fuckyeahvinlandsaga

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

Chapter 125

Sorry about the lack of chapter thoughts on 123 and 124. School happened, and if I must be honest, not much happened. In any case, on to 125!

Thorkell is back, baby, and if he’s not horse-punching, he’s bear-wrestling. 

Since he is (as we all know) ungodly strong, he boxes the bear and kills it. Ah, manga. 

Coincidentally, the splash text says that this is the ‘Beginning of the Baltic Sea War’. Me being me, I tried to Google and find out what that was (I’m not super versed in Viking history, so this is amateur-ish as heck. Forgive me). The closest I can find with relations to a Baltic Sea War and Vikings is something called the Battle of Svolder that was fought in the Baltic Sea during the Viking Age between Norway, Denmark and Sweden (and some Jarls that I cannot for the life of me identify in this manga). This is also backed up due to the presence of Floki (read more), who serves Svein/Sweyn Forkbeard who is involved in the Battle of Svolder. Now, this is probably not as correct as it could be considering Sweyn is dead at this time, but hey, I tried. 

But back to the story. We can now place Thorkell and his band of men, presumably given to him by Canute, in Scandinavia due to this handy image.

We can also further discern that they are in a village called Jelling, thanks to this.

Jelling is a village now located in Denmark, by the way. According to Wikipedia, ‘In the Viking Age it served as the royal seat of the first Monarchs of the Kingdom of Denmark’. That has a lot of bearing on our story here, so I expect Canute to show up in Jelling at some point. Also, this image here also places Thorfinn and the crew in Jelling.

Oh, and the Jomsvikings are back.

Floki, with his fellow Jomsvikings, brings bad news (or good, depending on whether you’re Thorkell or not) of a possible war that will make Thorkell feel better.

I can only presume that this might be the news of the coming Battle of Svolder, but take this with a grain of salt, please. 

At a marketplace in Jelling, there is also a very interesting conversation going on between two people, I presume spies. I am unsure of their current allegiance, but due to their discreet nature of passing information to each other on Floki and Thorkell’s conversation, I can assume that they are working for neither of them. I’m tempted to say Canute, as they talk of factions and of someone called Vagn that I don’t think has appeared so far. We shall keep a Vagn in mind, as he appears to be the two spies’ boss and has orders for them. 

As the spies dissipate into the crowd, behind them, Leif and Full Eyes are telling Gudrid, Thorfinn and Einar how to trade their seal pelts for food to last them the sea journey. As all three have never traded things or are versed in being a merchant, this is all very new to them.

Especially Gudrid, who is fascinated with the amount of people present at the marketplace. Einar asks about the whereabouts of Hild, and Thorfinn knows that she is hiding and watching. Gudrid is disappointed, and I sense that this is a set up for the two to become friends as the series progresses. 

Thorfinn recognises some old acquaintances from his Askeladd days, and I think that they’re going to have a run-in with bad consequences.

Meanwhile, for unfortunate Sigurd, he and his band have been captured by pirates and made into slaves while on their quest to find Gudrid and bring her back.

While he and his band are complaining about their state of affairs, Gudrid comes along, to their mighty embarrassment. While Sigurd’s men want her to help buy them out of their predicament, Sigurd really doesn’t want her to interfere out of sheer humiliation. 

He orders them to scrunch up their faces so she won’t recognise them (and also for comedic effect because... damn.)

that’s a face and a half, alright. In any case, Gudrid doesn’t get the hint, and calls for Thorfinn and Einar to come over and take a look and see if it’s really Sigurd. 

This, however, has the unfortunate consequences of alerting other people that Thorfinn was trying to avoid. While they are not the earlier acquaintances, these people also seem to know him.

The chapter ends on what I deem to be an ominous note, due to the dark screentone in the back, there, and I think that these people might try to bring Thorfinn to meet with Thorkell or someone.

In any case, that’s the end. Sorry about the long wait again, but here you go!

#thorkell #long post #floki #ch 125 #chapter thoughts #chapter 125 #125 #thorfinn #einar #gudrid #leif #full eyes #sigurd

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

sorry about the unpredicted hiatus, school happened. i’ll try and post about the next new chapter when it comes out.

#not vs

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

hey, vinland saga update! more on the new chapter after i take a nap!

#mod post

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

Chapter 122

Very briefly, the scanlator included a page showing Vinland Saga Volume 17 is going to be released in 2016 (22nd January, to be exact). That’s gonna be fun to track down, methinks. Anyway, be prepared for it!

