Vinland Saga

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by zeando

I think askeladd knew torkell would have just slaughtered the deserters, and was hoping to use the deserters to slow down even a bit torkell.

I don't think so, honestly. Look at it this way - if his entire army is on the verge of revolt, is killing deserters going to be a very good idea? Also, from Askeladd's perspective it's better to have potential turncoats as far away from him as possible - even if that means in the enemy camp - rather than having to constantly watch his back.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I don't think so, honestly. Look at it this way - if his entire army is on the verge of revolt, is killing deserters going to be a very good idea? Also, from Askeladd's perspective it's better to have potential turncoats as far away from him as possible - even if that means in the enemy camp - rather than having to constantly watch his back.

I think it could have been a bit of both schools of thought. He gets the turncoats as far away as possible, but most likely understanding how Thorkell thinks and what he's likely to do to any deserters, he also doesn't have to kill them all himself. Two birds, one stone, and all that.

[Arya]

Askeladd is cornered, his men turned against him and Thorkell is just behind them. The only solution I can see is killing all his men. With Bjorn and Thorfinn he could probably do it. Not really useful per se, but in this way he would take away all the fun to Thorkell

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Arya

Askeladd is cornered, his men turned against him and Thorkell is just behind them. The only solution I can see is killing all his men. With Bjorn and Thorfinn he could probably do it. Not really useful per se, but in this way he would take away all the fun to Thorkell

As you said, not useful. How does that help him? Even if Thorfinn laid his life on the line for him and the three of them managed to kill the others, Thorkell would be on them by that time.

From my perspective, Askeladd is the sort of man who's always going to have an emergency exit lined up. Plus, given that he's been lying to his men this whole time and using them for his own political purposes, he had to assume this moment could come eventually. And he'd have planned for it.

[Arya]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

As you said, not useful. How does that help him? Even if Thorfinn laid his life on the line for him and the three of them managed to kill the others, Thorkell would be on them by that time.

From my perspective, Askeladd is the sort of man who's always going to have an emergency exit lined up. Plus, given that he's been lying to his men this whole time and using them for his own political purposes, he had to assume this moment could come eventually. And he'd have planned for it.

Well, of course the main reason would be to see Thorkell face. Sure, considering his way of thinking killing his own mutinied men could make an impression on him, not much, enough to gain the time to explain him his plan. After all Torkell seeks out war and Askeladd can give it to him. (The main problem of this scenario is always the same, Thorkell is OP and would be an overkill).
So, since it's time, I think that Thorfinn will play finally some role and he will deal with Thorkell while Askeladd will take care of his men (not sure how, waiting for Thorkell to kill them maybe). After all Askeladd cant' be killed by Thorkell (or anyone else if that was ever possible) and Thorfinn can't be fought by anyone else but Thorkell. So there's a sort of possible incoming stalemate.

[Forsaken_Infinity]

I can only see this getting resolved in the following ways:

1. The group reconciles their differences and moves on by either:
   1. Askeladd managing to convince his men to stick with him. Unlikely as he sorta failed and seems to have prepared for the worst already. Perhaps he has some hidden leg up on his men that can make it more plausible but I'd consider than a bit of an asspull even if Askeladd is the type of dude who'd be prepared with that.
   2. The prince exerts his authority and makes his men stand down in promise for whatever. I think this is at least possible but I don't see it working so much because Askeladd's men are true bastards and probably don't care to follow a prince that they have known as a weakling rather than controlling him as a bargain chip themselves.
2. His men really just want to present the prince to Thorkell so they just wanna wait there for Thorkell anyway. Askeladd goes along with this and either:
   1. Manages to somehow impress Thorkell to let him go / work with him especially as he still holds the prince and could possibly convince Thorkell that whatever he has been planning leads to more wars that Thorkell can win even if that's not ultimately true. I would say this is fairly likely if they do wait for Thorkell.
   2. Cnut the prince finally snaps out of it and orders Thorkell to stand down. Thorkell isn't actually a mortal enemy of the prince and clearly likes people who project power. He seems to desire a pathway to the royal family / the king too so I imagine he'd follow the prince if he actually exudes confidence and authority. I think this is more likely than 1 or 2a.
   3. A combination of 2a and 2b. I think this is the most likely scenario if the prerequisite condition for 2, i.e., they wait for Thorkell, becomes a reality.
3. Thorfinn offers Thorkell single combat in exchange for letting the group go. This could happen whether they are forced to wait for Thorkell or not. Who wins doesn't matter so much. This is fairly likely I guess.

