#priest canute

[4seasonsofart]

Sin For Me

(Priest Canute x Vampire Thorfinn)

Suggestive

The holy angels sing on high from the heavens as the demons of the night awake to prowel. The moonlight illuminates the ever-present and graceful Mary, praying from her place on the stained glass window. The church peacefully rests after a long day of entertaining the congregation and saving lives for the Lord. A lone priest sits in one of the pews with his hands clasped together so tightly that they turn a fine shade of red. A rosary weaves in between each of his fingers as he mutters the Lord's prayer both out loud and within his mind.

A ghostly shiver runs down his spine as two frigid fingers run along the edge of his neck. He shoots up from his kneeling position as his ocean-blue eyes fly open. He runs a hand through his sandy blonde hairs as his other still clutches the rosary tightly. His eyes are shaken, but he is strong in the faith of his God.

"You have been stalking me for months, you beast of the night! Show yourself in the name of the Lord, my God!" He shouts sternly as the internal temperature of the church drops to below freezing.

A deathly metallic breath fans over Canute's pale neck as a calloused hand slides down around his waist. "What's the fun in giving myself away so soon?" A demonic giggle escapes the beast's mouth as he disappears within the depths of the church's shadows. Canute is left with a slight tint on his cheeks and goosebumps all along his body.

"I command you to answer me! In the name of God the Father!" Canute states this once again as he battles to restrain his own inante humane urges. His heart rate increases tenfold as he tries to keep the devil's control over his mind at bay.

A satanic cackle echoes across the cathedral as the cross of God bleeds out an obsidian ooze that eats away at the sacred grounds surrounding them. "I fell from heaven a long time ago, little priestess. Once an angel, now a sexy vampire. I was never cut out to hang out with those bores anyway." The guttural voice purrs out in a sensual tone. "News flash, holy beings, sucking God's dick is gay, even if it is God." It? They? She? He? Xe? Rests at the edge of the shadows, only its daunting fangs shining through the dreary twilight. 

Canute trembles with anger as he is about to retort to the strange being; it cuts him off and continues its rant. "I thought God hated queers, yet there are so many of them up in heaven. The angels just keep sucking his dick non-stop." It growls out savagely. It calms and returns to its hellish cackles. "Newsflash, your big boy doesn't run the show anymore."

Canute is at his edge now as his fists curl and he shouts with the animosity of a thousand enemy soldiers. "How dare you speak about the Lord in such a derogatory manner! You, faithless beast cast from heaven, what do you mean that God doesn't run the show anymore?" His body shakes with such ferocity that the rosary drops from his hand so foolishly. He reaches to grab it swiftly, but it is too late.

The monstrous being emerges from the depths of the church as he places one of his platform boots over the rosary. He looks up at Canute with blazing hazel eyes and tempting white fangs. He licks his fangs like a predator would when staring at its prey. He wears his long golden locks in a high ponytail, as his body is only sclantily clad in a black satin dress. He leans towards the preist's ear with malicious intent.

"It's no fun if I tell you the truth." He crushes the rosary under his heel as the beads roll under the pews and in the onyx, acidic substance that coats almost everything around them. "You are aware of the inherent eroticism of having a vampire so close to you, priestess." He murmurs softly as his fangs gently graze Canute's ear, and a drop of blood falls onto Thorfinn's tongue.

A pleased moan escapes Thorfinn's blood-tinted lips. "Oh my, you taste more divine than nectar from the heavens." He groans as a twisted smirk appears on his features.

Canute's eyes dilate as he is paralyzed by the beast's sudden appearance. "You are a vampire! A devil of the night!" He screeches as he frantically moves away from the vampire, whoever it is. He takes his calculated steps away swiftly as Thorfinn watches him with a yearning for his sweet ambrosia blood.

"Leaving so soon, my love?" Thorfinn calls out in a teasing and almost sad tone. He walks towards the priest with a deliberately slow walk. Each step is as purposeful and calculated as Canute.

He speaks desperately in a tongue that only a priest is able to speak. He calls for the Lord, for the angels, for anything holy to save him. "Sweetheart, I would rip every wing off of every angel for you. Pluck every eye out so only I am able to gaze upon your heavenly beauty." Thorfinn mutters in an agitated and lovesick manner. "No one... is going to save you." His eyes are mad. Demonic. Evil. Deranged.

Thorfinn leaps onto Canute with a pleased hiss as he goes for his exposed neck. He looks like a demonic entity from an olden Christian painting. His hazel eyes transformed into something much more malicious and ruby-colored. His fangs extend out further, as if impatient for the blood to reach their aching surface.

Canute grabs a Bible from off the edge of the nearest pew as he smacks Thorfinn with it hurriedly. The vampiric entity cries out in both pain and pleasure as he looks at Canute with an eager expression. His flesh slowly burns off from the interaction with the highly holy object. That same vile ooze slowly creeps across Thorfinn's injuries and begins healing them.

Canute's eyes search for anything to be used against Thorfinn in this time of need. "Beast, give me your name!" He shouts as he shoves his arm under the alter to grab the crucifix pendant from his broken rosary. He is panting and sweating heavily despite the temperatures that have only decreased since the satanic beast of night first appeared.

Thorfinn stumbles while the transformation process of his healing finishes. His midnight satin dress has fallen from her shoulders and hangs around his chest, barely covering it. He stares at Canute with wide, unhinged, ruby-red eyes. "Thorfinn. Thorfinn is my name. I want to hear you scream it while I defile you in front of your God."

Canute scrambles up from the floor and holds the small crucifix in his hand. "Thorfinn, I command you in the name of God to leave this holy place! You belong here, not!"

Thorfinn looks at him with an enraged expression as the black ooze seeps from the walls of the great and holy chapel. He barks out a strangled laugh as he doubles over and spits out a glob of white blood. "I broke the seal of holiness of his church with my own powers! Hurt me by touching me, sweetheart. These grounds are no longer holy." He stalks towards Canute again as a thin trail of that white, milky blood escapes his mouth.

His body, once clad in something, is dissolved by the seemingly sentient obsidian liquid. Half of his bare body is encased in it as he reaches out towards Canute with a zombie-like urge to feed on him. His bloodlust is so strong that not even the holiest man on earth could touch him without being consumed by it as well.

Canutes leg is caught in the goo as he tackles the vampiric man and ends up pinning him to the floor. He let out a low and anxious growl, like an animal trapped in a corner. He pants as the goo sends a warmth through his body that counteracts with the icicles slowly growing from the ceiling of the cathedral. He feels like he is burning alive and freezing to death at the same time. His soul feels like it is being ripped apart and repaired. He will not fall to this beast.

Canute still holds the small crucifx in his hand as Thorfinn grins at him lovingly. "What if you allowed yourself to be seduced by a handsome vampire, little priestess?" Thorfinn purrs out haughtily as he presses his bare body against Canute. He hisses out in pain as the priest rests his cross right along his neckline which creates a deep violet bruise with a black charring.

"Do not tempt me you night devil." Canute states through gritted teeth as his pale complexion flushes and he holds back a low whimper. The liquid slowly retreats from Thorfinn's body but keeps them together on the floor of the cathedral.

"Allow me to give you my body and blood, after I take yours." Thorfinn whispers in a sultry tone as his hand cusps Canute's chin. Thorfinn trails his elegant fingers along the edge of Canute's stubble. Canute drops the crucifix and it is devoured by the inky ooze. "I have stalked you for months and yearned for your blood for years." He moans out with the primal vocals of an Inncubus haunting the dreams of men.

Canute fights so fruitlessly against the bloodlust and carnal instincts that emanate from Thorfinn. Canute whimpers out softly as his cheeks flush to their deepest crimson hue. "T-Thorfinn..." He wistfully whines his name. He begs. His pleads. He doesn't know what for.

"Allow me to be the Eve to your Adam. I will take a bite from your apple, and you will be cast from a God who doesn't love you." Thorfinn begs pathetically as his back arches and his need for blood takes over his judgment. "Say your mine."

Canute pants out his words as he trails his fingers across Thorfinn's frigid collarbone. There are too many emotions. Too much of everything. His head spins with the thought of allowing Thorfinn to turn him. Becoming the devil of the night. Drinking from each other each night. The ecstasy of a vampire drinking another vampire's life essence. One word and Thorfinn will be his.

"Y-You—"

"Oh my, the dark and twisted beast Thorfinn is back for another round, eh?" A booming voice drowns out Canutes as a giddy blonde haired man appears at the entrance of the church. Thorkell the Tall and famous Vampire Hunter.

"Thorkell—" Thorfinn flashes his fangs towards the hunter, and he digs his fangs possessively into Canute's shoulder. He hisses out like the demonic beast he is. A primordial moan slips out of Canute's mouth. His eyes widen as the vampire marks him for future use. A sensation spreads between Canute's legs that is foreign to him. Is this the devil's work?

"Let go of him, you beautiful beast! Bite me instead! I love the rush that vampire fangs give me!" Thorkell shouts happily as he brandishes his engraved twin axes. The ones that have slayed thousands of Thorfinns own. The ones that almost killed him the day he turned away from heaven.

