Vinland Saga - Ch. 211 - Thousand Year Voyage Part 20

[Theozilla]

Good chapter, I had a feeling that if the narrative was to ever refocus on Einar's character during this final arc it would likely be because Einar would be in opposition and/or conflict with Thorfinn's ideals and goals. Surprised that Ivar is still determined to fight, I thought his humiliation would have knocked some sense into him, but I suppose becoming even more entrenched in his stubborness is in character for him.

Also glad the chapter noted again that the village is only 100 people including non-combatants and children. Even with the fort allowing for defensive siege tactics mitigating the difference in numbers to a degree, I can't imagine this being a situation that the settlers can achieve military victory with.

 

[Kushinda]

Einar's not too "weak" or whatever to cleave to Thorfinn's ideals, Thorfinn's ideals were just never his to begin with. Of course he's going to fight. The entire point of coming to Vinland was to find a place worth defending. You can't just keep running unless you're willing to never have any roots. I mean, how is Thorfinn going to feed Gudrid and the brat if he's just going to go hiking every time someone starts shit?

Einar is an idiot and he needs to learn his lesson. It's surely going to be a painful bloodbath, but it seems inevitable at this point.

A painful bloodbath for most agricultural types is preferable to being driven off your land entirely
Anyway they have a fort, they don't really have a proper escape route, and the Lnu are being motivated pretty much entirely by greed, so there's a huge difference in morale and cohesion here.

 

[tappp]

Thanks for the chapter 🙂

The only way (I'm able to see), which would possibly solve this situation, would be if they get help. So an alliance with the Lnu and possibly a later co-habitation(?) If there is "marriage" then it would seal the cohabiting too.
Thorfinn is out anyway, and the current defense probably won't hold up. What else is there? Hild could damage many of them, but disabling 300 is just not doable.

As some have stated already, it also makes sense that some of the Norse would have to die for them to realize and value Thorfinns ideals... Einar may have lost it, but Hild seems to have adopted them 🙂

At least the progression of the story is interesting. I hope Thorfinn will still be able to show off his strength despite of his injury. It's not good that they think of him as weak.

 

[Theozilla]

Einar's not too "weak" or whatever to cleave to Thorfinn's ideals, Thorfinn's ideals were just never his to begin with. Of course he's going to fight. The entire point of coming to Vinland was to find a place worth defending. You can't just keep running unless you're willing to never have any roots. I mean, how is Thorfinn going to feed Gudrid and the brat if he's just going to go hiking every time someone starts shit?

A painful bloodbath for most agricultural types is preferable to being driven off your land entirely
Anyway they have a fort, they don't really have a proper escape route, and the Lnu are being motivated pretty much entirely by greed, so there's a huge difference in morale and cohesion here.

I don't think people are getting on Einar's case because he's being "too weak" to hold to Thorfinn's ideals (as you said Thorfinn's ideals were always for his own personal atonement), but rather because for this specific situation Einar is acting foolheartedly. Thorfinn also definitely can't feed his family if they been killed because of a defensive siege that can't be won.

Like this isn't just "someone starting shit", this is a case where the settlers (I think the ratio of men to women was about 3 to 2 IIRC) have at best 60-70 people able to act as combatants. The rule of thumb when it comes to siege warfare is that a defending fortress can typically hold off an attacking force that is up to 3 times the size of the defending force, and the number of Lnu attacking are well past that ratio.
And the village does have a potential escape route, the captain just said that the village can be evacuated within 3 round trips. Even with that requiring them to survive a siege for about a week, that option seems a lot less risky than trying to defeat an invading force of 300 combatants through defensive siege tactics when one is significantly outnumbered.

Also the Lnu aren't solely motivated by greed, they are also motivated by the fear of the disease the Nords pose to them.

 

[Malkraz]

This is so fucking painful.

Einar about to find out why Thorfinn hates this shit.

Einar knows just as well as Thorfinn why war is terrible, do you even remember his backstory?

 

[Konrad2]

Thanks for the scanlation.

