There’s a thematic consistency to Vinland Saga that I truly admire – among the many things about the series that I do.  Even when it fluctuates stylistically (and pretty widely, too) there’s an undercurrent of thoughtfulness that never goes away.  And of course the sheer entertainment value it delivers every week is off the charts too.  This interconnectedness is definitely one of the series’ strengths – nothing feels as if it ever happens in isolation.  It’s a big story with a lot of characters (though not unwieldy), but it’s always easy to see how everything fits together.

In that context, I think this was a very important episode because Thorkell (happy 60th birthday to Ohtsuka Akio, one of the best seiyuu ever to grace the medium) is a very important character.  And he’s been the outlier among the central cast so far, to an extent – a relatively simple man by all appearances, driven by simple motivations.  And indeed, compared to the impossibly deep and introspective nature of last week’s episode, this one was rather straightforward – yet it still managed to redefine Thorkell’s character and integrate him into the narrative far more than he was before.  It’s only fitting that should happen in more straightforward fashion than it did with the others – he’s still Thorkell after all.

For a long time, the story Thorkell told Thorfinn while he graciously let the boy gather his senses (and the bones in his broken arm) seemed rather unsurprising.  Perhaps it was a bit unexpected that the giant would have cried at Thors’ “death”, but that suits him, really.  The real story begins when Thors and Helga show up at his old house at the Jomsviking compound, six months after Thors disappeared beneath the waves.  Thorkell has seemingly been sleeping on Thors’ roof – a kind of Viking Hachiko – even though he thought Thors to be dead, and he initially mistakes Thors and Helga (with baby Ylva in tow) for thieves.

Honestly, I felt sorry for Thorkell here, because he has no context to try and rationalize what’s happening.  He loves Thors as a brother (though technically he’s a nephew in-law, as it turns out), and what Thors is telling him simply doesn’t grok.  The difference in their strength is obvious, even here, as Thors defeats his old comrade despite being unarmed.  Thorkell seeing something inexplicable in Thors’ eyes was the key moment in his life in many respects – he didn’t understand what he was missing, but probably for the first time he understood that he was missing something.  And for the rest of his days he regrets not following Thors to find out what.

Let’s be clear about one thing – Thorfinn didn’t “win” their duel, even if Thorkell is proud and honorable enough not to quibble.  He relied on Askeladd’s help (which had to grate pretty hard), both for the cheat code and the blinding trick.  And clawing the big man’s eye out was probably uncalled for (Thorfinn seems to be downsizing Thorkell piece by piece).  And truly, he couldn’t have reciprocated and told his opponent what he remembered about Thors’ time in Iceland?  Still – Thorkell betrays no anger at any of this, only at himself for allowing himself to be tricked and at his men for interfering to save his life.

The wild card here is, of course, Canute.  His unexpected arrival has an explosive effect, and he manages to stun everyone into inaction.  What he tells Thorkell about his father and the reason he’s here is self-evidently true once it’s out in the open – Thorkell can sense that for himself.  Thorkell certainly isn’t vindictive – if Canute has no value to him as a bargaining chip he would normally be of little interest at all.  But the big man sees the same look in Canute’s eyes that he saw in Thors’, and in those eyes a chance to perhaps grasp what he thought he’d lost when Thors cold-cocked him and walked out of his life forever.

I like the fact that what finally brings Thorkell over to the same side as Thorfinn is that he, too, has an unfulfilled yearning for something.  Askeladd finds all this hilarious, of course.  And his decision to tell Canute that it was he that killed Ragnar is one that’s certainly subject to interpretation.  I see it as a calculated gamble, more or less – and that’s pretty much how Askeladd rolls anyway.  By telling the boy the truth he can, perversely, regain his trust – and even if Canute has progressed far faster and more decisively than Askeladd expected he’s still of great potential use to him and his political goals.  All the more so, in fact.

There’s certainly the sense that this is a watershed moment – all the major players on the same side at last, with a common enemy (for now).  To say it’s an odd menagerie is an understatement – Askeladd allied with the two boys whose father/mentor he killed, Thorkell with the boy who claimed two of his fingers and his left eye, Canute with the man who seeks to use him and the man who sought to barter him.  Even Torgrim and his brother are here, and Bjorn of course – who must now suspect the truth about his captain.  Askeladd’s smile when Thorkell tells him to forgive the killing of most of his men is a chilling reminder of just what he is, and he’s the sort of ally who you never want to turn your back on – but he’s really in the same boat himself now.  This new alliance is unorthodox to say the least, but it promises to be anything but dull.