History Manga / VinlandSaga

* EvilPlan: [[spoiler:Askeladd's plot to take control of the throne.]]

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: In his first appearance, Thorfinn has unkempt hair befitting his anger and surliness. In a flashback, a younger, innocent and happy Thorfinn has neat and shorter hair. With the TimeSkip into the Farmland Saga, his hair gets longer and stays unkempt until he makes a friend, after which he ties it up. When Thorfinn finally returns home after the Farmland Saga ends, Ylva gives him a [[ImportantHaircut haircut]] and shave against his wishes. The last time his hair was that short was in the aforementioned flashback, and now he's finally taking steps to go to Vinland.
** Also Canute. Originally a LongHairedPrettyboy, after the TimeSkip his hair is much shorter.

** First off, Thorfinn is quite close personality-wise to Pre-Eclipse Guts[[spoiler:, though they quickly diverge post-timeskip.]]
** Canute, [[spoiler:once he becomes king]], cleaves very close to Griffith in [[VisionaryVillain character]], [[LongHairedPrettyBoy appearance]], and [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans ambition]]. This also makes him a CharClone. [[spoiler:Again, the two end up diverging pretty rapidly.]]

** Askeladd and Bjorn's relationship is similar to ''Golden Age'' Guts and Griffith; one the cunning leader of a mercenary band, the other his more brutish but trusted right-hand. Bjorn/Guts admires and desires to be true friends with Askeladd/Griffith, but feels beneath him. [[spoiler: Askeladd and Bjorn's duel mirrors Guts and Griffith's too, with the same snowy hill setting, though the outcomes are very different.]]

* HellIsWar: The place Thorfinn falls to in in his nightmare and where he meets [[spoiler: Askeladd]] appears to be the fifth circle of hell, where the wrathful are condemned to spar with each other for eternity. It's a horrible swampy battlefield where warriors continually strike each other down, sink down into the murk, and then reemerge back in one piece.
* HeroAntagonist: In the Black and Black morality of Vinland Saga it's hard to call anyone a 'hero' but Thorkell's motivations are much more simply and his deeds much less villainous than many other characters. Really, [[SarcasmMode all he wants to do is]] [[AxeCrazy chop people]] [[TheBerserker into tiny pieces]]!

%%* LikeFatherLikeSon: [[spoiler: Canute and Sven.]]
%%** [[spoiler: By now Thors and Thorfinn too.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Most of the visions characters experience can be explained as simple dreams or hallucinations, from [[spoiler: Thorfinn meeting Askeladd and all of his victims in Hell to King Sweyn's ghostly head acting as the devil on Canute's shoulder. However, Miskwekepu'j's vision of his homeland's future, from its later colonization by the Europeans to the American civil war up to the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, is much harder to brush off as anything but a genuine vision of the future, which in turn casts further ambiguity on thee other examples.]]

* MauveShirt: Ears
** Atli and his brother Torgrim count too. [[spoiler:They are the only two members of Askeladd's band who survive Thorkell's massacre, though Torgrim mentally broke just from Thorkell's murderous glare]].

** YoungerThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:Willibald, 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.
* OldRetainer: Ragnar

*** Episode 5 and the first half of episode 6 in the anime are original content showing how Thorfinn became part of Askeladd's band and his early days with them. [[note]]The second half of episode 6 adapts chapter 17 of the manga [[/note]].

*** Ketil as a young man lost a woman he loved to a rich and powerful man who named Ebbe who, it's implied, she didn't love. Ketil wanted to fight for her even if it meant provoking conflict with Ebbe, but Sverker convinced him not to do so, fearing what would happen if such a rich and powerful man held a grudge against them. So Ketil reluctantly gave up... only for a rival of Ebbe's who envied Ebbe's wealth to [[ShootTheShaggyDog kill both Ebbe and his would-be bride at their wedding]]. This likely ties into both Ketil's refusal to let go of Arnheid and reinforced Sverker's fears about how growing too rich breeds resentment and attracts enemies.

