist? And, how do you feel about Ketil’s lack of a backbone? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 8 is available now.