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This article's content is marked as Mature Thorfinn contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature articles are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| NOTE: This article is dedicated to Thorfinn after his redemption in the Farmland Arc. Thofinn's past as a villain can be found here: Thorfinn |
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| “ | Enough? What would you know? What the hell do you know about what I've been through? As long as Askeladd lives, breathes, eats, and shits, I haven't done enough!! It's not enough! | „ |
| ~ Thorfinn explaining his motivation for fighting. |
| “ | I have no enemies. None at all. | „ |
| ~ Thorfinn rejecting his violent tendencies and adopting a pacifistic outlook and his most famous quote. |
Thorfinn Thorsson is the main protagonist of the historical viking manga and anime series Vinland Saga.
He is the second born son of the infamous warrior Thors Snorresson and Helga. As a child, Thorfinn witnesses his father's death by the hands of Askeladd, becoming extremely bitter and motivated by vengeance, spending the next decade with Askeladd's mercenary band, waiting for the right time to challenge Askeladd to a duel to avenge his father's death, also killing many people, many of which were innocent, during this period of time, turning more heartless and murderous.
As the series goes on, after years of slavery, Thorfinn will eventually end up realizing the mistakes of the past, choosing to give up on violence in order to live a new life, vowing to never hurt anyone for the rest of his life.
He is voiced by Yūto Uemura (as a teenager and young adult) and Shizuka Ishigami (as a child) in Japanese and Mike Haimoto (as a teenager and young adult in the Sentai Dub), Shannon Emerick (as a child in the Sentai Dub), Aleks Le (as a teenager and young adult in the VSI Dub) and Laura Stahl (as a child in the VSI Dub) in English.
Appearance
Thorfinn's appearance is consistent throughout the story. He has choppy and messy hair, old clothes and two knives. He is also short, as stated by multiple characters in the story.
When Thorfinn was a child, he had a happier face, round with bright, curious eyes, and well-kept hair.
He has a somewhat slight build that belies his strength.
Thorfinn's entire body is littered with scars, most of which were caused by blades. His face remains unmarred until he gains several obvious scars on his face in adulthood, mostly because he refuses to fight with weapons and tries his best to defend himself and neutralize his opponents without causing any lasting harm.
Personality
When the series begins, Thorfinn is shown as an innocent and friendly boy who is searching for adventure. He shared a very good relationship with his family and enjoyed stories told by Leif about his adventures. He has a good relationship with his father and looked up to him immensely, shown when he decides to follow Thors by sneaking on his boat to follow him. This would become the foundation of Thorfinn's drive to avenge his father.
However, by the time he joins Askeladd's band, he is a cold-blooded individual, hellbent on his goal to avenge his father. He becomes aloof toward others, unmoved by and uninterested in what they do or thinks of him, choosing instead to keep to himself. This is seen when Thorfinn ignores the invitations from his fellow Vikings to join in on the fun and his refusing to eat dinner with the rest of them.
His flaws lie in his temper and impulsive nature. This is seen when he ignores Askeladd's input despite the benefits it may be able to bring him, which leads to him losing fights against Askeladd. Frequently throughout the series, Thorfinn's reckless nature leads to his own suffering and failure. Even if he does possess talent far beyond the norm for his age, his hot-headedness is easily his biggest weakness. This weakness also unfolds with an inability to learn from mistakes, and several times, Thorfinn has hallucinations with his late father, asking him if this is really the right way to go, and he just ignores it all. This is probably a metaphor to show that the difference between the old Thorfinn and the current one is not much big, and inside his iron fortress, he is just a wrong-headed boy.
He also showed a great lack of empathy, as he did not seem to care when Askeladd's gang murdered civilians and raped women, he just walked away with disgust. Although he sometimes told his possible victims to run when he was not in the mood to kill them, but he didn't really care anyway.
However, Askeladd's death caused him to lose his purpose and become an empty shell after being sold as a slave. During that time, Thorfinn became totally depressed, melancholy, stoic and unwilling to live, living a deplorable life being mistreated by his merchants, with none of the exuberance of his childhood, the pride and belligerence of his adolescence, or even the will to stand up for himself. Fortunately, he began to regain his will and courage with the help of Einar, Snake and Sverkel, who helped him to realize that he is still capable of a meaningful life.
Thorfinn slowly begins to recover and then takes on a more kind and pacifist attitude. He seems to have become more like Thors and seeks to become a merchant to become a better person and forget his dark past as a murderer. His time as a slave also appears to have affected his behavior. For a while, he refrained from fighting and always tried to resolve the situations in the conversation, but even then this attitude backfired several times, and so he saw that sometimes it was necessary to use force to resolve conflicts. He also seems to have few social skills and doesn't seem to know much about the female body, as seen when after adopting Karli, he tells Gudrid to breastfeed Karli, not knowing that she would need to be pregnant for this to be possible.
