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Vinland Saga 2x14 Reaction Extended (YT link below) (Patreon)

Published:
2023-07-27 17:31:21
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

In Vinland Saga 2x14, Freedom, the house that was filled with food and laughter is now filled with watery soup and pain.

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YouTube Link:

https://youtu.be/nsaKyFTegJY

Comments

Nick

And so we finally get Arnheid's backstory, and so I have now developed depression

Sacha

Yukimura Twitter thread for 2x14 “Thank you for watching Vinland Saga episode 14 ‘Freedom’! Was that so… why is Ketil obsessed with money and power? It was a world of meritocracy. In the Viking age, most incidents were resolved only by the region where they occurred or the parties involved in the problem. The world of the strong. It’s not that there are no lawsuits, but it’s like having a local assembly making a ruling on matters that cannot be resolved by the parties themselves. After all, rich people have a strong voice. Not fair. If you put your hand in boiling water in a pot and pick up a stone from the bottom without getting burned, you would have been found innocent. Mayumi Saco’s voice. It’s nice … comfortable. I like low female voices. I feel spiritual maturity and stability. Arnheid is soo calm, but she is in her early twenties. (She would be 24 now, while Einar is 23 and Thorfinn is 22) The pace of life was fast. Getting married in your teens and having a baby. In those days life ended before the age of 50. Modern people have time. How do you use that time? Sverkel is the only one over 70 years old in the work. ‘Iron Swamp’. That’s right, it seems iron can mined from the bottom of a swamp. I have never heard of it in Japan. It is said that the iron in the soil flows into the rain water, gathers in the lakes, settles to the bottom of the water, and is found as iron clumps. In Japan, people used to collect iron sand to make swords. It rains a lot in Japan, and there are ponds and swamps everywhere, so I think iron can be mined from the bottom of the water but who knows. Iron ore wasn’t found very often in Japan, so the iron was collected by excavating mountains, rinsing the soil, and doing hard work like in ‘Princess Mononoke’. I think a slave is someone who is forced to bear the hardships of someone else. Even in modern times, there will be slaves regardless of the country. My socks may have been made by a female Bangladeshi worker who worked at incredibly low wages. I’m probably on the side of using slaves. It’s embarrassing.”

Nick
>>113866447

Very interesting thoughts especially towards the end there. I also like how much research he's done to ensure period authenticity, even if famous people like Leif have their stories changed for the sake of the narrative. There's a delicate balance between realism and doing what serves the story best, and I think Yukimura balances it nicely

Nick
>>113863998

Your thoughts on Einar's motivations here make a lot of sense to me. I think it speaks to his character that he cares more about Arnheid being free than he does his own feelings, but he's definitely very emotionally driven and wants to jump immediately to a solution even if the solution might result in a lot more harm. And in this case, helping Gardar bring Arnheid with him before Arnheid was able to give any proper thoughts on the situation I think Einar is like this because of what happened to his family in the past. He has had people taken from him not once, but twice. And the second time, he wasn't able to do anything when they killed his sister. So of course years later when he sees an opportunity to act he takes it, no question. He doesn't want to live with that regret ever again

Cheesebit

Actually when I watched this episode, I interpreted hjalti as most likely being dead since he was a 1 year old taken from his mom. I’m guessing the chances of surviving without a mom would be quite difficult and I doubt the Vikings pillaging the village would bother to tend and care for him Also if no one else has mentioned this yet, the story about Ketil and the girl was original to the anime! Also on that note, I did feel it didn’t quite make sense that ketil would fight for her. On the one hand, I understand not wanting to lose someone you love and I think a lot of people would want to try to help if they could. And yet seeing just how much he dislikes and is scared of violence, I find it hard to resolve this part of the backstory in my mind. But perhaps that’s just me

ArtficialFlvrz
>>113874801

I'm sure a man in his 20s who's in love and a man near 50 with plenty of responsibilities after a life of possible hardships and setbacks are two very different people, especially in the 11th century. Thorfinn only 4 years ago was an entirely different person. Even Thors had a jarring shift of thought after Ylva was born, before that he was just typical warrior man. Just because we don't see Ketil's journey to the fears and beliefs he has today, doesn't mean he didn't have one. The characters are still people, and people aren't static archetypes cemented from birth to death that believe X or Y and that's who they are.

