(L) Vinland Saga

[DerGilga]

Are ghosts now real? Or how I'm supposed to understand that scene. *confused*

[MrTerrorist]

Bad news guys.

The newest English volume of Vinland Saga will be out in 2 weeks. However, if the series doesn't sell well, the publisher will stop releasing the series in English!

[MrTerrorist]

After a long time, Thorkell is back!

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

After a long time, Thorkell is back!

And he's as depressed as the readers are about all this peace

[janipani]

Next chapter is going to be something good!

[Stark700]

The latest chapter is really getting me hyped up for the next one, hoping for a good old fashioned fight.

[Kanon]

Thorfinn is finally about to kick some ass. This is reminding me how awesome it was to see Thors destroy those guys bare-handed all those years ago. He better live up to his father's legacy!

[MrTerrorist]

So Thorkell wants to make Thorfinn the new Chieftain of the Jomsvikings which gets in the way of the other contender's grandson, the man who ordered for Thorfinn dad's death.

[Kanon]

With the anime currently airing and a new arc starting in the latest chapter, I thought I'd try bumping this thread.

Sigurd's plotline was wrapped up in the first half, and then... two years timeskip! Thorfinn somehow looks younger than before, maybe it's the longer hair that reminds me of his teen self. He's coming back with several ships, so I guess things are currently going well for him.

[Blaat]

I expected some form of a timeskip the Baltic War arc took 30+ chapters, we still had go through the rest of the Baltic sea, through all of Russia, the Black Sea just to reach Constantinople. At the pace of the Baltic War arc this would have easily taken 100 chapters, if not more. So skipping some of that for the next arc would make sense.

But skipping all of that to the return to Iceland is shocking though. Not sure If I'm going to like it, I'm afraid we're going to get a wall of text telling us what happened rather than getting to see it. On top of that the characters are probably closer together now, especially Thorfinn and Gudrid. We didn't get to see that happening, just the end result.

And I really wanted to see medieval Constantinople.

Ah well, let's see what the next chapter brings to us.

[Kanon]

I don't think we'll get text only, but I don't expect a long flashback either. We'll just be shown the major events.

[iko_uwais]

Spoiler for chapter 166:

Thorfin and Gudrid has adopted Karli as their child. They spent the last 2 years selling the horns Halfdan gave them and made a fortune. No, they haven't venture into Vinland yet. In fact, they are now recruiting crew for the real journey. Thorfin and gudrid goes to Halfdan to apologize but Halfdan instead threw them a feast for their wedding. Halfdan wants to keep his promise to Siggy about helping thorfin.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by iko_uwais

Spoiler for chapter 166:

Thorfin and Gudrid has adopted Karli as their child. They spent the last 2 years selling the horns Halfdan gave them and made a fortune. No, they haven't venture into Vinland yet. In fact, they are now recruiting crew for the real journey. Thorfin and gudrid goes to Halfdan to apologize but Halfdan instead threw them a feast for their wedding. Halfdan wants to keep his promise to Siggy about helping thorfin.

I figured they hadn't gone to Vinland, since that would have just been plain weird writing
I guess we're about to start the final arc now.

[Amarantine]

Spoiler for Chapter 166:

So first Thorkell lets Thorfinn off the hook and lets him go without getting his promised duel because Gudrid started crying, and now the cruel slave driver Halfdan receives them by throwing them a wedding feast. Gotta admit, I'm not a big fan of how these fearsome foes of old are all softening up and conveniently going easy on the heroes now. Well, at least Halfdan was doing it to honor Sigurd's request, which is easier than swallow than Thorkell's reason.

Anyway, considering they're already talking about preparing for the trip to Vinland and gathering a crew for it, and the preview for the next chapter says "Next time, the preparations for the long trip to Vinland begin", it's not looking like we'll be getting flashbacks for the trip to Greece. Not sure that'll go over well, since it means Thorfinn and Gudrid's romance ended up happening largely off-screen.

Meanwhile, Hild seems as cold and distant as ever. She cut a sad figure during the wedding, watching on alone at how the object of her grudge is moving on with his life and finding a family and happiness, while she remains stuck in the past and seemingly refuses to let go and mellow out. I'm guessing her development will take place in the Vinland arc.

Speaking of which, I wonder what role, if any, Canute and Thorkell will have in this apparent final arc? Or maybe their stories are already finished, who knows.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Amarantine

Spoiler for Chapter 166:

So first Thorkell lets Thorfinn off the hook and lets him go without getting his promised duel because Gudrid started crying, and now the cruel slave driver Halfdan receives them by throwing them a wedding feast. Gotta admit, I'm not a big fan of how these fearsome foes of old are all softening up and conveniently going easy on the heroes now. Well, at least Halfdan was doing it to honor Sigurd's request, which is easier than swallow than Thorkell's reason.

Anyway, considering they're already talking about preparing for the trip to Vinland and gathering a crew for it, and the preview for the next chapter says "Next time, the preparations for the long trip to Vinland begin", it's not looking like we'll be getting flashbacks for the trip to Greece. Not sure that'll go over well, since it means Thorfinn and Gudrid's romance ended up happening largely off-screen.

Meanwhile, Hild seems as cold and distant as ever. She cut a sad figure during the wedding, watching on alone at how the object of her grudge is moving on with his life and finding a family and happiness, while she remains stuck in the past and seemingly refuses to let go and mellow out. I'm guessing her development will take place in the Vinland arc.

Speaking of which, I wonder what role, if any, Canute and Thorkell will have in this apparent final arc? Or maybe their stories are already finished, who knows.

It would have been weird to see Hild happy all of a sudden, even if it's been years for them. We need to see her development for ourselves.

[wuhugm]

Thorfinn has a child now?
Who's the father?

[Amarantine]

Originally Posted by Kanon

It would have been weird to see Hild happy all of a sudden, even if it's been years for them. We need to see her development for ourselves.

For sure, I can live with the beginning of Thorfinn and Gudrid's relationship happening off-panel, but not Hild's character arc (whose development has been a long time coming since she's been a little static for a while now).

Originally Posted by wuhugm

Thorfinn has a child now?
Who's the father?

Not sure if you're serious or not, but that's Karli, the baby they found a while back (along with the dog).

[Blaat]

Well looks like the next arc will be the final one.

[Amarantine]

And from what Yukimura-sensei has said on twitter, we probably shouldn't hold our breath for flashbacks about the trip to Constantinople, which seems to have been skipped altogether. I guess in the end the whole thing was more of a pretext for the Baltic Sea arc and Thorfinn finally finding out about Floki's involvement in his father's death and confronting him (plus introducing Gudrid, Hild, etc).

While on one hand it feels like lost potential, on the other hand I understand that he doesn't want to needlessly prolong the manga even more when he's already been writing it for 14 years, and it seems the trip to Vinland is (as the title implies) what he really wanted to write when he planned the story. I just hope he manages to live up to that ambition of making this "the most interesting and touching chapter ever", especially when the Baltic Sea arc, while still enjoyable, was by far the weakest of three major arcs thus far IMO. Hopefully this final arc will be a return to form and the story can finish on a high.

[Kanon]

Not too surprised that we're entering the final arc. I just wonder how long it will be. If it's as long as the prologue, we've got some good years ahead of us.