Like moths to a bright, blazing flame, anime fans are drawn to heroes who share the same unwavering quality as attack on TitanEren Jaeger: The will to commit unspeakable acts of violence for the sake of one’s freedom. But often fans don’t realize that anime with non-violent stories can sometimes be just as meaningful and exciting. That’s why I find it so annoying that fans who once celebrated the violence Vinland sagaa series shared with animation studios Mappa and Wit AoT, dropped the series altogether because season two’s “farming arc” isn’t as flashy and violent as season one’s. While many who canceled the show claim the anime “fell off” because Vinland saga While there isn’t as much action as the first season, the series’ distaste for violence makes it one of the best anime of the year.
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season two of Vinland saga sees the once fearsome Viking warrior Thorfinn working as a slave on a rich man’s farm. During his enslavement, Thorfinn discovers a harrowing truth: the miles of walking the men he slaughtered to avenge his father’s death led to his downfall.
Thorfinn might have had that dog inside him in season one, but when we meet up with the Viking Spitfire again, we see that he’s become a shell of the fearsome fighter he once was. His rebellious nature has died. His eyes are more sullen. His body is frail. The Pyrrhic victory of witnessing his mentor and the man who killed his father, ash cargo
As he works towards his freedom, Thorfinn is surrounded by fellow slaves who have suffered as much as he has. But unlike them, Thorfinn’s baggage is made all the heavier because even in his dreams he is haunted by the corpses of warriors and civilians alike, and desperately wonders why he had to kill them. In the past, Thorfinn was able to justify his violence by ingratiating himself with Askeladd and earning another opportunity to commit suicide in a duel. Now Thorfinn isn’t even sure he can explain why he thoughtlessly murdered so many people.
Thorfinn is far from the only human on Ketil’s farm who has suffered. His fellow slaves Einar (who is also his best friend) and Arnheid endured as much if not more than Thorfinn, for violent men like him are the reason they are slaves in the first place. Both Einar and Arnheid have seen their loved ones murdered by bloodthirsty Vikings.
Although bloodshed was one reason Einar and Arnheid loathed war, such atrocities were never a bad thing for Vikings like Thorfinn. Alternatively, war serves as a proving ground for the Norsemen, where the victors reap their spoils according to the number of people they have slaughtered and sold, or vie for the death of a warrior that would grant them entry into Valhalla. This self-destructive mentality is perpetuated by anime protagonists in shows that cover a similar thematic area as Vinland saga
The cycle of violence is rarely broken in popular anime
Thorfinn is hardly the first anime character to use inhuman violence against opponents and innocent bystanders. You can see Thorfinn’s path of devastation reflected in characters Code Geass‘ Lelouch vi Britannia or recently, AoT‘S Eren Jaeger. Like Thorfinn, Lelouch and Eren spend most of their youth seeking revenge. Lelouch hopes to one day liberate his nation from his father’s tyrannical rule, while Eren seeks war with the entire world by allowing his people to be subjugated and enslaved. Along the way, both protagonists sacrifice innocents and those closest to them to achieve their goals and meet their untimely demise once they exact revenge.
Lelouch and Eren were already too far gone when they were both confronted with the cruel deeds they had exposed others to in the pursuit of their own fiery dreams. However, Thorfinn realizes that the fact that he’s done terrible things doesn’t mean he’s incapable of changing. It’s a realization most anime characters never get to think about.
Vinland saga breaks the cycle of violence
At Ketil’s farm, Thorfinn devises a new plan for life: to rid the world of war and slavery. When Thorfinn reveals his revelation to Einar, he admits that it is beautiful to dream of his lofty new goal, but impossible to achieve. However, Thorfinn believes that finding Vinland, a prosperous land his father once claimed had no need for arms or slavery, along with others who wish to live in such a paradise, will bring about a positive change for the world become. Thorfinn wants to repent and believes that to do so he must give back to the world more than was taken from him by making Vinland a reality.
Given the opportunity to take his ball and leave Ketil’s farm before all-out war erupts near the end of season two, Thorfinn instead decides to stay on the farm a little longer to reconcile with his former prisoner and new king of to speak denmark Knutto attack the men guarding Ketil’s farm. I don’t want to reveal whether Thorfinn’s attempt not to speak jutsu is bearing fruit or not, but I have to say that his valiant attempt to break the cycle of violence that has plagued his life and the lives of those around him is getting harder and harder is more glorious than any battle he fought in the show’s first season.
The best thing about Thorfinn’s story is that he’s not done growing yet. By far not. For that reason, I hope that fans who have canceled the series will be willing to pick it up again so they can be as excited as I am for the shores that Thorfinn will sail to next should the anime be renewed for a possible third season becomes. Shores Thorfinn would never have believed it possible to get there if he hadn’t learned vital and hard-won lessons while toiling on a farm for 24 grueling, beautiful episodes.
