How do they view the world?
Summary:
- Eren and Thorfinn’s stories begin in a similar way.
- Their lives are full of pain and suffering.
- But they led them to opposite conclusions.
Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) and Vinland Saga feel like completely different anime series. They start in a very similar way, though: the protagonist loses one of his parents and decides to get his revenge. However, their journeys are completely different. And yet, there’s a beautiful parallel.
Similarities
As we’ve said, the beginnings of their stories are rather similar. Eren and Thorfinn are both grief-stricken and angry. Eren wants to destroy all of the titans, one of which killed his mother.
Thorfinn despises Askeladd for killing his father and wants to take his life away, too. Eren and Thorfinn are just two kids who decide to devote their lives to revenge and are ready for anything to achieve that.
They both train a lot and learn how to get stronger and more skilled with each episode of the series. They experience extreme horrors and encounter terrible people in their ways. On top of that, they both make enemies along the way. And this is where the difference between them begins.
Their philosophies
Eren and Thorfinn both live in the worlds of violence. People get tortured and murdered around them. People want to kill them, too. So they have to fight.
However, the horrors these two have experienced influenced the boys in different ways. Thorfinn chooses the path of redemption while Eren chooses the one of destruction.
Eren wants to be free, and Thorfinn wants peace. And this is the core of their differences. In the world of Attack on Titan, you have to fight to be free, and in the world of Vinland Saga, you have to stop fighting to reach peace.
Fans often mention two quotes from Eren and Thorfinn that best describe how different they are. Eren says he wants to kill all his enemies and keep moving forward, while Thorfinn says he has no enemies.
That’s why a lot of fans call Thorfinn more mature than Eren, and no matter how much we love Eren, we have to admit that they have a point. Violence is not the means to achieve your goal, and Eren could never understand that. He wanted to be free so much that he became a slave to freedom.
Thorfinn, on the other hand, was tired of pain and violence. He didn’t want to keep fighting until the day he died. Thorfinn decided to leave the bloodshed in the past and create a land free of suffering.