Thorfinn bares his fangs once again and places a sloppy kiss on the edge of Canute's mark. He winks towards his little priestess once more before disappearing in the next blink of Canute's eyes. Everything in the church returns to normal. The ice vanishes. The temperature returns to normal. Canute feels normal once again. Even the rosary is fixed and is sitting right in front of him. It is displeased with him, he thinks. He acted like a fool.

What happened to my self-control? What happened to all of those safety measures? Why was I almost seduced by the beast? Oh no, I'm marked.

Oh, no, no, no. Fuck.

Wait, sorry, father in heaven.

The beast has now left an impression on me. Now, he'll be able to hunt me. To stalk me easily. Now other vampires may come after me.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I apologize, Lord. Really, sorry.

I have failed you.

I will avenge my honor and kill that beast to rid myself of his disgraceful mark.

I can't spend eternity with him. Not with a handsome and seductive man like that. That's a sin! The biggest one! It'd be a betrayal of my holiness—

Thorkell runs up to Canute through the pews as he realizes that Thorfinn has disappeared. He whines out angrily as he stomps around like a toddler, deprived of his favorite toy. "No fair! I wanted to fight him! I've been looking for him for months!" Thorkell shouts in a distressed tone, unaware of how distraught and internally scarred Canute is.

When did he lose his clothes?

Canute looks down at his nude body, and he averts his gaze from it. Disgusting. Sinful. 

Thorkell continues his tantrum before promptly passing out. His baby blue eyes snap up towards the stained glass of virgin Mary. He heard something. Besides the thump of Thorkell. A shadow passing in the night.

He places himself on his knees once again as he grabs the rosary. "The demons will not consume me tonight." He mutters out uncomfortably. That same foreign sensation still sitting between his thighs.

[i-have-no-enemies]

Canute: I let my cat drink the bathtub water while I was in it.

Priest: Once again, kinda weird, but not a sin.

[angstigone]

ngl probably vinland saga has one of the most interesting portrayal of christianity I have seen so far.

[ultraericthered]

One Villainous Scene: Enough To Feed A Whole Army

It's serendipitous that this one come not only as Winter Is Coming, but also soon after the final episode of The Penguin, as the scene in question pulls a similar thing to what the events of that episode did.

Episode 14 of the first season of Vinland Saga, titled "The Light of Dawn", might just be the most uncomfortable episode in the series, and in any anime series. Rather oddly centering heavily around a bit character who never matters in the series narrative ever again beyond this particular episode and what it sets off for the following one, it reaches its climax when the viking army that Thorfinn, Prince Canute, Ragnar, Priest Willibald, and the rest of Ragnar's men are accompanying - y'know, our main characters - arrive at Anne's village and raids the place, rounding up all the villagers to force them out into the snowy cold while the vikings ransack all the houses to check the grand total of all supplies in the village, particularly the rations.

Only Anne managed to flee to safety but is watching what befalls her family and neighbors from a distance away. We see men, women, children, and even crying infants, all people who have done no harm to these Danish invaders whatsoever, huddled outside. Askeladd has determined that the village holds enough food for 50 people to last the winter, which comes up short for 104 soldiers. After chiding Willibald for an earlier display of defiance towards him and making a threat on his life should he do so again, Askeladd's attention is turned to the villagers as one pleads with him to let the villagers keep half of the food supply, with the other half being forfeited to the Danes. He even plays the "I have a baby!" card as an appeal to Askeladd's humanity. Only no such humanity seems to be moved in Askeladd, who dryly responds "A baby? That's rough." A stern, cold-blooded Askeladd announces to the masses that he has put all of them into consideration, and looks to ensure that none of them have to worry about going hungry during the winter...or for any winters to come for that matter. He intends to release them from their suffering, by ending the lives of all of them. Every last man, woman, and child.

At the protest of doing this to innocent civillians, Askeladd replies with only stone cold rationale - if he were to let all of them live but banish them from their home village, he'd have no food or drink to give to them that would sustain them out in the winter's cold, as he plans to keep all of the village's food and make it last for as long as they're able to stay there before winter fades, and should any one of them escape with their life, they'd be able to tell Thorkell and his forces where they are (which is indeed what ends up happening with Anne after her survival btw). As such, they all must perish. Askeladd's already had his warrior flunkies dig deep holes in the snow-covered ground to cram in up to 62 dead bodies. "But these people are Christians!" Ragnar protests. To which Askeladd gives a literal, word for word "So what?" Askeladd belongs to no conventional religious faith, and he doesn't let beliefs, affiliations, nationalities, gender or age set for him any standard of who he can or cannot shed the blood of without hesitation should the cause of the moment call for such blood to be shed. Which this moment does, as he's keen to remind Ragnar: this is what's best for Prince Canute. So with no more questions to be asked, Askeladd issues his command: "Kill them."

The massacre that follows is appalling and horrific to behold, even though very little of the butchering is shown on-screen. But what gives it its horror isn't what's transpiring, but how and why it is, and by who's hand. Askeladd is the true protagonist of Vinland Saga's Prologue Arc (its first season in the anime) in many regards, and we've followed him up to this point and continue to follow him even afterwards. The insights into his past and how it shaped his present character, the glimmers of deeply held convictions, motivations, and beliefs we get out of him that offset his usual devil may care attitude, his badass warrior spirit and charming personality endear him to us and allow us to be invested in his actions that drive the plot forward. He is in fact so charismatic that the viewer will likely be so enraptured by him to the point of wanting to follow him, of wanting to root for his success, of disregarding or perhaps even forgetting the basic fact of who and what Askeladd is, which is what he's always been from the moment we met him: a remorseless, merciless, spiritually detached, machiavellian and oftentimes cruel mass murderer. He's not a man, he's a beast. He knows he's a beast, and he laments it only as often as he relishes it. The same man capable of murdering Thors in such a despicably underhanded, craven way is of course capable of ordering the bloody massacre of an entire village full of innocent civillians under rationalizations of taking life and butchering bodies when such evils are deemed "necessary" by him. He feels nothing about seeing people all the way down to literal babies get dispatched of swiftly but no less brutally and painfully. To him it's all just part of how he lives his life being the man he is and doing what a man like him does. But to us in the audience who've by this point bonded with him in a way and have come around to trusting, supporting, and liking the bastard, this moment comes in like a knife in the back or through the throat to serve as a wake-up call that pulls no punches. We see Askeladd and his viking crew through the eyes of non-players not affiliated with them and who know nothing of them that we've gotten to know, and it reminds us of the ugly truth of what callous, barbaric, inhumane monsters these people are to others.

And just as disturbing? The silent complicity of Thorfinn and Canute. They're a part of this too. They also own it. The blood of the innocent soaks their hands as well, even if neither one lifted a single weapon against a single villager. This is where the path you follow Askeladd down inevitably leads, and it will weigh on their souls forevermore.

[llycaons]

VS ep14/15. written as I watched 😭

ANNE! a girl character, oh boy! she seems to harbor impure thoughts of theft...oh I cannot WAIT to see how that plays out. I love her big goofy smile too hehe. I wish we had more women in this show! like. any female warriors, too. usually I feel like there's at least one...

the 'love' thing with the priest is a bit dumb imo. vikings knew what love was. like. they have family members and friends. it's kind of strange to see christianity positioned as a moral faith in comparison to the norse pagan faith, when like...we KNOW how much destruction and suffering christians and christianity has caused over the next thousand years.

it's kind of funny to hear the extremely simplistic 'if you don't obey god and jesus Just Because you will literally be tortured for eternity' because honestly that's how a lot of christians do seem to think and try to scare their kids with. so. accurate

OH HOLY SHIT.......oh. okay. yeah. yeah this show does not pull punches

going to be honest murdering an entire village in cold blood and then praying for their souls is kind of. like. offensive? hypocritical? however the villagers are also christian so um. at least there's that

I really like how anne's hands are animated - dry and cracked. she's not a wealthy young woman, or enduring this weather comfortably. also she has the exact same backstory as lin wanyue from fgep so I briefly imagined her she disguising herself as a man joining the army to murder all the danes and then marrying an english princess. I'm much more interested in her interactions with thorfinn and canute tho - just because thorfinn wants revenge on askeladd, that doesn't mean he's not complicit. and just because canute's life was theoretically at risk and he never physically hurt anyone, that doesn't mean he played no role

apparently she doesn't come back tho 😔 my kingdom for a single major female character...I miss ylva too honestly

also canute yelling at the priest for doubting god was like. buddy you are not endearing yourself to me���� he and thorfinn truly are SO different so I'm really interested to see how their relationship develops. that line about fathers seemed to make him think - norse paganism and christianity truly do 🤝 over the patriarchy

ALSO does the priest know thors? did thors have a run-in with christians? what WAS that?