*** Flashbacks not present in the manga show Canute and Harald as children, and Harald being kind to Canute.
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Torgrimm and Alti, two MauveShirt brothers in Askeladd's band, appear during the band's very first scene in the anime, whereas in the manga they don't appear until late in the arc.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: [[invoked]]At one point an alternate interpretation of the afterlife is presented. When knocked out, Thorfinn has a nightmarish vision of a warrior's afterlife, which is depicted as a never-ending battleground for "glorious dead". The aforementioned glorious dead are rotting away, constantly being hacked apart by each other, and there is nothing glorious about it at all. Thorfinn wonders in horror if this is supposed to be a twisted version of Valhalla, although Askeladd, who is present in the vision, denies that it's actually Valhalla, or any afterlife at all. It's been noted by fans that it bears a distinct resemblance to

* AdaptationExpansion:
** Episode 5 and the first half of episode 6 in the anime are original content showing Thorfinn's first few months with Askeladd's band [[note]] the second half of episode 6 adapts chapter 17 of the manga [[/note]].
** As noted above, episodes 23 and 24 of the anime expand on Thorfinn and Leif's roles during the last chapters of the prologue.
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Torgrimm and Alti, two MauveShirt brothers in Askeladd's band, appear during the band's very first scene in the anime, whereas in the manga they don't appear until later in the arc.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: [[invoked]] In Thorfinn's nightmare, Valhalla is depicted as an never-ending battleground for the "glorious dead." The aforementioned dead people are rotting away and there is nothing glorious about it at all.

A 24-episode anime series, covering the manga's first arc, was announced in 2018 and released on July 7th, 2019. It is animated by [[Creator/ProductionIG WIT Studio]] with supplemental animation by studio Creator/{{MAPPA}}. A second season, with animation fully taken over by MAPPA, premiered in January 2023.

** Askeladd and Bjorn's relationship is similar to ''Golden Age'' Guts and Griffith; one the leader of a mercenary band, the other his more brutish but trusted right-hand. Bjorn/Guts admires and desires to be true friends with Askeladd/Griffith, but feels beneath him. [[spoiler: Askeladd and Bjorn's duel mirrors Guts and Griffith's too, with the same snowy hill setting, though the outcomes are very different.]]

For the actual medieval Icelandic saga, see Literature/TheVinlandSagas

** "Somewhere that’s not here." [[note]] First said by Thorfinn expressing his desire to go to Vinland and later repeated by plenty other characters. The phrase represents the desire to both escape the violence of the Viking world and reached an idealized new beginning. [[/note]]

** "Somewhere that’s not here." [[note]] First said by Thorfinn expressing his desire to go to Vinland and later repeated by plenty other characters. The phrase represents the desire to both escape the violence of the Viking world and reached an idealized paradise. [[/note]]

* ArcWords: Once per story, expect someone to utter the words "somewhere not here."

** In a volume 1 omake, Ylva sings a version of [Film/TheWizardOfOz "Over The Rainbow"]]:
->'''Ylva:''' Somewhere, over the rainbow ... there's a town I'd like to raid!

* DespairEventHorizon: Thorfinn notably leaps over this line when Canute kills Askeladd instead of him. What makes this tragic is that his quest for vengeance was AllForNothing as he essentially lost one chance to return home. Now he has to be a slave.

** AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Torgrimm and Alti, two MauveShirt brothers in Askeladd's band, appear during the band's very first scene in the anime, whereas in the manga they don't appear until later in the arc.

AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Torgrimm and Alti, two MauveShirt brothers in Askeladd's band, appear during the band's very first scene in the anime, whereas in the manga they don't appear until later in the arc.

