Thorfinn vs. Snake: Who Is Stronger & Who Would Win in a Fight?

Vinland Saga is a historical manga written and drawn by mangaka Makoto Yukimura. The series was published by Kōdansha in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in April 2005 before being moved to the monthly magazine Afternoon in December 2005. Several Icelandic sagas inspire the manga. In this article, we are going to make a comparison taken from the pages of the manga, as we will tell you who would win in a fight between the series’ protagonist, Thorfinn, and the powerful warrior Snake. The two had a brief skirmish in the manga, and we are going to tell you who the stronger of the two is.

It is assumed that Thorfinn would be able to defeat Snake. Snake is a powerful warrior, and his speed nearly matches Thorfinn’s. Still, as the protagonist and the character with the most space for growth, Thorfinn would ultimately be able to surpass Snake. However, it would certainly be a very interesting and entertaining fight to the very end.

Now that you have the short version of the answer, we are going to provide you with a detailed category-by-category analysis of the issue, presenting the characters in questions to you and giving you a point-by-point analysis that is going to help you understand why Thorffin would be able to beat Snake in a fair one-on-one fight.

Thorfinn’s fight with Snake in the manga

If you were wondering whether Snake ever fought Thorfinn in the series, he has. They both clashed briefly during the Slave Arc over Arnheid and Gardar. Namely, Gardar managed to escape slavery in a nearby village and found Gardar; Thorfinn then wanted to help the two escape together, but Snake did not want that to happen. Seeing no other way to help Arnheid and Gardar, Thorfinn opposed Snake and fought so that Arnheid and Gardar could use the distraction and escape.

Snake did not manage to overpower Thorfinn but tripped during the fight and fell down, which Snake used to pierce Gardar through the chest; although Gardar jumped and almost choked Snake, he was stopped by Arnheid, who told him that they had to leave. And they did leave. They managed to escape, but Gardar’s wound was too deep, and he sadly died along the way. Now that we have told you this, let us compare Thorfinn and Snake.

Strength and durability

Thorfinn has a lot of experience because he was practically born on the battlefield and lived it after his father’s passing. He developed swiftly into a highly competent fighter who could easily dispatch combatants twice his age. Thorfinn developed an agile approach that stresses speed since his fighting games concentrate on striking key places rather than outright slicing opponents with swords.

Fighters like Thorkell the Tall, who believes he has what it takes to succeed as the next chieftain of the Jomsvikings, acknowledge Thorfinn’s might. Even though he rarely enters into unarmed combat, Thorfinn is capable of withstanding strong blows with enough prep time (and no, he’s not Batman, don’t worry). He gains access to Canute after taking a total of 100 hits from Drott to reveal this ability. Yet unprepared for Ylfa’s enraged strike, he was struck unconscious.

As for Snake, we really do not know much about his overall powers and abilities since no precise information has been provided on that aspect. We do know that Snake is powerful and strong, but because of a lack of information, it is impossible to precisely determine this in relation to other characters. Gardar was able to choke him and almost kill him if that was worth something, but the circumstances of that event were quite specific.

Based on the fact that Snake was not able to overpower Thorfinn and that Gardar almost choked him, we assume that he is a bit weaker than Thorfinn in this category.

Points: Thorfinn 1, Snake 0

Speed and agility

Thorfinn’s major fighting advantage is thought to be his speed. He lost against Thorkell in battle but won Thorkell’s admiration during the invasion of London. He has avoided and responded to unexpected strikes like Snake’s Drawing, thanks to his quick reflexes. Nonetheless, he was unable to avoid Garm’s spear. Thorfinn was hurt by Garm, who proved to be faster than him, but he could still avoid him by avoiding his movements with his gaze. Before his pursuers in Jomsburg realized he had fled from them, he could travel a few meters.

When Garm identified Thorfinn as the only fighter ever found to evade his spear so swiftly, it was a testimonial to his rapid reflexes. Thorfinn’s agility is among the fastest in the series; he can scale a fortress wall, even jump over a moat, and outrun a squad of troops in a matter of seconds on a battlefield. He may use his agility to strike from an angle during a fight to finish off his opponent and rapidly regain his balance after being hit or dodged.

As for Snake, it is not known exactly how fast he is, but it has been said that he is almost as fast as Thorfinn, which is amazing since Thorfinn’s speed and reflexes are simply amazing. But, as we have said, there is a general lack of information about Snake and his powers, save for the short scenes we’ve seen in the manga, which is why we cannot give you any additional information here.

This one is quite clear, as it has been officially confirmed that Snake is almost as fast as Thorfinn, which means that Thorfinn is the faster of the two and easily wins in this category.

Points: Thorfinn 2, Snake 0

Weapons

Speed is emphasized in Thorfinn’s combat technique, along with the simultaneous use of two knives; one of these knives originally belonged to Thors. He usually had the ability to quickly dispatch an opponent while dodging his blows by focusing on their weak places and using his speed to his advantage. Throwing knives can also be used well by Thorfinn, albeit he does not use them as his principal weapons.

Snake seems to have been quite skilled with the sword, but the exact level of his skills with weapons is unknown. He did not lose to Thorfinn, and he was able to quickly pierce Gardar, so we assume that he is somewhat skilled, but we cannot really compare him to anyone in this aspect, as we simply lack the data to do so.

We know that Thorfinn is very skilled with the sword, but since he could not defeat Snake, although he did trip and fall, we would assume that Snake was a match for him in this category, which is why we are going to split the points.

Points: Thorfinn 3, Snake 1

Thorfin’s hypothetical duel with Snake

And now for our article’s most important and interesting section – the analysis. Here, we will use what we have learned about these two characters and analyze how all these facts would (or would not) help them in a fight against each other. Let us continue.

The points suggest that Thorfinn would be able to overpower Snake in a fight; he did not manage to do it in the manga when the two of them actually clashed because he tripped over a rock and some leaves and fell. Still, from what we could have gathered from our analysis, he would have been able to win had the two of them fought for a prolonged period of time. Sure, we have little to no information about Snake’s powers and abilities, but we still think that Thorfinn would be able to come out victorious from this fight.

Based on what we know, Thorfinn is stronger than the average Viking, and although Snake is not someone that can be underestimated, we have not seen anything that would suggest Snake is stronger than Thorfinn in that aspect. It would probably be an interesting fight, but we think that Thorfinn is stronger than Snake. He is also, as we know for certain, faster than Snake, as it has been confirmed that Snake is near Thorfinn’s speed but is not as fast as him or even faster; this can be deduced easily, and while Snake is fast, he couldn’t really measure up to Thorfinn here.

Finally, Snake was able to match Thorfinn in a swordfight, which is why we have split the point in that category. Still, we’re not really sure about the winner in this category because of the lack of information about Snake that we have mentioned. So, overall, we think that Thofrinn could come on top against Snake in a direct fight, but it would be an exhausting and very interesting one for fans, which is why we hope that a rematch between the two will happen at some point in the future.