#where's Gudrid

[midnight-in-town]

There's never any winning side in war (aka Vinland Saga does it again)

The new VS chapter

is

heart-wrenching.

"No one has any enemies"

"That's my life's work : how to deal with men who love war and murder, who are utterly indifferent to the pain of others"

PS : amidst such a bleak chapter, bless these two T_T

(with the war and Thorfinn asking everyone to leave I don't know, I don't know if they'll go anywhere, but it's the thought that matters)

[i-have-no-enemies]

[desifugo]

rip gudrid you would've loved iggy azalea and the rio de janeiro filter in 2014

[esspos]

finished s2 of vinland saga with my friend and i’m just now reading where the manga picks up and gudrid is easily my top favorite character so far, among characters like askeladd and thorfinn and canute

like, she’s a badass sailor lesbian (probably not a lesbian canon but she is in my hc 🤭💅) and i support her no matter what!!!

[apenitentialprayer]

The Lack of Privacy in Pre-Modern Europe

11th Century Iceland

Was this scene typical of the [Icelandic] sagas? Love scenes there are in plenty — enough that historian Jenny Jochens needed a dozen pages of her book, Women in Old Norse Society, to explain how a woman became pregnant. First the man "placed her on his lap . . . and talked with her so all could see it," talk that was visible with kisses and caresses. Then he might stretch out with his head in her lap and let her pick lice out of his hair. (Another sure sign of love is a woman offering to sew a man's wide shirtsleeves tight around his wrists, a daily task before buttons were common.) After a bit he might take her by the hand and lead her to a more private spot [...] For married couples such scenes take place in the crowded skáli, the main room of the long house, where the whole household slept on the wide benches that lined the walls on either side of the longfire and could listen in while spouses who were at odds "settled the matter between them as though nothing had happened." High-class couples like Gudrid and Karlsefni might have plank walls and a door separating their sleeping space from that of their farmhands and family, but for most couples, the only privacy in a longhouse was provided by the dark.

- Nancy Marie Brown (The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman, pages 59, 60). Bolded emphases added.

16th Century Germany

Luther's family occupied a narrow dark house with a few small and low rooms, badly lighted and badly aired, in which parents and children were huddled together; it is also probable that all or most of the family, that is, of both sexes, slept together, naked, in one broad alcove.

Paul J. Rieter (Martin Luthers Umwelt, Charakter und Psychose, page 362), trans. Erik Erikson

17th Century France

Moreover, the Daphin's sexual education was not merely verbal. At night the child would often be taken into the beds of his waiting women — beds which they shared (without nightdresses or pajamas) either with other women or their husbands. [... A] seventeenth century palace was totally without privacy. Architects had not yet invented the corridor. To get from one part of the building to another, one simply walked through a succession of other people's rooms, in which literally anything might be going on. [...] Less fortunate in this respect than his or her inferiors, a royal personage was never permitted to be alone. If one's blood were blue, one was born in a crowd, one died in a crowd, one even relieved nature in a crowd and on occasion had to make love in a crowd. And the nature of the circumambient architecture was such that one could scarcely avoid others being born, dying, relieving nature and making love.

- Aldous Huxley (The Devils of Loudun, page 12). Bolded emphases added.

19th Century Denmark

It's true that male artists and intellectuals, often from relatively wealthy families, would seek out each other's company and friendship during their youth and early adulthood. Men of the lower social classes, on the other hand, were forced to do so right from childhood. In the early part of the century, a man's attitude toward and relationship with other men was not burdened by the anxiety about touching that exists among many men today. Fear, envy, and a sense of competition were not the only emotions at play among men [of this time]; security, intimacy, and love were also present, nourished in particular by the more or less compulsory sharing of beds in those days. Around 1800 the two sexes were strictly separated in terms of their work and free time. [...] Whether a boy was an only child, like Hans Christian Andersen, or grew up with a swarm of siblings, he would be accustomed to sharing a bed with other males. "Farm hand with farm hand, and farm hand with boy" was the rule rather than the exception.

- Jens Andersen (Hans Christian Andersen: A New Life, page 157), trans. Tiina Nunnally). Bolded emphases added.