ragnar is soo funny he's such a mother hen like 'young man you need to eat vegetables' and thorfinn (poorly socialized, never talks with kids his own age, lives to kill, hasn't been parented in a decade) is like FUCK OFF I"LL EAT MEAT FOR EVERY MEAL IF I WANT TO, but then immediately caves bc he wants food and does have a job guarding this guy. ragnar is honestly very different to what you'd expect from his big tough guy design

thorfinn eating well-cooked food for the first time in ???? and clearly being genuinely emotionally touched by it and probably remembering his home and family is so. oh man he's right there isn't he. just under the surface of his aggression and antisocial behavior is that kid. he just needs a little coaxing. some unconditional affection. to stop killing people. this scene is so warm and domestic 🥺 and aw man canute being punished by his father for his hobbies...for class reasons but also it's GOTTA be for gender reasons right. like. you'd assume. and ragnar supporting and loving him...god that makes what's about to happen even worse because I did NOT see that coming at all holy shit? ALSO his DAD wanting him dead? that means thorfinn is going to have to protect him? will askeladd tell thorfinn? doubtful...man this is a complex political situation playing out huh bc askeladd wants canute in power so he can ensure the safety of wales. also another DUEL is coming up!!!! I'm sure thorfinn won't kill askeladd tho. too early. im sure askeladd has far more to do in this story before then

also thorfinn immediately holding a knife to the messenger's throat when he opens the door who's like CHILL OUT DUDE IM JUST THE MESSANGER...like LIGHTNING quick. that was real badass I did enjoy it I love speedy knife fighters hehe

[adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me]

Heresies & Ecumenism

“Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings. For there is none worthy of the name but God, whom heaven, earth and sea obey” — King Canute, Ruler of Denmark, Norway, and England (attributed)

The older I get, the more I dismiss the fervent fanaticism I see in those around me. And while I used to think about religious zeal as the sole purview of Christian sectarianism, I've begun to see it more and more in almost every ideological circle I encounter. One person may be a RINO (Republican In Name Only). Another may pay lip service to some transgender cause, reject another point, and be labeled a traitor to the struggle. There are environmental heresies, and there are Russian Ex-Pats who support Ukraine in their current conflict, but who are deemed to be subversive because of the country they were born in.

And the truth of the matter is... It's all nonsense.

The World will do what it does. The People in the world will do what they do, too. There is a reality that exists beyond the models we create in our heads. There's a landscape that will not change, no matter the stories we tell ourselves.

Heresies are nothing more than you and I arguing over which of the stories we're telling ourselves most closely matches our lived experiences, or the reality we assume undergirds it.

I mentioned in a prior post that I try to be accommodating with whatever group I am with.

In that post I gave a quote from St. Ambrose. Here are some from St. Paul.

Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God… —1 Corinthians 10:32

To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. — 1 Corinthians 9:21-23

Ecumenism has become the "Antichrist" among a large portion of the Christian community. Adventists fear it because they feel that to embrace it will result in apostasy infiltrating their Church, the very same could be said about the Eastern Orthodox Christian Community.

But the truth of the matter is that we are arguing over models, arguing over the way we think the world works, and none of us have the humility to stop and say…

"I don't know what's real. But I will do my best to live out the life I've been given in the way I think God intended me to live".

"We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also. — 2 Corinthians 6:11-13

I loved Eastern Orthodox Christianity once, and the people of the Antiochian community I associated with. I also love the People in my Seventh-Day Adventist community too, the ones I continue to daily struggle with. And for all my criticism of other protestant groups, they're all trying to discern the mind of God in their own way. I honestly feel for their struggles, since I don't think they have really looked at nature - they look at God as a very human Judge - and not as the creator of Heaven and Earth.

They don't see him in every single blade of grass, and that must be difficult for them.

I've often wished I could have a spiritual mentor, a father, in the form of an Antiochian Orthodox Priest. I also understand that pillars of Christianity such as St. Mary of Egypt, or St. Simeon the Stylite didn't have anything like that - formal mentors. So I look to more mundane instruction, as both those Saints did, and many unnamed others who must have had to do so also, and I struggle forward.

I watched the recent Heliocentric video, and see in his assessment the same thing I experienced myself. Namely, Worship isn't about forming the perfect model of reality, your Orthodoxy or your Heterodoxy, or giving TED talks on your newfound wisdom. It's about priorities, and recognizing the reality that God comes first.

It's about knowing your place, and finding peace there.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy upon me, A Sinner.

[aotopmha]

I read a few more chapters of Vinland Saga (decided to stop at ch 100 for now) and I simply continue to love it.

The moment I start doubting the writing, it pulls me right back in.

The encounter between Canute and Thorfinn was just about perfect.

Thorfinn as the non-conformist during his age and Canute as one of the powerful monarchs of his age.

I love how Vinland Saga leans on social history and how it understands the daily reality of the age, even if the story is so strongly dramatised and fused with fictional material.

The medieval king's (here during the transition from the Dark Ages to Early Middle Ages) power is absolute, predicated on the idea of the divine right (here probably in its most earliest form) – the idea that the king is the representative of the Christian god on Earth and his is the god-given right to rule.

(There is a bunch to be said about this re: Canute's arc in relation to his faith, I think, which I might elaborate on in some other post.)

And everyone around him acts accordingly.

I loved this detail in the meeting where Askeladd killed the previous king, too.

And Vinland Saga is full of awareness of the social state of the age it talks about.

From the wise but hypocritical priest who travels with Askeladd's group for a while, to the village Askeladd's group slaughters and the daily reality of the innocent family we see the point of view of prior to their slaughter.

The battlefields stink, pillaging and slave-keeping are common customs.

The world a thousand years ago is tens of times worse for women.

I talked about the story's writing of women in my previous post about Vinland Saga and I've been thinking about it a bunch since, actually.

How Vinland Saga writes women is not much different from most fiction (especially stories written by men), but I've noticed stories written for adults at least have a bigger willingness to explore the social status of women and the realities of living as a woman.

And women's lives being a struggle is doubly true for slaves in the age where Vinland Saga takes place. So the horrid reality Arnheid experienced (or even the noble woman-turned-slave at the start of the story we saw) was not too uncommon for those of her status.

It is very true that the story of travelling to Vinland is (mostly) the story of men like many stories of earlier ages (archeological finds show a pretty clear gender role divide), but it's also true that women in the Viking society were much better off than in any other of the age. They could own property, engage in trade and demand divorce, for a few examples. Nor were women exempt from being warriors.

And although Thorfinn's mother Helga and Ylva had a few neat scenes, I wish we'd see these aspects a little bit more.

I think I've felt so strongly whenever the story addresses how women are treated because even if it isn't much different from your common dark fantasy story where female characters show up rarely and far between the male characters and are there to make the guy characters sad, be written out, have their children or be tragic victims, it is at least willing to address the reality of women's lives with empathy.

I've thought about this in relation to another Seinen manga, Berserk, a bunch too and I find the why of a female audience (which includes myself!) taking a liking to these stories something fascinating to think about.

Although both series are often very excessive with all forms of violence, they are also empathic towards women's struggles and suffering.

I think this is why Arnheid ultimately did hit me and why I empathise with Casca and her journey of recovery, too.

I think the reason these stories have gained a female audience at all despite their flaws is because women see bits of their own suffering and struggles in these fictional women because, in the end, the intention matters the most.

Casca is nothing but a mute plot item for a lot of Berserk, but the story is empathic towards what happened to her and also introduces other complex women besides her into the story.

Berserk is super excessive with its sexual content especially, but at least, it, for the most part, not only pulls back on it as the story goes on, but also explores it with some substance.

And although a 100 chapters in, you can count the number of female characters present in Vinland Saga on a single hand, it does give a voice to the struggles and position of women of that time.

I thought Arnheid was really well written in that sense, at least.

I only recently realised the significance of the distinction between exploring women's position and struggles in society vs. writing women well in a more general sense.

(I think it might be Utena rubbing off on my brain, having also finished it pretty recently.)

And I often see the former branded as sexist writing (and I think it can be), but I've grown to very much think it can be valuable in its own way.

(All you have to do is make it complex/give women a variety of struggles, which I think Vinland Saga does pretty badly and Berserk gets better at as it goes on.)

I like stories that make me think about this stuff.

[cynthiaandsamus]

Damn... that was... a lot

Is it just me or does that last scene and Rick's moral remind anyone of the Priest's speech in Vinland Saga where Canute asks him to show him someone who embodies Love and the Priest points to a dead man because the only one that can't take anything from anyone is someone that's already dead? Like the general idea is that living is an unavoidable act of harm but trying to reduce the harm and keep going isn't necessarily wrong because it's all we can do.

