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4seasonsofart · 1 year

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Hunter or the Hunted? | Hybrid Thorfinn (Part 2)

A young Snow Leopard hybrid meets a Siren hybrid in the most unlikely of cases. Will a friendship blossom, or will the tides of fate pull them under?

Season 1: Thorfinn sees you after eleven years.

Hybrid Thorfinn x Reader

Hybrid Thorfinn (Part 1) Season 1: 6 year old Thorfinn meeting you.

1013: London Bridge

Over eleven years have passed since that faithful day, and the resentment within Thorfinn has only grown stronger. With each passing second, he came to hate Askeladd more. For what he took from him all those years ago. His anger was like an unquenchable thirst that could only be satiated by the blood of his fallen enemies.

Only one thing could temporarily snap him from his traumatized trance: the chance to duel Askeladd once again.

"Thorfinn. We have some work for you. Go bring me Thorkell's head."

Like a trained dog, he perks up at those words and scowls towards the man who ripped his life from its hinges. He replies snarkily and makes sure that the promise of the duel is kept if he completes his mission.

"Promise me you'll give me my reward."

"Okay. Okay. The same as always, right? You're so stubborn. Getting so worked up about a fight you can't win. Maybe you get it from your father."

Askeladd states this in a coy tone as he polishes a golden goblet he obtained from one of his many Viking raids. He knows exactly how to push Thorfinn's buttons and how to make him bend to his will. He was just a foolish kid with a dream of killing him, after all. It has a sense of idiotic nobility to it, although Askeladd would never tell him that.

"Don't forget, Askeladd."

"Only those who fight on the battlefield get what they desire. That's the way of the warrior. My head's not cheap, you know. I'll duel you as often as you like. Go bring me Thorkell's head."

● With a new mission, he did as he was told, like a good little Viking boy. He leaped from the ship and landed on the edge of the bridge. Something appears out of the corner of his eye. A tail? He almost ends up with a sword through him as he takes one of Thorkell's soldiers down. He has no time to be distracted by things that aren't possible.

● He meets eyes with the Draugr hybrid, a hulking zombie-like man with an insatiable thirst for blood just like Thorfinn. His nature was much more relaxed and open. There was no malice in his eyes toward his new opponent. Thorkell just wanted to fight Thorfinn. Just to fight.

● A swing, a hit, and a miss and Thorkell is looming over the injured young man with a broken wrist. Thorkell's Dragur instincts were getting the better of him, and he wanted to attack the hybrid; he wanted to cause him pain; he wanted to taste his blood.

● All of Thorfinn's hybrid senses were overstimulated. He can't think, move, or hear anything without wanting to rip his heart out of his chest. It is all just too much.

● Thorfinn is able to feel his leopard ears twitch and hear such a silent, longing, and angelic sound. A sound he hasn't heard in over a decade but is able to easily identify.

● Thorkell raises his giant log to bash Thorfinn's head into the side of the bridge when he stops. The entire battlefield stops and stands in a trance. It is as if time has stopped once again.

Just like when... No, you couldn't be alive...

That same euphoric and peaceful feeling from his childhood floods back into his body. He sits completely lax against the bridge as his muscles have fallen asleep on him. His ears droop towards the top of his head as his tail slumps near his thighs. His hazel eyes close completely as something pulls him deep underwater.

The song lasted for less than a minute, but it felt like an eternity to everyone on the battlefield.

They all stand around each other with bewildered expressions, unsure if fighting is what they should be doing. Did they just get seduced by a Sirens song? Is there still a Siren hybrid out there? Who's side does this Siren belong to?

None of the soldiers had any answers. So they did what all soldiers do, and they began their bloody masquerade once again.

● Askeladd already had a plan in his mind as he watched a silhouette of a hybrid swim with Thorfinn towards the shore. Oh, this is an opportunity that cannot be wasted.

● With Thorfinn back on the shore and soon to rejoin the band of Vikings he had grown accustomed to, he stares at you in awe and fear. As if his past just came back to haunt him like his dreams.

The crisp fall winds nip at your fatigued bodies as you both stare at each other without saying a word. Thorfinn notices all of the changes in your body and how you have grown into something more coveted than the last time you both met. You notice how he has gone from an innocent child to a broken warrior, barely in adulthood.

He makes the first move and kicks you back into the water before clutching his broken wrist and dislocated shoulder. He takes a step back to get further onto dry land. He keeps his body language closed off and protected from you.

"Thorfinn..." You try in a hopeful tone. As if the years you spent apart were nothing and you just wanted a friend again.

"Stay away, beast."

Those three words break your heart once again. They had been told to you an infinite number of times. Yet, it hurt the most coming from him. Was it because he was the only one to show you genuine kindness for so long?

He hisses through gritted teeth as his tail raises and his ears perk up. He turns around and promptly begins running back towards the band he has known for so long. He just couldn't take seeing you again. You were one of the reasons that he kept trying to duel Askeladd and win.

A reason to live. A reason to fight.

You have actually been alive for the entire time? It feels like a stab in the chest. Like you betrayed the few months of friendship he had with you so long ago.

It doesn't matter why you left—you still abandoned him.

You probably didn't care for him anyway. Just another siren looking to use someone for their own gain.

You are a beast—no better than Askeladd in his eyes.

#vinland saga #vinland saga thorfinn #thorfinn #thorfinn karlsefni #thorfinn x reader #thorfinn x you #imagine #hybrid au #alternate universe #thorfinn headcanon #thorfinn imagine #gender neutral insert #gender neutral y/n #reader insert

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linkemon · 3 days

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Glass Houses (Thorfinn x Reader)

Friendly reminder that English is not my first language. You can check my Masterlists both in English and Polish here. Consider supporting me on Ko-fi. You can also check out my commissions if you’re interested.

Other oneshots can be found here.

ᴛʜᴏʀꜰɪɴɴ ᴅɪꜱᴄᴏᴠᴇʀꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴠɪɴʟᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴀᴄᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜɪᴍ ᴀʟʟ ᴀʟᴏɴɢ…

— Shit — [Reader] hissed through clenched teeth.

She gingerly touched her right thigh. Blood ran down her fingers and dripped onto the fresh snow, staining it bright red. Her leg throbbed with a dull pain. She gripped her knife tighter, never taking her eyes off her opponent. [Reader] knew that the prolonged ranged combat was working against her. The loss of blood was making itself felt, making her dizzy and her strength was fading.

The scout wasted no time. He lunged again with his blade raised, looking for weak points. He feigned a blow to the exposed left side, then struck the right. The girl didn't have time to jump away. The sword left a bloody wound on her forearm. The man, carried by his momentum, kicked her straight in the stomach. The force of the impact knocked the air out of her lungs. She raised her head, panting heavily. Just in time, she noticed a shadow looming behind the figure of her pursuer. She ducked. The scout froze with a look of shock on his face. He grabbed his chest, where the knife was stuck. He fell to his knees. He died quickly.

From behind the motionless body emerged the saviour — Thorfinn.

— You're an idiot — he said.

— I had to check on things. — She tore off a piece of her shirt, tying it below her thigh, then tried to stand up on her own.

— Ear said he'd check the situation. Don't push yourself where you're not needed. — He pulled the girl up with such force that she staggered.

The boy had a great urge to tell her again that she was stupid but he held back.

— Can you go?

He received a negative shake of his head.

— By Thor…— he sighed.

He crouched down, allowing her to climb onto his back. [Reader] bit her cracked lips, trying to block out the pain. Eventually, she grabbed him by the neck, allowing herself to be carried toward the campsite.

The boy's body pleasantly warmed her chilled body. She tried with all her might not to chatter her teeth. The forest was very cold. In addition, snowflakes began to fall from the cloudy sky.

— God bless you — she mumbled out of habit.

— I don't believe in your God.

— I don't see a problem.

He did not comment on it.

She didn't stay silent for very long.

— Thorfinn?

Again he did not answer.

She shook his arm with her left, less tired hand.

— Can we talk about what happened? — she asked quietly.

Her thoughts were in disarray. If it weren't for the physical exhaustion, she probably wouldn't have returned to the subject. But now felt like as good time as any.

— Just don’t go scouting by yourself anymore — the boy replied gruffly.

— That's not what I'm talking about.

She felt that the other person knew exactly what she meant but deftly avoided the topic.

Her mind wandered to the previous evening. She could still feel the boy's lips on hers. A hand, much larger and rougher, stroked her cheek. The kiss was timid. It was surprisingly different from the young warrior's personality. Concern danced in his eyes. She felt as if everything had ended only a moment ago.

— I meant...— She trailed off, feeling a slight warmth rise to her cheeks. — About yesterday — she finished more quietly.

In her mind it seemed easy. Saying it out loud was much harder.

Thorfinn remained silent as he trudged steadily through the snow with her on his back.

— Let’s just not go back to this. — His voice was cold.

The girl couldn't notice her trembling lower lip.

— Why?

— Because I have nothing to tell you.

This was where the other side of the boy came out. The inseparable parts of his character that he showed to everyone on Askeladd's team.

[Reader] was feeling weak and it was becoming easier for her to say things out loud that she normally wouldn't.

— It's simple. Yes or no — she stated defiantly.

— Then no — he replied, feeling the great, bitter weight of the words he was saying.

— Put me down.

— NO.

— Let me get down.

Thorfinn didn't comply, so the girl loosened her grip around his neck. She fell straight into a small snowdrift, letting out a groan of pain.

The boy deep down shuddered at the sound.

— Tell me that straight to my face.

He didn't do that. He headed towards the camp visible from behind the snowy hill.

This was too much for her. The ignorance hurt.

— Do you care? You weren't like this yesterday! You're a coward, Thorfinn, son of Thors! — she cried hoarsely. — You're afraid of love!

His father's name hit the Viking like a bucket of icy water.

— I'm not scared, damn it! — He turned around, furious. — I just can't give it to you! Do you know how my family must feel after Askeladd killed dad? You don't want to go through that — he finished, his tone so pained that [Reader] felt like she was seeing him for the first time in her life.

— Why do you decide for me? How do you know how much I can endure?

She could barely hold back the tears welling up in her eyes. She felt as if something was slipping away from her forever.

— Because you’re too weak — he muttered.

