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{{work}}
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{{quote| '''Thorkell:''' Good friar, what say you? Who is greater, your Jesus or our Aesir?<br />
'''Willibald:''' ...Whichever created liquor. }}
 
{{quote| '''Thors:''' A true warrior needs no blade.}}
 
A manga series created by Makoto Yukimura, author of ''[[Planetes]]''. '''''Vinland Saga''''' was started in 2005. It chronicles the adventures of a band of Vikings.
 
Taking place in the 11th century the story chronicles the life of Thorfinn Karlsefni, an Icelandic boy who becomes a warrior to avenge his father's death. He does so by dogging the heels of his father's killer, Askeladd, by fighting in Askeladd's band. But it's not some story of deception. Askeladd is aware that Thorfinn wants to kill him, and he [[Manipulative Bastard|gleefully uses this information to manipulate the boy]] into doing his bidding in exchange for a one-on-one duel.
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As we follow Thorfinn around, the story expands to the Danes' pacification of England of the early eleventh century and the rise to power of [[wikipedia:Canute the Great|King Canute]].
 
Ultimately the series has a lot of brutal (but fun!) battles. It's also fairly accurate about viking culture, so it teaches you stuff while you read (yes, it's that awesome). It's also got some pretty snappy dialogue and humorous little exchanges between characters both major and minor.
 
No relation to the classical viking sagas known as the [[The Icelandic Sagas (Literature)|Vinland Sagas]], about the explorations of Erik the Red and his son Leif. Though they are alluded to through the stories of Leif Erikson, alias, Leif the Lucky.
 
Translated into English by Kodansha USA.
 