[sakinyeh]

(fair warning this ends up being a yapfest, i’ve never read the manga in my life nor do i actually know what the hell i’m talking about.)

i’m finished with s2 don’t worry ☺️ speak your mind, but now i’m really surprised that like half of these scenes are anime only. like now you have me doubting my entire understanding of the show lol, but to be completely honest i feel like they’re warranted and they add to the narrative.

first off, unless any scene i’m about to mention is anime only, einar’s always been violent. like the first scene he’s in is him explaining to his family how he’s training to join the army. there’s plenty of other scenes where he immediately tries to resort to hurting someone, like with ketil after arnheid died, or with the retainers. i remember for a lot of the second season, actually, thorfinn had to hold einar back from trying to kill someone. he‘s not a bad person, and i fully believe his genuine forgiveness and kindness saved thorfinn, but he also has a strong sense of justice, which leads him to try to justify violence with more violence.

but i do believe the show was trying to establish that violence and hatred is human nature and that culture isn’t the only deciding factor. culture is a factor in what might impact one’s view of violence, and this is evident in characters like ketil, olmar, and gardar, but what the vikings really prioritized was war, violence was just a subset of that. my best example to defend this is the scene with canute and the priest in around late season 1 where he tells him humans are naturally incapable of love. christianity in vinland saga is basically treated as a direct antithesis to the whole norse identity, so for the show to establish that these two belief systems that couldn’t be more different both come to the same conclusion that humans are inherently violent and hateful, probably means at the end of the day it’s more than just a cultural divide.

even historically speaking the vikings are absolutely not the only people to come up with this idea of extreme militarism and military glory, there was sparta before them and fascist italy after. war is a constant and there‘s never been a time that was free from it.

and they’re not by any means the first to come up with imperialism either; i’m pretty sure even the show itself brings up the roman empire and the english colonization of wales. that said, the english by no means are a peaceful civilization, so it doesn’t make sense for einar to be characterized as some kind of saint just because he’s english and the english are slightly less bad. or at least it’s not his culture that makes him a good man.

i kinda wanna say something about how even the characters that aren’t tied down by this religious obsession with battle are still not fully pacifist, because they still rely on violence to defend themselves. which isn’t a bad thing but at least by thorfinn’s philosophy it’s still wrong. like askeladd, he hated the danes and their cultish militarism, and yet he still couldn’t break free from it out of his desire to protect his homeland, which is pretty evident in the valhalla scene, he’s above all the mindless fighting but in the end he’s still basically damned in the afterlife. and einar, who from the start wants to defend england. who’s always trying to “get back” at someone. who’s confused when thorfinn says he doesn’t want to establish a military in vinland, because who’s going to defend them then? (i assume this is why vinland is treated more like an abstract concept or a mythical paradise than a real place, it’s removed from war and slavery because it’s removed from people.) hell even fucking thors of all people told thorfinn he should defend himself with his daggers. though honestly i wouldn’t doubt it if this was anime only. all this to say thorfinn’s probably the only truly peaceful person in this show.

as for thorfinn’s dreams about einar, to be fair i completely get your point, i don’t think einar should have been his only reason to repent, but i see him more as like a final nail on the coffin. and i doubt mappa was trying to make it all about him either, but you can’t say that einar being an english civilian has no thematic relevance. all the anime did was explicitly bring it up.

i don’t know what i’m trying to say honestly but maybe you’re right about the fact that violence isn’t inherent and is learned, it’s just that it’s learned everywhere.

man thorfinn in s2 is actually insane. like how he keeps dreaming about killing einar cause the man he considers his brother really would have died by his hands if they’d met only a year before, and he’d have gladly done it, for nothing. and his dreams about his father, which did happen earlier, however those were just memories of his death. now he’s actively being made aware that his father is not only dead but also that he will never be able to rest in peace because of what his son became. and his dreams also apparently pain him so much on their own that he didn’t think anything of it that time einar tried to choke him to death. that, or he knew and just let it happen. it’s not like he even wants to die, he reflexively dodges fatal blows, he has a will to live, he desperately wishes to be happy, he just knows it’s not what he deserves. which is honestly worse. i don’t even know what i’m yapping about but thorfinn they could never make me hate you.

look at this cutie patootie.

[encomium-emmae]

In the Light

Queen Emma x King Canute, 1.2K, Rated M (+ AO3 link)

The upstairs corridor is strangely quiet as she returns to her chamber with her ladies.

For the past few hours they had taken up residence in the solar, embroidering and gossiping, the light chatter of their voices like a flock of half-tame birds, partially silenced only in their consumption of the mid-day meal.

Emma’s embroidery had progressed very little. Her mind had been elsewhere: on the lines in her ledgers, on the quarterly income of the southern shires and the cost of a good ship, on the memory of his mouth against the inside of her thigh and the way she had held him afterwards, watching the lines on his brow relax into sleep.

Since that first night, he had come to her chamber each evening, making her bed their refuge, their paradise, their momentary escape from the world. The king took such delight in her, in showing her how to please him, and how well she too might be pleased. The gifts he gave her in the dark were nothing less than a revelation. And still, she wanted more. So many hours sharing such intimacies ought to have been enough to sate her hunger, and yet it only seemed to increase, pulling her from her thoughts in the most inopportune of times. Just the other day at Mass, Emma had drifted from the words of the priest, only to return to find herself wantonly clenching her thighs.

This morning he had left as the sun rose, kissing the crown of her head before he reached for his discarded tunic. He would be gone all day, he told her, inspecting the northern city walls and the condition of the old Roman roads, and she should not expect him until nightfall.

Which is why she is surprised to see him now, standing at the end of the corridor, leaning back against the stone wall as if he is waiting for something.

In Emma’s experience, it is not in the nature of kings to wait.

“King Canute,” she says, stopping just in front of him as she offers a nod of acknowledgement. “You have returned early. I hope all is well.”

“It is. Only... once I had gone, I found myself in need of my advisor.” He looks past her, towards her ladies, his gaze commanding. “Return to your mistress’s rooms,” he tells them. “She will follow you shortly.”

They curtsey politely and then depart, skirts softly sweeping along the floors. There is no one left in the corridor, Emma realizes: no attendants, no guards standing at their posts. It is only the two of them.

She holds his gaze, ignoring the heat rising in her chest.

“What advice did you have need of, my lord, that you cut short the day’s work?”

His lips quirk and he reaches for her hand, then begins to pull her down the corridor. A few steps away there is an alcove cut into the stone walls, with sunlight pouring from a large window of leaded glass. Without a word, he spins her and presses her back against the wall of the alcove, his mouth suddenly covering hers.

She would protest, voice some disapproval, find some way to push this mountain of a man the requisite number of steps away—but instead Emma simply melts into him, parting her lips in invitation. His tongue sweeps against hers, soft at first, but then with a kind of need that stirs at her, warming the blood in her veins.

Her arms loop around his neck, drawing him closer, delighting in the feeling of his solid body pressing her against the wall: trapped, but willingly so. He circles his hands at her waist, one of them skimming up along the front of her gown.

They kiss hungrily, desperately, as if there is nothing else—and perhaps there is not. Words are reduced to breaths, thoughts reduced to sensations, everything in the world reduced to the feeling of his skin under her palms. Every place their bodies touch is now on fire, and a shiver runs along her spine despite the heat.

The king tilts his head and begins to kiss along her neck, finding a spot just below her jaw that makes Emma gasp. He feasts there for a moment, earning other sounds from her, and then she starts to feel his hands fisting at her skirts, drawing them up towards her thighs.

She stiffens, the haze of desire suddenly lifting from her thoughts, and reaches down to keep his hand from advancing further.

“Not here,” Emma hisses. “Someone could see.” She is already beginning to regret what they have done, marveling at the risk she was taking in kissing him in such a public space.

“No one will see,” Canute whispers in her ear, his voice roughened by need. “I had Agnarr clear the corridor and put a guard on either side. We are alone.”

She swivels her head to meet his gaze, wanting nothing more than to dispel her growing confusion.

“Why? We are alone each night in my bed. Is that not enough?”

The king smiles sheepishly, Emma’s heart growing warm despite itself.

“I rode out this morning with the sun bright in my eyes and warm on my back and all I could think about was you. What you would look like if I touched you in the light of day, the sun on your face when you took your pleasure. It is foolish, but that is what I wanted. To see you in the light.”

As he speaks, she finds herself oddly bewitched by image he is conjuring. Her memories of him are cloaked in firelight and candlelight, shadows lengthening over their bodies and carving sharp hollows along the planes of his face. What they are doing each night is secret—or at least secret enough—and some part of her wonders what it would be like to step out of the darkness. Would it assuage her hunger for him—or only serve to heighten it?

“If that is what you wanted,” she says, as she offers him a knowing glance, “you might have brought me with you today.”

The king’s expression turns at once from disbelief to amused delight.

“You wish to try this... out of doors?”

For a moment Emma considers it, lets the thought unfold in the deep reaches of her mind. A tree-encircled grove, a deserted hilltop covered in heather and gorse. Canute on his back, attired in nothing but the ancient tattoos that blanket his shoulders, his warrior’s body powerful underneath her. Her hair arrayed in delicate braids like a pagan goddess, some deity of springtime and rebirth. They are surrounded by solely the sun and the wind, a breeze that brushes lightly against their skin, the only sound the echoes of their passion.

The heat of shame floods her cheeks, not only for the fantasy that came to her so easily, but also for the realization that she does want it, more than she was first ready to admit.

“Bring me with you next time and perhaps we will find out.”

The air between them has suddenly grown warmer, and they are already so close, chest-to-chest, thigh-to-thigh. He is looking at her, gray-green eyes searching hers, without a hint of artifice. Emma’s breath catches in her throat as she presses his hand to her leg and begins to draw it up, skirts lifting inch by inch. When they are at her knee he pauses, slipping his hand underneath to reach the prize he sought.