The boy saw [Reader] trying to speak up for the villagers. She begged Askeladd not to murder the people but he did what he wanted anyway. What's more, he helped him do it. He didn't care much about the slaughter. It was just another task standing in the way of revenge.

From then on, the girl prayed even more often. Every day, she knelt with Canute and Ragnar. She clasped her hands, tilted her head upward and mumbled something about forgiveness and sins.

She might have been a fighter but she had too much mercy. Her soul was too gentle. Thorfinn found that the only real weakness she had was her Christian faith.

Somewhere deep inside him a sadistic urge rose to tell her more about his thoughts. About how stupid it seemed that she cared about the prince, the advisor, the villagers, the band of Vikings, and most of all him.

But then he saw a memory from the hunt. She had invited herself along. Despite that, the unexpected company didn’t bother him. He looked at the focused face and wondered why she reminded him of Thors. Neither her features, nor her posture, nor her words were like those of the great warrior. But as he sat with her at the table, staring into the bowl of soup they had cooked together, he felt strangely familiar. He laughed at her poor archery skills, trying to chase away the returning childhood.

Maybe that was why he kept the bile from rising in his throat and "go away" was the only words that left his lips.

— Thorfinn…— She grabbed his hand but he jumped back as if burned.

— I can’t. — He turned toward the campsite.

— I don't agree to this, do you understand?

She ran over, ignoring her bleeding thigh.

The boy struggled, trying to free himself from his grip. [Reader] however, held him tightly around the waist, not willing to let go. She didn't stop even when he kicked her injured leg.

— I know I might be left alone and I know that such a loss will hurt.

The Viking didn't have the strength to push her away. He felt too weak.

— Why — he heard his pained voice say — why do you want to be with me?

— Because love is worth the risk. — She snuggled closer.

— How do you know that? — He sighed, hugging her awkwardly.

— God told me. — She raised her eyes upward.

Thorfinn followed her gaze and it seemed to him that a ray of sunlight flashed from behind the snow clouds. But that didn't matter now. He no longer had to seek the warm light and the wide green meadows. In that moment he was closer to Vinland than he had been in his entire life.

#thorfinn x reader #vinland saga x reader #oneshot x reader #canute #ragnar #ear

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docholligay · 1 month

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Thors' death at the hands of Askeladd started all of Thorfinn's descent into the monster he became, and because he was so young, Thorfinn of course has such a strong idea of his father, that may or may not be based in the realities of who that man was. I'm not saying the story is casting him as not a wonderful guy, I think he was on a similar journey to how we find Thorfinn, but I will say that here, in Thorfinn's mind, we have to remember that Thors works as a SYMBOL, not as a person. Thors represents that desire for strength and for respect that drove him for so many years, and I think he still feels on some level now.

Thors was, by the time Thorfinn was a around, a man who did not believe in violence, who had set aside his past as a viking raider, and all her wanted was for Thorfinn to not have to deal with any of that. In his violent death, Thorfinn learned the wrong lesson.

In this moment, Thors turns his back to Thorfinn, because he has slaughtered--it's not for nothing that we see Thors only moments before this, with a lamb, and then we see Thorfinn having killed a child. "But Thors came from violence as well" oh absolutely, and that's why Is ay to remember that we are currently inside Thorefinn's mind. Who THors really was and how he might have really felt about all of this does not matter. THorfinn feels that judgment from his father, from his role model, the man he failed in truly becoming Askeladd's son more than he was ever Thors'.

I love the detail of the child he killed being Einar. Einar's entire family was killed by raiders just like Thorfinn. Thorfinn struggles with this, how could ever tell Einar that he was the man who would murder his family thoughtlessly? How could Einar ever forgive him? In Thorfinn's mind, there is a part of him that is still the violent killer that would have killed his dearest friend for the crime of being a poor Anglo-Norse farmer.

#Doc watches Vinland Saga #Vinland Saga S2 E9

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mjrarcana · 4 months

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Alright, so this is gonna be a time. It involves Akechi and will probably be all over the place. But anyway, I would like to explain how this came to me. Basically Vinland Saga rearranged my brain chemistry. And seeing Thorfinn really awakened my Akechi muse in a new way. So briefly, and bear with me bc this is important, I am gonna outline some things I have cooked up involving Akechi in the past year or so.

SO it's all about redemption arcs baby. So as we all know, Akechi (at 15) gets his powers and approaches Shido, I have my post about how that went down here. At that point, he approached Shido intending to get revenge on him. Due to situations, he ended up having to bide his time. Akechi states in the game that if he had met Joker earlier, maybe he wouldn't have gone down that path. I agree! Akechi wanted to be a hero, but he was slowly pushed by society into the role of a villain. I think when considering him, it is VERY IMPORTANT to consider that the way orphans/single moms/kids in the foster system are treated in Japan is significantly worse than in the USA and I read a lot of articles about this when I wrote Akechi back in 2017. I can def try to find some of those sources. But if you look it up you will see that adopting a kid is heavily stigmatized in Japan and people in the system are booted out at 16 with almost no safety net (this may have changed but as of the articles I read in 2017, this was the case. Just like up "nobody's children".) So he did become very reliant on Shido's money and influence.

Now, Akechi is a killer. He has killed a LOT of people for Shido. And this is where I wanted to bring up the way that Vinland Saga rearranged my brain chemistry. So please stay with me here.

So if you don't know (spoilers for vinland saga), Vinland Saga is a story about a boy in viking times that witnesses his father be killed by a pirate named Askeladd. He is around 6 at the time and stows away on the boat they steal from his father. Now the boy's father was a viking who became a pacifist and ran away to raise his family without violence. When the men he used to work with found him, one of them hired pirates to kill him. Thorfinn plans on getting revenge. But he's a kid and can't fight the grown ass man. So Thorfinn ends up joining Askeladd's crew in the hopes to beat him in a duel (since his father won the duel they had but Askeladd's husband number 2 held Thorfinn hostage so that way they could still kill him). And so for like 11 years Thorfinn murders people for the very man he wants to kill. Constantly fighting and losing to him as a reward for his service. He becomes his dog and everything his father was against. Thorfinn at this time when he's around 16-17 is like Akechi but worse.

Now at the end of the first arc, Askeladd is killed in a sort of suicide by cop type of deal. Thorfinn loses all direction in life and becomes an empty husk. During this time, he meets Einar who becomes his first ever friend. He starts to become a person again slowly. And eventually he starts to use his strength to protect people and vows to never kill again. The redemption arc is so slow as it builds up from him being actually EVIL in the first arc to the kind of person that would risk everything for people.

So basically, my entire thing here is to talk about a potential post-game verse for Akechi. Now, I don't think him going to prison or whatever is good because uhhh a lot of political reasons I won't go into. There is no proof Akechi did anything wrong. He can't actually face real punishment from the system. So you have to wonder if he feels remorse. Yes. He does. He had been so wrapped up in his own shit that he was totally blinded by it. That is going to hit him like A TRUCK. I know that Akechi wanted to be a hero at one point. And he thought it was too late for him in the game. So when he doesn't actually die at the end of Royal, now he has to face the consequences. It isn't something as simple as going to prison. But it's seeing the harm he caused. It's not having any more excuses. And if Joker is still around, it's having at least one person that knows him to his core and will hold him accountable and care about him.

I want to give Akechi a redemption arc. I think it started on the ship when he 'died'. But that is just the start. I don't think Akechi is going to change overnight. But he will change. And he can never take back what he did. He can never undo the suffering. But he can try to plant a tree for every person he killed, just like Thorfinn. IDK. Like obviously, Akechi is never going to become a "flower garden of a man" like Thorfinn does. But I do think that with time, he could try to become the type of person that can at least help as many as he hurt even if it takes his entire life to do it.

That being said: I don't want everyone to forgive him. Part of growing from your actions and becoming a better person is having people resent you and hate you for your actions. Being held accountable and it doesn't matter if you are sorry or not. You cannot undo the harm you caused someone else. You cannot make them forgive you. And you can hardly even ASK for it when it's as serious as what he did. So please: let your muse hate him if they would. Let people want nothing to do with him and hate that he's alive. Let them wish him the worst. Part of a good redemption arc is knowing that those feelings are valid. Akechi can never undo what he did, and having people resent him is one of my favorite ways for him to be held accountable.

#❝ by now i don't need no help to be destructive. ❞ ⸺ ⊰ goro akechi ⊱#❝ from a tender age i was cursed with rage. ❞ ⸺ ⊰ goro akechi / headcanon. ⊱#cw long post #( goro akechi ↷ life after death && post. )

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shinjisdone · 1 year

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Vinland Saga S2 Episode 20 Take...

Spoilers below:

God...bro...stop.

First of all the battle:

It is so interesting to see both sides of a 'warrior': The one who revels in the killing and loses himself in the blood and the one scared for their lives. Each of them experiences both sides and its just *mwah* to see FOX being the one TERRIFIED. The one who first suggested to Olmar to kill to truly "become a man". The one who was glorifying the act, telling him so sadistically how easy it is once you realize how soft and fragile a human's body is.

And now it is the Joms vikings who feel the same glee as they strike down each slave as if they are toothpicks.

It shows the humanity and hypocrisy. How each loses - either to the bloodlust or straight up their lives.

It also shows the difference between mere mercenaries i.e. the 'guests' and actual, trained vikings who work under the king. It's *Chef kiss*.

The look in the vikings eyes are the same as the guests and Askeladd's band.

Bro Thorgil is insane???

You know that the moment you meet him but he keeps doing mad things to keep reminding you. Like, dude swam around the island with a sword on his back, no armor to defend himself and was ready to decapitate the king who he worked for just months ago???? Cuz his family got insulted thats why.

Bro is on the same level as Thorkell.

And Canute actually fighting back??? AND ATTEMPTING TO KILL THORGIL TOO? My man got guts and its so surprising.

There is no way Thorgil thought he might do that. Plus, he was too confident to even think he might lose.

Ketil u son of a bitch he survived. There is just something infuriating and tragic knowing a phony like him could fall this deep and low in his own arrogance, pride, weakness and delusion.

Man shouldve died. Stop saving him, Snake.

And now to the tearjerker

Bro

Bro bro bro. Arnheid just...seeing her family waiting for her? Hinting even an episode before that her unborn child is already dead. Gardar took care of it like its own kid in the sequence.