I would like to think that Askeladd also has something up his sleeve other than betting on convincing his men or Thorkell though I am having a hard time imagining what he could possibly do stuck in the snow surrounded with enemies all around while protecting a VIP. I think he's cooked if the prince doesn't exert his authority either on his men or on Thorkell.

Now to find out next week just how wrong I was

[Haak]

Really amazing episode. I like how this has been a very steady and believable build up. The cracks started forming episodes ago but Askeladd just kept pushing and pushing and now his men have reached breaking point. I can only wonder how he’s going get out of this. The entire arc and how it’s managed to flesh out Askeladd has been pretty amazing on the whole but I can only see his death as the logical conclusion.

[Blaat]

Another cliffhanger, I'm impressed the anime only viewers are holding out. Reading the manga must be mighty tempting right now.

Well I'm here to be the bearer of bad news: there is going to be a break next week. This combined with the unexpected hurricane break back in September means the schedule for the final episode is out of wack.

[Frontier]

Was that Sayaka Ohara as Askeladd's mother? Nice .

So Askeladd has been waiting for the return of Artorius in order to serve the rightful king, or at least someone worthy enough to serve under, which is why he was so enamored with Thors and is so determined to make Canute into someone worth serving .

Even after a decade of working together through thick-and-thin through their own livelihood...Askeladd hated his own men for being Danes and for being who they are until the very end. Not that he didn't help them or foster their horrific acts, but underneath his cold veneer he's hated them the entire time. What a wakeup call for the group that must be .

I love how Bjorn is so pumped up to fight up until he realizes they're going to attack his horses .

Torgrim and company were dead the moment they threw down their weapons. That's not to say Thorkell would have bothered with them otherwise, but "giving up" basically wrote them off as being worth the trouble in his mind. It's why his men had them go out fighting in the end. and Then Thorkill scares Torgrim into mentally breaking .

Thorkell punched a horse .

Thorfinn is so obsessed with personally killing Askeladd that he goes on a one-man rescue mission to save him from Thorkell and acting so possessive of him. Even Askeladd isn't quite sure how to react to it .

What a cliffhanger to leave off of with Thorfinn finally getting his long-awaited rematch with Thorkell .

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Thorfinn is so obsessed with personally killing Askeladd that he goes on a one-man rescue mission to save him from Thorkell and acting so possessive of him. Even Askeladd isn't quite sure how to react to it

Thorfinn is such a yandere

[Kanon]

I bet a lot of people thought Askeladd would die in this episode. Surrounded by enemies from all sides, flashback to his childhood, and the reveal of his real motives... all the flags were raised. And yet he lives. For now, at least.

And it turned out Askeladd had no plans to get out of this situation. He was hoping he'd be able to escape once his men and Thorkell's started butting heads, but that wasn't much of a plan. In fact, it totally failed.

The animation this week wasn't good, and they completely ruined the "devil Thorkell" panel (they didn't even try here). At least the horse punching was good.

[Wandering Soul]

Bet Askeladd never thought he would find himself in a situation like this. Thorfinn has pretty much always been a tool to him, but now his life hinges on Thorfinn to refusing to let anyone else kill him.

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Originally Posted by Wandering Soul

Bet Askeladd never thought he would find himself in a situation like this. Thorfinn has pretty much always been a tool to him, but now his life hinges on Thorfinn to refusing to let anyone else kill him.

Nah it was pretty clear Thorkell wasn't gonna kill him. He explicitly had the rebels killed but told his men to not kill Askeladd. I think he respects Askeladd for continuing to fight even under the worst possible circumstances. If anything, Thorfinn made matter worse by showing up and declaring that he will fight Thorkell to death over Askeladd. Thorkell even says "Oh? In that case, I won't let him go".

