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Thorkell: Good friar, what say you? Who is greater, your Jesus or our Aesir?

Willibald: ...Whichever created liquor.

Thors: A true warrior needs no blade.

A manga series created by Makoto Yukimura, author of Planetes. Vinland Saga was started in 2005. It chronicles the adventures of a band of Vikings.

Taking place in the 11th century the story chronicles the life of Thorfinn Karlsefni, an Icelandic boy who becomes a warrior to avenge his father's death. He does so by dogging the heels of his father's killer, Askeladd, by fighting in Askeladd's band. But it's not some story of deception. Askeladd is aware that Thorfinn wants to kill him, and he gleefully uses this information to manipulate the boy into doing his bidding in exchange for a one-on-one duel.

As we follow Thorfinn around, the story expands to the Danes' pacification of England of the early eleventh century and the rise to power of King Canute.

Ultimately the series has a lot of brutal (but fun!) battles. It's also fairly accurate about viking culture, so it teaches you stuff while you read (yes, it's that awesome). It's also got some pretty snappy dialogue and humorous little exchanges between characters both major and minor.

No relation to the classical viking sagas known as the Vinland Sagas, about the explorations of Erik the Red and his son Leif. Though they are alluded to through the stories of Leif Erikson, alias, Leif the Lucky.

Can be read at pretty much any scanlation site.

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This manga provides examples of:

• Action Girl: in a Canon omake, Ylfa fantasizes about becoming a Bad Ass pirate queen. The fact that she eagerly joins in on the occasional whale hunt proves she's no tender maid.
• Axe Crazy (Literally in the case of Thorkell, I mean come on, dual wielding great axes? It helps that he's seven feet tall)
• Ambiguously Gay (Bjorn seems to be more or less in love with Askeladd.)
• Annoying Arrows: (Averted, arrows are often used to great effect)
• Anyone Can Die: Only Thorfinn is left in the story out of all the characters from the opening chapters. It's safe to say that any character that doesn't have a historical basis, and even some that do, will meet a grisly end.
• Art Evolution: (Its a slight one, but noticeable, when it changed from being a weekly Shonen to a monthly Seinen, the art became more detailed and a few of the character designs were tweaked as well, most notably with Bjorn)
• Armor Is Useless (Averted altogether for the most part, with only two minor exceptions.)
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: After Askeladd kills King Sweyn, Canute kills Askeladd, as part of a Xanatos Gambit to transfer control of the Danish army and kingdom to Canute. Thorfinn, being hugely upset to learn that he has been robbed of the chance to avenge himself on Askeladd, launches an attack on Canute but only manages to slash Canute's face. Canute, declaring that someone must take control of the situation, picks up the fallen crown from the floor and crowns himself, all the while bleeding profusely from his face. Friggin' awesome.
• Bad Ass (The entire cast. They're Vikings, how can they possibly be anything else?)
• Battle Butler (Bjorn serves as Askeladd's right hand man)
• Berserk Button (Do not threaten Wales while in the same room as Askeladd)
• Black And Grey Morality (This is the dark ages, the real dark ages. No one is a clear cut hero or villain)
• The Blacksmith (Thors becomes an apprentice blacksmith in Iceland, he's not very good at it.)
• Blond Guys Are Evil (Considering nearly every major protagonist is blond, this trope is thoroughly averted.)
• Boisterous Bruiser (Thorkell, and how. Just make sure you don't disappoint him.)
• Blood Knight (Thorkell fits this trope to a t, going so far as to betray his countrymen for the sake of a decent battle)
• Break The Cutie (Anne, in record time too!) And, to an extent, Canute.
• Celibate Hero (Thorfinn is far too busy being moody to sleep with anyone.)
• Cheerful Child (Thorfinn used to be a sweet kid, though even then he showed aspects of his eventual Screaming Warrior nature.)
• Completely Missing The Point: Thorfinn, about his dad. Thorkell openly mocks him about this at one point.
• Cooldown Hug Canute does one to Bjorn in chapter 39.
• Cool Old Guy (Lief the Lucky, Askeladd and Thorkell are very cool old guys)
• Crowning Moment Of Awesome (Happens at least once a fight scene, there are a lot of fight scenes)
  • Three Words: "BOW BEFORE ME!"
• The Determinator (Thorkell and Thorfinn. Thorfinn in his pursuit of revenge. Thorkell, for fun.)
• Deadly Decadent Court (Sweyn Forkbeard's court)
• Deadpan Snarker (Askeladd, and Thorfinn to a degree)
• Deliberate Values Dissonance (The raider characters generally are more than happy to either perform or tolerate pillaging, raping, and enslaving people.)
• Dogged Nice Guy (Ari towards Ylfa.)
• Dude Looks Like A Lady (When Canute first appears he's mistaken for a woman by the main characters. Thorfinn gives him the derogatory nickname of 'Princess'. Adds a whole new layer of (unintentional) subtext between them, though it's meant as an insult.)
  • (A very severe one, point of fact, to the degree that they'd be fighting words to almost anyone else — Warrior cultures take manliness very seriously.)
  • An actual lady is used as a body double, and because of her, people suspect that Prince Canute really is a lady.
• Ensemble Darkhorse (Askeladd.)
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas (Askeladd loves his mother so much that when he swears on her name, he means it. When he swears on his father's name, however...)
• Eye Scream - Thorkell getting his eye gouged out, nasty!
• Fan Nickname - It's not uncommon to hear people refer to post-timeskip Thorfinn as Viking Kurt Cobain due to his appearance.
• Foregone Conclusion (History teaches us that Canute will end up as king — but then again the story up to that point was apparently only the prologue.)
• Fore Shadowing (Askeladd remarks early on that a man with a gut wound won't last the night later this fate befalls Bjorn.
• Gallows Humor (Lots and lots of it.)
• Gonk (The Frankish King at the start and the tracker Ears later on)
• Grass Is Greener (In Vinland, apparently.)
• Good Old Ways (Legatus clings stubbornly to the Roman traditions, while Thorkell lives like it's still seven hundred AD.)
• Hero Antagonist (In the Black and Black morality of Vinland Saga its hard to call anyone a 'hero' but Thorkell's motivations are much more simply and his deeds much less villainous than many other characters.)
• Heroic Bastard (for a change, the kind of bastard Askeladd isn't)
• Heroic Sacrifice Askeladd, in order to save both Canute and Wales.
• Heroic BSOD Thorfinn, after Askeladd dies.
• Hot Shoujo Dad (Thors)
• How Dare You Die On Me Thorfinn shouts this at Askeladd as he is dying.
• Improbable Weapon User (Thorkell defends London armed with LOGS!. Note that he's defending London against ships, against which logs are rather effective (moreso than arrows, anyhow.)
• Indy Ploy (During Thorkell's pursuit, the protagonists improvise quite a bit. With varying degrees of success.)
• Infant Immortality (heheh, what a funny concept!)
• The Ishmael (Einar)
• Fallen Princess (Askeladd's mother, she fell hard.)
• Just A Kid (An English woman's reaction to finding Thorfinn on her front step)
  • The Farmer And The Viper (...Big mistake.)
• Kick The Dog (Boy do they ever, and they're the good guys!)
• King Incognito (Askeladd is the illegitimate offspring of a danish lord and also the last living descendant of King Arthur of all people.)
• Knight Templar (Halfdan will not tolerate people flouting the laws of Iceland.)
• Made A Slave
• Magnificent Bastard (Askeladd.)
• Manipulative Bastard (Askeladd once more.)
• Mauve Shirt (Ears)
• Memetic Mutation (PUNCH THE HORSE!)
• Moral Event Horizon
• My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Askeladd: "Let me teach you the real name my mother gave to me Lucius Artorius Castus."