And she woke up just to say her thanks and bid goodbye. Thorfinn and Einar keep trying to give her hope and not to die...

But she keeps on asking; Where will we go and is there war? Is there slave trade? If so, then I don't want it.

She'd rather die. All of these things are just another prolonging nightmare for her.

I was a bit sceptical of Arnheid as a character but it all makes so much sense.

She's just supposed to be a normal woman in the world of the nordics. The world of vikings, war and slaves. Not the daughter or wife of a warrior or anything but just a woman.

She had everything that was part of a normal life. A village, a home, a husband and a child and it's all just taken from her.

She did absolutly nothing wrong. Her only crime being her existence.

When there are no men to defend you in times like these, you are taken away as a slave, your toddler child seen as useless and killed. You are taken to a master and work as his servant, maid and bedwarmer. She becomes pregnant without asking for it but decides and has the strength to protect her second child.

And then...one thing goes wrong and it all comes tumbling down. The master who "adores" her beats her to death and the one person she wanted to protect dies.

"Everyone I loved died. Why should I live?" She has no reason to live anymore.

This isn't just tragedy falling upon you. It's a young woman's will being completely destroyed by the cruelty of this world - of the men who wage war and those who enslave her.

Why should women live in a world like this? Anything peaceful can be taken from them in an blink of an eye and they are collected either as a "prize" for the vikings or sold off as slaves. They are especially vulnerable compared to men. They are straight up SOUGHT by raiders. It's insanity.

The war takes away their fathers, husbands, Brothers and sons. Slavery takes away their mothers, sisters and daughters.

And her speech of asking why she should live mirrors Thorfinn's speech of "Nothing good has ever happend to me" - That's what I think at least.

It's the reason why he looks so pained at that part especially I believe.

Man lets all say thank you to Thorfinn's convenient elephant-like memory. Guy remembers when you sneezed and why like 7 years ago.

Just seeing him try to bring her back to life like his father did, which he saw when HE WAS SIX AND SO CONFUSED ON WHAT HIS DAD WAS DOING AND IT WAS FOR ANOTHER SLAVE NO LESS

And Einar keeps on trying to give her hope 😢 he confesses how much he likes her, even now...

And oooooooooouuuugh here comes Ketil and my blood boils

SNAKE STOP SAVING HIS ASS

Einar trying to kill him and PUNCHING THORFINN when he tried to stop him hurts. My man would never raise a hand against Thorfinn but here he did nooo.

Bro but Thorfinn finally snapping him out of this oh so familiar rage and telling him "don't become like me. Don't drown in that nightmare I've had" *sobs*

*BIG SOB*

They make her a grave...and Thorfinn, once again, just conveniently remembers what Canute once said about his view on God and Love.

And now he just...wants to stop him???? Bro how????

He SAID THERE WOULD BE AT LEAST 50 MEN AND THE WORST CASE SCENARIO IS THAT HE'LL GET AWAY WITH HIS LIFE AT LEAST

STOP SAYING THAT UR SCARING ME

LEIF ALREADY LOST U LIKE 2X PLS DONT DO SOMETHING RECKLESS

IM LEGIT SCARED. WHATS HE GONNA DO? TALK????

Ugh...I'm so feelings it makes me sick

#vinland saga season 2 #Vinland saga #Episode 20 #Hot take I think #Im so scared #Episode opinion #Thorfinn don't be an idiot #Ur so good at being an idiot thats what worries me

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aotopmha · 1 year

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I read a few more chapters of Vinland Saga (decided to stop at ch 100 for now) and I simply continue to love it.

The moment I start doubting the writing, it pulls me right back in.

The encounter between Canute and Thorfinn was just about perfect.

Thorfinn as the non-conformist during his age and Canute as one of the powerful monarchs of his age.

I love how Vinland Saga leans on social history and how it understands the daily reality of the age, even if the story is so strongly dramatised and fused with fictional material.

The medieval king's (here during the transition from the Dark Ages to Early Middle Ages) power is absolute, predicated on the idea of the divine right (here probably in its most earliest form) – the idea that the king is the representative of the Christian god on Earth and his is the god-given right to rule.

(There is a bunch to be said about this re: Canute's arc in relation to his faith, I think, which I might elaborate on in some other post.)

And everyone around him acts accordingly.

I loved this detail in the meeting where Askeladd killed the previous king, too.

And Vinland Saga is full of awareness of the social state of the age it talks about.

From the wise but hypocritical priest who travels with Askeladd's group for a while, to the village Askeladd's group slaughters and the daily reality of the innocent family we see the point of view of prior to their slaughter.

The battlefields stink, pillaging and slave-keeping are common customs.

The world a thousand years ago is tens of times worse for women.

I talked about the story's writing of women in my previous post about Vinland Saga and I've been thinking about it a bunch since, actually.

How Vinland Saga writes women is not much different from most fiction (especially stories written by men), but I've noticed stories written for adults at least have a bigger willingness to explore the social status of women and the realities of living as a woman.

And women's lives being a struggle is doubly true for slaves in the age where Vinland Saga takes place. So the horrid reality Arnheid experienced (or even the noble woman-turned-slave at the start of the story we saw) was not too uncommon for those of her status.

It is very true that the story of travelling to Vinland is (mostly) the story of men like many stories of earlier ages (archeological finds show a pretty clear gender role divide), but it's also true that women in the Viking society were much better off than in any other of the age. They could own property, engage in trade and demand divorce, for a few examples. Nor were women exempt from being warriors.

And although Thorfinn's mother Helga and Ylva had a few neat scenes, I wish we'd see these aspects a little bit more.

I think I've felt so strongly whenever the story addresses how women are treated because even if it isn't much different from your common dark fantasy story where female characters show up rarely and far between the male characters and are there to make the guy characters sad, be written out, have their children or be tragic victims, it is at least willing to address the reality of women's lives with empathy.

I've thought about this in relation to another Seinen manga, Berserk, a bunch too and I find the why of a female audience (which includes myself!) taking a liking to these stories something fascinating to think about.

Although both series are often very excessive with all forms of violence, they are also empathic towards women's struggles and suffering.

I think this is why Arnheid ultimately did hit me and why I empathise with Casca and her journey of recovery, too.

I think the reason these stories have gained a female audience at all despite their flaws is because women see bits of their own suffering and struggles in these fictional women because, in the end, the intention matters the most.

Casca is nothing but a mute plot item for a lot of Berserk, but the story is empathic towards what happened to her and also introduces other complex women besides her into the story.

Berserk is super excessive with its sexual content especially, but at least, it, for the most part, not only pulls back on it as the story goes on, but also explores it with some substance.

And although a 100 chapters in, you can count the number of female characters present in Vinland Saga on a single hand, it does give a voice to the struggles and position of women of that time.

I thought Arnheid was really well written in that sense, at least.

I only recently realised the significance of the distinction between exploring women's position and struggles in society vs. writing women well in a more general sense.

(I think it might be Utena rubbing off on my brain, having also finished it pretty recently.)

And I often see the former branded as sexist writing (and I think it can be), but I've grown to very much think it can be valuable in its own way.

(All you have to do is make it complex/give women a variety of struggles, which I think Vinland Saga does pretty badly and Berserk gets better at as it goes on.)

I like stories that make me think about this stuff.

#Vinland Saga #Berserk

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childofaura · 1 year

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Anyt thoughts you have regarding Kirk Thornton? He did Dorcas, Surtur and Yen’fay.

AH YES, I LIKE THIS ONE. THIS WILL BE FUN.

Ok I wanna start off this review with an obligatory statement I usually make whenever I open my mouth about Kirk Thornton:

Kirk Thornton catches seriously unfair flak for voicing Shadow the Hedgehog. Now Jason Griffith and David Humphrey are definitely THE Shadows for me, but Kirk actually does a great Shadow voice, he just gets constantly and horribly fucked over by outside issues, namely either the cringe-ass writing we’ve had since Colors, or the horrible audio mixing they had in Forces. But he IS a good Shadow voice.

In FEH, he does play Yen’Fay, Dorcas, Iago (under a pseudonym of Ron Allen), and Surtr. I think I’ve heard that he was only just recently credited for playing Surtr, but I’m not sure. Outside of FEH, he’s Shadow (and Orbot), Askeladd from Vinland Saga, Saix from Kingdom Hearts (haven’t played that series though), and Jubei from BlazBlue. Plus many others.

His performances are SOLID. While his role as Dorcas is pretty casual and laid-back (but still good), his other roles are absolutely outstanding in how much he gets to emote. Yen’Fay’s voice is quiet and cold while simultaneously being smooth as butter, it’s absolutely mesmerizing to listen to him talk. And his line about Say’ri is full of such denial, especially when you hear him talk about her finding good company with Chrom. Makes me think that this Yen’fay is actually the one who died in the battle with Chrom, rather than the one from the other world where he killed Say’ri instead. Iago is so much fun to listen to, his voice is just as greasy as his hair is, lol. Each line has such a high level of inflection that really drives home how narcissistic and dishonest he is; even if I don’t much care for him, he was definitely handled with good care in his art and voice. But man, SURTR. That role is the crown jewel of his performances. The raw energy he brings to the lines while he roars about burning everything in his grasp is just phenomenal, and honestly it’s so criminal how slow FEH is to give the male book villains (or any male book characters) any kind of good seasonal alt outside of the obligatory New Years alts. Pirate Surtr was probably the coolest fucking alt we had for any of the book characters; definitely not the only good one but certainly the coolest. Unfortunately the only book villain who gets any attention is Freyja, and we all know it’s only because of her big breasts. Where’s my ninja/Halloween Hel, IS? Where’s my Christmas Fafnir? Or my Valentine’s Embla? But I’ll settle for now with Surtr finally getting a much deserved alt and Resplendent, especially when the new lines and art are so badass.

I think he fits all these characters perfectly like a glove, and I would like to see more alts for Yen’fay and Surtr. And like I mentioned before, if FEH were ever going to replace Joe J. Thomas for any reason, I think Kirk would be a good replacement simply due to sounding decently similar and having not lost his energy like Joe did.

I would definitely say he has amazing range. Between his roles, almost none of them sound like he’s using the same voice, even if they all sound pretty recognizable. They’re very vastly different characters and he does an amazing job giving them different qualities to their lines.

