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It is always quite difficult to articulate why it is that a work of art leaves a lasting impression on those who witness it. Although you can try to explain such an abiding influence by deconstructing its various elements some of which in this case happens to be the extremely well woven characters, the handling of the complex dynamic between them, the amount of precision dedicated towards their history and most importantly the breathtaking story we see unfold between a son and a father. Vinland Saga is definitely impressive for all these reasons but I believe there comes a point where it becomes more than just a cocktail of greatness.
The narrative, as it unravels, places Thorfinn amidst an especially violent setting. Being the son of a great warrior and raised in the throes of consuming revenge alongside his father’s murderer, Thorfinn spends most of his formative years learning how to kill. His unwavering persistence in avenging his father is at the center of a metamorphosis which transforms Thorfinn from a naive curious little kid whose eyes gleam with awe and wonder into a bloodthirsty creature lusting for vengeance. As much as it is heartbreaking to see Thorfinn become all that his father did not want him to be, it paradoxically also forms the prerequisite for understanding a rather cryptic sentence. “You have no enemies”
In a sense, Vinland Saga could be described as simply a rumination of what this truly means. A rumination that portrays the initial disbelief for such words, its seeming irrationality, the subsequent violence that ensues and finally the ineffable wisdom that lay underneath it. Initially the story only seems to be culminating towards a point where Thorfinn eventually exacts his cathartic revenge on Askeladd, his father’s murderer. But soon after he dies, things begin to change. Thorfinn is left aimless and his hopes of avenging his father now forever beyond his grasp. Neither having any purpose to live nor a reason to die, Thorfinn finds himself laboring in a farm where he meets Einar whose friendship helps him confront the demons he buried. Demons who take the form of those he had slayed in his quest for vengeance.
Thorfinn is a character who is given every possible justification to be violent. He is an exceptionally skilled warrior and is singularly determined when it comes to combat. He lost his father to a band of mercenaries when he was young and spent most his life filled with resentment. Here is a man who has endured untold suffering in his life and is perhaps rightly justified in regarding those around him as his enemies. And yet how could he not have any enemies?
The cycle of violence that we observe in Vinland Saga has one curious element to it. Everyone has a reason to kill. Some kill for sustenance. Some for glory. Others because they have simply been raised as warriors and cannot envision another manner of living. Violence is shown as being almost a part and parcel of human nature. An inevitable consequence for any person who wants to protect himself or his family. In such a world, renouncing violence would be a sign of brazen stupidity, tantamounting even to death. But Vinland Saga shows us that it might also ultimately be our path to salvation.
I believe what sets apart Vinland Saga is that it doesn’t settle for the conventional narrative of good and evil where good eventually triumphs. It cuts through the heart of the problem by weaving a story which not only shows the reasons behind the decadence of human beings but also the strength of their will to break out of it. It seems to me that the statement “You have no enemies” does not represent a factual claim. There are certainly many things out there in the world that seek to hurt and kill, the worst of which as Vinland Saga shows, are members of our own kind. What it does represent instead is an act of faith which stems from a belief in the fundamental virtue of human nature. An act of faith which also emerges from an understanding that regardless of how much we consider ourselves to be fettered by circumstance, we can still break free from causality. Showing what has been and what could be is relatively simple. But to show where what has been becomes what could be is I believe what makes Vinland Saga truly extraordinary.