Vinland Saga is one of my favorite pieces of fiction ever. I never expected an Anime to have a profound impact on me as Vinland saga did. Initially, I was invested in the violence; the composers of Vinland Saga made violence look so cool in the first season with the fight choreography, music, and just by fully embracing the Nordic culture of battle. I was interested in Thorfinn, the protagonist, earning his right to duel with Askeladd, the antagonist, so that he can finally avenge his father. Thorfinn’s strength was impressive and it was always satisfying seeing him win his battles, but he never won one with Askeladd. The first season ended with Askeladd colluding with the crown prince, killing the king of Denmark to give the rule to the prince. He was also killed in this process, and Thorfinn was thrown in a state of rage and eventual sorrow. He spent almost all his life in hopes of killing Askeladd and his only desire and driving force was killed at the hands of someone else. All of this really exposed the futility of seeking revenge. Especially revenge that can extend for a long campaign.
In an interview, Makoto Yukimura, the author of Vinland Saga, admitted that season one was intentionally made to glorify violence to make the shift in season 2 more meaningful. Because season two is a complete juxtaposition, there is comparatively less violence and it’s more focused on personal growth of the protagonist. It’s about him learning committing to pacifism and non violence, it’s about him realizing the immense cost of his revenge campaign where he killed and destabilized the lives of hundreds in search for “justice”. It made me think so much about current ongoing political events that are also revenge driven like the genocide happening in Gaza. The parallel fits unsettlingly well, Israel has been on a revenge campaign on Gaza, killing tens out thousands of innocent civilians and displacing millions of people, using “justice for October 7th” as their motive. It’d another example of an obsessive revenge driven campaign that causes far more harm than justice.
I chose this image for my visual because it’s pretty popular within the Anime watching community. It blew up as like a half-meme and half hope-core kind of message about how you have no enemies. But I felt like it was a surprise to see people embrace that level of pacifism, even if some it was satirical. It made me like the anime and its message that much more. When I was thinking about stuff to add in my conference paper, that particular scene did inspire me to add the success of non violent protest/campaigns such as the one led by Gandhi or by MLK. It would serve to prove my point that responding with peace in the face of violence would yield a greater result and empathy from people, rather than responding with violence. I knew I wanted to center my essay around this concept.
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