Firstly, what a way to start a chapter by being symbolic, Makoto. It should be pretty obvious at this point that Thorfinn is, well, fucked. You could say that all his sins are catching are catching up to him, and that he’s basically being trapped by what he has done in the past. The corpses that ensnare him are the people he has killed, and Thorfinn is really feeling the weight of what he did come crashing down on him. 

I’d also like to mention at this point what a great guy Einar is. I mean, he’s willing to risk dying, all for the sake of realising Thorfinn’s dream. If that isn’t a great friendship, then I don’t know what is. 

Secondly, Gudrid is actually crying. That’s something that really shocked me. I mean, this is the same person that had the courage to stab her fiancé in the leg and run away from home. The fact that she’s crying for Thorfinn either means that she’s not willing to see someone die before her eyes, or she really likes Thorfinn. That, or a mix of the two.

Lastly, I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to these panels. Obviously, the symbolism is coming into play again. I’m not sure if it was meant to be interpreted as if her father physically stopped the shot or not, but what I am sure of is that somehow, something caused Hild to shoot in the wrong direction. We could put it down to a mistake or her conscience, but I like to think that it was something bigger. Maybe her father’s spirit really did move her crossbow. 

Whatever the case, two of the people she most respected in the world are telling her right now to not kill Thorfinn. Dare I say some higher power is intervening to help Thorfinn reach his goals? All I know is that she does not kill Thorfinn, and that’s pretty important for the story.

All in all, I’m pretty sure that Hild’s going to end up travelling with Thorfinn and the crew to VInland. After all, she needs to ‘[keep] watch on [him]’, and I presume the best way for her to do that is to come along with the gang.

So pretty good chapter with plot progression, and a conclusion of a mini-arc in a way. The next chapter’s gonna be awkward, though. I wonder how travelling with Hild will be like?

#ch 122 #mod post #q #chapter thoughts #vinland saga

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

New Chapter today! I’ll do my best to have my thoughts about it up later.

#mod post

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

Vinland saga Full Eye Theory

Omg.

For months, perhaps I should say years I’ve been wondering about this character from Vinland saga.

I’m noticing that everyone is getting their own little background stories before they join Thorfinn on his little journey.

Yet.

The Vinland Saga fandom knows little to nothing about full eyes.

Other than he is the adopted son of Leif Ericson.

Although, something occurred to me when I was re-reading this glorious manga.

Chapter 76 is when Full Eyes was introduced, when I read it this evening something popped in my head at this scene.

Full eyes, Leif, Orman and Ketil are sitting at a table or whatever and Ketil is reminded of his slave (our long blonde hero) Thorfinn at home. So then Leif asks the said man this.

The next panel gets me

Full eyes says" again" Which means Leif has no doubt been looking all over for his best friend’s son, so then I noticed something else.

Full eyes says, “It’s best not to get your hopes up, it could be like that time with me all over again.” At first I didn’t think much of anything at all when I read this, it’s only until much later that I begin to get an idea of how Leif and Full Eyes came to be. As Vinland Saga manga readers remember reading chapter 100 the return, after people from Thorfinns village say “They don’t remember” etc., Thorfinn pouts on a dock with the others behind him and Full Eyes says the following:

So Full Eyes doesn’t know if his parents are alive or not. Yet, he says,“I was separated from parents when I was a kid” So then I’m going to assume, someone (possible Vikings) invaded his village and he was separated from his parents. Then it’s possible he was sold as a slave and when Leif asked have you seen a boy with blonde hair with brown eyes and short in stature, the salesman probably showed Leif, child! Full eyes and one way or another after being disappointed that it wasn’t Thorfinn, felt sorry for the boy and adopted him…. That’s just what I think tho. I’m just a fan girl of this great manga, particularly Thorfinn and Full eyes…I mean come on… How can you not like this guy.

#interesting #theory #full eyes #vinland saga

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

#thorfinn #gudrid #vinland saga #thorfinn pls

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

Here~

Have a flower crown! Canute.

Beautiful and dangerous as fuck.

#canute #vinland saga #what a cutie

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

#mangacap #vinland saga #gudrid #leif

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

To be king.

Day 5 

#art by op #canute #vinland saga #q

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

Wikinger, ein großartiger detailverliebter Zeichenstil, Schwertkämpfe und explizite Gewalt: was will man mehr? Makoto Yukimuras zweiter Manga in dieser Liste (nach PlanetES) hat es echt in sich. Wer auf historische Geschichten und gute alte Schwertkampfaction steht, sollte den Manga hier echt nicht verpasst haben! 

Ich hab mich entschieden den Hauptcharakter Thorfinn zu zeichnen, der im Laufe der Geschichte einiges durchmachen muss und einen radikalen Lebenswandel erfährt.

