"Vinland Saga" The Blood-soaked Journey to Peace

Set during the Viking era, “Vinland Saga” follows Thorfinn and his transformation from a rage-fueled warrior to a noble pacifist. He faces the horrors and beauty humans are capable of as he attempts to build a peaceful utopia in a land called Vinland during one of the most violent periods of history. The series was created by Makoto Yukimura, who wanted to create a story highlighting the notorious brutality of Vikings and how that way of life was disturbingly normal.

The series is broken up into four distinct arcs: War, Farmland, Baltic War, and Thousand-Year Voyage. Each arc boasts a distinct tone while advancing the overall story in a rich and compelling way. The War Arc is a prologue filled with action and breakneck pacing, while the Farmland Arc is more profound and somber with its pacing. These varied tones help keep the story interesting as the series is constantly reinventing itself without losing its core identity. Every story development is crucial to Thorfinn and the supporting cast’s character arcs, as some progress or regress over time.

Yukimura is talented in all aspects of storytelling and illustration, but his crowning achievement has to be his character writing. There is not a weak link in this distinct cast of characters, including warriors, kings, peasants, slaves, and their masters. All of them act as foils to one another through their different ideologies, societal status, and outlook on life. No character is one note; even the most vile characters are written with enough depth to make the things they do understandable even if it is not agreeable.

Many characters serve as vehicles for displaying the horrors of war and slavery. The story’s viewpoint is always shifting, making conflicts more devastating as they are seen from all angles. Initially, the perspective is on the Vikings who kill indiscriminately and destroy villages. But when the perspective shifts to the innocent people who lose their homes and become enslaved, it adds a whole new depth to an already thematically rich story. At the heart of it all is the story of Thorfinn and his journey from a rage-fueled warrior to a man seeking peace for himself and those around him.

Thorfinn’s journey is one that, other than the level of violence it contains and time periods it is set in, is very relatable. In the beginning, Thorfinn is angry, angry at the world, the pain he has felt and the people around him. Over time he learns that all the anger and hate just leads to more anger and hate. Therefore, when he is at his lowest mentally and physically the only thing that will lead him out is making a positive change. “Vinland Saga” shows how easy it is to fall into an endless cycle of negativity, the emptiness one can feel amidst it and the longing for a sense of purpose. All these things and more are universal themes that anyone can relate to, but in the end the greatest strength of the story is also a very unfortunate truth in that it is a timeless story.

Despite the story being set thousands of years ago, war, slavery, senseless killing and the glorification of violence are still things that plague the world today. The series may show unflinching acts of brutality humans commit to each other but it is not all misery. This level of cruelty is important to showing why a character would do everything they could to avoid and prevent such atrocities. Many stories depict the horrors of the world, but “Vinland Saga” shows we do not have to be set in our ways, that a different and better way of life is possible. The series highlights how a positive sense of purpose in life is a truly incredible thing, but far from easy. It is a process that can seem hard, but it shows the importance of forgiveness, not just towards others but first towards oneself.