Can be read at pretty much any scanlation site.
{{tropelist}}
 
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* [[Armor Is Useless]]: Averted altogether for the most part, with only two minor exceptions.
* [[Armor-Piercing Slap]]: {{spoiler|After Ragnar's death,}} Canute flips out, not wanting to leave {{spoiler|without his body}}. Askeladd gives him one of these and he shuts right up.
* [[Awesome Moment of Crowning]]: {{spoiler|After Askeladd kills King Sweyn, Canute kills Askeladd, as part of a plan to transfer control of the Danish army and kingdom to Canute. Thorfinn, being hugely upset to learn that he has been robbed of the chance to avenge himself on Askeladd, launches an attack on Canute but only manages to slash Canute's face. Canute, declaring that someone must take control of the situation, picks up the fallen crown from the floor and crowns himself, all the while bleeding profusely from his face. Friggin' awesome.}} Anyone else see the pun?
* [[Axe Crazy]]: Literally and in the trope sense with Thorkell, who dual-wields poleaxes. It helps that he's seven feet tall.
* [[Badass]]: The entire cast. They're Vikings, how can they possibly be anything else?
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* [[Bastard Bastard]]: Askeladd
* [[Battle Butler]]: Bjorn serves as Askeladd's right hand man.
* [[Beard of Sorrow]]: Thorfinn {{spoiler|after the death of Askelladd, his motivation in life has been taken from him, his usual cold composure and social detachment becomes even more pronounced, though he loses his battle ferocity and becomes (more) silent, docile, and generally bored of life, and he eventually becomes a slave}})
* [[Berserk Button]]: Do not threaten Wales while in the same room as Askeladd. Or mention [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas|his mother]].
* [[The Blacksmith]]: Thors becomes an apprentice blacksmith in Iceland. He's not very good at it.
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* [[But for Me It Was Tuesday]]: Askeladd claims that the slaying of Thors doesn't particularly stick out in his mind, since he has killed so many other people.
* [[Celibate Hero]]: Thorfinn is far too busy being moody to sleep with anyone. Askeladd as well, seeing how he never seems to care much or find time for sleeping with anyone. Not to mention how disgusted and hateful he was towards the vikings from his past, whom he considered "filthy" and "moronic," who care about "base desires" (read: sex). Of course, this [[Your Mileage May Vary|depends on whether or not you feel he's a... hero]]. His {{spoiler|final actions might qualify him}}.
* [[Character Development]]: {{spoiler|At the end of the [[Fan Nickname|Farmland Saga arc]], Thorfinn's eyes glow with the same understanding as that of his father's and is on the path to becoming a true warrior.}}
* [[Cheerful Child]]: Thorfinn used to be a sweet kid, though even then he showed aspects of his eventual [[Screaming Warrior]] nature.
* [[Clean Cut]]: Askeladd sends his men into shock when he slices a guy (helmet and all) in two. Not with [[Absurdly Sharp Blade|an absurdly sharp blade]] either.
* [[Cooldown Hug]] {{spoiler|Canute does one to Bjorn in chapter 39. Naturally becomes an [[Interrupted Cooldown Hug]].}}
* [[Cool Old Guy]]: Lief the Lucky, Askeladd and Thorkell are very cool old guys.
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* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Askeladd, and Thorfinn to a degree
* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: Once Thorfinn has brought Thorkell down (removing his eye in the process), Canute (who Askeladd uses to further his plans) comes in and rallies everybody to his cause.
* [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]]:
** The topic of slavery is brought up several times, and Ylfa complains about wanting some as if she's just asking for new clothes. Thors might have had different views on human ownership, but in the Viking Age, slavery was common.
** In chapter 20, Thorsfinn is interrupted from his sleep in a barn when some of his comrades bring in an English women, ready to rape her. We'd expect Thorsfinn to do something... but he doesn't. But hey, it's a story about [[Rape, Pillage and Burn|Vikings]].
* [[Dogged Nice Guy]]: Ari towards Ylfa.
** Einar seems to have set his eyes in the wrong woman too.
* [[Drunk Withwith Power]]: Sveyn Forkbeard gives a long monologue on the nature of power and [[The Chains of Commanding]] that comes with ruling, treating the crown he wears as a curse that makes the wearer want to get more power. {{spoiler|After becoming king, Canute becomes just as bad as his father.}}
* [[Dude Looks Like a Lady]]: When Canute first appears he's mistaken for a woman by the main characters. Thorfinn gives him the derogatory nickname of 'Princess'. Adds a whole new layer of (unintentional) subtext between them, though it's meant as an insult.
** A very severe one, point of fact, to the degree that they'd be fighting words to almost anyone else -- Warrior cultures take manliness very seriously.
** {{spoiler|An actual lady is used as a body double, and because of her, people suspect that Prince Canute really is a lady.}}
* [[Epiphany Therapy]]: {{spoiler|Coinciding with his [[Rage Against the Heavens]] moment, when Canute listens to Willibard's explanation of love, he quickly gets what he is supposed to be [[Utopia Justifies the Means|doing with his life]] and [[Took a Level Inin Badass|starts ordering people around]].}}
* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]: {{spoiler|Askeladd loves his mother so much that when he swears on her name, he means it. When he swears on his father's name, however...}}
* [[Evil Uncle]]: Given the [[Black and Gray Morality]] of the series, it's more [[Blood Knight|Kill-Happy]] great-uncle ( {{spoiler|Thorkell to Thorfinn}}).
* [[Eye Scream]]: Thorkell getting his eye gouged out, nasty!
