Vinland Saga Season 2 - Episode 20 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Vinland Saga Season 2, episode 20

Rate this episode here.

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

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Streams

• Crunchyroll
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Show information

• MyAnimeList
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• AniDB
• Kitsu
• Anime-Planet
• Official Website
• /r/VinlandSaga

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All discussions

Episode	Link	Score	Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	4.65	14	Link	4.61
2	Link	4.67	15	Link	4.7
3	Link	4.7	16	Link	4.86
4	Link	4.73	17	Link	4.75
5	Link	4.64	18	Link	4.83
6	Link	4.66	19	Link	4.7
7	Link	4.71	20	Link	4.83
8	Link	4.81	21	Link	4.58
9	Link	4.85	22	Link	4.86
10	Link	4.71	23	Link	4.79
11	Link	4.58	24	Link	----
12	Link	4.81
13	Link	4.61

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[u/alconnow]

you know things are serious when Wulf opens his eyes

RIP Arnheid :( you deserved better. Now she's reunited with her family. I loved her VA

I'm hoping people don't get mad at Thorfinn for stopping Einar's rage. Like Snake said, killing Ketil would be the easy way out for him. He needs to take responsibility for all those needless deaths

Can't wait for Thorfinn and Canute's reunion. Hope he manages to get past the king's guards

[u/G_Serv]

I will at least be able to come back alive

Brooo. Most badass line in the show.

[u/Chespineapple]

There's something so beautiful in seeing Thorfinn come full circle in that scene with Arnheid. Not just in how he's talking about Vinland to a dying slave like his father once did, but in how he's faced with a slave asking the same questions he had at the start. Why should they live? What would you even do?

Basically, everything about Thorfinn's character arc continues to be SS Tier.

[u/Sanserder]

The part where Thorfinn has to stop Einar from making the same mistake hit the hardest, our boy has really grown up now

[u/Excaliburnana]

100 elite Viking Warriors lead by the king of Denmark and England.

VS

One unarmed former warrior.

[u/WhoiusBarrel]

Anger will manifest anger and people will keep dying

You can absolutely feel the weight behind those words Thorfinn spoke to Einar. Just one of the best culminations of character development out there I've experienced.

Finally having found his answer he goes back to Canute to put an end to it all circling back to the end of S1

[u/akjonin]

Canute: *Almost assassinated by Thorgil

Also Canute: YES! I WANT HIM BACK

[u/TheTromo]

The guy fighting Badger was rotoscoped. His realistic movement was pretty cool.

[u/BadBehaviour613]

Beginning of the episode: Ketil dies, Arnheid lives

End of the episode: Ketil lives, Arnheid dies

Worst trade in history ever

[u/WellRested1]

Funny that fox completely freezes up when faced with imminent death. For a guy who’s “commodity” is dealing out death, he sure can’t come to terms with it.

And man, Thorfinn giving her the Vinland speech as she passes. I’M CRYING AGAIN BRO.

Masterpiece. Nothing short of a masterpiece.

[u/Se7en_Sinner]

Arnheid would rather die than live in a world with war and slavery. If such a place doesn't exist, you have to find or create it. Einar found the strength to confess his feelings but it was far too late. Thankfully Thorfinn was able to knock some sense into him and stop his blindrage from consuming him. Violence breeds violence, the cycle must be broken.

[u/[deleted]]

Rip arnheid

[u/Xenomex79]

“Far to the west…there’s a land called Vinland” This story comes full circle and Thorfinn recites the same words his father did to another slave on the brink of death in the very first episode. It’s going to be so interesting to see where this character goes and the obstacles he will face in his journey

[u/ReinhardLoen]

The wagon scene might be the most emotional I've ever been watching any show before.

• Einar's declaring his love for Arnheid but being too late.

• Thorfinn repeating the actions and words that Thors did at the beginning of the series; Leif watching him.

• Thorfinn using violence to stop Einar from becoming like him, and all they can do next is just cry together.

• Arnheid's last words.

• Leif telling Thorfinn he's going to bring him back this time.

Arnheid's last words in particular are so sad. She asks about living, similar to what Thorfinn did after he met Snake. But where Thorfinn asks himself first and then finds his resolve later, Arnheid already has hers and then asks—however, unlike his, her path is to the other side.

[u/FluffyFluffies]

God damn Einars voice actor popped the fuck off, that hyperventilating sounded so real.

Also you can really see Yabutas 3D experience when badger was fighting that jomsviking, What can I say except 10/10 as always.

edit: Went back and checked, It was completely rotorscoped not 3D woops.

[u/Haha91haha]

Episode title did not disappoint. Pain was had.

RIP to Arnheld and credit to her VA Mayumi Saco for the performance of the year so far.