I actually feel comfortable giving Kirk a 10/10. He’s a fantastic actor who got the perception of his acting skills screwed over by how badly his Shadow was handled. He’s definitely an actor whom I’m always happy to hear in media.

#Fire Emblem Heroes #FEH #ask game #Kirk Thornton #With how well the Frontiers games were handled with both character depictions (besides Amy) and voice direction I’m hoping we see Shadow

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ultraericthered · 2 years

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001 for Vinland Saga

Favorite character: Askeladd, son of Olaf, real name Lucius Artorius Castus. It ain’t even close!

Least Favorite character: Floki. What a douche!

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): None.

Character I find most attractive: Helga, with her daughter Ylva as a close second.

Character I would marry: None.

Character I would be best friends with: Sigurd.

a random thought: Should Netflix have swapped their VAs for Thors, Askeladd, and Gratianus around? Kirk Thornton as Thors, DC Douglas as Askeladd, and Greg Chun as Gratianus? It might’ve worked a lot better.

An unpopular opinion: Askeladd was not remotely a good father figure to Thorfinn or Canute, regardless of how much he did care for them and do for them.

My Canon OTP: Thorfinn/Gudrid.

My Non-canon OTP: Askeladd/Bjorn.

Most Badass Character: Tie between Thors and Thorkell.

Most Epic Villain: King Canute.

Pairing I am not a fan of: Thorkell/anyone. The man’s a fighter, not a lover. Please keep it that way.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Anne from Episode 16. Perfect set-up for her to join up with Thorkell and his men as a recurring character going forward, and you just waste it and we never see her again? What was even the reason!?

Favourite Friendship: Askeladd and Bjorn.

Character I most identify with: Canute, disturbingly enough.

Character I wish I could be: Lucky ol’ Leif Erikson! Hinga Dinga Durgen!

#Vinland Saga #manga #anime #opinion #meme

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brewedlove · 3 years

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Thorfinn Falls for Askeladd’s Daughter

Series/Fandom: Vinland Saga

Character (x reader): Thorfinn, Dad!Askeladd

Relationship to Reader: Romantic with Thorfinn, Daughter of Askeladd. There isn’t actually a Reader-insert but feel free to imagine yourself as Askeladd’s daughter if you’d like

Reader Specifications: Technically, I didn’t insert a reader but feel free to imagine yourself as Askeladd’s daughter if you’d like. She is female and uses she/her pronouns. Ethnicity isn’t specified or her any details about her appearance or who her mother is. I did write this with the mindset that she is Askeladd’s biological child so I was thinking that she has some Danish and Welsh blood in her but that’s just me.

Word Count: 1194

Warnings: Suggestive Sexual Actions (but not with the daughter/Reader), Alcohol, Teasing, Suggestive Threats

Requested: Yes

A/N: I have no idea how to title it so.. Yeah. I was literally working on this all day because I got carried away from how excited I was for this. I did not proofread any of this because my brain has melted but it was worth it so if there are any grammatical errors, please notify me. I didn’t actually insert a Reader into this but feel free to imagine yourself as Askeladd’s daughter if you would like. (Click the picture for better quality).

UPDATED A/N: If you recognize this piece on a different blog under the name @iwritesinsandsins it’s because Tumblr silenced all my posts there so I’m starting over again. (／ˍ・、)

Bjorn weaved his way through the mass of people, careful not to bump into any of the women who went about the night serving drunken men food, drinks, or their bodies.

He kept his eyes focused above the sea of heads on one man in particular who sat alone at a table littered with meals and dirty dishes.

Even from where he was, Bjorn could see the disdain on the blonde’s face that subtly scrunched up as he kept his gaze in a single direction.

Approaching him, Askeladd turned his head towards him and nodded his head in acknowledgment as his mouth pulled into a playful grin as if he wasn’t just scowling moments ago, “Enjoying the welcome home party, Bjorn?”

Answering with a shrug, the taller man moved to sit in the empty seat next to his boss, crossing his arms while he leaned back and stretched out his legs in the process.

“Same as any other party when we come back,” with his helmet off, it allowed the range of his vision to expand while he looked into the crowd until he spotted the possible source of Askeladd’s irritation.

There, Bjorn notices their most recent recruit seated at a table directly across from theirs on the other side of the sloppily moving bodies of villagers and pirates.

The teen looked painfully awkward as he kept his eyes away from locking with the girl next to him.

She was around the same age as Thorfinn; a little too close in age in Askeladd’s personal opinion.

Admittedly, Bjorn found the scene amusing and even cute, especially during these times of constant bloodshed and immoral actions performed by nearly everyone he’s come across.

“You should enjoy the party,” neither man took their focus off the pair as the brunette advised the captain, to which he only received a short huff in response.

With the boisterous laughter and chatter enveloping the village, she had to raise her voice a little louder so the boy could hear her properly but it didn’t help his poor heart at all.

Not only was she alluringly beautiful and her personality and attitude made his chest tighten in an unfamiliar way, but she was also Askeladd’s daughter.

Her question about his travels with her father went in one ear and out the other when she went to place her hand on his shoulder.

The sudden contact unknowingly assisted by Askeladd’s icy glare through the drunken mass caused the boy to shiver unintentionally and cling to his clothes.

He could feel the weight of her hand leave him while instead of curiosity, her voice now is laced with concern, “Are you cold? I can get you a quilt,”

Before she could move to stand, Thorfinn quickly declined her offer, insisting that he wasn’t cold at all.

When he turned to look over at her, she stole this opportunity to press the back of her hand to his forehead.

The complete innocence of her actions was the culprit of the boy’s rising temperature, his cheeks now flushed a faint shade of pink and all eyes of the crew now fell on him, including her father.

Their slurred hollering sounded no different to how they sounded just a moment ago so the girl paid no mind to them while Thorfinn held all her attention.

Being too stunned at the physical contact, he didn’t hear her muttering to herself about how he may have come down with a fever.

Whistles and laughter around the village came to an abrupt halt, finally resulting in the duo to look around for the reason before they settled their focus on Askeladd who hadn’t bothered casting his eyes elsewhere other than on them.

In his hand was a now dented gold cup with alcohol spilling over his fingers, soaking into the soil of the ground at his feet.

Just as quickly as she had placed it there, his daughter retracted her hand from the other teen and rushed over to the captain; his subordinates knew better than to get in her way.

Askeladd locked eyes with the younger blonde boy until the girl approached him, a clean rag ready in her hands.

His ambiguous smile returned as she took the cup from him and checked his hand for any injuries before lightly scolding him, telling him he should be more careful.

While she helped clean his hand, the party resumed behind her.

Matching the same volume as before, she couldn’t hear the few crewmates on the opposite side of the crowd teasing Thorfinn about his sudden infatuation to which he grit his teeth and threatened them.

They only laughed in response and continued to push him until your voice called out to him, stating that you’d be back with some medicine for him while you went to get a new cup for your father.

That didn’t help their relentless comments nor did it stop the captain from glaring daggers into his head that he could’ve sworn felt like the real thing.

After another moment, he finally had enough.

Too overwhelmed and flustered, he briskly walked away from the party leaving behind the small band of alcoholics obnoxiously laughing at his attitude.

When the girl returned both a new cup and herbal medicine in hand, she was disappointed to see that the boy she was talking to was no longer there.

It was something that did not go unnoticed by Askeladd.

Later that night when the rest of the village slept off the aftermath of the party, Thorfinn felt a presence nearing him and placed his hands over the handle of his weapons as a precaution.

(BONUS - I apologize beforehand and will see myself out, bye.)

Descending a small hill, Askeladd’s hardened expression became clearer as he came to stand next to him, staring off into the horizon where Thorfinn’s eyes settled prior to his own.

Without having to look over at him, the captain was straight to the point in his words, asking if the boy was interested in his daughter.

Admittedly, it sounded more like a statement rather than an actual question but the younger blonde didn’t mention it, instead choosing to deny his feelings.

“Is my daughter not good enough for you?” Askeladd turned to hold eye contact with him, face void of any emotions, surprising the teen for a few seconds as he racked his brain to come up with an answer.

Before he was given the chance, Askeladd’s lips pulled up into a teasing grin.

It was the sort of face that Thorfinn expected to be followed with a “just kidding” comment afterwards but nothing came.

His eyes never matched his mysterious smile and it didn’t change until he turned around, moving to walk back to the village but not before he placed a hand on Thorfinn’s shoulder; the same shoulder his daughter had placed hers on earlier but firmer and threatening, even.

As he leaned down, the corner of his lips dropped, displaying his unamusement towards the teenager.

Askeladd’s words carried the same suffocating weight as his hand while he sent words of caution to Thorfinn.

“If she calls anyone else around here, ‘Daddy’, we’re going to have a problem. Am I clear, boy?”

#vinland saga #vinland saga x reader #thorfinn #thorfinn x reader #requests

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cosmicjoke · 2 years

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Man, okay, “Vinland Saga” is really ramping up again with this new story arc “The Hunter and the Hunted”, recapturing the seriousness and drama of before. I think this has to be the best arc since the early part of the series. The parallel of course between Thorfinn killing Hild’s father, and her seeking revenge, with him seeking revenge on Askeladd for killing his father, is incredibly well done. And just as we learned that Askeladd wasn’t the plain villain he seemed to be early on, we know also that Thorfinn isn’t a villain either. But from Hild’s point of view, of course he is. What’s really interesting though is how we see in the flashback sequences here, with Thorfinn killing Hild’s father, how revenge started to make Thorfinn ignore his true nature and grow to be more and more like Askeladd, without him really realizing it. He was incredibly cold to Hild, though we still see in Thorfinn that his “cruelty” is a front, when he still tries to help her by telling her to run away. Though his life as a warrior has started to make him ignore his own sense of right and wrong, it’s still there in him, and we see in the way he looks back after Hild falls into the swamp that his conscious still survives in him, even at this point, when he’s prioritizing his need for revenge over all else, and his life of battle has taught him to turn off and ignore his sense of guilt.

