Vinland Saga - Vol. 8 Ch. 54 - End of the Prologue

[MangaDex]

 

[egi321]

End of the- WHAT

It's been 54 chapters and 8 volumes, what thE FUCK DO YOU MEAN WITH PROLOGUE?

 

[HangBXI]

Lmao, end of prologue. Thought I was tripping for a second, but damn.

 

[Shootin]

Brilliantly written. Askeladd's initial plan was to find a way to assassinate the King so that Canute could take the throne by default. But everyone knew that the King did not want Canute to succeed the throne - he wanted his eldest son Harold to take it. So any assassination attempt would have to be done in a way where there wouldn't be any suspicion on Canute (e.g. an English rebellion), or else he wouldn't be seen as the next successor to the throne.

However the King knew that Askeladd had a soft spot for Wales because it was his mother's birthplace and he didn't want any more Welsh people enslaved by the Danish or to deal with what he and his mother had to suffer through with when his father Olaf abandoned her. The King used that to his advantage by planning an attack on Wales to force Askeladd to figure out how to deal with stopping this invasion and assassinating him at the same time. Askeladd did not want to deal with this so he, along with his sentimental attachment to Wales, decided that the fastest way to end this conflict was to kill the King right there but at the cost of sacrificing his life. This was a good reason to kill the King because he was unwilling to back down on the invasion of Wales, which also means that his death won't put any suspicion on Canute. It also created an opportunity for Canute to become the undisputed hero to be next in line for the throne by giving him the credit of killing Askeladd.

I think Wit Studio will probably end their 24 episode anime here seeing as it is most fitting as it's the end of the first arc and 54 chapters is an ideal amount for that number of episodes. If they adapt everything properly then I can definitely see it becoming a huge hit.

 

[hbalck]

If the anime stops here, bra-fucking-vo. Also, Floki's the real man behind the shadows of Thors' death. Not sure if anyone else put him up to it but I saw it as a means for Floki to remove a possible rival for command of the Jomsvikings.

 

[Callidus]

@hbalck This is my third time through this series, so once you get caught up you'll find out why Floki did what he did...or just read my spoiler.

Spoiler

Floki didn't want anyone taking his spot as the Chieftain of the Jomsvikings, so knowing that Thors is alive and how everyone would instead follow Thors, plus being married to Holga, Floki decided to assassinate him. Once Floki finds out that Thorfinn is the son of Thors, thus the best heir to the Chieftain position, he tries to have Thorfinn killed as well. You're basically exactly on the money though.

 

[hbalck]

@Callidus

Thanks. All caught up. Couldn't stop reading once I started 😎

 

[Operatix]

uhhhh

 

[xvexe]

The look on Thorfinn's face killed me inside. Think that's the first time I've teared up from a manga.

 

[daddyxlonglegs]

this manga's fucking amazing

 

[Snakeykid1]

thorfinn got blue balled

 

[AkinMadem]

askeladd to thorfinn is like ace to luffy or jiraiya to naruto.
thorfinn needs to become stronger.

 

[TheLastTLK]

Lol that's funny, so basically Thorfin just wasted like 10 years of his life chasing revenge just to not get it in the end.

 

[owlette]

man was Thorfinn really so blinded by revenge that he didn't even take the time to think through WHY Askleladd even killed his dad in the first place and what he would do after he got his revenge...for a decade...? oh boy

 

[likklnisa]

nah i teared up, it’s the fact that Thorfinn had to learn the hard way by askeladd that he was so blinded by revenge he wasted his childhood on something he couldn’t even obtain by the end. Plus if he wanted a bone to pick with someone, it should’ve been that dickhead Floki considering he was the man behind the plan. All askeladd did was go through with it. Anyways, I hope my g goes back to iceland and repents for being a stupid little boy for the whole prologue and from the spoilers, I know he will :’)

 

[BonFkingBon]

I appreciate the route the author chose. Not very heroic, not very dramatic coming from the epic main character, but it was a realistic result. Thorfinn was blinded by bloodlust and revenge ever since he followed his father's killer. He was doing dirty work, killing many people, dirtying his hand, and for what reason ultimately? He didn't have a single person to guide him, to nurture him, to teach him anything. It would only be logical his current self isn't capable of avenging his father.

Brilliant!

 

[vinccc]

This chapter is so heart-wrenching. Beautifully, realistically told.

 

[absentee69nice]

This chapter gets me every time. The look on Thorfinn's face says so much, he's experienced the trauma of losing his father. Twice.

 

[dezdance]

thorfinn’s expression here and the anime... i can’t

 

[YumoYumo]

ASKELADD!!!
I see little reason to continue reading this manga. Thorfin sucks. For me Askeladd was the main character and now it's over.