Did Thorfinn Burn Einar’s Village in Vinland Saga?

Season 2 of Vinland Saga explores the Slave arc of the storyline as Thorfinn is now in the middle of one of the worst yet eye-opening times of his life while working as a slave on Ketil’s farm. However, while he might be a slave, he had become a slave to his own fate as well as he was simply going through the motions after losing his will to live. Of course, Einar wasn’t the same as he was motivated to live on by the destruction of his own village, as he told the story to Thorfinn, who was reminded of a similar scene. So, was Thorfinn the one responsible for burning Einar’s village?

Thorfinn did not burn down Einar’s village, but he participated in a similar activity in the past when he was still fighting on the side of Askeladd’s mercenary band. He was still a child back then as he was horrified by the memory of him and Askeladd’s band burning an innocent village to the ground.

The thing about the Slave arc in Vinland Saga is that this was the part of the storyline that allowed Thorfinn to develop into a better person after seeing the error in his ways when he was simply motivated by revenge back when he was with Askeladd’s band of mercenaries. As such, the memories are now haunting him, and one such memory was that of a village that he helped burn down years ago. Now, let’s talk more about this topic.

Did Thorfinn Burn Einar’s Village?

The second episode of season 2 of Vinland Saga continued to expand on the ongoing storyline involving Thorfinn’s new life as a slave. Of course, he is no longer working alone as he is now forced to work with a new slave named Einar, who is quite possibly the nicest person he has ever had around him, especially because of the fact that Thorfinn worked with a harsh band of mercenaries for more than a decade.

In that regard, episode 2 allowed us to see that life as a slave wasn’t too bad for Thorfinn and Einar, who were both treated well enough by Ketil as they were offered a chance to win their freedom if they worked hard enough on the farm. The prospect of becoming a free man motivated Einar as he remembered his mother telling him that he always had an opportunity to rebuild and start life anew as long as he was alive to do so.

On the other hand, Thorfinn was simply going through the motions as he was now an emotionless man that worked on the farm like a robot he didn’t even care about how some of the workers on Ketil’s property were treating him and Einar like trash. At that point in his life, Thorfinn had lost hope and purpose because, for more than a decade, his only reason for living was to take revenge on Askeladd for killing his father. But he no longer had that in his life after Canute killed Askeladd, as Thorfinn had resigned to his fate as a slave with no purpose in life.

While they were about to sleep after a hard day of work, Einar talked about his life and how he viewed war. Without understanding what happened to Thorfinn during his younger years, Einar remarked that war was pointless as it led to the deaths of the people that he loved. He told Thorfinn of how the king of England killed his father and destroyed his village when he was still a young boy and how the Danish raiders killed his mother and his sister after burning his village to the ground.

Of course, Thorfinn didn’t know anything about Einar’s life at that point, but he saw bits and pieces of the things that he did when he was still fighting for Askeladd’s band of mercenaries. One of the memories that were shown was when he was looking at the burning ruins of a village. So, was Thorfinn responsible for burning down Einar’s village?

It is unlikely that Thorfinn had anything to do with the destruction of Einar’s village. That’s because, in the flashback, Thorfinn was still just a young boy that was horrified by the destruction of a village that he quite possibly helped burn down. 

On the other hand, the destruction of Einar’s village happened just recently and maybe a few months before he was sold to Ketil as a slave. That is why it is unlikely that Thorfinn had anything to do with the destruction of Einar’s village. It is even possible that Thorfinn was either fighting on the side of Denmark against England’s armies or was already working for Ketil when Einar’s village was destroyed.

Which Village Did Thorfinn Burn?

Remember, at that time, Thorfinn was a young boy hellbent on avenging the death of his father through a fair duel with Askeladd. That was the reason why he joined Askeladd’s mercenaries, as this allowed him to become strong enough to duel him. Of course, if he did what Askeladd told him to do, he would be granted a duel.

As such, it is possible that Thorfinn did a lot of horrible things when he was still with Askeladd’s band of mercenaries. He didn’t know any better at that time because his childhood innocence was taken away when Askeladd killed his father dishonorably in front of his eyes. As such, his only goal was to avenge his father’s death through a fair duel that he wanted to earn from Askeladd.

That is why Thorfinn was willing to do anything to get that duel, as that was his personality during the first season of Vinland Saga. Back then, he didn’t care who he had to kill and what kind of horrible thing he had to do as long as it allowed him to earn a duel with the man that he wanted to kill.

However, while working as a slave, Thorfinn now has time to think about the things that he did in the past and the horrible acts that he committed for the sake of his pointless quest for revenge. He was haunted by his past and the people that he killed during the time he was working for Askeladd.

As such, this village that he burned down was possibly one of the many different random villages that he destroyed, pillaged, and burned all for the sake of quenching his thirst for revenge. So, when Einar told him about how useless war was and how he was the victim of useless wars that destroyed a lot of innocent lives, Thorfinn was able to remember a random village that he burned down in the past just so he could take revenge on Askeladd. And this allowed him to realize that Einar was probably right in saying that going to war was useless as it only led to innocent lives getting destroyed by people who fought pointless wars.