• Never Bring A Knife To A Fist Fight: Thorkell beats Thorfinn bloody with his bare hands in their first encounter. Later, Askeladd gives Thorfinn the god of arse-whoopings bare handed while in a duel.
• Older Than They Look (A more realistic example then most but none the less Thorkell does not look like he's in his fifties)
• Old Retainer (Ragnar)
• Papa Wolf (Thors)
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: (Deconstructed, subverted and played straight: While they're all proud warriors, most are also sellswords, murderers, thieves and rapists, as well as honest merchants and farmers when necessary, just like the vikings really were.)
• Psycho For Hire (Askeladd's band are all unscrupulous bastards willing to do anything for the right price, Thorkell and his band too, but his payment is a good battle. Thorfinn isn't a psycho, but he's got pretty loose morals.)
• Put On A Bus (Thorgimm and Alti are put on a Viking Longship.)
• Rage Against The Heavens: Canute is doing it all to spite god, by creating an Utopia on Earth.
• Rags To Riches: Askeladd went from being a slave boy to a respected and feared mercenary captain using nothing but his wits, firmly establishing his status as a Magnificent Bastard, at the age of fourteen.
• Rape Pillage And Burn (...It's about Vikings.)
• Reliable Traitor (Gunir. Its not really a spoiler, you'll spot him from a mile away.)
• Retired Badass (Thors, he used to be called 'The Troll' and for good reason)
• Reverse Funny Aneurysm:
  Willibald: What is love?
  Readers: Baby dont' hurt me, don't hurt me, no more
• Rule Of Cool (The fight scenes, some have complained that all the awesome detracts from the history.)
• Sadistic Choice (Sveyn Forkbeard gives Askeladd the choice between staying Canute's retainer or saving his homeland Wales from a Viking invasion.)
  • Take A Third Option (...Askeladd responds by decapitating him on the spot.)
• Smug Snake (Floki all the way.)
• Son Of A Whore (Askeladd)
  • Just don't say it to his face.
• Took A Level In Badass Several characters, most notably Prince King Canute, after his bodyguard and father-figure is killed; he learns from the disaffected priest that what the bodyguard felt was not "love" but "preference," that God is basically a Jerk Ass, and comes to the revelation the only way humans will ever attain Paradise is to say "screw you" to the Almighty and make it on earth with our own hands. The level however, is more in Social Badass than in Combat Badass, but it undeniably Bad Ass nonetheless.
• Shout Out (At one point there's a background character that looks suspiciously like Hagar the Horrible. Also Vicky and Ylfi from Vicky the Viking appear in one crowd shot. There are numerous others, mostly historical ones, littered through out.)
  • The Frank Chieftain is named Jabbathe, think about it for a moment.
• Tearjerker: Oh god how starting with Thors' death, then Ragnar's death, then Askeladd's men betraying him, then Atli's brother going through a major BSOD, his mind reduced to that of a child's. But the most heart breaking moment would be Bjorn's death. Indeed he was Askeladd's one true friend.
  • Then there's Askeladd carrying his dying mother, a slave taken in a Viking raid, back to her home in Wales. Made all the more so by the fact that up until this point the readers had been lead to believe Askeladd was nothing more than an amoral bastard out for himself.
    • And then there's Askeladd getting stabbed by Canute, right in front of Thorfinn. Thorfinn loses it when he realized Askeladd had essentially become his surrogate father, and he simultaneously wanted to save his life and kill Askeladd himself.
    • I don't think Thorfinn ever saw Askeladd as his surrogate father. He just wanted to be able to kill Askeladd in a fair fight. When Askeladd died on him like that, he was crushed to his limits as he realized he'd never get that wish he devoted his life to. That's why he wanted to take it out on Canute, who robbed Thorfinn's life of its only purpose.
• The Berserker (Bjorn is a real bärsärk and uses a mushroom to achieve this state.)
• The Dragon (Floki of the Jolmsviking serves as a Dragon of sorts to King Sweyn.)
• The Only One Allowed To Defeat You (Thorfinn towards Askeladd.)
• The Stoic (Thorfinn has two expressions, disinterest, and anger. The only exception is that when he gets badly hurt it shows. Still doesn't slow him down much.)
  • This makes the look on his face when he realizes his attempt at evading a strike from Thorkell ended up launching him higher than the treetops even more hilarious.
• Those Two Guys: Thorgimm and his brother Atli.
• Time Skip (After the prologue)
• Trickster Mentor: Askeladd likes to think he is more a mentor to Thorfinn then nemesis.
• Tsundere (Ylfa certainly has a few Tsundere-ish tendencies)
• Turn Coat: (Thorgrimm tries too, but Thorkell despises a coward.)
• A Twinkle In The Sky: A realistic example (relatively).
• The Uriah Gambit: Guess who pulled it off? If your answer is Askeladd, you're correct!
• Victory Is Boring: Thorkell keeps joining the underdogs and losing causes in an attempt to avert this.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: (Thorfinn's mother, with elements of a Mama Bear back when Thors was still an arrogant warrior)
• You Killed My Father (essentially Thorfinn's motivation for everything he does)
  • Thorfinn could be considered something of a deconstruction of this trope. Despite being the main character, his desire for revenge makes him something below one-dimensional in personality, and is literally all he can think of. He's repeatedly given The Reason You Suck Speeches by Askeladd over it, and when Canute gets to kill Askeladd instead of him, he snaps and is reduced to a hollowed-out shell, completely burnt out.
• Younger Than They Look (Father Willibald is only in his twenties, but he looks like an old man. Its his shaggy beard and monk's tonsure that probably does it.)
• Wangst: Thorfinn gets called on this by some critics, but at least he has a legitimate reason for his bouts of depression and general surliness, but Ketil's son? A spoiled little rich boy who wants to be a warrior, always whining about how life is unfair. Here's hoping Thorfinn gives him the beating of a lifetime.
• Xanatos Gambit (Askeladd's plot to take control of the throne.)

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