The full circle of Thorfinn being defeated by Hild here, her repeating his very own dismissive words to her from back then, really drives the themes of forgiveness and understanding and nuanced thinking home in a poignant and moving way. The same way Thorfinn could have killed Askeladd in his sleep early on, but chose not to, Hild deciding not to kill Thorfinn here feels the same. Neither of them are bad people, despite both of them being blinded by hatred and revenge. And while the circumstances of Hild sparing Thorfinn’s life here are different, with Thorfinn not wanting to kill Askeladd in his sleep for how cowardly it would be, and Hild sparing Thorfinn’s life in remembering her father’s and master’s words to her, in the end, neither of them in truth ever took pleasure in killing, or in hurting anyone. Hild doesn’t know Thorfinn well enough to understand that about him, and doesn’t fully believe he regrets killing the people he has, but her own goodness, deep down, lets her give him the chance to prove that he does.

And Thorfinn’s own regret and sense of guilt of course is absolutely genuine. What’s interesting about this particular arc is how Thorfinn assumes the role of Askeladd in the eyes of Hild (and interestingly, it was in taking orders from Askeladd that Thorfinn committed the same sin that Askeladd did in killing Thors, which is a brilliant way of showing how revenge, in the end, will only turn you into the thing you hate, and keep the cycle going). Thorfinn is very different from Askeladd, still, even in the midst of his quest for revenge. Again, those moments of him obviously struggling with his sense of guilt (whereas we never saw any such struggle in Askeladd), but Thorfinn’s quest for revenge made him ignore his conscience, and I think that’s really the moral here. The same way Hild nearly ignores her own conscience in the moment she has Thorfinn at her mercy. But Thorfinn has friends and people who care about him to vouch for him in that moment, to beg for his life, and plead with Hild not to give in to her hatred. That’s something Thorfinn never had when he sought revenge against Askeladd. He had no one around him who cared enough about him to talk him out of his quest, or to pull him back from darkness. He was surrounded by nothing by indifferent and even hostile people, people willing to use him to their own ends, to use his anger against him and to their own advantage, feeding his hate, rather than saving him from it.

I think that’s the difference here. Why Hild was able to turn away from revenge at the last moment, even as it was in her grasp, while Thorfinn, for so many years, wasn’t. She had people there to explain to her how killing Thorfinn wouldn’t bring her family back, and wouldn’t ease her anger. Thofinn never had that either. He had no one to tell him that he would regret killing others. He had no one to tell him that accomplishing revenge against Askeladd wouldn’t bring his father back, or undo what had been done. Einar is there to explain to Hild how Thorfinn is haunted by the ghosts of the people he’s killed. How he’s unable to ever sleep because of it, and how the same will happen to her if she kills him. And Einar throws himself in front of Thorfinn to save him too, which drives home to Hild, whether she realizes it or not, that Thorfinn isn’t the beast she’s made him out to be in her mind, but a thinking, feeling human being that matters to others. I think this also, then, highlights the importance of having people in your life to care about you, and to help you, and how easy it is to go astray when you don’t have that. If you only have people in your life who fuel and feed your hurt, the way Thorfinn for eleven years solid did, then you’ll have no chance to even know who you really are, or what you really think or feel. I think that’s a huge part of Thorfinn’s tragedy. He had no concept of who he was or what he really felt in his heart, because he was surrounded by people who didn’t care whether he lived or died. Because he was surrounded by people who were willing to use his pain to their own ends, instead of trying to help him. It‘s why, despite Askeladd’s complexity as a character, and us as an audience clearly meant to recognize Thorfinn’s quest for revenge against him as useless, and the obvious parallels between him and Thorfinn during this arc, I would still call Askeladd a bad person, someone who killed without regret and sometimes even pleasure, and who was power hungry, while Thorfinn never was. It’s easy to forget that Thorfinn was a child during the first several volumes of this story. But he was. He was so young, and didn’t have any kind of a chance. He did bad things, but he was never a bad person, just a very mixed up, lost, and confused kid who grew up in desperation and a literal fight for his life, with no one to rely on but himself. Part of what makes his continued journey here so moving is in seeing how hard he is on himself, while us as the audience understanding that he doesn’t deserve to think of himself so badly. His mistakes of the past aren’t who he is, or who he ever was, really.

Anyway, yeah, this was an amazing arc. I hope the anime continues on so they can eventually reach this point, because it will be incredibly powerful when they do.

#Vinland Saga #Thorfinn

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faire-rosalind · 3 years

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Since I started watching anime and then reading manga I knew that Thorfinn isn't going to be one to kill Askeladd. I just knew it, even when I didn't think Askeladd will die so soon I felt that his time will eventually come and that Thorfinn would not be the one who would send him to afterlife. It is a bit ironic, how Thorfinn did a better job keeping Askeladd alive throughout their entire journey than ever coming close to killing him. I don't know how story would have been different because even if Thorfinn did kill him after that triumph and trying to realise what he just did I think he would still probably suffer from identity crisis. But still even if he went down the same path it really would not feel the same if we didn't get this moment when he sees someone who he tried to battle and kill for years die before his eyes. It's so poetic and yet it makes the most sense that Canute, this boy who was a wimpy kid when we met him, would actually be the one to do it with just one move of his inexperienced hands. The final episode is truly peak of writing, literature and symbolism. There are many more great chapters in vinland saga, but none of them feel this shakespearean to me.

#vinland saga #vinland saga manga #prince canute #thorfinn #vinland saga canute #vinland saga thorfinn #thorfinn karlsefni #thorkell #manga #anime #manga and stuff #vinland saga askeladd #askeladd #anime related #vinland saga anime

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ladyvgrey · 3 years

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Mini Analysis: Askeladd's Motivations (Vinland Saga)

Warning: Spoilers for all of S1/Chapters 1-54 (obviously).

This is a little ramble/analysis to address something I see suggested/implied online quite a bit: that Askeladd had always been working towards saving Wales.

My interpretation of Askeladd’s motivations: Askeladd was not always out to save Wales, nor is it something he worked for his whole life. Askeladd did not have a plan prior to seeing an opportunity to rescue/use Canute. Having earned higher status after being taken in by his father (and later killing him), Askeladd assimilated into Viking society simply because he is good at being a Viking. He half believed he would one day find someone worthy of embodying Artorius's myth, but did not actively seek our someone who could do it. I think Askeladd was largely aimless for most of his life — semi-content to be a successful Viking captain/leader and to take it day-by-day, despite despising Vikings (and himself). Seeing the end of man draw near (Judgement Day/Ragnarok) and he himself growing older, Askeladd takes a last gamble with Canute when he sees the opportunity. Does he work in Wales's best interest after that, and die trying to save Wales? Yes. Was it his plan all along? No. If the opportunity with Canute hadn't come along, I believe Askeladd probably would've kept being a Viking captain until he got killed or got too old to fight (probably the former).

Keep going for some background/screenshots/"evidence"/ramblings:

1- When his mother Lydia is about to be killed by his estranged father Olaf, Askeladd realizes that the hero Artorius is not someone that would heroically come and save them all, but rather anyone capable who would just do it. Although it seems Askeladd keeps half-thinking someone will eventually fill that role, he has a more realistic outlook about it going forward. He however clearly does not believe he himself can fill that role, nor does he ever try to step up to it in adulthood (Chapter 47)

2- Askeladd has two goals when he is taken in by his father Olaf as a child — to kill his father (mostly as vengeance for the way he treated his mother Lydia), and a right to his fortune. I take the fortune part mostly as Askeladd taking what he felt he was owed, and seizing the opportunity to live more comfortably (it likely would have helped him bring his mother out of slavery and poverty as well, since she was still alive at the time) (Chapter 47). Although we later see Askeladd does have a station (when wintering at Lord Gorm's village), he seems content to just keep plundering with his band, and isn't seen employing money to try to better/save Wales at any point

3- When he is fourteen, Askeladd brings his dying mother to Wales (Chapter 26). Thing is, after she passes, he doesn't stay in Wales. He returns to the Danes (presumably to Gorm's village) and leads his own band of Vikings by his early 30s, if not earlier. Meanwhile, Wales frequently gets raided by England, particularly Mercia (Chapter 24). Could Askeladd have been fighting with the Danes against the English to protect Wales all along? Well, maybe. But it doesn't seem like he was particularly concentrating on squashing the English in areas near Wales, nor was he fighting on Wales's side

4- When he meets Thors, Askeladd realizes he could be the kind of person who could fill Artorius's shoes - or at the very least, someone with a better path whom he could follow. However, when he asks him to lead the band, he quickly realizes Thors will not say yes or be easily swayed. Rather than try to convince him or find another way, Askeladd plays his request off as a joke and proceeds with fulfilling his contract with Floki (Chapter 15)

5- When he realizes there is an opportunity to rescue Canute and use him, Askeladd makes a very sudden decision (beheading the messenger and seizing the glory with his men alone) with only the barebones of a plan in mind. Especially after his rather gloomy talk with Thorfinn by the Roman ruins earlier on in the chapter, Askeladd truly seems like he's taking a gamble, believing the end of the world is coming up anyway. This seems like a seized opportunity, not part of a long-awaiting, premeditated plan (Chapter 20)

6- Once he starts to fashion more of a concrete plan, Askeladd realizes that Canute is simply too weak to be a King and something will need to be done (Chapter 23). We see later that he plans to get rid of Ragnar, who shelters and spoils Canute too much

7- When Askeladd shares his plan with Asser, it's easy to see that it is, no doubt, a very bold plan. It's entirely based on recent events (and entirely dependent on a variety of very small things that could easily go very wrong) (Chapter 26). Not exactly the result of a lifetime of planning and premeditation. I find it unlikely that Askeladd going around with a band, plundering villages and fighting for the highest bidder for over a decade, was part of a plan to secure status among Danish society. If you recall his conversation with Bjorn at the Battle of London Bridge, we know his band actually just recently decided to back King Sweyn (which might be for the first time, or indicate they actively battled on the Danish side only intermittently)

"But that's just it, Sir Asser. My mixed blood is the key. I've assimilated into Nordic society. With this latest success, I will secure even greater status among them. The lords of Wales will have a powerful agent rising through the ranks of the mighty Danish army. At this rate, I'll be a principal figure within the faction of Prince Canute, the second prince in line for the throne of Denmark. I could be a flagbearer in the cause against the reactionary elder prince when the matter of succession is raised. If we can plop that sickly prince's soft arse on the throne... I could be in a position important enough to dictate the direction of Denmark's politics."