Cheesebit
>>113874801

True, I guess what I'm trying to say is that before later events of the story (not being specific to avoid spoilers), it doesn't seem like ketil has ever been involved with fighting or war (if we are to go based off his story without the part they added to the anime). And I'm sure that most likely he has seen and experienced violence, living in a world like they are, but I don't think they ever mention him being a fighter. To me, it seemed like, he used Iron fist ketil's name so people wouldn't see that he actually 'ran'/avoided battles. And he even gives offerings to avoid fighting as well. I don't see it as a situation like thorfinns where he fought and then learned he was against violence, it seems more he's terrified of it just from seeing it, like we see a certain other character similarly do later on. Granted, even if they never mention him being a fighter, doesn't mean he never was one. I guess if i were to think about that line of him willing to fight for her, without making any assumptions about his past (both what I said and you), if I just think about the context about what we concretely know about him, it just seems a little out of character is all.

Chris Sharpe

The stunning score and visuals make the events of Season 2 hit so much harder than reading it on a sketchy website. I love this show. Also can we just talk about how damn pretty Arnheid is? I don’t mean to simp (but I do), but she just consistently looks stunning. Props to the animators overall.

Chris Sharpe
>>113888494

Love triangle’s gonna be a whoooooole lot more complicated when I get involved 😤

Tyler Owens

I look forward to your Vinland reactions every week & am very excited for this arc that's beginning. The remaining episodes are all such a treat.

Sh3nx

always appreciate your reactions, it is quite an introspective episode. I love it

Bighead
>>113874801

I think he's more like Einar, not exactly violent, but reactionary and willing to fight to protect the people he loves. And I think as time went on and he gained more wealth, things dear to him and a family, his fear and aversion for violence grew as a symptom of having more to lose as Sverkel says.

Cheesebit
>>113874801

Okay yea I think that's a really good way to put it, especially considering later events he does seem reactionary

MisterRathrion

Sverkel's story about the past explains a lot about Ketil and his current mindset, and it feels like he took away the wrong lessons from that tragic incident. As you said in your reaction, it likely reinforced his feelings of powerlessness, so he spent his life accruing vast amounts of wealth and expanding his land so that he wouldn't be put in a situation like his father was where he had to submit. But in doing so, just like the guy who took that girl, his vast wealth has put a target on his back and got the attention of someone who can take it (Canute). It was one of the earlier episodes in the season that Sverkel spoke about having "too much" wealth, and here we're seeing why he felt that way, as well as the consequence of that now. The notion of this greed gets touched upon in Gardar and Arnehid's backstory too, though admittedly they have the "balance of power" nuance in their situation. Just such an amazing show.

Emman Reed

I really enjoyed the reaction and didn't fully see Einars struggle being as deep as you realized it to be (the first few times I watched). But this episode and what follows is what I believe took Vinland Saga season 2 from a 9 to a 10/10 (for me at least) But yes Einars involvement is an interesting yet confusing factor to the story.

Sacha

Just going to mention real quick that Hjalti the baby is sadly very much dead. It’s implied enough in the anime because they would have killed anyone ‘useless’ at the time. That being any elder or the very young. Also historically that’s what would have happened with the babies when it came to raids. The manga also has Arnheid say “they said than an “unmarried” woman would fetch a better price at market.” So sadly no silver lining for Arnheid …

Sacha

The way these two backstories pararell each other is just outstanding. Gardar faced the storm and Sverkel hid from his. Different decisions for the same goal (protecting their own) yet both had the same outcome. They both suffered and the people surrounding them suffered too. So what can you learn from that? Well, Arnheid decides that if scars are going to be left either way than she at least wants to have her own agency.

Cheesebit
>>113957262

Yes! I feel like i lot of people i see reacting to this episode say that we dont know if hes dead. Even if I had not read the manga my assumption was he was dead since he was only 1 years old, and I doubt he could survive without his mom to care for him. And I can't see vikings pillaging the village taking the time to care for a baby.

Mortis

I don’t think sverkel was necessarily “encouraging” her but more telling her theirs gonna be pain either way so don’t hope not to get hurt and instead just pick the choice you want to.

Sacha
>>113957262

I can see why people initially think as they’re first watching believe that he may be alive. It never shows his death. But that’s more just Yukimura not actually wanting to show an infant being explicitly murdered. His explicit violence he shows always has a point and I think it being implied is more that enough to show how horrible this situation was. And to not go too far into spoilery territory but later on in this story it actually goes further into the idea of why Norse people don’t adopt other people’s children. This culture is undeniably cruel.