Vinland Saga: Does Thorkell Know Who Killed Thors?

Thorkell, the strongest Viking in Vinland Saga after Thors’ death, has always recognized that only Thors was strong enough to beat him. That was why he respected Thors and treated him like a true brother, even though Thors married his niece. But we did see that Thorkell met Askeladd, who was responsible for killing Thors and works for Floki, the same person that ordered Askeladd to kill Thors. So, does Thorkell know who killed Thors?

Regarding the current storyline, Thorkell is unaware of who killed Thors because he continued working for Floki long after meeting Askeladd and Thorfinn for the first time. It is possible that Thorfinn never told his great-uncle about who killed Thors so that Thorkell won’t try to duel and kill Askeladd.

The fact that Thorkell never learned the truth about Thors and the people responsible for killing him might not be a very important part of the Vinland Saga storyline. However, it does add a few wrinkles to Thorkell’s story, especially because he still worked with Floki a few times. Let’s look at whether or not Thorkell ever found out the truth behind Thors’ death and who was responsible for it. 

Thorkell Doesn’t Find Out Who Killed Thors

Since the very first episode of Vinland Saga, Thorkell was already portrayed as one of the mightiest warriors in the entire Viking world. It was later revealed that, throughout his entire life, he was second only to Thors, Thorfinn’s father. Thorkell respected and loved Thors like his brother due to his strength and kindness. On top of that, Thors was also the husband of Thorkell’s niece.

We all know what happened to Thors as he was killed by Askeladd when Floki hired him for the job. Floki hated Thors and had a good reason for killing him when he discovered that Thors had deserted the Jomsvikings to live a peaceful life. And this was one of the reasons why Thorfinn, Thors’ son, became an angry young man that wanted nothing more than to kill Askeladd.

Thorfinn tagged along with Askeladd’s mercenary group to earn an honorable duel with him and avenge his father. Their missions allowed Thorfinn to meet Thorkell, who was working for the English army then and looking to destroy Askeladd and his men. Due to this, Thorfinn met his great-uncle for the first time and even dueled with him until Thorkell ended up defecting to the side of the Danish army.

Of course, while Thorkell was happy to see his great-nephew for the first time, he also discovered that Thors was already dead. Nevertheless, he never asked Thorfinn what happened to his father or who killed him. Instead, he was surprised that the strongest man he had ever fought was dead.

Thorfinn, on the other hand, didn’t even care that Thorkell was his mother’s uncle. That’s because he focused more on avenging his father’s death by killing Askeladd. And we all know what happened after that, as Thorfinn never got to avenge Thors’ death but ended up becoming an even better person than before.

Meanwhile, Thorkell ended up working for King Canute as his strongest soldier because he loved that the gigantic man lived to fight. That meant there were instances wherein Thorkell had to fight for and alongside Floki, the commander of the Jomsvikings. While he did not love Floki, Thorkell never discovered that Thors’ death was ordered by the man who used to lead the Jomsvikings.

Thorfinn took a while to learn the truth about who killed his father. In the manga, he ended up learning that Floki was the one that ordered his father’s death and that Askeladd was only the tool that was used to kill Thors. But because Thorfinn had become a changed man, he never sought revenge for what Floki did to Thors. Instead, he just simply disbanded the Jomsvikings after becoming their leader.

Thorkell, however, was kept in the dark about what happened to Thors even though he had just as much of a right to learn what happened to one of the few men he truly respected. As such, Thorkell never got to learn that it was Askeladd and Floki that were responsible for killing his nephew-in-law.

Thorfinn Kept It from Thorkell

During the events of season 1 of Vinland Saga, Thorfinn never really talked about Thors’ death to Thorkell, as he most likely deliberately kept it from him. And that’s because he understood that Thorkell loved and respected Thors.

This means that there was a good chance that Thorkell might have tried to kill Askeladd, who Thorfinn wanted to kill to satiate his hunger for revenge. Thorfinn didn’t just want Askeladd to die because he wanted to be the one to kill him with his blade in a fair duel, as he felt that this was the only way that he could honor his fallen father’s memory.

Knowing that Thorkell was a great man that could have easily killed Askeladd in a fair duel, Thorfinn kept the information hidden from him as there would have been a good chance that the gigantic Viking would have wanted to kill the mercenary captain after finding out what he did to one of his closest friends.

Nevertheless, we don’t know a lot about the code of the Vikings. So, even if Thorfinn told Thorkell what Askeladd did to Thors, the giant would have allowed the younger boy to seek revenge. But it was also possible that Thorkell would have tried to stop Thorfinn from trying to kill Askeladd because he understood that this wasn’t something that Thors would’ve wanted.

Whatever the case may be, the fact is that Thorfinn likely deliberately kept the information from Thorkell because he was so focused on trying to kill Askeladd. Of course, it is also possible that he didn’t think of anything other than winning a fair duel with Askeladd to avenge his father’s death.