8- After he has Ragnar killed, it surprisingly turns out that rather than hoping to simply place someone he can easily control on the throne, Askeladd would rather have someone he wants to follow, and that he hopes Ragnar's death will be a catalyst that leads Canute to becoming a new man. Again, this is pretty threadbare for a plan, as it relies on a ton of "what-ifs", and ends with Askeladd cutting Canute lose if he's not worthy of him (thus losing the main piece of his plan entirely) (Chapter 31)

9 - Having fully integrated into the Viking lifestyle, Askeladd truly does think of himself as a Viking, despite hating them (Chapter 47). If he'd wish to gain power and save Wales all along, he likely wouldn't actually think of himself as one of them

Conclusion

I've run out of pictures I can include and I'm rambling, so I'll cut it here. To summarize again in slightly different words — I think Askeladd had resigned himself to living his life as a Viking and going through the motions until the world ended or death took him. He may not come off as barbaric and blood-thirsty as some of his men, but he does seem to enjoy pillaging and getting riches, and content to continue to do so. Although he seems to still half-believe in the myth of Artorius, he doesn't exactly do much to pursue it or find someone to fill that role. It is only when he sees an opportunity (through rescuing/shaping Canute) that he decides to pursue the protection of Wales and to actively help someone become a person who can change things.

I know a lot of people love Askeladd's character, but some tend to interpret him as smarter and nicer than he actually is because of it. I agree with a lot of the Askeladd analyses, but not the proposition that he was always striving to save Wales and had some kind of master plan all along. I think Askeladd was largely living without aim for most of his life, and didn't try to pursue anything that really mattered until he gambled on an opportunity towards the end of his life. Honestly, it's kind of tragic that he died just as what he may have hoped for started to realize itself — mainly, both Canute and Thorfinn becoming the kind of somebody that comes to change things for the better, as the mythical Artorius was foretold to do.

#vinland saga #askeladd #vinland saga analysis #vinland saga manga #vinland saga anime #lucius artorius castus #ladyvgrey analysis

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allen-desu · 3 years

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Intrigue: A Canute and Thorfinn Character Study

Canute had learned to do one thing above all else- discern men. It was simple. Either he should be wary of a man or not, and of those he was wary of, who should he make face with.

But then there was Thorfinn..

Very mild Thornute | Vulgar Language | Canon Compliant (Volume 3 specifically) | Spoiler Free

Brushing off my Tumblr to post this somewhere, best read on mobile.

Canute often found himself studying Thorfinn. In fact he was now, stealing glances of him while riding in a wagon through Wales. His nerves were getting the best of him and not wanting to think of signing a treaty without his father present, Canute instead tried to place Thorfinn to keep his mind occupied. The Prince found him to be a most intriguing character, and one that often eluded any solid characterization. It was egregiously annoying; for you see, growing up in the bloodbath of regal politics, Canute had learned to do one thing above all else- discern men. It was simple. Either he should be wary of a man or not, and of those he was wary of, who should he make face with. Granted, Canute had Ragnar, and therefore he never had to put this skill to a real test for his vassal always fought on his behalf, keeping the young Prince’s best interests in mind. Nevertheless, his cautious observation skills were more often than not proven correct as the time revealed untrustworthy men to Canute.

But then there was Thorfinn. There are always exceptions to any and every rule, but even that logic still couldn’t stick Thorfinn under a neat label inside the Prince’s mind. The boy was not like the men he traveled with. Yes, he did the dirty killing, but he did it in a way that oozed indifference. Thorfinn killed swiftly and acted as if each man was a simple stepping stone to the fight being over, for the killing to be over. While the others he traveled with had a sick enjoyment for the act. Thorfinn did not socialize with the Askeladd’s band. He did not share in their spoils, including that of food and drink. Instead the blond hunted his own food, collected his own water. Only rarely did he ever get what he needed from what was plundered. Those rare instances were either when it was offered to him while marching, or on late and loud evenings, while the rest of Askeladd’s band made themselves merry, Thorfinn would slip some goods from tables abandoned for the night.

So, no, Canute would not label him as part of the band. This conclusion was frustrating, for if Thorfinn was not one of Askeladd’s men, why was he one of Askeladd’s most trusted pawns? Perhaps part of the answer was in the word “pawn” itself, but Askeladd was a cautious man as well. So much so that Canute knew it would bode well for him to try and keep tabs on what the man was thinking. So what was his reasoning to keep Thorfinn- who literally wanted him dead for some unknown reason to the Prince- under his thumb. The young blond was skilled and dangerous to have around. How did Askeladd tame-

Ah.. perhaps that was it.

Thorfinn was like something wild, pacing in its cage and waiting for its chance to do something about its keeper and free itself from its confines. Tamed to compliance, but would still happily bite the hand. Something akin to a wolf perhaps.

Canute looked up from his thoughts over to Thorfinn who was leaning on the opposite side of the wagon, his gaze far off and his eyes hard. Feeling that the Prince was looking at him Thorfinn shot daggers at Canute . Seeing the dirty teen do this with the image of a wolf in his mind nearly tempted Canute to chuckle and he swiftly hid his face from the other in case the temptation won him over. He could hear Thorfinn scoff and that was the end of the whole exchange. A lone wolf in an unfamiliar pack. The young Prince was satisfied with the description for the young warrior.

Canute was no longer satisfied. Thorfinn was his guard and, surprisingly, was taking the job seriously. He seemed not to care, was quick with sharp words at either Canute, Ragnar or Father Willibald. But on more than one occasion, the Prince would catch a small glimpse of Thorfinn nearby, seemingly disinterested, but close enough to come to aid or rescue. Any time he was not lurking and couldn’t be seen or found, a few hours or less after the fact, the shorter blond could be seen emerging from the tree line, a rabbit or more hanging over his shoulder.

In fact, this had just happened and Ragnar had convinced Thorfinn to add the rabbit to the meal he and the Prince were making.

“Highness!” Ragnar had announced upon entry. “We have beans, cabbage and a hare!” As he listed the items, Thorfinn had walked in behind him and closed the door to the cold. Canute was surprised to see him, tensed and annoyed, looking very out of place in the little home they had… procured.

“ A hare?” The Prince asked, ignoring how his own bout of tension was threatening to rise in his shoulders.

“Thorfinn caught it.” Obviously. “We’ll put it in the soup.”

“Well done.” As if Thorfinn needed or wanted praise for a deed he probably found to be child’s play. “Bleed it and skin it so we can wash the meat.” Truth be told, Canute wasn’t expecting for Thorfinn to just comply without some remark, and he surely wasn’t expecting Ragnar to take the rabbit from Thorfinn to do the task instead. It was jarring seeing his caretaker grab the rabbit from him, as if he had just seen Ragnar take a kill from a wild animal. At least that’s what flashed through his mind when the moment started. However, as it happened in real time, Thorfinn let his catch be taken and he was left to simply stand, awkward and unsure.

Canute, stirring the broth in progress mindlessly as he watched on, couldn’t help but consider Thorfinn for a long moment. This boy in front of him was no lone and wild wolf. The moment his gaze was felt, however, the creature came back and Thorfinn found a spot off to the side against the wall that he could sit at and brood.

Once the soup was done and the table was set, Canute and Ragnar somehow coaxed Thorfinn to join them at the table. The tension in the boy’s shoulders was palpable and Canute couldn’t help but take notice of it, trying to further categorize it. When Thorfinn actually acknowledged the meal in front of him, however, his demeanor changed. It was quick, merely a fraction of a second, but the Prince saw it- tried to burn the image into his brain to try and decipher later.

Ragnar’s compliments of the meal they prepared took Canute’s attention and he took this as an opportunity. Agreeing with Ragnar, “The rabbit made it work.” He looked to Thorfinn, “I’m tired of salted meat. You have my thanks.” There was no answer from the shorter blond, he just continued to look at their spread on the table and look lost. Almost as if he didn’t think it was real. The thought threatened to furrow the Prince’s brow. It made him realize yet again, Thorfinn was not amicable with the men he traveled with. When was the last time anyone showed this young man any kindness? When was the last time Thorfinn had the simple pleasure to share a meal with someone at all?

“What’s wrong?” Canute spoke, aiming to pull Thorfinn out of his stupor. “Eat up, you caught the rabbit.”

It seemed to do the trick, for Thorfinn picked up his bowl and spoon and tentatively took a bite. The look on his face, before it was hidden behind matted bangs, was one Canute would very much like to see again. Anger and/or indifference seemed to have a constant monopoly on Thorfinn’s features, but that one, quick moment of.. surprise? Or maybe he was just pleased with the taste of his meal. Either way, the emotion fit his face better, let the ridges between his brows smooth out for a second. Genuine, that was the word. Thorfinn seemed more genuine in that one instant than he did the entirety of the time that Canute had known him thus far.

“Pretty good isn’t it?” Ragnar mused, though the Prince couldn’t quite tell if he had also caught the glimpse of surprise from Thorfinn, or if he was just rearing up to dote and brag on Canute’s cooking talents. “Catch us a deer next, and we’ll really have a meal!”

“...” Not a real reply, but the young guard had acknowledged Ragnar. Thorfinn continued to eat, and almost absentmindedly, “I thought you noble types had everything cooked for you.” It wasn’t a question, a simple statement of thought, but Canute thought he would answer it anyways.

“I enjoy doing it.” The Prince began, “I don’t normally get the chance. Only Ragnar knows that I can cook.” A pause and Canute laid his spoon down in his bowl for a moment. “Do not tell anyone of this.” Thorfinns reply was instant and disinterested.

“Why not?” Followed by, “Who cares?”

Not sure what persuaded him to do so, but Canute began to tell Thorfinn of his father’s, the King, displeasure in the fact that he liked to cook- that it was a frivolous and useless skill to have. Though the shorter blond’s face was as neutral as ever, he did slow in his eating to listen, that alone made Canute feel as he wasn’t wasting his breath, that it was worth having someone other than Ragnar know of how intensely inadequate his father found him to be. Ragnar seemed to be confused at his tellings though. He was obviously not expecting his Highness to share. Giving his Highness an odd look he decided to try and lighten the Prince’s mood, though Canute wasn’t in need of it.

