Vinland Saga Season 1 makes you think that this is a revenge story.
The ending of the season proves this idea wrong.
The second season provides a completely different motivation for the main protagonist.
The first season of Vinland Saga was incredible, and a huge number of fans would agree with that. It was a story of a kid learning the truth about the cruelty of the world. Thorfinn’s main goal was rather obvious: his father gets killed, and now he has to get his revenge. We’ve heard such a premise hundreds of times now, but there was always something special in the way Vinland Saga handled this trope. It didn’t just force the protagonist pursue his enemy throughout the entire series, no. Thorfinn was living with his enemy, learning from him, and actually having some sort of a weird mentor-apprentice (and some even say father-son) relationship with him.
Not like many other series
Most shounen titles set their protagonists’ motivation straight from the beginning of the series. For example, from the beginning of Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) we know that Muzan is the main enemy and defeating him is the final goal. In Jujutsu Kaisen, Sukuna is the problem, and the characters are trying to put an end to him. But it’s not like that with Vinland Saga.
Season 1 was fairly obvious with the motivation and the overall direction of the story, too. Or was it? Thorfinn was driven by his immense desire for revenge. Askeladd, the man that killed his father, was the one he cared about and wanted dead. He became a bizarre center of Thorfinn’s existence and the boy just wanted one thing in his life: to kill Askeladd. But the ending of the first season ruins everything for Thorfinn: Askeladd dies.
Thorfinn needs another motivation now
This completely destroys Thorfinn’s plan. And on top of that, he is not the one who killed the man. The boy loses his life purpose. He has no family, no friends, no motivation anymore. The horrors that happened to him changed him entirely. Season 2 explores his other self: he’s unwilling to fight and to experience and encourage violence all over again.
This changes his motivation completely and redirects the story and personal journey of the main protagonist, which is something that’s not often seen in other shounen series.
Thorfinn’s promise of finding or creating Vinland for people who’re also tired of all the violence was a beautiful conclusion to his character development. While everyone was his enemy in the first season, the sequel ends with him saying that he has no enemies. It took two seasons for Vinland Saga to provide the final goal for the main protagonist, and this is what makes the series so special.
Waiting for two seasons is worth it.
Summary:
Vinland Saga Season 1 makes you think that this is a revenge story.
The ending of the season proves this idea wrong.
The second season provides a completely different motivation for the main protagonist.
The first season of Vinland Saga was incredible, and a huge number of fans would agree with that. It was a story of a kid learning the truth about the cruelty of the world. Thorfinn’s main goal was rather obvious: his father gets killed, and now he has to get his revenge. We’ve heard such a premise hundreds of times now, but there was always something special in the way Vinland Saga handled this trope. It didn’t just force the protagonist pursue his enemy throughout the entire series, no. Thorfinn was living with his enemy, learning from him, and actually having some sort of a weird mentor-apprentice (and some even say father-son) relationship with him.
Not like many other series
Most shounen titles set their protagonists’ motivation straight from the beginning of the series. For example, from the beginning of Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) we know that Muzan is the main enemy and defeating him is the final goal. In Jujutsu Kaisen, Sukuna is the problem, and the characters are trying to put an end to him. But it’s not like that with Vinland Saga.
Season 1 was fairly obvious with the motivation and the overall direction of the story, too. Or was it? Thorfinn was driven by his immense desire for revenge. Askeladd, the man that killed his father, was the one he cared about and wanted dead. He became a bizarre center of Thorfinn’s existence and the boy just wanted one thing in his life: to kill Askeladd. But the ending of the first season ruins everything for Thorfinn: Askeladd dies.
Thorfinn needs another motivation now
This completely destroys Thorfinn’s plan. And on top of that, he is not the one who killed the man. The boy loses his life purpose. He has no family, no friends, no motivation anymore. The horrors that happened to him changed him entirely. Season 2 explores his other self: he’s unwilling to fight and to experience and encourage violence all over again.
This changes his motivation completely and redirects the story and personal journey of the main protagonist, which is something that’s not often seen in other shounen series.
Thorfinn’s promise of finding or creating Vinland for people who’re also tired of all the violence was a beautiful conclusion to his character development. While everyone was his enemy in the first season, the sequel ends with him saying that he has no enemies. It took two seasons for Vinland Saga to provide the final goal for the main protagonist, and this is what makes the series so special.
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