She smiles and arches her mouth to his, her kiss soft as a benediction.

“But I am in the light now, am I not?” she whispers. “We both are.”

gif courtesy of @lomapacks

[4seasonsofart]

Holy Devil With Your Darkened Wings

Vampire Thorfinn x Priest Canute Trigger Warning: Self harm, depressed Canute, religious trauma, suggestive themes Part 1: Sin For Me

Among the most high of holy beings, there are the most dark of all devils. Mankind was never made to stand in the middle of these warring entities. The most corrupted of all mankind are not the ones that hide in the darkness, but the ones that dance in the light. We all have our secrets, and some are best left untold. Even the most holy may be seduced into sin.

A preacher of God lies in the confession box. A cracked bottle of whiskey in one hand and a glass of gin in the other. The mark of the vampire lies on his neck, decaying the skin around it, his holiness fading with it. He prays fervently, like a dehydrated man lost in the desert and abandoned. The words fall off his lips like stones, ones that he used to throw at the glass houses of the unsaved.

"Never allow the lust of mankind to corrupt me, oh Lord." He whispers breathlessly as he takes a despondent swig of his gin. "I will not be seduced by this devil of the night."

He swallows the rest of the whiskey and finishes his gin. He stills for a moment, and without a second thought, he violently slams his head against the confession box. He shrieks out like a hunted animal looking for its kin. He arches his back as he drives his glassware against the hardwood floors of the holy ground. The toxic shards of glass dig into his palms like the thorns of a crown.

His crimson blood slowly trickles over his palms as he lets out a choked sob. He doesn't pull out the shards of hopeless divinity as he tightens his well-worn fingers into the punishment for his own sins. He hides in the confession box. He begs the heavenly being for salvation from the beasts mark on his pale neck.

"I am not worth your salvation; my holiness has been tainted. You gave me your body and blood, and now I am depraved of it. I deserve the punishment! I deserve the death!" He sobs out with his tortured soul as he wraps his lacerated hands around his aching throat.

He pushes his hands into his once-pristine neck as that same human sin flows out of him. He's being cleansed of that night's devil's mark. He just needs to be cleansed. Like the water washing sins away, his blood will wash the mark. He tears his clerical collar away from his cleansed neck as his hands buzz with the holiness that he has regained. He no longer sees any harm but the good that comes from his actions. The booze tastes like the body of Christ, the new blood within him... Christ's blood.

He knows that he must cut the mark out of him! Stop the infection of the satanic offenses on his holy body. First, he must rid himself of the rest of his faults. He must become clean. He must become new.

He unbuttons his cassock only to his chest as he shakily pulls out a pocket knife. "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He mutters under his breath as he makes oddly angelic lacerations of the cross all along his body.

The tainted sin of mankind mixes in with the grounds of holiness. Soon enough, nothing is evil anymore; there is only God, the real God, and the angels above. He finishes his obsessive life of prayers as he digs his split fingernails into the devil's mark.

"How far mankind has fallen." A silken voice of lustful pleasures reaches his ears and echoes across his soul. His trousers tighten instinctively as that foreign feeling sinks down into his core like a soul into hell.

His eyes snap open as he is met with the devils entrancing hazel irises. He adorns a different seductive cloth tonight. A white-laced baby doll dress that barely hangs past his upper thighs. He wears a pair of pink and white stripped knee highs that meet the ends of his— sinful outfit. Canute gulps down hard as all thoughts of his cleansing begin to drift to the dark recesses of his mind.

"So surprised to see me again, my priestess?" Thorfinn purrs out like a content cat that has just reconnected with its owner.

He places himself on Canute's lap without a care in the world as he positions his thighs right outside of Canute's. He hums in an almost heavenly manner as he tenderly begins picking the shards of glass out of Canute. His fangs enlarge again as he takes in the aroma of Canute's intoxicating blood.

He watches as Canute's eyes widen, and he is able to feel his heart rate speed up. He shuts his mouth as he continues to pluck every single piece of glass with as much care as a craftsman has while making their magnum opus. They sit together in such a compromising position. Thorfinn's frigid breath causes goosebumps along his bloodied figure.

"Allow me to be your savior for once, dear." He speaks in such a sweetened tone that no mortal is able to resist.

Canutes irises grow clouded with an unknown haze as his body becomes encased in that same obsidian ooze. Thorfinn presses one of his lifeless fingers against Canute's lips as he gently shushes him. He smirks triumphantly, although Canute's vision is much to hazy to see it. 'Right along with my plan. My mark always works wonders.'

"Who do you belong to?" Thorfinn inquires in such a soft tone as he squeezes his thighs against Canute.

"Y-You..." He trails off as his head hits the back of the confession box.

"Are you mine?"

"I am yours." He finalizes, like the last nail on the cross.

Canute's eyes roll into the back of his head with those cursed words as his body goes limp. Thorfinn's virtuous smile morphs into a gnarled simper. He plants his fangs gently into his priestesses tender skin as his mouth wraps around his neck like a boa constrictor. His tongue connects with the nectar that he has so been deprived of as he moans out gutturally.

"I want to bleed you dry. Wanna make you mine, my sweet love." He murmurs in a frenzied manner as his pupils dilate into crimson gems.

"Thorfinn, hurry the hell up; boss wants us back in the den soon." Torgrim shouts obnoxiously as he lazily bangs on the side of the confession box.

The foreign gooey substance disappears from Canute's limp body as it is left in pristine condition. Thorfinn hisses out in an irritated manner as his delicious meal time has been rudely interrupted. "Tell baldy he can fucking wait! He's got all eternity!"

He begrudgingly detaches his fangs from his lover's neck as he gently peppers a set of kisses over the mark he gave him. He growls out as Torgrim interrupts him again by banging on the box so harshly that the wood splinters.

"Keep your fucking fangs in your mouth, asshole!"

The musky scent of rotted corpses attacks the nostrils of the fallen priest. His soul is at rest in this moment, although his body is shocked awake. The pure amount of malice and demonic energy emanating from everything here makes him wish he had his rosary. He frantically looks around as he realizes his cloth has been removed from him, his injuries healed, his bare body exposed to the elements.

He's isolated, for now. No light streams into the darkness of the barren cave. Only the stench of satanic rituals and the occasional drop of water are felt. He stands up and keeps his legs closed as he stumbles in the darkness. All of the hairs along his figure rise to their peak as his entire body is lined with warnings of the danger ahead. Stalactite and stalagmites make jagged teeth within the confines of this tomb filled with demise.

Impossibly finite rocks dig into his soft flesh mercilessly. The occasional trail of groundwater mixed with limestone and the fluids from the desecrated deceased. Tortured echoes of mortal misery and ecstasy reverberate through his eardrums. He shudders as a frozen draft enters the tunnel he is walking through.

A beastly hiss enters the shell of Canute's ear, one that is much airier than that of Thorfinn. It is fleeting and tortured, as its intensity dies out like a flame on a ceremonial candle. The temperature immediately rises once again as Canutes fight or flight is quelled for a few moments.

"Oi, Priest Canute? What are you doing in the vampire caves?" A familiar voice chirps in.

Canute is startled for a moment and turns around quickly while rushing to make himself presentable. He keeps an iron grip on his legs to keep the cove of his privates covered from this newcomer. He crosses his arms over his chest to hide his nipples and some of the hair that trails shamefully along his stomach downward. He is a man of God; he shouldn't be seen in such a compromising position. Lewd. Horrid. Sinful.

His eyes lock on Garm's crazed gaze as a specially crafted spear still lies in the throat of a now-lifeless vampire. It isn't even twitching or hissing as its puncture wound rapidly rots away. The vampire is soon nothing but dust in the winds of time. His spear, Canute notices, is engraved with many protective and religious sigils that are only made in the highest covenant of witches. Canutes brows furrow as his head lifts away in pure repulsion. 'A vampire hunter? Another disgrace towards the church.'

Garm is still adorned in his alter boy apparel, although it is stained with the devil's sinful blood. A strange glinting is caught within the darkness of the earthen tunnels. A pair of vampire teeth lie proudly off of his ears, like earrings, like he is proud of how easily he kills these beasts. His normally couth and pulled-back blonde hair is now spiked up with gel, as if his hair were now a death trap of its own. The young man quirks a curious eyebrow towards the priest as he uncaps a bottle of the church's communion wine and chugs it down. A few droplets escape his lips and make their way onto his clothes.

He speaks in the most dignified tone that he is able to muster. "Garm, alter boy, is that the communion wine?"

"You mean the Jesus juice?" He mutters off passively as he wipes his mouth. He has emptied the communion wine bottle by now, so he lazily tosses it into the side of the cave wall.

"The utter disrespect you have just shown to Jesus's sacrifice."

"Eh?" Garm chuckles out happily. "So fucking around with a vampire isn't disgraceful? I'm not the one who is currently naked and nearing a vampire den." He points towards the bare figure of Canute as he chuckles.