The two of them held their own conversation from there on out, speaking about different dishes Canute could prepare, or what Ragnar could teach him about new dishes he had yet to prepare. The mood in their little borrowed house was light. It was familial in its own way. The young Prince would glance over to Thorfinn every once in a while and was pleased to see that the ever present knot of tension in his shoulders was slowly becoming unraveled. The guard ate and listened.

Something in Thorfinn snapped and Canute shuddered because of it.

What happened in the next instant was too fast for Canute to follow in real time. Thorfinn had gotten up, more like sprung up, and was immediately at the door one of his signature knives pointed at someone’s throat. Had the man had worse reflexes, he would have impaled himself on Thorfinn’s steel. Ragnar was next in the initiative, questioning both Thorfinn and the man on what was going on.

“Agh- I’m on your side Thorfinn!” So it was one of Askeladd’s men. “I’m just bringing a message…” Despite this, it still took a long moment for Thorfinn to remove his knife from the man’s throat. Ragnar took the lead from there and was questioning the newcomer on Canute’s behalf, but Canute himself was still trained on his short bodyguard.

Thorfinn was still tense, still alert and ready to strike, but his initial instinct was slowly recoiling back into its original state. It was interesting to watch the slow movement of his shoulders and back muscles through threadbare clothing. However, Canute’s gaze was felt and Thorfinn shot him a look that could kill. Oddly enough the look from the dirtied blond softened a little, as if he was reminded that Canute was still there and his presence wasn’t something he should be afraid of. The thought struck the Prince as oddly satisfying. He wasn’t able to really dive further into that train of thought, however, for the man brought news of the English advancing on the hideout they had procured. Canute’s shock couldn’t beat out Ragnar’s rage. Heated words about Askeladd and his poor decisions were spoken, and then, just as suddenly as they had come, the man was gone, Ragnar following after him.

The little house was now too still and too quiet until it was broken by Thorfinn huffing through his nose.

“Can’t even manage to close the damn door on their way out.” He muttered, moving to do just that so the winter’s day wouldn’t try and suck any more of the hard earned heat out of the house. With the door closed Thorfinn relocated to his new post beside the door, leaning against the wall. The Prince watched him do this and suddenly Thorfinn was glaring at him again. “Have I fucking done something?” The shorter teen hissed.

“What?” Such an elegant reply, good job Canute. Not that Thorfinn gave two shits about that kind of thing.

“You’ve been staring. Like a lot.” Thorfinn turned to fully face Canute, leaning only one shoulder on the wall. “Still mad, Princess?” A smirk. Of course that’s what he would call him, but Canute realized he was talking about their squabble in the wagons the other day. “I don’t give a rat’s ass who your father is or who’s womb you crawled out of.”

“Still have the vulgar audacity to speak to me like that, but no.” Thorfinn raised a brow at him. “It was more of a shock than anything else. I don’t particularly mind that you speak so blatantly.” No matter how sharp the words, unfortunately. It seemed that the shorter blond did not have a reply for that and instead just refocused his attention to the fire instead. Canute also took this moment to recollect his thoughts. He knew Ragnar was angry, he warned Askeladd about the very problem at hand. Askeladd had paid him no mind at all. Still, the Prince was worried. Ragnar had left in the heat of the moment to a battlefield only to argue with the man leading the defensive charge. Not to mention, his soup would be cold by the time he came back. What a waste.

Perhaps the moments before Ragnar’s return wouldn’t entirely be a waste, though. Not if Canute played his cards right. He wanted to understand Thorfinn. Never before had he met someone that has proven themselves to be so complicated, especially since at first Canute thought him to be a simple brute among other simple brutes. Why was Thorfinn here, why was he in, but yet not considered, part of Askeladd’s band? What happened to him? The short blond hates the man, yet follows him around the country and overseas. He even follows some insane orders with the promise of some kind of reward.

Thorfinn let out an aggravated noise and was suddenly leaning over Canute, hands flat on the table with a bang.

“You’re doing it again. Quit.” The shorter teen growled. Canute blinked owlishly at him. What? Oh, had he been staring again? Nevertheless he continued to study Thorfinn, which was quickly making his guard’s blood boil. Then Canute stood forcing the other teen to stand back a bit and look up at him. He knew that Thorfinn was shorter than him, but it was still amusing to actually see it. Thorfinn carried himself to be larger, more intimidating. Said young guard was now glaring up at Canute through his dirtied bangs. “What?” He hissed.

“You confuse me, Thorfinn.” The Prince replied. Thorfinn also had a fair amount of confusion mixed in with his usual anger, and that fact pleased Canute a bit- at least the feeling was mutual. “I’ve just been trying to figure you out.”

“Well stop.”

“No, I shan’t” Canute replied swiftly. Thorfinn was prone to argue, but nothing came out. The Prince could take a guess as to what he was thinking. That the person in front of him was the same as the shy and bumbling Prince that was showcased and dragged around all of England these past few weeks? Yes and no. There was nothing political in this task, Canute had nothing to fear if he took a misstep. No repercussions. This was a purely selfish motive in which he had no problems pursuing as long as it was kept private. “Also it’s not that I can not, it’s that I will not”

“You…” Thorfinn struggled. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“To you, perhaps not.” This reply really made Thorfinn angry, Canute could see it in the way his whole body tensed, gearing up to fight. Part of him wanted to see if his guard would actually hit him. However, before either of them could think through what they wanted to do next, for some odd reason, Canute had moved and held Thorfinn’s face in his hands. Both teens were now wide eyed and tense. Why did he do that? When did he do that? Just now? A moment ago?

Canute was the first to settle down from the shock of his own actions, and instead of pulling away like he thought he would, the Prince settled into the position. He let his hands feel the warmth of Thorfinn’s jaw and slid down to where his thumbs were still on the other blond’s face, but the rest of his fingers curled delicately around his neck. He knew his hands must have been cold, he was prone to be, but the proof lies in the fact that Thorfinn’s skin puckered into bumps right before he shuddered just slightly.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Thorfinn asked, his voice surprisingly tame. He was definitely still angry and on edge, but thus far it seemed as if Canute was not in danger of being bitten by the wolf that accompanied Thorfinn’s anger.

“Indulging, just let me for a moment.” Canute replied softly, as if trying not to spook Thorfinn away.

“...the hell does that even mean?” The guard muttered in reply. Canute laughed lightly, amused.

“Don’t think on it too hard,Thorfinn.” No reply to that, but the dirtied teen in his hands didn’t pull away either. Good, that was good.

Now that Canute had somehow managed to get them into this situation, he took as much time as he damn well pleased to study the other boy. Not that he was naive enough to believe that staring at Thorfinn would somehow unlock his secrets, but he did think it would help. Thorfinn was a recluse. No one ever got too close to him and he would never let them, so the fact that Canute was quite literally in his personal space seemed like a major victory.

Thorfinn had hard light brown eyes, but if the fire flickered right they were more like unearthed amber or sweet honey. They were nothing like the Prince’s own eyes, a sky blue. The sky may be vast, but Thorfinn’s eyes were deep. What was that saying? The eyes were a window into the soul? Canute could readily believe that looking into Thorfinn’s.

Next Canute took note that, under all the dirt, Thorfinn was tired. He had coloration and lines on his skin that a boy of their age shouldn’t have. Did he ever sleep through the night? His guard was always up late and always up early, always seen at odd hours thinking about something far away... or a time long gone, perhaps? Beyond what dirt and sleepless bruising lay on his skin, was what lacked beneath it. Thorfinn was a genuine threat on the battlefield, how could someone so strong have such gaunt in his cheeks? He knew Thorfinn fended for himself, but from what he has seen, he does a rather good job at it. Granted, he doesn’t eat square meals. Canute thinks that just earlier was the first time he’s seen Thorfinn eat anything green, or not meat related. Still, a soldier's diet of salted meat and wine wouldn’t result in malnutrition. Was malnutrition why he was short? Just… Just how long had Thorfinn been taking care of himself? The men didn’t bat an eye at Thorfinn’s presence. In fact, while marching and the men told old stories, Thorfinn was in a good many of them. Years? Had it been years since Thorfinn had a meal like the one he had today?

“I don’t need your fucking pity.” Thorfinn’s voice startled the Prince. Was he making a face of some kind?

“I didn’t mean..”

“Save your breath, I don’t care.”

Canute thought it was best to not reply, so instead he wiped some dirt off of Thorfinn’s face with one of his thumbs. With a fresh bath, a sturdy brush, and some new clothes, Thorfinn could be considered handsome.

He wondered what Thorfinn was thinking. Was he actually trying to decipher Canute in turn or was he just waiting for the Prince to be done? Canute also wondered, truly, when was the last time Thorfinn was shown kindness? Affection? Perhaps he wasn’t a lone wolf at all, but something lost instead. When one finds themselves abandoned in one way or another, in an unfamiliar place, one must adapt. Did Thorfinn just adapt to killing? Fights because he has to? It was frustrating going through all these thoughts himself, but Canute knew for a fact that Thorfinn would not simply answer any questions that he asked.

Perhaps… Perhaps Canute could be the one to show him kindness? Maybe he could properly tame the wolf that was Thorfinn’s anger, and find the lost person it was protecting. Thorfinn was so hard to get close to though, even today he had been reluctant to simply share his rabbit and then a meal. So what could the Prince do? He thought of this and that, feeling Thorfinn’s pulse through the fingers on his neck. Absentmindedly he rubbed his thumbs in time with it, studying him. Again Thorfinn couldn’t suppress a shiver and again Canute was moving without thinking at all.

He had pressed their lips together. Why? Not even God above would know. Thorfinn’s lips were chapped, still and shocked against the Prince’s own, but he was warm. Unfairly warm and it seeped into Canute. He could stay this way for a long while if he was completely honest with himself, but one kiss was enough. A gesture of both kindness and affection that Thorfinn could seek out from him if he chose to do so if he ever needed to feel wanted. So Canute pulled away, but instead of the awkward moment he was expecting, strong hands pulled him back in at the hips. Thorfinn had leaned back up and continued the kiss.

