Vinland Saga - Ch. 209 - Thousand Year Voyage Part 18

[Baddan]

Thorfinn is a worthless cuckold. If he had decided his people ought to learn how to fight so they can defend themselves just as he can this all could have been avoided.

 

[whydidireadthis]

They left for a reason and that was because of war. No group of people is innocent. There are disputes over territory in every country matter how old.

 

[Swagner]

Most tribes survive by killing other tribes.

If that were even remotely true they'd have gone extinct a long time ago. No species of animal can survive long-term by preying on its own kind; humans are no exception.

Thorfinn is a worthless cuckold. If he had decided his people ought to learn how to fight...

They literally already know how. Thorfinn is not the only warrior there, and it was Ivar (a fellow warrior) that kicked the conflict off in the first place.

 

[Konrad2]

Thanks for the scanlation.

 

[Thoshy]

The native Americans are both hunters and warriors... Forgetting that fact is deadly.
Plus, multiple tribes means that each group of people won't have the same way of thinking.
=> That was already the case back on their original continent, why would it be any different in this new land?

Imagine if they landed in the Southwest, they'd have been dealing with the Comanche right now...

 

[Bearil]

The "fight" was a bit ridiculous. An indian the first time he wield a sword is able to cut through an axe hilt and a forearm in a single strike against a trained oponent, Even if it was an Ulfberth sword that was absurd is not a fucking Power Sword from Warhammer 40k to cut with such ease

 

[ThatGuy]

The "fight" was a bit ridiculous. An indian the first time he wield a sword is able to cut through an axe hilt and a forearm in a single strike against a trained oponent, Even if it was an Ulfberth sword that was absurd is not a fucking Power Sword from Warhammer 40k to cut with such ease

This is meant to frame the sword as the ultimate war weapon by defeating the axe with ease, so the people that say "war is fought with spears and axes too" are "proven" wrong. Yes the author is really this stupid/hypocritical.
Remember when Thorfinn killed dozens if not hundreds of people with 2 knives? Yeah...
Just turn your brain off bro

 

[ThatGuy]

They left for a reason and that was because of war. No group of people is innocent. There are disputes over territory in every country matter how old.

Nuh uh, the good savage is always noble!

 

[Ahab19]

Thorfinn should come back with a massive army and wipe out all these tribal savages.

 

[Swagner]

The "fight" was a bit ridiculous. An indian the first time he wield a sword is able to cut through an axe hilt and a forearm in a single strike against a trained oponent

You say that like this was his first time swinging a weapon. The fact that the knives and tomahawks he's used before were so blunt in comparison probably led him to swing a lot harder than he actually needed to. (Also, like, it's for drama: symbolism to show the escalation of the conflict.)

 

[Swagner]

On the same scale than the various mesoamerican civilizations?

Does an atrocity cease to be an atrocity just because the group committing them is smaller?

 

[Grimmycoffee]

Only because the story is gearing you to think that way.
The plague would still have happened anyway and the chief would still have summoned warriors as a consequence.
The raid on the nords would still have happened too because those guys are clearly doing it, not out of hatred, fear or zeal, but out of boredom which is arguably worse.
And you still have the warriors that are currently chasing Thorfinn who clearly stated that they wanted the nice tools the nords are using and I don't think they are good at diplomacy.
Also they should consider themselves lucky they landed north and met the Lnu, human sacrifice was a common practice in Mesoamerica and I'm rather curious about how Thorfinn would react to those.

The raid happened because they want iron stuffs, right? The sword adds to the incentives.

Human sacrifices in large scale I've known of often happened in the same context as killing defeated warriors. Seeing it that way, it's not that weird of a thing. Not saying it's somehow fine, just that it's not as "otherwordly".

The scale also seems to be something unique, and done by the Aztecs rather than common by mesoamerica in general.

 

[Blaster746]

Imagine if they landed in the Southwest, they'd have been dealing with the Comanche right now...

Hmm... I'm not sure about that one...
The first documented evidence that we have about that tribe dates back to the 1700s.
Since the most well known tribes were formed by absorbing multiple others, there's a good chance that the Comanche Indians tribe didn't even exist in Thorfinn's time since he lived 7 centuries earlier.

 

[Weebskeuten]

Fake menace met real menace

 

[Sarkhan]

He actually didn't want war. There was a whole scene about that.

You know what, I'll just remind people. See chapter 200. Styrk, Helmet Bro, did a lot of manipulating to stoke fears and to let Ivar take some of Thorfinn's authority but that was done without Ivar's knowledge and he pretty directly rebukes it once he finds out.

Well, what he actually wanted is irrelevant.
His actions incited the war.

Ivar brought a tool of war.
Not a woodaxe, not a hoe for the plot of a farm, not carpenters tools.
He brought a loaded gun. And now he's reaped the reward of the gun going off. In his face.

Lucky for him that Thorfinn will probably shoulder all the blame for this facetatted fuckup

 

[Weebskeuten]

As all things. The truth is often complex. Was it wrong to have weapons to defend themselves? Did that invite disaster or was Ivar simply not strong enough to enforce his beliefs? Either way this has ended very poorly for the nords.

Honestly, the situation was fucked the moment the norse settled on vinland.

Both thorfin and the chief do not desire war, but their respective cultures do allow it and those who seek conflict find a way (the native raid captain and helmet guy in this instance).

There are many who have yet to overcome violence in the same way thorfin has.

 

[Malkraz]

I hope those dumbasses live to realize bringing and using those weapons is exactly why they got fucked up. Don't let them die feeling justified.

This tribe would've attacked whether or not the Nords had weapons. And they would've done it with their weapons.

 

[zersetsu]

Ivar should have played Fire Emblem, he would have remembered the weapon triangle and that axes are weak to swords.

But seriously I wonder if Ivar is guaranteed dead from this or not? How quickly can someone bleed out from a clean below-the-elbow chopped off arm like that?


The sword definitely made things easier to go to shit and escalated stuff though. It's the same with the Cold War and nuclear weapons, yeah there would be conflict between people regardless, but introducing something to the playing field that is solely dedicated to killing other people and making it easier to kill and injure other people does have a meaningful effect on the conflict and issues and interactions.

His arteries were completely severed by the cut. Realistically he'd die in about two minutes

 

[Rosen_Ritter]

Not even mad. This is what happens when the young dreamers stir the shit when the veterans aren't looking, thinking it's their big chance to just copy what they think is grand and put themselves on a pedestal. Was really sick and tired of his ass. And to top off with irony he too lost a hand.

 

[zersetsu]

Thorfinn should come back with a massive army and wipe out all these tribal savages.

is this a joke or