[4seasonsofart]

Askeladd killed Thors in one of the Hunger Games, so Thorfinn hates both the King and Askeladd, but Askeladd is one of his mentors in the Hunger Games.

A woman named Hattrgerd helped both Thorfinn and Canute get ready for the royal ball that all tributes must attend before the Hunger Games officially start.

Askeladd was 100% irritating Thorfinn the entire time by telling him to be friendly and smile more toward potential sponsors, who may just end up saving his life with their money. While poor Bjorn has to practically peel Canute off of his side, the young prince is anxious about having to survive these games. Both end up near the end of the hall, where they end up meeting a young noble woman named Gudrid. She shyly talks with Thorfinn with a small blush on her face before her husband takes her somewhere else, as he is jealous that his wife is more interested in some stupid flea-ridden blonde than him.

Garm is threatening to murder every tribute before the games even begin, and all of the sponsors have their eyes on him. Thorkell just laughs and says, "That's my boy right there. His name is Garm, and he'll win the games this year". Thorkell shoots Askeladd a dirty look, and Askeladd just sighs as he sees Thorfinn shaking Canute vigorously while swearing at him to get it together and to stop making him look so weak.

Arnheid is with Einar and Snake while she shakes her head and mutters prayers. She stays with Snake and Einar the entire night as most of the men stare at her like prey. She enjoys staying with Einar and her mentor, Snake, as they seem to treat her well enough. She just hopes that she may survive long enough to see her husband again. She saw him for a single moment, then he got ushered off by the mentor he had. She just wants to see him again. Still, Einar makes her laugh the entire night, and he seems quite insistent on sticking near her side.

Ketil, Thorgil, Fox, and Olmar join together and speak about picking off the weaker ones first and then seeing what they are able to do about it. Olmar is noticeably shaken; however, he tries to look strong and smug in front of his father, brother, and this other man who used to work for one of the mentors, Snake. Apparently they had a nasty falling out, and one of the Snakes tributes will definitely end up getting hunted down by Fox, and they allow him to. After all, Ketil is less than enthusiastic about getting stuck here in the first place. He is here because his farm is split between two different properties, so it is just his luck that he and his two sons ended up getting picked.

Sigurd ends up near a man named Bug-Eyes and a guy named Willibald. He got punched in the nose after flirting with the cute noble woman who named herself Gudrid. Willibald says that he expects his death and that he hopes one of them will make it swift. He won't attack anyone or harm a living creature, as it would be a sin and go against his nature. So he spends the entire night swallowing gallons of mead in hopes of drinking himself to death instead of getting killed in the horrendous games that the King always hosts.

[piratadelamor]

im not caught up with vinland saga yet so my opinion could change but i cant buy thorfinn and gudrid's relationship.......i can see she likes him but i havent seen him caring for her in a romantic way except maybe for the scene where he rescues her and hugs her but like. not a single look on his face, gesture or words of love for her... also i cant see what exactly them being together changes in the story, every dialogue and scene that mentions this is pretty skippable. i really thought he was gonna reject her that time i was like nah... it cant be, they have no chemistry. like im sure the author didnt wanna focus on that and im glad they didnt but they could've at least tried harder to convince us

[kate7h]

Hi, I love ur art and writing sosososo much (I am an artist myself but can't write to safe my life :^:) and i wanted to ask if you ever keep writing the "human" Story where gudrid got shot. Because I am investet and I would like to see how this keeps going :)

Also english isn't my first language so I apologize if I can't Word my question well ^^

Again, amazing stuff that u do, keep going🫶

No need to apologize, you’re totally fine!