"How did you—"

He's cut off during his stunned answer as Garm promptly replies. "The church hired me along with Thorkell to protect you. Naturally, I joined that shitty church of yours. Never really understood that Jesus fellow." He trails off as he snaps his fingers and remembers his words. "Vampires leave a sort of residue, I saw some around the church. Next thing I know, I hear you moaning and I see a Vamp banging on the side of the confession box."

Canute's heart rate picks up as his hazy memories fail to fill in the gaps. He does remember Thorfinn. His seducing tongue, his traitorous fangs, his erotic actions. How he— "Wait, did you harm Thorfinn!?" He blurts out suddenly as tears threaten to spill from his eyes. One of his hands moves from his chest towards the mark, it's soothing now in a way. An emptiness fills him, yet somehow, he knows that Thorfinn isn't dead.

"Woah, woah there, didn't know you guys had fucked that much." He snickers unhingedly. "Unfortunately, I did not. He got away from me and took you with him!" His face morphs into a pout as he shakes his head. Canute sighs in relief as one of his fingers gingerly caresses Thorfinns mark.

"Coward! I want a worthy vampire opponent and he keeps slipping from my hands!" Garm angrily stabs his spear into the side of the rock as he grins. "Least I got that one scratching on the side of the box. Didn't put up much of a fight. Froze like a stupidly pathetic deer." He repeatedly stabs the rock to get out his frustrations.

Canute's feet scream for relief, his mind for his church, and his heart for his love. He loves God, always. He gulps as he shakes any straying thoughts from his mind. "Garm... I..." Canute trails off as he everything has gone blank.

His eyes shoot back up towards Canute as a wide grin plasters itself onto his face. "Oh the tunnels, yeah? Let's you get you outta here. Thorkell is just a few turns down." He states in a cheeky manner as he springs up. He taps the shoulder of Canute as he happily trots along, deeper into the network of vampire tunnels.

Canutes stumbles as his feet are bloody messes. Garm doesn't look back nor slow down his walk. He is oddly excited to be in this situation, despite having lost his kill. "You always talk a lot during your sermons. Not so much now, eh?" He mutters as he looks back at his partners struggle. He rolls his eyes and grabs his hand while pulling him along hurriedly.

"How do you know of this place? You called them 'vampire caves'." Canute inquires hesitantly as he attempts to keep himself decently covered... to no avail.

"Oh, I know my way around here. I go through the vamp tunnels as they're like shortcuts. They connect to all the dens filled with those promising opponents." He giggles maniacally as he bumps shoulders with Canute. "Technically, mortals aren't allowed in this place. Bullshit. Good practice. Always an opponent willing to try (and fail) to cut down the undefeated Garm." He proclaims proudly.

"Oh." Is the only word that is able to escape his chapped lips.

"Oh?" Garm snorts as he comes upon an impatient Thorkell. They have come upon a lightened exit. The lively sound of animals and the content forest in a stark change of pace from the depressing and alluring charm of the tunnels.

The giant looks at both Garm and Canute with a pleased smile as he adjusts the weight of his twin axes over his shoulders. "Look at how spry you two are! We'll surely catch Thorfinn now!"

"You're right, Thorkell! I get to battle him first!" Garm declares as he shoots a threatening glare towards Thorkell. Canute places his weary foot back and this isn't unnoticed by Garm. He tightens his firm grip on the unclothed arm of Canute.

"No fair! I've been hunting him longer!" Thorkell whines softly as he stomps around.

"I found our bait, so I get the first stab at him."

In less than a blink of an eye, Thorkell has one of his axes near Garm's throat. Garm expertly blocks the swing with his well-crafted spear. "Very well. Only one stab. Then, he's fair game for either of us to kill."

Canute interrupts their bickering with a statement. His voice is shaken and once again his dread creeps within him like a vine ensnaring his soul. 'What is wrong? Why must my moods be ever changing?' "Bait, you said? It is highly illegal to use a servant of God as bait for one of those beasts!"

Garm and Thorkell both make eye contact with each other as they have a hearty laugh. "Who says the church has to know?" They both ask in an unnerving unison. They look like cackling hyenas within his shaded blue irises.

"You despicable Vampire Hunters! You have no honor!" Canute spits out in an exasperated manner as his face tints slightly red.

Thorkell does the scariest thing a mortal can do. He goes quiet. He has an outburst of white, hot rage as he grabs Canute and presses him against the side of the cave. The slimey stone digs into his soft flesh so harshly that a quiet whimper escapes his lips. "You, have no honor. You are a priest! A coward! You fight no battle, you only sit upon your mighty hill and past arrogant glances towards us all!"

"You know what they say Thorkell?" Garm snickers mischievously. "The bigger the dick, the better the warrior."

Thorkell casts his glance down towards his private areas and then nudges Canutes legs towards the side forcefully. "I suppose both Garm and I are definitely better warriors than you."

They laugh in a monstrous manner, Canute can't tell which monsters he'd rather be with. He hangs his head in utter shame as his cheeks burn brighter than any flame that has put those unrighteous to death. His back slowly leaks his crimson tears of unholiness as his feet are torn by the roads of the fallen before him. The last drop falls into the depths of the darkness and rolls off as the two men shout about something that Canute is unable to focus on. They drag him to the edge of the tunnels carelessly; he's handled like a common slave. He's forced to stand as he takes a step out into the sun. He hisses in the most excruciating pain that he has ever experienced.

"Little priestess, did you really think that you could escape me?" Thorfinn mutters out in a sweetened manner. He stands nonchalantly near the edge of the darkness. His finger swipes across the edge of the cave as he collects a bit of his lovers blood. He sticks it in his mouth as a pleased moan escapes his plump lips.

"Thorfinn!" The hunters shout excitedly in unison.

Thorfinn gnarls out demonically as he sees his injured lovers state. "You bastards! To hell with the both of you!" He clenches his fists so tightly that his lifeless tissue tinges a brusied violet.

"We'll take you there with us." Garm challenges as his spear ends up precariously sitting on the edge of his lovers adam's apple.

Before Thorfinn has time to react a hand tugs on his shoulder. "No time Thorfinn, I'll let Bjorn deal with those life breathing morons." A strangers honeyed and irritated voice barks.

"Fuck off old man; they're mine."

"No." The word in spoken in all finality. No room for argument.

Canute is thrown towards the ground in surprise as a force of nature falls over the entrance of the cave. A force so strong and mighty that even Canutes soul trembles heavily. It is as if even the stench of death and sex that wafts from the caves is overpowered. It is a beast.

"Good man Bjorn, rip the hunters apart. We must be going." The estranged voice states passively. As if the wild creatures aura was more of a comfort than a fear.

The pleased shouts of the beastly hunters are drowned out as that foreign ooze seeps into Canute's very core. A moment later, it has once again disappeared, and he falls into Thorfinn's arms. He is barely able to see through the haze of his eyes, as the temperature here is more frigid than that of the church. A figure walks up to Thorfinn in this. He can't see; all he knows is that he is in the caves still.

"Thorfinn~" A cheery yet masculine voice beams. "A little birdy told me that you saw the hunters today. Was Garm there?" He inquires eagerly, barely able to contain himself.

"Elisei." Thorfinn sneers flatly. "You've got angel blood all over you."

"Don't avoid the question love~" Elisei purrs out as Canute is detached from Thorfinn momentarily.

"Go fuck yourself!"

"No, I'd much rather do it with you and Garm." Elisei giggles in a crazed manner as his hand gently pats the top of Canutes head. "Prey?"

"I am not going to be part of one of your weird vampire sex orgys." Canute is barely able to see Thorfinn spit on Elisei and Elisei thank him. "Don't you dare lay a hand on him. He isn't prey... he's it."

"Wait, so you saw Garm today and you got to taste the blood of the one?" Elisei squeals as he drags his finger across Canutes neck. "Bastard, you marked him." He states in a desperately pouty tone almost the same as Garm. "No worry, I'll just give him one of my own."

Canute is barely able to make out the shape of this Elisei character. He is about the same height as Garm and has long, shaggy brunette hair. Canute weakly covers his neck as he backs himself into one of the earthen walls. He looks in the direction of where Thorfinn stands with pleading eyes.

"I am going to—"

"You two bitch like dogs in heat." A gruff and gritty voice mutters as a burly arm tugs on Canute.

"Bjorn, you're wings look like they could use some trimming~ I've got a special potion that I could—" Elisei is cut off as well.

"Quiet vampire witch. Lest I rip your fangs from your mouth and sacrifice you to Askeladd." The beast Canute met earlier now one hundred percent confirmed as Bjorn.

"He's mine." Thorfinn mumbles as Bjorn shushes him with one of his wings.

"He is a mortal. He was harmed when you so carelessly left him in one of our tunnels that was explored by humans. He needs a bath and a warm bed. These are direct orders. End of discussion you brat."

Bjorn raises Canute bridal style and carries him within his powerful arms.

"Thank you..." Canute mutters weakly.

Bjorn doesn't reply as he moves to carry out the order given to him. Although, an invisible smile etches across his ancient features.