** Episodes 20-24 [[note]] analogous to Volumes 7-8 of the manga [[/note]] make some changes to the timeline designed to streamline and expand on Thorfinn's story. In the manga, [[spoiler: Thorfinn and Askeladd's last duel and Bjorn's death happen ''before'' the main characters go to York, while in the anime it happens afterward. In turn, this means that said duel happens the day before Askeladd dies. In the anime, Thorfinn, delirious from Askeladd's beating and bitter over his parting words, wanders through the streets of York, gets thrown in jail, is bailed out by Leif, and considers leaving with him, but ultimately decides to go back to Askeladd. This arguably makes the tragedy of what then happens even greater than in the manga, where Thorfinn went back to serving Askeladd after the duel, insolently sat outside King Sweyn's coronation, and leaped into action when he heard the commotion from Askeladd killing Sweyn.]]

** Episodes 20-24 [[note]] analogous to Volumes 7-8 of the manga [[/note]] make some changes to the timeline designed to streamline and expand on Thorfinn's story. In the manga, [[spoiler: Thorfinn and Askeladd's last duel and Bjorn's death happen ''before'' the main characters go to York, while in the anime it happens afterward. In turn, this means that said duel happens the day before Askeladd dies. In the anime, Thorfinn, delirious from Askeladd's beating and parting words, wanders through the streets of York, gets thrown in jail, is bailed out by Leif and considers leaving with him, but ultimately decides to go back to Askeladd. This arguably makes the tragedy of what then happens even greater than in the manga, where Thorfinn went back to serving Askeladd after the duel, insolently sat outside King Sweyn's coronation, and leaped into action when he heard the commotion from Askeladd killing Sweyn.]]
* AdaptationExpansion: Episode 5 and the first half of episode 6 in the anime are original content showing Thorfinn's first few months with Askeladd's band [[note]] the second half of episode 6 adapts chapter 17 of the manga [[/note]].

* AdaptationExpansion:
** Episode 5 and the first half of episode 6 in the anime are original content showing Thorfinn's first few months with Askeladd's band [[note]] the second half of episode 6 adapts chapter 17 of the manga [[/note]].
** A minor example, but Torgrimm and Alti, two MauveShirt brothers in Askeladd's band, appear during the band's very first scene in the anime, whereas in the manga they don't appear until later in the arc.

Taking place in the 11th century, the story chronicles the life of Thorfinn Thorsson, an Icelandic boy who becomes a warrior to avenge his father's death. Dogging at the heels of his father's killer, Askeladd, Thorfinn winds up joining the Viking's band. But this is not some story of deception; Askeladd is aware that Thorfinn wants to kill him, and he [[ManipulativeBastard gleefully manipulates the boy]] into doing his bidding in exchange for a one-on-one duel.

** Episode 4-6 of the anime is original content showing Thorfinn's first few months with Askeladd's band.

-->'''Askeladd:''' You all and I have been together for a long time, up until this day. We laughed together, drank together, found our way out of many hellholes together. And I never told any of you about this, but for the last ten years we've been together [[PreAssKickingOneLiner I hated every single last one of you]].

* AdaptationExpansion: Episode 4-6 of the anime is original content showing Thorfinn's first few months with Askeladd's band.
** A minor example, but Thorgrimm and Alti, two MauveShirt brothers of Askeladd's band appear during the band's very first scene in the anime, they don't appear in the manga til later.

* HuntingTheRogue: Subverted. Floki, a high ranking member of [[EliteArmy the elite private army known as the Jomsvikings]], hires an outside mercenary group to kill Thors, a prominent member of the Jomsvikings who had deserted during battle years earlier and [[FakingTheDead faked his death]]. Floki claims he's just doing it because Thors is a rogue and to uphold the Jomsvikings laws against desertion, but the mercenary leader immediately suspects this is false, since if that was really the case, the Jomvikings would want to do it themselves and [[MakeAnExampleOfThem make a big show of hunting down the deserter]] instead of hiring outsiders. A later arc shows that the mercenary was right; the ambitious Floki wanted to make sure Thors was out of his way while he solidified his power within the Jomsvikings and also had a personal hatred for Thors.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[spoiler: Canute as of late.]]