The taller blond was not expecting this, but then again he was also not expecting to have kissed Thorfinn in the first place either. His pale hands slipped from Thorfinn’s face and neck and instead slid so Canute could rest his arms on his guard’s shoulders. The hands on his hips were most likely bruising him with how tight they held him, but that was part of what he liked about this moment. Thorfinn was holding him and kissing him like this was something he desperately needed. Canute returned its ferocity and leaned in, making Thorfinn crane his neck at an odd angle, and then ran his tongue over the shorter’s lips. Again this was something neither of them were expecting, not experienced enough to really know what they were doing at all to be honest.

However, surprisingly enough, Thorfinn had again let it happen, letting Canute test the waters. So he did. Canute pushed his tongue into the other blond’s mouth. He felt Thorfinn’s tongue with his own, the roof of his mouth and back of his teeth. It was oddly exhilarating, even more so when Thorfinn mimicked Canute and did the same to him.

As Thorfinn kissed him Canute moved them, pivoting them so Thorfinn was between him and the table. The shorter blond grunted when it happened and turned his head out of the kiss to look at their new position, to which the taller blond took as a chance to place kisses to Thorfinn’s jaw and neck.

“Don’t think that I’m just going to bend over like some paid whore.” Thorfinn muttered, his voice was a little deeper, thicker, Canute couldn’t help but like it, but also couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up from him.

“I wasn’t really planning on it.” He mused, resting his head in the crook of Thorfinn’s neck. Canute watched as Thorfinn reached for his low ponytail and played with the strands tentatively. It almost seemed as if he had been wanting to do so for a while but never had gotten the chance to do so until now. Canute kept that nice little thought in mind as he placed more kisses up Thorfinn’s neck, trailing back up to his mouth.

The two of them kissed some more, each exploring at their own paces. Canute also let his hands wander; Thorfinn was all muscle and bone and very thin. The prince knew that one day, if Thorfinn’s disinterest in his own health didn’t kill him first, that he would be properly strong, with healthy muscle, and a fuller face. At least that’s what he hoped for. Thorfinn did not explore the way Canute did, but his grip remained tight and would squeeze him whenever Canute did something he liked. At some point their hands inched a little higher.

The heat between them slowly, so very slowly, faded and they were back where they started, Canute cupping his face. After a few moments that stopped too.

“Did this ever happen?” Thorfinn asked, voice quiet. Canute blinked at him, it wouldn’t bode well for him if Thorfinn ever told anyone of their little venture, but he was honestly surprised that the other cared at all. But more than that, Canute was surprised to see that the anger that was seemingly permanent on Thorfinn’s features was gone. In its place was something the Prince could not identify, but he would burn the image in his brain. Hard eyes were gone, in its place was only honey and a fair amount of color in his cheeks.

Canute decided he would be the one to give Thorfinn the kindness he deserved. Even if it was just in small doses, seemingly meaningless gestures.

“No.” He replied, leaning down to press a kiss to Thorfinn’s cheek. “But it could happen again if you want.”

The shorter blond huffed and made a gesture for Canute to move. He did and Thorfinn moved towards the door. Canute had expected him to leave, but instead he had taken his previous makeshift post at the door. “Whatever, your Highness”

The Prince took his place back at the table, smiling to himself. That response certainly wasn’t a no. He had more thinking to do.

#vinland saga #thorfinn #canute #prince canute #thornute #character study #vinland saga fanfiction #anime #manga

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snakeymay · 4 years

Note

So here’s my question, thorfinn and askladd are interested in Vinland for different reasons, askladd interested cause the hero Arthur headed there to heal, and thorfinn interested cause it’s a land of lush lands. Imagine if they come across a woman from the future(she doesn’t tell them she from the future, just that she is from Vinland) and anytime she talks about America (vinland) it’s sounds like an advanced civilization. (Super tall buildings made of metal and glass. Army with hundreds of thousands of strong soldiers, food of all kind able to get and make. Including thousands of spices. Hundreds of kinds of beer and wine, beautiful women) she seems very educated, so educated some of the things she talks about make no sense. (Physics, advanced maths).

Wow, I really get surprised how many people can come up to such interesting ideas! I was thinking about it for a while, so I decided to write what I was able to create. I am nor American, neither english is my mother tongue, BUT I did my best to write these imagines. Again, I wanna thank you for such an idea to accomplish. I hope you will like it!

Askeladd x future! Reader

Askeladd

In a tavern

“ Young gal, how dare you to sit here alone that night so unprotected? You can end up being stolen or even worse...” The blonde man drank a pint of ale and exhaled looking at the young woman, she looked so strange to him. He has never seen such untimid women in his life. All in her nature was strange to him, alienlike. And these traits attracted him like a magnet.

“ I am Askeladd. Where are you from? Are you Brit?”

“ ( Name). No, actually, I am from... far away. America, do you know about it?” You nervously touched your hair, but kept a firm smile on your face. No, in those times with those men as him you couldn’t show any drop of fear. Not a bit.

“ Alas, I have no idea what you are talking about. What is it? Is it in Africa or...”

You interrupted him and replied “ A-me-ri-ca. It is across the ocean... like.. if you go to the west and..”

He was caught by surprise.

“ Vinland?”

“ Yes... uh, I think you call it like it”

“ How did you come here? No, what is it like?” He drank another pint. His sight was glued to you. You felt good, all the attention, so sheer and pure, of such a fine man, was all for you. You didn’t know why he was so curious, bur you filled your lungs with air and started speaking.

“ It is massive with cities”

“ Cities?”

“ Yes. There are a lot. From coast to coast. Our houses are tall and... we can get.. water anytime!”

“ How come?” His tipsy look sobered up in a second. Bloody hell, water anytime!

“ I don’t know. It is all about the canalization system”

“ Can.. Canalization system?”

You started showing the pipe shapes, he laughed at you because your gestures seemed to him reavealing and vulgar. You blushed and realised that you were speaking from a man from the 11th century and decided to switch the topic. What would interest a mercenary?

“ We have good medicine”

“ How good, (name)?”

“ Like, healers can help many people, childrrn don’t die. We live in warmth and...”

You how the look of curious changed to rage and confusion. At the moment you felt that your time, 21st century - is the best time to live. Now you sit with a fine man, but you couldn’t survive here for a day. You stopped talking, but he asked you again.

“ How good?”

“ No one dies, almost. But it is progressing, getting further..”

“ Was it the same way like about 30 years ago?”

“ I think so, it depends”

“ I don’t know wether your words are true or not. But if I had a chance to get to the place you are talking all this evening about-“

He seized his cup, looking into his turbid drink.

“ (Name), If it is real. I am glad to know this cruel world changed at least”

You averted your eyes. You touched something in him.

“ It didn’t, but it is another story to tell, Askeladd”

Askeladd’s voice changed. Stern and serious, he took your hand in his and look straightly into your eyes. You became numb. Ah!

“ (Name), if you stay here I will buy a place in the inn for you. Just tell me more about this A-me-ri-ca?”

Thorfinn x Future! Reader

Iceland, at Thorfinn’s home

“ Woman, how can you walk like that? It is still snow outside! You could even die near our front door!” Ylva coated you with several wool blankets and you stick to the hot clay cup filled with fish broth. You don’t remember what happened to you: you just fell asleep and you woke up here, among the endless fields of snow and sharp mountains, just in your light T - shirt and shorts. And you have no idea how these people found you , but they saved you, fed you, gave you clothes and more. Gave you one more day to live.

“ I-I am s-sorry”

“It is ok, Ylva. You have children to put in bed. I will look after the guest.”

“ Thorfinn... put her in my bedding. Me and Ari will sleep with kids”

She whispered to him.

“ Don’t let happen what happened when our father was here...”

“ I won’t”

She nodded and went away, taking her kids in another room. You stayed on your place, sitting near the hearth. So warm...

The man, named himself as Thorfinn, sat in front of you. He seemed to be so indifferent to you, but he had just no idea to start a conversation with a woman who is such in a bad condition. You kept silent but he was near. After some time you felt better and you asked him, trying to sound as good as you could.

“ Where am I?”

He nodded, his brown eyes blistered with fire flames. He looked so handsome you thought, but his face and hands were covered with endless scars.

“ Iceland. In a village.”

“ I see... I am ( Name).”

“ Thorfinn. I am glad that my friend and I found you”

“ Yes”

You nodded and started looking around. Why is everything so old? What time of history.. is this?

“ Are you a warrior, Thorfinn?”

He sighed and looked somewhere far, somewhere his memories were. Far away”

“I used to be one. But all those stories are in the past. I am a merchant. A traveler as well.”

“ Where do you travel, Thorfinn?”

“ I traveled some places. Now I am aiming to sail to Vinland. It is in the west. They say these lands are lush and prosperous.”

“ Can it be.. uh? I am from this place, actually.”

“ Really? But.. is it true?”

He was marveled by your words. Surprisingly, he believed in your words without any shadow of doubt.

“ Tell me something about it, (Name). Сan people live here and never be afraid of hunger?”

You smiled again. These people think of such basic needs, and to have food for tomorrow is enpugh for them to feel safe.

“ Yes, they can. People even.. do other duties, there are little people who work in the farms, they earn their living another way.”

“ I see... is it that warm? Do you have snow like here?”

“ Oh, Thorfinn, Vinland is so wide, there are lands that have never felt snow on their soil, and there are territories which look like Iceland”

He opened his mouth.

“ But will there be any lands for my people to stay and have a good life?”

“ Yes, Thorfinn. It is so peaceful. We quarrell but in Amer- I mean Vinland, people of many ethnics live together at peace. And there are no slaves..”

“ It must be the safiest place to live, ( Name). But It sounds unreal, hm..”

You nodded tiringly. You got warm and now you just wanted to drown in the obvilion of sleep. Thorfinn saw it. He stood up and took your hand. How gentle he was to you. Now you saw him close. How gleamed his eyes, and how enthusiastic he was.

“ I want you to introduce to my friends tomorrow. One of them has been to Vinland. Will you go with me, (Name)?”

You whispered.

“ Yes, will..”

“ Then, all my thoughts of redemption were not in vain, I can fix all I had done”

You felt his heart bumping, his breath, he had something that worried him deeply. You put your effort and smiled again to him, for him.

“ Thorfinn, I promise you will.”

He brought you to your bedding. Finally, you had your sleep and it was the best sleep you had in your life.

#vinland saga #thorfinn #askeladd #askeladd headcanon #headcanon #Thorfinn headcanon #thorfinn imagine #askeladd imagine

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