The old false main character syndrome really rears its head with Vinland Saga.  This is a long manga, and I flatter myself that I can see where Yukimura Makoto is going with it – the larger arc of the narrative is Thorfinn’s from a poetic and philosophical standpoint.  But in anime terms, we’ve basically jumped straight from Thors being the heart of the story to Askeladd – not just in terms of screen time, but genuine development and thematic importance.  Thorfinn has mostly been a participant observer – so far.  But the gears are grinding, beneath the narrative surface.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that things have fallen out this way, even if Yabuta Shuuhei and Seko Hiroshi have re-ordered things a bit for the anime.  Thors and Askeladd are the poles of this story in many ways.  Each of them exerts a magnetic attraction on Thorfinn, and it’s as yet unclear which pull is stronger.  Askeladd represents the darkness and Thors the light in many ways – but Askeladd also saw in Thors the possibility of achieving his own ends in a nobler and more powerful manner than he’s forced to go about trying to do so.  We’ve been carefully and artfully shown the two major influences on Thorfinn’s life – eventually he’ll have to decide which course is his to follow.

I don’t think there’s any question that one reason Askeladd took Thorfinn under his wing was because he saw something of himself in the boy’s desperate thirst for revenge.  We didn’t know it at the time, but Askeladd has dedicated his life to vengeance too – vengeance for the crimes committed against his mother and her people.  Askeladd’s nature is different than Thors or his son – his greatest weapon is his ability to deceive and to spot deceit in others.  But when one’s entire life is a lie, perhaps there are limits on how long even someone as brilliant and fearless as Askeladd can keep the house of cards from collapsing.

As always with Vinland Saga, the most memorable moments come in the quiet conversations between characters.  Before a truly harrowing opening sequence which sees Askeladd cheerfully supervising (and commandeering) the torture of an English captain, he has a conversation with Bjorn in the woods.  Bjorn openly questions Askeladd’s decision to murder Ragnar, and suggests it’s backfired.  Askeladd asks Bjorn why he’s followed him these many years, and the blunt and straightforward Bjorn can only offer “Because I wanted to”.  Askeladd counters with “I’m the same.  I choose my own lord, too.  My lord must be the type of man who makes me want to serve him.”  He tries to pass it off as a joke, but this is not a man who says such things frivolously.  The mind wanders back to Thors of course, but the significance of this statement is fascinating to ponder.

Askeladd trusts Bjorn to be sure (this will be a matter of great importance later in the episode) but you have to ask – does he feel anything for him beyond that?  Does he feel anything for anyone?  He hates the English to be sure – but it was the Danes who kidnapped and enslaved his mother.  How ironic it is that it’s really only Thorfinn that Askeladd can trust besides Bjorn – the son of a man he murdered who’s dedicated his life to killing Askeladd in revenge.  He knows where Thorfinn stands – there’s no doubting his motives.  Askeladd is no good to him if he’s killed by someone else.  And Thorfinn is the son of the one man in the world we know that Askeladd truly respected.

When the chips are down and everything seems to be falling apart around him, it’s Bjorn and Thorfinn to whom Askeladd entrusts the hysterically grieving Canute, the reason for this entire wild gamble he’s taken.  When a few deserters are offered to him after the news that Thorkell has caught up Askeladd invites them and anyone else who wants to go ahead and desert (Thorkell casually kills the lot of them as “useless”).  Askeladd knows he’s already losing his grip on his army, and killing deserters will only hasten his downfall – and that he’d rather have deserters as far away as possible (even in the enemy camp) than lurking in his own army as ticking time bombs.

Superficially, it appears that it’s all coming apart for Askeladd.  Thorkell is mere hundreds of meters away across a shallow river, and almost the entirety of Askeladd’s force has turned on him.  This is the price Askeladd has to pay for the manner in which he’s chosen to lead, but history and fiction both teach us that men like Askeladd are like cockroaches, incredibly fast when cornered and difficult to kill.  Knowing him Askeladd will have had contingency plans in mind for this moment which, brilliant as he is, he had to know was coming sooner or later.  The advantage of having no loyalty to his men is that Askeladd can betray them now without hesitation – they’ve never been more than tools to him in the first place.  Things may look grim, but I suspect Askeladd has too much resourcefulness – and will to survive – to let this be the end of him.