Thank you so much! What a nice thing to say! 💕😭 Unfortunately, I probably won’t be continuing that one. I have just not had much time to write at all with a toddler and another on the way, so writing in general has definitely been on the back burner for me. That one specifically was an idea I thought of with a friend, so I don’t really remember a lot of the original idea. I’m really sorry about that

[itoendme]

vinland saga characters as songs (with short explanations!)

thorfinn: badlands - bruce springsteen

this song talks about disillusionment with one’s own life and the desire for change, mirroring thorfinn’s mindset in the later farm arc and vinland arc. despite his disillusionment with society, he knows it is up to him to take initiative and attempt to make a change instead of just feeling sorry for himself.

einar: let’s cheers to this - sleeping with sirens

this is a song about taking control of your life despite hardships and inspiring others to do the same. even though einar goes through a lot in vinland saga, he never gives up on himself or his friends. he is optimistic and encouraging, seizing every moment and taking control of his life. he makes the most of his time as a slave, forging bonds with thorfinn and arnheid, and working hard to buy back his freedom and inspiring thorfinn to look towards the future instead of wallowing in misery.

canute: you’d be paranoid too - waterparks

the title of this song is fairly self-explanatory. it’s about feeling like the world is against you and attempting to foil you at every turn, so much that you can’t trust your own friends, and leading to a solutary existence. now canute has been through some shit. no matter where he goes or what he’s doing, people either try to exploit him to use his power for their own advantage or try to take his power away from him, and canute keeps everyone (except for ragnar) at arms length to combat that.

askeladd: i never told you what i do for a living - my chemical romance

this song is about murdering people. plain and simple. the lyrics talk about knowing that murder is morally wrong but continuing to do it for one’s own self gain. askeladd, while he’s abandoned his own morals, is not stupid or simpleminded. he knows that killing isn’t good despite its glorification by viking society, and even though he is awestruck by thors, he knows that will never be him. he will continue to give up morals for his own gain until he inevitably meets his own end.

hild: it takes time - ls dunes

this comparison is less self explanatory because the song was written about one of the band’s guitarists breaking his wrists but hear me out. this song is about pain (physical or psychological) that refuses to go away and the fear of losing everything you know, and that is exactly what hild’s character is. even though she knows her dad wanted her to forgive thorfinn, the pain she feels as a result of his death isn’t something that she can just ignore. hers is a wound that takes time to heal, and even after seeing that thorfinn has changed, she still can’t just get over the pain he put her through right away

gudrid: overambitious - kayleigh goldsworhy

this song parallels gudrid’s relationship with sigurd perfectly. he doesn’t understand that she has her own ambitions and wants more out of living than just being a trophy wife. although gudrid doesn’t hate him, she does kind of screw him over in her pursuit of her own goals.

[midnight-in-town]

This is a call back to a previous meaningful discussion between Karli and Cordelia, addressing Karli's question of whether there is or not ever any necessity for violence (and if men who chose to avoid violence, like Thorfinn, are weaklings) and this just makes me think about how Hild is right :

The fact that Karli, Thorfinn's son, does question, as war is starting, if there is truly no other choice but fighting (for Cordelia, but also for Einar and the others) means Thorfinn avoided what he feared the most : his children won't inherit anger and the desire for war and violence.

And I find it's so much more meaningful considering where Karli even comes from. Karli was an orphan boy, found by Thorfinn and his crew, who was supposed to grow up and avenge his dead family :

Yet Thorfinn and Gudrid found a different way to raise him, far away from vengeance obligation.

So Hild is right: even if Thorfinn can't entirely stop that war with the help of the few Lnu who also think it's a bad idea, he still made his point because Karli, who's 5 years old, already understands that, yes, choosing violence is the easiest solution to a difficult issue and absolutely never the right one.

[i-have-no-enemies]

Licking up the Miklagaard crumbs wherever I find them!!!!

[daisyachain]

Vinland Saga/Black Sails comparison. VS vs BS. Full detail and spoilers for both

1. Historical fiction, specifically blend of major historical figures and fully made-up dudes as main characters.

Black Sails was born from extrapolating Treasure Island into the past, and part of this involves supporting TI’s claim that these were events that may have been real and could have happened. Black Sails uses this blend to play with the idea of truth.

If Silver is a liar, which he is, then how can we possibly take the rumours of Flint and his treasure seriously? What sort of real events would have led Silver to create or shape those rumours? If Treasure Island is the fiction that Silver created, Black Sails is the truth, and if Black Sails is the fiction that the showrunners created, history stands behind it to disprove or argue. Black Sails plays squash against the fourth wall right up until the end where--in its most transparent move yet--it shows us Silver’s (made-up) story of Flint’s retirement as a scene.