#art by op #thorfinn #vinland saga #q #ah #pre-character development thorfinn

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

#q #gudrid #sigurd #full eyes #vinland saga

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

Chapter 121

Well, not much to say here, folks. Lots of action and fighting in this one, but nothing plot-wise happened. Einar was a bit of an ass and Thorfinn’s pretty cool for being able to take, what, five crossbow bolts. We also got to see Hilde’s famed crossbow in action (I really like crossbows, can you tell?). All in all, it was an action-packed chapter, but nothing really else.

#vinland saga #mod post #q #ch 121

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

I'll do more chapter thoughts things, i think. They're fun to do.

#mod post #q

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

Thoughts on Chapter 120

So, we just got chapter 120 translated.

120 shed more light on Hild’s past and how she ends up becoming the badass she is, but honestly, not much story-wise really happened besides expounding on how she became to be the Thorfinn-murdering Hild we all know and love. I think there were more implications with her character than with the story.

For a brief summary, we see Hild growing up until she looks closer to how she is seen in the present under the tutelage of her master, an old hunter that seems to go by the Old Bear. She learns her tracking and hunting skills from him, as well as tying up her hair from her master. 

120 also goes to prove how inventive and creative Hild is. We’ve seen her invent a new way of cutting logs before the raider’s attack, if I recall correctly. After just handling the Old Bear’s crossbow, she’s also able to dismantle it mentally and think of a way to make a crossbow that someone like her (i.e. not trained to) can use. It’s pretty impressive.

Altogether, I think it’s interesting to see the many parallels in this chapter. Firstly, the bear motif. Her master is called the Old Bear by the blacksmith in the village Hild visits (and presumably by the others in the village) and is killed by a bear rather prophetically. 

She also sees the bear that kills her master as Thorfinn, the man who ruined her life. 

Twice over, people she respects and, dare I say loves like family, are killed by bears. Futhermore, the irony is driven home when you realise that while she was living with the Old Bear, he and her were hunting bears for a living. 

Lastly, remember the title of this arc/flashback - ‘The Hunter and the Hunted’. There is no clear distinction between the two, and no one is forever the hunter or the hunted. Hild is hunted by Thorfinn then becomes a hunter of bears. The Old Bear was a hunter, and then was hunted by a bear. All very ironic stuff. 

I’ll conclude by pointing out the similarities between Hild and Thorfinn. Both of them were relatively innocent and idealistic growing up and admired their fathers greatly. Both of them had members of their family taken by the same group of raiders/Vikings. Both of them became overtaken by a lust for revenge against the people who took away the lives of those they loved.

Hild and Thorfinn are very similar, but Thorfinn managed to break out of his cycle of killing, revenge and hate. The Old Bear advises Hild to throw away her anger, much like Thorfinn eventually did.

However, we see at the end of the chapter all Hild does is give in to her hate and promise to ‘hunt you down’. Whether she is referring to the bear that murdered her master or the spectre of Thorfinn who killed her father that she saw in the is up to debate, but I get the feeling that she means both.

In the end, I predict that there are two ways that this arc can end satisfactorily. I’d like to note that Thorfinn cannot die, seeing as his adventure’s barely begun (the titular saga to get to Vinland has just started), and so it’s impossible for Hild to kill him when they return to the present if Yukimura Makoto wants to have happy readers. It’s entirely possible that Hild will end up killing Thorfinn, but I really doubt it.

That said, two options. One; Thorfinn kills Hild. This is my ‘depressing arc ending’ option. After proving to be a worthy opponent, Thorfinn kills Hild because she refuses to surrender and wants her revenge. He returns to Gudrid, Einar and the rest and finds the antidote on her body. They sail off upset and unnerved.

Two; they come to a truce. Thorfinn ends up with a truce of some kind with Hild, and they end up tentative allies. They end up sailing together and Hild has to try and throw away her anger.

Honestly, I’m inclined to believe the latter will happen. Yukimura has put in far too much time and chapters into building up Hild’s character and past for him to get rid of her that easily. In any case, I think that the end of Vinland Saga is still a long way coming, and regardless of what happens, I’ll be satisfied.

#vinland saga #hild #thorfinn #mod post #q #manga #manga thoughts

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

sorry i don’t post very often here! every so often i go through the vinland saga tag, but unfortunately there’s not much new there that i can post ;^; but i will try to come up with more originals!

#q

[fuckyeahvinlandsaga]

a collection of icons for you and your would-be murderer

#vinland saga #thorfinn #hild