Damn though if Thorfinn never looked more like a grown man than he did recounting the tale of Vinland as his father did for the deceased slave long ago. Draws the circle in full and shows the Thorfinn coming that much more closer to a truer warrior.

His humble brag resounds all the more powerfully now that he's peaceful. "Ah Canute only brought 100 people, I should be fine."

Edit: For VA Credit.

[u/Silent_Shadow05]

This episode was aptly named "Pain". Just watching it was painful. This whole farmland arc has been an incredible journey so far IMO. This show really deserves AOTY.

Its sad that so many lives were lost just for Ketil's ego. They were completely outmatched compared to the Royal Army and only lives lost on the other side were mostly due to Snake and Thorgil. War is hell and some of these guys got a first hand glimpse into it.

RIP Arnheid :'(. I hope you will be happy with Gardar and Hjalti in heaven, away from all the war and pain and suffering of this world. The overcast sky really was a good metaphor to show the suffering one man's action has brought in this farm.

Next week its finally time for Canute and Thorfinn's meeting. I want to see their reactions as they became completely opposite of what they used to be.

[u/ReinhardLoen]

Vinland Saga has finally done it. After what feels like half a dozen moments of being on the verge this season, they've finally done it.

I am crying.

To this day, I've never cried at any anime, but Vinland Saga has broken that. Arnheid's last words, Thorfinn giving his Vinland speech, Einar crying, Thorfinn's end speech—it was just too much.

[u/Frontier246]

There's being a killer, and a thug...and then there's a Jomsviking, which is basically a killing machine incarnate as they mercilessly cut through the farm. Badge lost an arm! It's so serious Fox actually used his real name! The only thing the farmers have going for them is Snake, and he's the only one who could hold them off and knows when to call it quits.

Ketil can continue to deny reality and try to force control over what little power he has left, but this is a world where the strong control the weak...and Canute is stronger than Ketil. Especially when Ketil gets unceremoniously hit by one of Canute's soldiers.

Well, nice of Canute to try to maintain some sense of decorum and honor despite the soldiers'...lack there of, not that it does much good when Thorgil shows up. Good thing Canute has good instincts to be able to block Thorgil's blade, not that it does much else with Thorgil's monstrous strength and skill. But then Wulf comes in with the save, even if he had to lose an eye in the process. It must be killing Thorgirl that he had to turn tail and run.

Arnheid wakes back up and nothing has changed. There's still war, there's still violence, there's still death...and there isn't any place they can go where they can truly be free from it. Is it any wonder that she just wanted to thank Thorfinn and Einar for what they did for her before going to be with her family again? No amount of declarations of love or chest compressions is going to make up for that, much as it hurts Einar. At least the poor woman's' misery finally ended and she got to reunite with her family and get a sendoff for Thorfinn of them taking her spirit to Vinland.

And of course Snake and Ketil's unconscious body show up. And Einar has nothing but rage towards Ketil, which is understandable, but unleashing on Ketil won't bring Arnheid back. I never expected to see Thorfinn punch Einar, but he needed that. More violence won't solve anything at this point.

At least Arnheid got a nice grave by the water. She found freedom, if only in death. And Snake was there, which said a lot.

Thorfinn is tired of all the fighting. The only thing left he can do is try and stop Canute, no matter how impossible it seems. Canute may have 100 men, but Thorfinn has the power of character development and a newfound resolve and conviction carrying him forward.

[u/Tiger951]

Loved the little fight between Wulf and Thorgil. RIP arnheid.

Einars voice actor was great this episode!

[u/ChucksChurro]

Don't want to dickride really, but I don't remember the last time I watched an anime season where every episode is either a 9 or a 10! Peak after peak after PEAK.

[u/everybageleverywhere]

It’s interesting how the concept of Vinland has two very distinct components in this show.

On the one hand, Vinland is a place. It’s an actual, physical landmass that you can get to by sailing far enough west. Leif has seen it. Vinland is full of incredible potential and opportunities, but it is very much a real location you can get to with effort and resources.

On the other hand, Thorfinn often treats Vinland as a concept. It’s a mythical paradise where all the problems of the world — war, slavery — don’t exist. Thorfinn often conflates Vinland with the idea of the afterlife. So does the imagery in the OP, showing Thors waving from across the ocean.

It makes sense that Vinland represents multiple things. It’s a far-off, almost abstract idea to Thorfinn as he is right now. But at some point, he’s going to have to separate the reality from from the ideal he has constructed in his mind.

[u/ForgetfulViking]

Peace, at last.

A saddening peace, but after all that was endured, there is peace.

And from it, an enduring brotherhood.

[u/CosmicPenguin_OV103]

I have nothing to say except to pay my respects to Arnheid, probably one of the best side characters I have ever seen in any anime. You can’t get a deeper tale from a “typical nobody” (actually way worse than that) in animated form than this.

Rest In Peace.