** Askeladd is shown using his fingers to poke out both eyes of an enemy soldier while fighting.
* [[The Farmer and Thethe Viper]]: When Thorsfinn gets injured during a mission in England, he gets nursed back to health by an English woman and her daughter. The mother was particularly set on taking care of Thorsfinn because he reminded her of her deceased son, even though they knew that he was a viking. Later, Thorsfinn sends a signal to Askeladd and the other vikings [[Rape, Pillage and Burn|to raze the place.]] However, Thorsfinn did tell the woman to get away, but the damage had already been dealt to her. One of the few times that we see a glimpse of remorse from Thorsfinn.
* [[Fingore]]: Thorfinn cuts off two of Throkell's fingers, Askeladd clips off fingers of an English officer to make him talk and whenever there's a battle, there are severed hands and fingers flying in the background.
* [[Flash Step]]: Thorfinn's preferred method of short-range transportation.
* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: History teaches us that Canute will end up as king -- but then again the story up to that point was apparently only the ''prologue''.
* [[Foreshadowing]]: Askeladd remarks early on that a man with a gut wound won't last the night {{spoiler|later this fate befalls Bjorn.}}
* [[For the Evulz]]: Though in the context of the series, he's not actually all that evil (in fact coming off as a lot less horrible than guys like Askeladd), there's no denying that all Thorkell wants to do is kill people because it's fun. By most other series' standards that behavior would be considered [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]].
* [[Frame-Up]]: {{spoiler|Canute has this done to Ketil and his son, to take over his farm, who is one of the most prosperous in the region.}}
* [[Gallows Humor]]: Lots and lots of it.
* [[Generation Xerox]]: {{spoiler|Canute}} ends up practically becoming his father, {{spoiler|which his hallucinations/father's ghost ends up lampshading}}. It's foreshadowed and implied that Thorfinn may end up like his own father as well.
* [[Genre Shift]]: The series had [[Family-Unfriendly Violence]] since chapter one to obviously be taken as part of the seinen demographic, oddly enough it started its serialization on ''Weekly Shonen Magazine'' (yeah, right along with a friendly series such as [[Fairy Tail]]), then it moved to ''Morning Two'' an actual seinen magazine but it wasn't a magazine popular enough to house Vinland Saga's impending success, the series finally found its place in ''Afternoon'' a popular seinen magazine which housed/houses [[Blame|many]] [[Genshiken|popular]] [[Ah! My Goddess (Manga)|works]] and coincidentaly is also serializing another historical epic, ''[[Historie (Manga)|Historie]]''
** The current arc, which has earned itself the title of "Best Farming Manga" or "Farmland Saga" among fans.
* [[Gonk]]: The Frankish King at the start and the tracker Ears later on.
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* [[Historical Domain Character]]: Obviously Canute, his elder brother Harald, and their father Sweyn. Suprisingly, there was also an actual ''Thorkell the Tall'' who fought for the English but joined Canute after the death of his brother Henning, who had been a childhood mentor to Canute, just like Ragnar in the manga. Though their actual existance is disputed, Thorkell was reportedly a commander of the Jomsvikings.
* [[Hot Shoujo Dad]]: Thors
* [[How Dare You Die Onon Me!]] {{spoiler|Thorfinn shouts this at Askeladd as he is dying.}}
* [[I Did What I Had to Do]]: {{spoiler|Canute as of late.}}
* [[Improbable Weapon User]]: Thorkell defends London armed with [[Memetic Mutation|LOGS!]]. Note that he's defending London against ships, against which logs are rather effective (moreso than arrows, anyhow.
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* [[The Ishmael]]: Einar
* [[Fallen Princess]]: Askeladd's mother fell hard.
* [[Jerkass]]: Thorfinn, whose single-minded obsession with revenge has made him rude, withdrawn and basically without a moral compass. {{spoiler|When he is finally reunited with Leif, Thorfinn refuses to listen to him about abandoning his revenge and going back home to Iceland.}}
* [[Just a Kid]]: An English woman's reaction to finding Thorfinn on her front step.
** [[The Farmer and Thethe Viper]]: ...''Big'' mistake.
* [[Kick the Dog]]: Boy do they ever, and they're the good guys!
* [[King Incognito]]: {{spoiler|Askeladd is the illegitimate offspring of a danish lord and also the last living descendant of [[King Arthur]] of all people.}}
* [[Kneel Before Zod]]: Askeladd to Floki.
{{quote| '''Askeladd:''' Kneel before me! Let me give you the honor of kissing my feet and then you can die!}}
* [[Knight Templar]]: Halfdan will not tolerate people flouting the laws of Iceland.
* [[Knuckle-Cracking]]: Askeladd does this before his first duel with Thorfinn.
* [[Like Father, Like Son]]: {{spoiler|Canute and Sven.}}
* [[Little Stowaway]]: Thorfinn.
* [[Lonely Atat the Top]]: Enforced with King Canute. {{spoiler|Due to [[Drunk Withwith Power]]}}.
* [[Ludicrous Gibs]]: Whenever Askeladd, [[Blood Knight|Thorkell or Thorgill]] fight. Slicing and dicing human bodies effortlessly as they do kind of breaks the realistic aspect of the manga…
* [[Made a Slave]]
* [[Major Injury Underreaction]]: Thorkell gets a few of his [[Fingore|fingers sliced off]] by Thorsfinn - right after he had stabbed him through the same hand - and all he does is look at it, and then ask Thorsfinn for his name.
* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: Askeladd once more.
* [[Marital Rape License]]: Well, Askeladd's father, Olaf, didn't exactly marry his mother, Lady Lydia, but he did kidnap her and make her his "[[Sex Slave|mistress.]]"
* [[Mauve Shirt]]: Ears
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Askeladd. Named after a Scandinavian folk hero known for his wiliness and tendency to go from rags to riches.
** Now go read [[Vinland Saga]]! [[Rated "M" for Manly|It will put hair on your chest]]!
* [[My Name Is Inigo Montoya]]: Askeladd: "Let me teach you the real name my mother gave to me {{spoiler|Lucius Artorius Castus.}}"
* [[Never Bring a Knife Toto A Fist Fight]]: Because your knife will get stuck impaled in Thorkells hand and he beats the shit out of you with it.
