Vinland Saga: How Many People Has Thorfinn Killed?

The diversity of modern-day manga and anime is something that is a well-known fact, but some titles manage to stand out even among such harsh competition. Vinland Saga is one such title, as it stands out among the lot for its accurate depiction of historical events, the authenticity of the content, and the fact that it is focused on European rather than Asian (Japanese or Chinese) history. This has also been transferred to the characters of Vinland Saga, most of which are great, and one of them will be the focus of this article. Namely, we will talk about the series’ protagonist, Thorfinn, and will tell you how many people he has killed in the series.

Thorfinn’s total kill count is 68, but five of his victims are animals (two rabbits, two dogs, and a wolf), which means that Thorfinn has killed a total of 63 people in the Vinland Saga series. Most of them were mass killings of unnamed villagers, while the remaining killings were individual killings of different soldiers, attackers, and assailants.

The rest of this article will elaborate on how many people Thorfinn, the protagonist, has killed on the pages of Vinland Saga. We will give a precise answer to the question, introduce Thorfinn a bit, and list all of his known killings in the Vinland Saga series. Be careful, though, as there will be spoilers in the article.

How many people has Thorfinn killed?

Thorfinn, also called Karlsefni, is the protagonist of the manga and anime Vinland Saga. He is a former member of Askeladd’s band, as well as the son of the legendary Thors, the most famous Jomsviking warrior before his mysterious defection earlier in the story. His mother, Helga, is the daughter of the chief Sigvaldi and Thorkell’s nephew, which gives Thorfinn the right to the leadership of the Jomsvikings.

A cold, lonely, revenge-ridden young warrior, he is almost seventeen years old in the series’ prologue. Although he hates Askeladd for murdering his father, he joins his warrior band, so he can kill him in single combat. To have the right to face him regularly in a duel, he must accomplish particularly difficult missions for the latter. However, in each fight, he emerges defeated by his opponent’s skill and cunning.

Still, Thorfinn is an enormously skilled fighter with a lot of battle experience due to being raised on the battlefield. He is one of the few Vinland Saga characters with peak human abilities, as most other characters are quite regular in this department. He has enhanced durability and agility. He is faster than your average Viking, as well as stronger than an average person. He is also quite skilled with weapons.

Thorfinn wields two daggers to perfection, forcing him to fight in close combat. But his inexperience and inability to control himself make him lose his temper easily, which some of his opponents, like Askeladd, take advantage of. In volume 7, we learn that the Vikings begin to nickname him Thorfinn Karlsefni, thanks to his exploit against Thorkell.

Thorfinn later changes. Due to not being to take his revenge on Askeladd, who died, and failing to kill Canute, Thorfinn ended up a broken man, but that breakdown triggered a change in him, and Thorfinn eventually became a reformed man. Once violent and brutal, Thorfinn became a pacifist and wants to follow a path of non-violence, although it remains to be seen just how long he will be able to do that.

Be that as it may, Thorfinn remains one of the most brutal characters in the whole series. Based on the data we have, