History Characters / VinlandSagaThorfinn

* CrapsackWorld: Basically the motivation that sets his journey in season 2. [[spoiler:Thorfinn hates the Viking world and wants to live peacefully in Vinland. Still, he finds himself owing much to the hellish farm of slaves as they gave him a home and friends after a decade of fighting. ]]

* DespairEventHorizon: While Thors' death did a real number on him, Thorfinn really crosses it [[spoiler:with Askeladd's death, particularly as Thorfinn didn't get a chance to kill him]]. With his whole reason for living gone, Thorfinn doesn't even resist being sold into slavery and spends the early Farmland arc as a shell-shocked ExtremeDoormat.

* DoomMagnet: A lot of people close to Thorfinn end up meeting grim fates. His dad ends up becoming Askeladd's victim and Askeladd himself is stabbed to death by the Prince.

* ManlyTears: While dry eyed during the entirety of the first arc (childhood excluded), he becomes far more compassionate in the second arc, complementing his character development after his spiritual awakening. He is shown openly weeping on several occasions such as [[spoiler: during his reunion with his mother and after Arnheid's death.]]

* ParentalSubstitute: Thorfinn acknowledges ''two'', those being Askeladd and Leif. The two of them filled in the void left by Thors' death when Thorfinn was very young. He also [[spoiler:adopts Karli]] in the third arc.

* ThePowerOfHate: Played Straight and Deconstructed. Thorfinn's vendetta against Askeladd is basically what drives him for ten years of constant war. [[spoiler: Askeladd's death reduces him to an ExtremeDoormat: the source of his hate (and indeed reason to live) is now gone]].

* PracticallyDifferentGenerations: Thorfinn is nine years younger than his sister Ylva. By the time Thorfinn is a young child, Ylva's practically an adult.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Thorfinn in the first arc is fueled exclusively by his thirst for revenge against Askeladd, but he will only attempt to kill the man in a proper duel. He never tries to take his life by any other means. Not in the midst of a chaotic battle, not by sneaking up on him in his sleep, nothing else. Askeladd calls Thorfinn out on his idiocy when he tells him the story of [[spoiler:how he killed his own father out of revenge as a child through patience and cunning.]] Thorfinn also cared little for anything outside of his vengeance, even his remaining family and friends back in Iceland. When he first reunited with Leif, he refused to return home or even consider how his disappearance affected his sickly mother and overworked sister. In his mind, he couldn't focus on anything else until he regained his father's honor.

* ScarsAreForever: His body is covered with all sorts of scars from the constant fighting when he was in Askeladd's band. Interestingly, his face remains scar-free until the "Farmland Saga" where part of his left ear gets cut off, the later he gets a longer scar running down the side of his face. It only really serves [[GoodScarsEvilScars to make him look more rugged]]. [[spoiler:After the two year timeskip post Baltic Sea War, Thorfinn has another scar across the bridge of his nose. It once again serves to ruggedize his looks further.]]

* StrongFamilyResemblance: Much like Ylva, Thorfinn inherited his mother's looks, but also gained his father's strength and better health. Although when he finally [[spoiler:returns to Iceland, Helga recognizes him immediately in part because she sees his resemblance to Thors.]]

** Askeladd killed Thors, so Thorfinn has to avenge him by killing Askeladd. [[spoiler:It's deconstructed. Not only does the oath of vengeance pretty much ruin Thorfinn's life, but Askeladd makes it clear to him that he's an idiot who has no real clue what really wanting to kill someone means. When Askeladd is mortally wounded, he tells Thorfinn he can finish it if he likes, and Thorfinn isn't able to do it, instead getting a HeroicBSOD and attacking Askeladd's killer.]]
** Reversed later [[spoiler:after Thorfinn makes peace with his past. He happens to meet a woman whose father HE had killed when he worked under Askeladd. Even though he has become a different person since then, she doesn't care and wants nothing but his death.]]
** Turns out his anger over his father's death hasn't truly dissipated. He has come to terms with his anger towards Askeladd, sure, but [[spoiler:when he learns that Floki was the one who actually orchestrated it all, he has to calm himself down and acknowledges that if he met Floki, he would probably tear him limb from limb. And then when he ''does'' run into Floki by chance, he picks up a sword for the first time in years, preparing to kill him.]]

* BlindedByRage: Thorfinn's FatalFlaw during the first arc. During their duels, Askeladd is repeatedly able to put Thorfinn off his game by looking down on him or badmouthing Thors in some way. This will always cause Thorfinn to immediately go for the kill, making him susceptible to a swift counter. Somehow, Thorfinn never realizes this until Askeladd explicitly tells him how predictable he is in a brutal TheReasonYouSuckSpeech,

* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Thorfinn punches Einar in the Slave arc when Arnheid dies to stop him from becoming a murderer like him with Ketil

* CrapsackWorld: Basically the motivation that sets his journey in season 2. [[spoiler:Thorfinn hates the Viking world and wants to live peacefully to Vinland. Still, he finds himself owing to the hellish farm of slaves as they gave him a home an friends after a decade of fighting]]

* DespairEventHorizon: While Thors' death did a real number on him Thorfinn really crosses it [[spoiler:with Askeladd's death, particularly as Thorfinn didn't get a chance to kill him]]. With his whole reason for living gone, Thorfinn doesn't even resist being sold into slavery and spends the early Farmland arc as a shell-shocked ExtremeDoormat.

* DoomMagnet: A lot of people close to Thorfinn end up meeting grim fates. First his dad ends up becoming Askeladd's victim and Askeladd himself is stabbed to death by the Prince.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Formerly an innocent kid with neat short hair, he lets his hair grow and be unkempt while living rough with Askeladd's band. After being enslaved, he lets it grow even longer out of apathy, but begins to groom and tie it back after Einar and others bring him out of his depression. After regaining his freedom and returning home, Ylva gives him a haircut and shave to his chagrin, making him look the most like an older version of his child self. When he returns from his merchant voyage, he has grown his hair out akin to his teen self, but more groomed. When he finally goes to Vinland, his hair is trimmed and combed back.
* {{Expy}}: A violent teenager who causes several death becomes a pacifist unwilling to kill enemies no matter the tactic? Himura Kenshin from ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' might be a good friend to him.
* ExtremeDoormat: During the second arc. [[spoiler:Having lost his reason to live with Askeladd's death, Thorfinn is completely calm, humble and stoic and resigned to whatever comes his way, seeing no point to anything. It takes a combination of Einar, Snake, and Sverker to make him realize he's still capable of meaningful living.]]

* FaceOfAThug: During his revenge seeking years, he never looks very attractive. A lot of it is admittingly the fact that he doesn't take care of himself at all, causing him to look generally shaggy. But when he really gets angry, his face becomes pretty grotesque looking. [[spoiler:After undergoing positive character development after years of slavery, he becomes rather attractive, especially after getting a shave and a haircut. After he returns from Constantinople and starts his journey to the west, he's outright ruggedly handsome.]]

* FragileSpeedster: During the first arc. Thorfinn is extremely fast and very skilled (a necessity when one fights with daggers) but built lightly and lacks the girth and strength of older, larger fighters. [[MetronomicManMashing His first battle against Thorkell goes badly as a result]].

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Loosely based on a real Icelandic explorer. Presumably the real Thorfinn didn't spend his formative years as a revenge driven viking.

* LackOfEmpathy: During his time as a raider, he thought nothing of the rape and murder Askeladd's band committed and simply walked away from the sight of it in mild disgust. He'd at least tell would-be victims to run, but didn't truly care either way. [[spoiler: He regains it after Asekladd's death.]]

* ManlyTears: While dry eyed during the entirety of the first arc (childhood excluded), he becomes far more compassionate in the second arc, complementing his character development after his spiritual awakening. He is shown openly weeping on several occasions such as [[spoiler: during his reunion with his mother and after Arnheid's death.
* MartialPacifist: Most prominent in the third arc when he agrees to fight but always avoid too violent results.

* MrFanservice: Although he is poorly nutritioned as a slave, as soon as he befriends Einar, Thorfinn starts taking care of his body resulting into a scene where he is half naked in a better state. In the Vinland arc [[spoiler:he downright appears naked for two pages taking a bath because... we need the rating.]]
* McNinja: His use of daggers, role as a scout, and fighting style based on agility definitely seems to invoke Ninjas despite him being Nordic. Even does a NinjaRun at times in the anime.

* NiceGuy: Thorfinn used to be a really sweet yet naive kid, before Askeladd killed Thors. [[spoiler: Even more so after his HeelFaceTurn. Thorfinn may be the nicest and most heroic character in story.]]

* NoSocialSkills: Being a child soldier and ruthless raider for so long resulted in having very few actual people skills. After regaining his humanity, this is shown more prominently during the third arc a couple of times.
* NotAfraidToDie: After the events of the first arc, Thorfinn states that he cares little if he lives or dies. [[spoiler:Snake shakes him out of it with pure KillingIntent, making Thorfinn realize he wants to live after all, though it takes time til he finds his reason for why.]]

* ParentalSubstitute: Thorfinn acknowledges ''two'', those being Askeladd and Leif. With Thors having died when Thorfinn was young, the two of them filled in the void left by him. He also [[spoiler:adopts Karli]] in the third arc.

* ThePowerOfHate: Played Straight and Deconstructed. Thorfinn's vendetta against Askeladd is basically what drives him for ten years of constant war [[spoiler:but when Askeladd dies he is basically reduced to an ExtremeDoormat due to the source of his hate (and indeed reason to live) being killed off]].

* RevengeBeforeReason: Thorfinn in the first arc is fueled exclusively by his thirst for revenge against Askeladd, but he will only attempt to kill the man in a proper duel. He never tries to take his life by any other means, not in the midst of a chaotic battle, or by sneaking up on him in his sleep, nothing else. Askeladd calls Thorfinn out on his idiocy when he tells him the story of [[spoiler:how he killed his own father out of revenge as a child through patience and cunning.]] Thorfinn also cared little for anything outside of his vengeance, even his remaining family and friends back in Iceland. When he first reunited with Leif, he refused to return home or even pay any consideration to how his disappearance affected his sickly mother and overworked sister as in his mind, he couldn't focus on anything else until he regained his father's honor.
* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: Thorfinn is a phenomenal warrior, able to match some of the greatest warriors of his age thanks to his single-minded pursuit of revenge. [[spoiler: However from the second arc onward it becomes clear he's completely clueless at anything besides fighting. He needs to be taught how to farm, fish, trade, and more. He doesn't even know that women can't breastfeed babies unless they've recently given birth.]]

* ScarsAreForever: His body is covered with all sorts of scars from the constant fighting when he was in Askeladd's band. Interestingly, his face remains scar-free until the "Farmland Saga" where part of his left ear gets cut off, the later he gets a longer scar running down the side of his face. It only really serves [[GoodScarsEvilScars to make him look more rugged]]. [[spoiler:After the two year timeskip post Baltic Sea War, Thorfinn has another scar across the bridge of his nose. It once again serves to make him look more rugged.]]

* ShellShockedVeteran: After the first arc is concluded and Thorfinn gives up on his violent ways, he's still haunted in his dreams by the men he's killed.

* StrongFamilyResemblance: Much like Ylva, Thorfinn inherited his mother's looks, but also gained his father's strength and better health. Although when he finally [[spoiler:returns to Iceland, Helga recognizes him immediately in part because she sees some of his resemblance to Thors.]]

* TearsOfRemorse: During his dreams in the second arc Thorfinn finally realizes what his father had been trying to teach him as a child and comes to regret all the people he killed in his thirst for revenge.
* ThouShaltNotKill: Attempts to become an ActualPacifist during the second arc. He is eventually forced to fight in order to save other people, but only as a last resort and still refuses to kill.

* TookALevelInKindness: [[spoiler:After being sold into slavery and the death of Askeladd, Thorfinn becomes a much more somber and kinder character.]]

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Thorfinn believes himself to be the instigator of his father's doom, or so he thinks. If he hadn't stowed away on his father's ship, he could have lived. But it still would have happened either way.

** Askeladd killed Thors, so Thorfinn has to avenge him by killing Askeladd. [[spoiler:It's deconstructed. Not only does the oath of vengeance pretty much ruin Thorfinn's life, but Askeladd makes it clear to him that he's an idiot who has no real clue what really wanting to kill someone means. When Askeladd is mortally wounded he tells Thorfinn he can finish it if he likes, and Thorfinn isn't able to do it, instead getting a HeroicBSOD and attacking Askeladd's killer.]]

* NiceGuy: Thorfinn used to be a really sweet yet naive kid, before Askeladd killed Thors. [[spoiler: Even more so after his HeelFaceTurn. Thorfinn may be the nicest and most heroic character in story]]

* NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech: At the end of the Farmland Saga, as Thorfinn finds a purpose in life, he delivers a three-part speech on his new views on life and suffering [[spoiler:at Arnheid's grave, to Canute's housecarls and finally to Canute himself]] that essentially serves as this.
* NoSocialSkills: Being a child soldier and ruthless raider for so long resulted in having very few actual people skills. After regaining his humanity, this is shown more prominently during the third arc a couple of times.