[wizardmons-moved]

canute’s character arc is so funny bc he’s like ‘boo hoo i’m shy and pathetic’ and then this priest guy is like ‘nothing in life matters btw’ and he’s like ‘wow... i never thought about it that way’ and then he becomes god

[mercurygray]

A little fic idea for you and your Vikings Valhalla OFC: Edith is one of the witnesses at Emma and Canute's wedding ceremony and ends up telling Godwin about it... or perhaps he finds some way to persuade her to tell him... ;)

I had a lot of fun with this! Sadly no persuasions here - they won't be at that point for a good while yet. Apologies for the verb tense in the middle, I'm not really sure what happened there.

Armies come and go, they say, but precious little changes for the women. Isn't that the truth of it? Edith thought to herself.

It was quieter, now, in the halls of the palace; with the King and most of his retainers gone there was almost a feel of normalcy about the place. The queen, never one to waste time, had given orders for the rushes to be changed and the rugs to be beaten, bits of cleaning here and there that simply weren't possible when court was in session. Usually these were the tasks that would fall when the court moved to Winchester - but, Edith thought, there would be no such move this year, after all that had happened in the last several weeks. Everyone else at court would simply have to make do - including councilors who smirked as they passed by in the corridor.

"Edith. I hope your mistress knows the game she's playing," he said lightly, obviously intending to make her stop and talk with him.

She paused, hating that he knew just how to goad her. "I think you know the queen does not play games, Godwin."

"I would say she plays some. Or maybe you two are not so close as you suppose, if she does not tell you everywhere where she goes." His smile had a dagger in it. "It's a very poor maid who does not know her mistress's whereabouts. Tongues might wag."

Edith took a breath and tried to remember patience. "Perhaps you'll be so good as to tell me, then, where you think my lady has been."

The councilor stepped forward, his voice lowered so as not to attract attention. "To be alone, at night, in the King's chamber? I could say she was brave but never stupid."

It had been late indeed last night when she'd discovered the queen was gone - there'd been a muffled knocking at the door some hours later, one of Canute's guards outside. "My king says you're to come at once." Edith had looked back at Emma's bed, then, and seen that it was empty. What mischief's this? And why does the King need me?

But the Queen was already with him. "Oh, Edith, you've come." She'd began saying something, about how they were waiting for Father Wictred, and Edith had stopped listening a moment, too surprised to speak. For Emma had looked - there was no other word for it - happy. When was the last time she had smiled so? Holding her babies, perhaps, when the shouting had stopped and the pain was over: here was something that was completely hers. And here, in this room, she had that same look - every time she glanced over at the King.

Edith had looked at the creases in Emma's gown, the loose waves of her hair and the equally loose sheets upon the bed, and had realized - She's lain with him, body and soul. And he lay with her, she'd added silently, taking note of the equal intensity in the king's eyes, low-raked desire, like a bank of coals, the glances passing between them like arrows. And there was something, too, in the way his hand lingered over hers, careful with his every touch as if she were a object of marvel and he was afraid that he would break her. Edith had felt a welt come in her throat. Aethelred never looked at her so. She was what was due him, not something to be cherished. I'll love you for that, my lord, she'd thought to herself, listening as Canute conferred with the newly arrived priest. If I love you for nothing else, I'll surely love you for that. You gave her back her boys, and you made her smile.

So, that was that. She'd had precious little sleep last night because of it, and now here was Godwin, with his smirks and intimations that her lady had only given in to lust, thinking he knew all.

Well, two could play that game, couldn't they? "That was hardly a game." Edith considered a moment, and decided it was worth it to slide the knife in. "How could it be, with three witnesses and a priest?"

To watch Godwin's face go pale made all the insults worth it. "A priest?"

She was allowed a smirk of her own, now, and took it with much satisfaction, seeing all his careful manners crumble just a little. "What's this? Something that Godwin All-Seer doesn't know? He wished to make it good before he left, and so it is. You'll see she wears a ring of his now - a white stone in a heavy silver band."

"Three witnesses," he pressed, seeming just a little bit more desperate. "Who were they? And the priest?

She counted on her fingers, savoring his defeat. "Father Wictred read the vows - I stood for her, and two of his men for him. Agnarr and...another, I do not know his name." She saw another opening and came in for a second cut, closer than the first, and deeper - "It's a shame he did not ask you. Perhaps you're not as close with him as you suppose." Should she chance it? Did she dare? He was bleeding now, and she might kill him - but it was too good an opportunity to let it pass her by.

"I'd be very careful who you mock, my lord. It took two days to get the blood out of the floor after that dinner- and Streona didn't insult his wife."

She thought she might treasure the lost look on Godwin's face for weeks to come. It was a slow season now - she would need the entertainment.

[ancientcitylullaby]

Wrote down all my reactions while watching Vikings: Valhalla and HOO BOY I can’t wait for the next season already 😭😭😭

spoileds under the cut:

Aethelred being an old racist damnnn

Harald and his brother are so cute!!! His baby brotherrrr

Harald what a man

Leif is hot

17 MINUTES IN AND HARALD ALREADY FUCKING?!!!!

Harald puts his cross around his back when Freydis tells him what happened to her 🥺

LEIF JUST WALKS IN ON HARALDS HALF NAKED ASS

Olaf.... a rapist? I... I hate that so much Jesus Christ

Great the religious divide oh boy

> Because singing killed my grandma okay!!

Harald stopping the fight between a Christian and a Pagan is a metaphor 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Harald’s speech makes me want to give him the sloppiest toppy

Nothing turns me on more than a religious tolerance king

JARL HAAKON!!!!! 💕💕💕

Harald “I can fix her” Sigurdsson

Oh so the rapist WASNT OLAF I feel a bit better now

Aethelred coughs up a lung asmr

Godwin looking so bitchy

Leif and Freydis cute siblings awww

Harald and Freydis are cute too

EMMAAAAAAAAA

EDMUND BABY

Emma’s so much younger than Aethelred and I know it’s accurate but ewwwwwww

“You married a Norman, we create nightmares” damn right you do cause you’re french

Leif fought a polar bear that’s so hot

Emma is so hot

I do not trust Godwin with Edmund hhhhhhhh

ARE WE GONNA SEE LEOFRIC

Nvm it’s Eadric

Harald:

“I show this Saxon mercy by ending his pain.” “What about love?”

“I love doing it”

The triskel!!

Bapy child found Leif 🥺🥺🥺

Harald save him awwwwww

Are they surfing bro

WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP

Canute standing like “you know I had to do it to em”

Wasn’t aethelred terrible at leading tho

EDDIE AND ALFIE ARE IN THIS OH MY GODDDDDD

MAGGIEEEEEEEEEE

Ohhh Godwin’s turning on England fuckkkk

Did freydis just lick this old man’s hand-

That was a raven... was that Odín????

Oh it’s like a priest

Harald came to visit big brother 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Canute and Emma hhhhh

EDMUNDS LITTLE SMILE WHEN CANUTE KILLS EADRIC HAHAAAAAA OOO THE BITCH DESERVED IT

Alfie and Eddie capturedddddd babiesssss

CANUTE LMAO

GODWIN MAKES THE BABIES PRAY LOUD SO THEY CANT HEAR HIM KILLING DUDES

“They’ve gone to heaven” BRUHH

Oh my god Canute you bitch

He doesn’t want to meet the nobles you stupid slut

**LEOFRICCCCCCC OH MY GOD**

Kåre is a bitch but I feel like something horrible happened to him fuck

Godwin you stupid slut is Leofric gonna die??!!!!!!

They KILLED LEOFRIC?!!!!!!!! BRO HES NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE TIL 1057

Okay I kinda understand why Kåre is mad but he’s still insane and a freak

Olaf and harald are no bros :,((((

IS THAT FUCKING BABY HAROLD AND SVEIN WITH AELFGIFU??!!!

Oh god there’s about to be beef between aelfgifu and emma

Why tf is Olaf dressed like a lumberjack hipster

Stg you are NOT about to make me ship Harald x Leif

CNUT IS FUCKINGGG

WHY IS HE SO LARGE

Great I just saw Harald’s ass

Awww harald want to marry her

Sweyn forkbeard looks musty

Godwin you BITCH OF COURSE YOU DID

EMMA NOTICES THE OTHER STAB WOUND HHHH

Haralddd mansplain manipulate malewife

Harald rolling his eyes at Olaf’s conversion shpeel lmao

HAAKON NOOOO

HARALD BAPY NOOO

Is harold harefoot like 8 and about to fight

SCREAMING IS LEIF GONNA GO AFTER CANUTE’S KID AND WHICH KID IS IT??!!

in summary I am screaming give us season 2 PLEASE

[llycaons]

ch. 79. yep, all for one

sighs dreamily....part of the reason I'm so happy about danverge is I got stupidly excited about thorfinn/canute which is not the fault of anyone but me but that was a desperately disappointing dynamic if you're looking for concrete romance. these two tho. they're intentionally written and canonically like this. ahh....fated

he has tactical reasons for this but is dante really so angry that VERGE told a hurting teenager to leave the church? after what he knows?