 

[Makenai]

Hm, I don't like the way Einar acted these past chapters. I feel like it's less about his backstory and more because of Arneid. He even carried her heavy statue all the way to the fort.
Also I don't see them winning either. Yes, the Lnu seemed weaked because we've seen them against Hild and Cordelia but I don't think the rest of the Fort's men can put up a decent fight against them. Their only adventage are their weapons but the Lnu are much more agile. Maybe they can kill one or two but that's about it. I think only Thorfinn and Cordelia could turn the tables but they don't want to fight so escaping is the better choice.

 

[Theozilla]

Hm, I don't like the way Einar acted these past chapters. I feel like it's less about his backstory and more because of Arneid. He even carried her heavy statue all the way to the fort.
Also I don't see them winning either. Yes, the Lnu seemed weaked because we've seen them against Hild and Cordelia but I don't think the rest of the Fort's men can put up a decent fight against them. Their only adventage are their weapons but the Lnu are much more agile. Maybe they can kill one or two but that's about it. I think only Thorfinn and Cordelia could turn the tables but they don't want to fight so escaping is the better choice.

I recommend checking out this person's analysis thread of the chapter, it breaks down the difference in where Thorfinn and Einar are coming from, and why Einar is currently making these decisions now (despite it no longer even being the most tactically sound route either) https://x.com/Bia_Karlsefni/status/1794826300647186443

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1794826300647186443

 

[phil777]

I hope Thorfinn and Hilda don't return to see everything burned to the ground and everyone dead.

 

[Gem-Bug]

I didn't expect Einar to react this way.

It's like when a best friend says something like "Hey, I'm not sure about this vaccine stuff"

 

[sixtem]

I hope Thorfinn will still be able to show off his strength despite of his injury. It's not good that they think of him as weak.

People listening to or respecting Thorfinn because he's a good fighter is like the ultimate failure of his ideology, so it either shouldn't come up or should be portrayed for tragedy. It's the reason he hasn't tried to prove to the other settlers that he's really tough. If he does, he's ruling through strength, no matter how indirectly.

 

[EarlofMillenium]

Big oof. Not surprising from Einar at all given what he's been saying.

 

[kirik]

haha time to deport these savages

 

[SpiritusNox]

Einar clinging to Arnheid's bust while committing himself to a course of action she would absolutely slap his shit over for even considering is some bleak shit man lol

Anyway people have already talked about a lot of the tactical advantages and disadvantages at play here but here's one I think merits heavy consideration that I haven't seen come up: none of the nords are soldiers.

Y'all remember the battle of Ketil's farm? Remember how Ketil actually outnumbered Canute's Jomsvikings like 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 or something? And then you remember how it didn't remotely matter, because when a line of barely-trained and equipped peasants met a line of hardened Jomsvikings, the peasants just got splattered? Because one line was made up of fighters, and one was emphatically not.

Now, there's a lot of important differences to consider here. Ketil's forces didn't have fortifications of any kind, the Lnu are probably better trained than the Nords but not to the level of the Jomsvikings, the Lnu definitely don't have the Jomsviking's calibre of equipment, siege warfare should be a pretty new concept to them tactically, and the Nords are fighting under threat of extinction with their backs against the sea. But at the end of the day, you've got an army on one side and a poorly trained and organized peasant rabble on the other. These things tend to go one way.

 

[LordofAlI]

damn what a shame. Bloodbath incoming.

 

[Swagner]

A painful bloodbath for most agricultural types is preferable to being driven off your land entirely

Only if they don't have somewhere to go back to, which these settlers do.

This is going to be a tragedy for both sides, I'm sure.

 

[77BLc9JwJGpLVARkamJx]

Well, one way to thin out people they gonna put on the boats, which they dont have enough anyway.Might as well go out with a bang.

 

[Kingkeal]

Man this is gonna be bad. Einar invoking Arnheid on this decision might as well be spitting on her grave. Isn't this very similar to how she got sold into slavery to begin with but on Crack? This battle only ends one way. Because even if the settlers had enough people to man their fort, and even if they weren't outnumbed 4 to 1, none of them have any experience with defending a siege or commanding an army in general. So it's a bunch of rabble being led by no one fighting a trained army that has superior numbers. Meanwhile I'm guessing they'll be sending the women and children alone somewhere which is also incredibly stupid.

 

[alrightcock]

haha time to deport these savages

how the fuck do you read this manga and have a dumbass mindset like this...

 

[Kushikime]

Thanks for the chapter