Thorfinn has also become more empathic with people who have suffered the consequences of war suffering multiple attacks to their villages, he felt horrible when he found out that he alongside Askeladd's crew attacked and murdered Hild's family, giving her all the right to kill him to avenge her family, even being prepared to be killed by her. He is very protective with those he cares about. When he involuntarily gets involved in the Baltic war due to his lineage and thus becoming the target of many claimants to become the leader of the jomsvikings, Thorfinn forces his friends, with the exception of Hild, to leave and stay away.
History
The son of Thors Snoresson and a woman named Helga, Thorfinn is a second born and they younger brother of Ylva. As a child, he shall witness the death of his father in a duel against a viking pirate known as Askeladd. This traumatic event will forever mark Thorfinn's live, turning him from joyful and optimistic to bitter and obsessed with revenge, already as a very young child, making Askleadd's death his greatest obsession. One day, he presents himself to Askeladd and his men, challenging Askeladd himself to a duel, only to be easily defeated. Knowing that he will never succeed in killing Askeladd in his current state, he decides to run away from home and stick up with Askeladd's band in order to better observe him and learn his moves and tactics, all while training and growing stronger himself. Over a decade passes since then, and Thorfinn attempts several times to kill Askeladd, only to end up always failing. At London, Askeladd's band will be confronted by Thorkell and his men, with Thorfinn forced to distract the gigantic Thorkell. Despite the massive difference in strength, Thorfinn manages to stand up
to the giant woh his speed, even managing to scar and wound him several times. However, Thorkell catches Thorfinn and slams him on the ground, stunning him, but fortunately, after cutting off two fingers from Thorkell's right hand, Thorfinn manages to escape. Time later, Askeladd's band is once again confronted by Thorkell and his men, suffering a massive defeat, leaving even Askeladd himself heavily injured. When Thorkell's about to kill Askeladd, Thorfinn arrives riding a horse, challenging Thorkell to a duel. The fight will be very hard and challenging, with Thorfinn forced to wait for the right moment to strike. After suffering several heavy injuries, including a broken shoulder, Thorfinn, with a little help from Askeladd, manages to strike Thorkell with a strong kick to the jaw, his weak spot, briefly stunning him, then attacking him and blinding his left eye.
Abilities
Thorfinn grew up on the battlefield, having experienced over countless battles and raids following his father's death since the age of six. As such, he has a wealth of fighting experience. He quickly grew into a highly skilled warrior capable of swiftly killing warriors at least twice his age during his years with Askeladd's band. His fighting style plays focus on striking vital points instead of clashing with blades directly, he developed a nimble style that emphasizes speed after losing his knives and letting go of his thirst for killing. Thorfinn's strength is recognized by some of the greatest amongst both the vikings and mercenaries such as his great-uncle Thorkell the Tall, stating he was capable of becoming the next head of the Jomsvikings.
Expert Combatant: Thorfinn is a highly skilled combatant. He can wield daggers and swords with great lethality and is shown to be incredibly skilled in martial arts. His skill in combat has been acknowledged by other powerful fighters like Snake, Garm, and most notably Thorkell, the strongest Viking warrior of his time. Thorfinn is also able to effectively use throwing knives, although they are not his primary weapons.
Enhanced Strength: Thanks to years of manual labor as a slave on a farm, Thorfinn achieved an explosive increase in strength when he reached adulthood. With this new skill acquired, he was able to throw a man away with just one punch and break the bones of a Jomsviking even though he was wearing armor. Other feats include breaking a sword with his knee.
Enhanced Durability: Although he doesn't usually engage in unarmed combat, Thorfinn knows how to take solid hits if given the chance to prepare for them. This ability appears when he withstands 100 blows from Drott to earn the right to speak to Canute. However, when set upon by Ylva in a rage, he was completely unprepared and was knocked out.
Enhanced Agility: Thorfinn is amongst the swiftest combatants in the series. He is capable of evading a platoon of soldiers within seconds on a battlefield, as well as scale a wall of a fortress, including jumping over a moat. In combat, he can use his agility to strike from an angle where he may finish his opponent and to find his balance quickly after taking a hit or dodging. Thorfinn's fighting style emphasizes speed combined with the dual wielding of two knives, one of which was formerly owned by his father. By targeting his opponents' weak points and taking advantage of his speed, he could typically finish off an opponent swiftly while avoiding their attacks.
External Links
- Thorfinn Thorsson on the Villains Wiki.
- Thorfinn Thorsson on the Vinland Saga Wiki.
- Thorfinn Thorsson on the Inconsistently Heinous Wiki.
 Heroes
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Main Characters Iceland Village Keti's Farm Greenland Village Norwegian Outskirts Arnheid Village Lnu | ||