Black Sails doesn’t have imagine spots; it only breaks out of the story for true flashbacks. In fact the flashbacks more often than not reveal the truth. The scene at the farm can’t be defined as true or proven untrue; it exists on an equal level of truth as every other scene in the show, that is, it’s all made up, so none of it can be true. Everything has been created and presented for us by the showrunners, just as everything in TI is created by Silver and Bones.

Vinland Saga has a similar number of stories and truths, but they’re all remarkably straightforward for a story that blends fiction and reality. Where BS integrates history to further muddy the waters, VS introduces fiction only where real life runs out. It was supposed to be a dramatized history at first, only records of the time are so sparse and mixed up in legend that a true history is impossible. BS questions what truth could possibly mean in a time where hearsay was evidence.

VS takes a pro-truth stance to the point where even a character defined by his two-faced deviousness can tell a story and have it ‘proven’ true by flashbacks. No word Askeladd says to us, the audience, is ever doubtful even if his orders to his men are facetious. Even his offer to Thors of leadership, though believed by the characters to be a lie, is true. VS doesn’t just avoid the meta commentary of BS, it legislates truth into itself.

Back to the start: BS was born of the assumption that Silver must be lying. If the lie exists, there must be some contradictory truth. So what truth could possibly exist that the lie would be useful? BS searches for a sense of historical and material truth behind the fantastical treasure. VS was born from a single piece of truth. There are records of Gudrid and Thorfinn’s settlement in Europe and archaeological evidence in Mi’kma’ki, but there’s precious little to draw from before that. VS starts with the truth and has to come up with an explicit lie, a fiction that would begin to support it.

So, both blend outright fiction with history, but not in the same way. Surface similarity.

[desifugo]

rip gudrid you would've loved those freaky ass alvin and the chipmunks memes that were everywhere last year

[cosmicjoke]

I like how Thorkell is like this big idiot, but who has so much experience living life at this point, he’s also not actually stupid, and picks up on things with more keenness than most.  Him realizing that Gudrid is in love with Thorfinn was pretty funny, haha.  But I actually found it incredibly moving when Gudrid offers to fight Thorkell in Thorfinn’s place, and screams at Thorkell about why none of them can just leave Thorfinn alone.  This quote here:

“I’m just sick of all of this!! Of all these people like you!!  Thorfinn’s just trying to live an honest, true life!  He’s trying his hardest to be a gentle person!!  Why do you all have to keep preventing him from doing that?!  Why can’t you just leave him alone?!”

Oof, that got me right in the heart.  Thorfinn IS trying his hardest to be a gentle person, but he keeps getting dragged again and again into violence.  Thorfinn’s own confession at his father’s grave, about wanting to do right by Thors’ lesson to him about nobody being his enemy, but it being so exhausting, got right to the heart of this story and it’s moral lessons, of course.  As did Thorfinn’s fight with Garm, in its way.  When Thorfinn taunted Garm about wanting a “challenge” and throwing away his only weapon against a deadly opponent, it was the same sentiment being expressed, that it’s always the harder path to walk, finding a way to not kill someone who’s trying to kill you, and still keep your own life, to not hate your enemy, or even see them as an enemy, when they treat you as one.  That’s the challenge, that’s the exhausting part.  That’s what Thors meant by being a “true warrior”.  Taking that harder path.  And it’s a path Thorfinn has walked admirably up to now, despite the best efforts of so many to stop him. 

Of course it’s an idealistic message, and one could accuse this story of not existing within the realm of realism in how Thorfinn has, up to this point, managed to stick to his promise not to kill anymore.  The real world isn’t often so accommodating.  But I think one thing this story does so well, even as it wrestles with this somewhat idealized notion of pacifism, is that Thorfinn DOES still use violence when he has to.  He still beats the snot out of people, breaking bones, breaking faces, knocking people out, etc...  He still uses and relies on violence to get out of certain situations.  I was worried, early on after the conclusion of the arc with King Canute, that the story was going to take Thorfinn’s ideals to an extreme, and have him able to navigate and solve every, single situation he found himself in through diplomacy and talking, without ever having to get physically violent, and then, I think, it might have been in danger of tipping over into the realm of too idealistic to believe.  But instead, Thorfinn realized rather quickly that he could still fight without killing.  He could still fight and win without killing and without sacrificing himself.  Violence isn’t something that can ever be fully escaped.  The human condition won’t allow it.  Nature won’t allow it.  Thorkell’s warning to Thorfinn about how his dream of creating a nation where there will be no war is impossible to achieve is, in fact, true.  But Thorfinn is still determined to strive for it, no matter how difficult, or even impossible, the task may be, and it’s in that striving that Thorfinn becomes a hero.  Even as it causes him personally untold strife and hardship, he’s proven himself committed to the ideal. 