I still think this is beyond Askeladd and Thorfinn's control. The only person I can see resolving this is the Prince. Thorfinn and Askeladd have no resources or authority left and Thorkell doesn't care for anything other than fighting. I don't think Thorfinn will beat Thorkell but Thorfinn dying is pretty much off the table for the story to go on. Therefore, at this point I am pretty convinced that the Prince will take charge sooner rather than later.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Kanon

The animation this week wasn't good, and they completely ruined the "devil Thorkell" panel (they didn't even try here). At least the horse punching was good.

I thought the animation looked okay, although WIT's standard for "solid" is a much higher bar compared to other studios in my opinion.

But it's also highly likely they're saving budget and staff for Thorfinn vs. Thorkell.

Originally Posted by Wandering Soul

Bet Askeladd never thought he would find himself in a situation like this. Thorfinn has pretty much always been a tool to him, but now his life hinges on Thorfinn to refusing to let anyone else kill him.

Askeladd talks about how he can read people at a glance, which always made me curious what he sees when he looks at Thorfinn.

Originally Posted by Forsaken_Infinity

Nah it was pretty clear Thorkell wasn't gonna kill him. He explicitly had the rebels killed but told his men to not kill Askeladd. I think he respects Askeladd for continuing to fight even under the worst possible circumstances. If anything, Thorfinn made matter worse by showing up and declaring that he will fight Thorkell to death over Askeladd. Thorkell even says "Oh? In that case, I won't let him go".

I think there was a deliberate contrast with Torgrim throwing his weapon on the ground and then panning to Askeladd, bloody, but still holding onto his weapon. The latter is the kind of guy Thorkell likes dealing with.

[Chosen_Hero]

Please tell me that I wasn't the only one that laughed out loud when Thorkell punched the horse.

[Guardian Enzo]

Capsule review:

[Nachtwandler]

BTW, despite the studio clearly strugling to keep up the schedule, the break next week is because of Paralympics.

[Guardian Enzo]

Which is important, as it means it's a scheduled break and won't further mess with the schedule.

[Arya]

Ah, so Askeladd did tried to kill his men. I was more realistic, I factored him, Bjork and Thorfinn. They could have took care of them easily, but Askeladd incomprehensibly thought he could have kill them alone
In any case at least he gained the time for Thorkell to arrive and take over The worst moment was when his men took out bows and arrows, but he dealt with it.

At this point there I see two possibilities, Askeladd to take the lead back, as much as he can, considering Thorkell. Trying to save Thorfinn.
I'm also waiting from Askeladd to reveal the truth on Thors, and this is a good place to bring this up, the topic is in the air after all.

The prince butting is also another possibility, like Forsaken_Infinity says, even if that would be a bit out of the blue. On the other end it would be like a sign for Askeladd to see his future king Artorius taking his first steps. If that happens I can see, sadly, Askeladd actually dying here.

Originally Posted by Frontier

Askeladd talks about how he can read people at a glance, which always made me curious what he sees when he looks at Thorfinn.

He see himself, or he saw himself until the moment he showed up like a Yandere.

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

Please tell me that I wasn't the only one that laughed out loud when Thorkell punched the horse.

For me Thorkell is a bit too much to take, he is fun, but he is almost a joke.

[Amarantine]

Originally Posted by Kanon

The animation this week wasn't good, and they completely ruined the "devil Thorkell" panel (they didn't even try here).

Didn't even try is right.

Spoiler for Anime vs Manga comparison:

Still, I'll forgive them since they absolutely nailed the scene with the defeated and bloodied Askeladd reminiscing on his mother's words and Thorfinn's primal scream upon seeing him in that state. It's impressive how, even though they've clearly been cutting corners everywhere they can with the animation for the past few episodes, they still manage to do justice to most of the big moments IMO. And I'm hoping all the budget-saving is for the sake of a truly glorious Thorfinn vs Thorkell round 2. Though, personally, I'm just as hyped to see best (and most loyal) boy Bjorn going berserker on them traitors.