I'm on verge's side here dante ik there's a staffing crisis but nobody forced the church to abuse the children under its care. verge's suggestion is only one part of his decision to leave. also the people verge killed may well have been perpetrators of his abuse, or others'. I like the dissolving cross, too

edit: going over my earlier lbs I found this

DANTE...you KNOW these people were preying on the poor and sexually abusing people and you're mad at verge for killing them? VERGE???

on the other hand I do see dante's point...they WERE shields for the kids like leah and priest. but accusing verge of childishness is a bit sad and ironic....verge probably thinks he's naive and spineless and turning a blind eye to abuse

I wonder why this made dante so upset...maybe verge just appearing collected and cool is enough to rile him up, but in that panel dante looks about to cry. and in a few pages we get that famous panel....is verge saying dante's abandoned something about his past? that he's accepted the corruption and homophobia of the church? ohhh...yeah that would hurt.

ugh, there's nicholas. callback to the first chapter, but dante specifically denies the church proverb that the priest invokes. he fights back...verge is mocking him for leaving this defiance behind and becoming a church lapdog after everything, perhaps. after all that the church did to verge and the homophobia that they both must have experienced

MEAN TO CHILDREN....

THIS SCENE IS SO CUTE....all the kids and dogs....verge looking after him in this very first flashback scene. the adultified child because there was nobody else to look after these kids. he must be the oldest. well that part's not cute.

it's not like he's doing especially mentally well in the present day but his eyes in this flashback are so flat...he's so serious and devoid of whimsy...

'you should cherish those who care about you' because dante unlike verge has a place to return to, food, a caretaker, an education...I wonder if dante is actually related to nicholas

so naive....maybe verge saw the way that dante's treated there and doesn't want to risk being treated like that. and he doesn't want to lose his autonomy or the care of the kids he looks after. probably he doesn't trust the church even before starting up his work. he's so calm and rational and acts so mature...it's really sad how little he was able to be a kid. and now he's frozen in time at the physical age of 12 or something and he's mentally like 25 but he still acts like a perpetual child....god he's so fascinatingand tragic I want to see so much more of him

'you should go to the officials for help' and the officials in question are sexually exploiting him. if dante hadn't seen anything that nght he never would have known...

they know each other so well....sniffle. well verge knows dante. idk if dante really sees verge

GAY DANTE CONFIRMATION!!! I SCREAMED. this is the point at which I had to start posting even though I couldn't liveblog. because like...HE'S LITERALLY GAY....anyway the horror and fear in dante's expression is really heart-rending. after whatever happened with verge happened, I'm not surprised he kept it private. it might make issues with the church anyway....

I don't think they were ever together. I don't get that sense. in their little repartees, they seem to acknowledge their feelings but never really talk seriously about them, even with dante almost-apologizing about what happened in their first fight. verge uses it as ammunition to mock him but doesn't seem to seriously think dante still cares (or ever cared? is he bitter about the past?) about him despite constantly baiting him, and dante only talks about loving verge in the privacy of his own mind and has given up on him coming back so completely that any reciprocation doesn't even seem to matter to him. I mean, he's trying to kill him.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was just too painful to him to talk about - not that he really has any friends anyway. especially with that mask he puts up, everyone thinks he's a careless womanizer and he wants them too think that. I wonder if the witches know about verge being gay? he would be in good company, but maybe that's not something he talks about with sincerity either. he seems to prefer putting on his childish, taunting facade and pretending he's just having fun. oh he did kiss charlotte that one time and she got really into it so maybe she doesn't know. ha.oh but it's so sad...what kind of life they could have had in other circumstances...

THIS MOST BEAUTIFUL PANEL...one of the best in the whole manga I truly do love it so much. the support and understanding verge is offering both physically and verbally, dante's entire bearing so miserable in the aftermath of being outed and humiliated, verge's eyes closed serely and holding his book like he's so much older than he is...I think verge knows. like I think he picks up on it. but I doubt they talk openly about it

it's neat how they're mirrored here - reminds me of that battle panel from their first fight where dante tries to save verge and verge tries to corrupt dante. the cross seperating them is GREAT, and the body language directed away from each other. ah, doomed love...it's a wonderfully efficient and effective panel that packs a huge emotional punch, but it's still very easy to grasp immediately.

and then hitting us with leviticus 20:13, which I had to google because I didn't know it but like. I knew it. I knew what it had to be. leaving it for the audience to find on their own was a really good move. subtle and heartbreaking and doesn't rub it in your face. one of the more restrained and sensitive depictions of religious homophobia I've seen honestly

I'm so glad a series that deals with the abuses and corruption of the church so directly incorporates gay characters. seeing them reacting to and experiencing the homophobia baked into it institutionally is so...cathartic? because dante and verge's lives were ruined by the church, and we are told this pretty explicitly. verge was sexually exploited and abused and ran away and became a witch as a young age (which involves kissing and/or sex) and dante was beaten and humiliated and lost the person he cared about most, resigning himself to death once he completed his task of killing him. it's a tragedy, but it's not a tragedy because they're gay, it's a tragedy because the church fostered abuses of power and predatory officials preyed upon impoverished youth and the environment where they grew up was infused with vicious bigotry. it's like the story of luca again - the tragedy wasn't because he existed, but that he didn't have a safe and supportive environment to grow up in

this was also the issue with sarah and asmodeus....whatever that relationship was, sarah loved women and she had to marry a man for duty's sake. it wasn't poverty that doomed her, but misogyny and a restrictive patriarchal culture supported by the church that sent her to that life

anyway that section ended with another closeup of them holding hands im gonna cry.

this happened in utena too..

and on to the next section.

'father' so this is definitely a literal priest. "I COULDN'T HOLD IT ANY LONGER' god I hope verge tore him to shreds with his with his witch powers

then verge immediately shielding dante from the priest's view to protect him...

crazyyyy heeven had to say this. you could argue it's on the nose but I don't actually mind

another really good panel...I really might cry. and dante doesn't even know. he doesn't even realize....I wonder when he figures it out. at whatever confrontation that had verge running away? the meta of that scene I read earlier was really good I want to revisit that scene. the one where their first convo is about that time and verge thinks dante is victim blaming but dante is trying to say he knows that he was wrong to abandon verge? layers...

the witches are so cool I love them. standing on their brooms like that...

they're all so funny

ohhh quill powers! I wonder what she does

aww. they were really friends, huh. support for each other during the worst times of their lives. and they're having fun now at least

oh I get it. because it's a divine comedy. HA

also...a clash of feelings for the final act? yeah, I bet

[faire-rosalind]

This is pretty much the time when I started taking screenshots of the manga (not that there weren't many worthy moments before but I was in such a rush to get to the material I haven't watched in the anime😂). I just moved all of them into special album, turns out I have 420.... I'm obsessed I admit it hahaha. But let's talk about these few chapters that involve Canute's character development. I'm biased, I know, but they were some of my favourites. Also the fight between Thorfinn and Thorkell was such a nice parallel taking place during this time. I actually remember that I was so neutral about Thorfinn back than that I thought along the lines: ehhh, Thorkell is going to die and that will make me more sad than if Thorfinn did. To my surprise Thorkell survived (woohoo! So happy, I really am not into him loving war and all of that but you can't deny he's such a charismatic character) and little did I know back then that Thorfinn would go to become my second favourite character. Oh how the turn tables. But speech about love and Canute's new outlook on life! I think this is truly a philosophy that one has to deeply think about to understand, but then again is it a true philosophy if you don't have to think hard to fully understand it? When a priest first said that love that people feel was not love but discrimination my face went like huh🤨 at the moment. But more I thought about it the more I understood what he meant. People really can never truly achieve the love god possesses, since god created everyting and therefore he loves everything without any exceptions. Humans do not love like that, they find people, make connections, friends, have children and love them and are ready to risk lives of hundreds just so they can protect the ones they love. Some may try to love everyone equally, but that godly ideal of love can never be truly reached. I saw some divided opinions about Canute's character development, some love it, some say it doesn't make sense. To me it did. I think he had these three father figures in his life who he felt protected him. His biological father lost that place or probably never had it in his eyes. Than he lost Ragnar, he's true father who did give him everything that one dad could give his son. Lastly he realized that god, father in heaven, didn't give up on him or people, but refused them heaven on earth and even if there is heaven somewhere in the afterlife these vikings would never go there. So to achieve true love he must also obtain heaven even for those who don't deserve it and only way to do that is to create one on earth. That's the reason why I think Yukimura makes this parallel between him and Thors. Not because they both are completely similar people but because they are both warriors. And true warriors do not need swords but I would also argue that true warriors need a worthy cause that is not selfish. Those who fight for something greater even if that "greater" is hardly achievable. Thorfinn definitely joins these two later in the story, I love that time when he meets again with Thorkell and he tells him he has more of that look Thors had. Anyways I really liked this part of prologue, I unfortunately think I can never truly put into words how it made me feel and stuff it made me realise but maybe some things are not meant to be explained but experienced. Thanks to anyone who is crazy enough to read❤️

@chengsandagan111 tagging you because you asked, would love to hear your opinion!