Once again, I’m excited to continue on reading. 

[stingingcake]

It's actually a really interesting part of history as it takes place right as the Vikings were sort of dying out as a way of life. It's one of the main themes of the first part, and it's not portrayed like a sad thing. They had more land and were Christianizing so the culture was changing.

At the start of the series, Thorfinn (the MC) winds up stuck with a viking mercenary band and it doesn't shy away from the bad things they do. He's just a kid stuck on revenge against the mercenary's band leader who killed his father. Thorfinn is pretty disgusted by it all because he was born in Iceland away from most of the violence (his family specifically went there to avoid violence). Iceland actually never really had any "Vikings", its mostly norse farmers, and Greenland was the same way. Like, nobody lived in Greenland or Iceland before the norse settled there, and the people who lived there went there specifically to avoid others either for opportunities in farming or to avoid issues with the law or others.

Later on in the series, Vahalla, is quite literally depicted as hell. The series doesn't show every atrocity, though it has some pretty gruesome violence. The Viking characters are all portrayed as pretty evil (with exception to Thorfinn's father who had a major change of heart and tried to find a way to atone).

So this scene is Gudrid, the daughter of people in Greenland, being shown the world by Lief Erikson, who wasn't a viking raider, but a Greenland trader (Or missionary if certain sources are to be believed).

I fell out of love with this series after a poorly timed time skip that caused all of the momentum to be lost, but the first two arcs are a powerful story about where revenge leads you and how to find redemption after doing terrible things. I think part of the reason you don't have as many people complaining about it like goblin slayer is for the same reason you don't have people complaining about Berserk, despite it's dark subject matter it tells a compelling story. It's not perfect, but idk. I imagine you would like the character of Askelad if only because he's my second favorite character and no spoilers, but there's a twist with him that deals with what you're talking about.

Source: Vinland Saga ヴィンランド･サガ

by Makoto Yukimura

[vitos-ordination-song]

Some hopes/possibilities for Vinland Saga going forward:

I felt that the introduction of the Native Americans and the dream of the future again entirely changed the type of story Vinland Saga is. It feels as though, more than ever, it’s a story reflecting on the legacy of violence of the human race. I hope that the ending keeps that scope in mind—really has something to say to us today, makes us consider how history has shaped who and where we are.

I hope that Hild will become a Canute type character who doesn’t use the same tactics as Thorfinn but also is considered respectable by him. The next arc will reveal how much she’s been influenced by him and how much she’s following her own path; excited to see that.

I think that Karli is going to be key to the themes of the final arc, he will inherit Thorfinn’s legacy the way that Thorfinn inherited Thors’s. Curious to see if Thorfinn will also have a son by Gudrid, first European born in the New World, like the historical account reflects.

I hope that the ending has a perfect mix of idealism and realism. I’m guessing it will be bittersweet.

After reading up on the real events inspiring the story, Thorfinn isn’t like the actual historical figure much. However, it’s possible that Yukimura will use what happened in real life as the ending. Thorfinn and company choosing to leave. That would be heavy. After an entire manga of looking forward to Vinland, they have to abandon it. But it would work. Since the first arc, paradise has been built up as a dream humans must seek. Whether Canute or Thorfinn, we can’t expect to reach it, yet we must try. I also feel that is a respectful way to wrap up the indigenous storyline, while still acknowledging the coming horror of mass genocide. I just hope that by the end, dead or alive, Thorfinn still believes in his dream. True warrior to the end.