* [[Never Gets Drunk]]: Father Willibald seems to swing between this and [[The Alcoholic]].
* [[Ninja]]: [[Flash Step|Flash-stepper]], uses dual daggers, [[Fragile Speedster|combat style based on dodging and stealth]], usually sent on assassinations and scouting missions...it's very reasonable to call bullshit on Thorfinn being a pirate.
** [[Ninja Zombie Pirate Robot|A Ninja Viking Pirate]], though just Buddhist Viking if the latest chapters are any indication.
* [[Not So Stoic]]: {{spoiler|Askeladd. Any mention regarding Wales or his mother is enough to cause a reaction. This becomes a problem as his default look is to have no reaction at all, thus allowing King Sweynn to deduce how to try to manipulate Askeladd.}}
* [[Older Than They Look]]: A more realistic example then most but none the less Thorkell does not look like he's in his fifties.
** Also {{spoiler|the old Priest}}. Once he's shaved and has his beard cut, he actually looks like 23. Before that he looks almost three times his age.
* [[Old Retainer]]: Ragnar
* [[One Steve Limit]]: Actually averted. Chapter 76 introduces a character named {{spoiler|Thorfinn}}. It seems Leif mistook him for the other one at first but adopted him anyway.
* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You|The Only One Allowed To Kill You]]: Thorfinn really wants to kill Askeladd.
* [[Papa Wolf]]: Thors
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* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: Deconstructed, subverted and played straight: While they're all proud warriors, most are also sellswords, murderers, thieves and rapists, as well as honest merchants and farmers when necessary, just like the vikings really were.
* [[Psycho for Hire]]: Askeladd's band are all unscrupulous bastards willing to do anything for the right price, Thorkell and his band too, but his payment is a good battle. Thorfinn isn't a psycho, but he's got pretty loose morals.
* [[Put Onon a Bus]]: Thorgimm and Alti are put on a Viking Longship.
* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: {{spoiler|Canute is doing it all to spite god, by creating an Utopia on Earth.}}
* [[Rags to Riches]]: Askeladd went from being a slave boy to a respected and feared mercenary captain using nothing but his wits, firmly establishing his status as a [[Magnificent Bastard]], at the age of fourteen.
* [[Rape, Pillage and Burn]]: ...It's about ''[[Horny Vikings|Vikings]]''.
** Though interestingly enough, all the main characters thusfar have been ''very''... not horny. Now, [[Ax Crazy]] on the other hand...
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** The Frank Chieftain is named [[Star Wars|Jabbathe]], think about it for a moment.
** The character Snake looks awfully familiar to [[Metal Gear Solid|a certain other "Snake"]], if not David Hayter himself.
** Thorkell [http://i18.mangareader.net/vinland-saga/42/vinland-saga-137775.jpg is a]{{Dead link}} [[Dragonball Z|Super Saiyan]]!
* [[Shown Their Work]]: Yukimura has often noted the pains he took to be as accurate as possible, such as the journey he took to Iceland at the beginning of his work on the story, and how he used a variety of historical and apocryphal stories to base his characters on.
* [[Silk Hiding Steel]]: Thorfinn's mother, with elements of a [[Mama Bear]] back when Thors was still an arrogant warrior
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* [[Son of a Whore]]: Askeladd
** [[Berserk Button|Just don't say it to his face.]]
* [[Spell My Name Withwith an "S"]]: A historical case with Canute or Knut. Also happens with Sweyn/Sven. But other than that the important names generally have a well-established romanization, surprisingly.
* [[Spirit Advisor]]: {{spoiler|Askeladd to Thorfinn}}
** {{spoiler|Lord Sven to Canute.}}
* [[Take a Third Option]] {{spoiler|"Wales or Canute. Choose." And oh, but he [[Off Withwith His Head|did]].}}
* [[Telephone Polearm]]: Thorkell sometimes fights using tree trunks.
* [[Thanatos Gambit]]: {{spoiler|Askeladd figures out the way to get Canute to power and prevent Wales from being attacked is to die. He declares he is the descendant of King Arthur, decapitates Sveyn, and then acts like he has gone mad and goes on a murderous rampage. He deliberately makes sure that Canute is the one to deliver the death blow, putting the final piece into place}}
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* [[Those Two Guys]]: Thorgimm and his brother Atli.
* [[Time Skip]]: After the prologue
* [[Took a Level Inin Badass]] Several characters, most notably {{spoiler|<s> Prince</s> King Canute, after his bodyguard and father-figure is killed; he learns from the [[Nietzsche Wannabe|disaffected priest]] that what the bodyguard felt was not "love" but "preference," that God is basically a [[Jerkass]], and comes to the revelation the only way humans will ever attain Paradise is to say [[Calling the Old Man Out|"screw you" to the Almighty]] and make it on earth with our own hands.}} The level however, is more in Social Badass than in Combat Badass, but undeniably [[Badass]] nonetheless.
** After succeding the throne, he also takes one in [[Took a Level Inin Jerkass|jerkass]].
* [[Trickster Mentor]]: Askeladd likes to think he is more a mentor to Thorfinn then nemesis.
* [[Tsundere]]: Ylfa certainly has a few Tsundere-ish tendencies
* [[Turncoat]]: (Thorgrimm tries too, but Thorkell despises a coward.)
* [[A Twinkle in Thethe Sky]]: A realistic example (relatively).
* [[The Uriah Gambit]]: Guess who pulled it off? If your answer is Askeladd, you're correct! {{spoiler|He uses it to kill Ragnar.}}
** King Sweyn tried to do this to get rid of Canute. Talk about a COMPLETE backfire.
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[[Category:Seinen]]
[[Category:Manga]]
[[Category:Vinland Saga{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Historical Fiction]]
[[Category:Manga of the 2000s]]
[[Category:Manga of the 2010s]]
[[Category:Manga of the 2020s]]
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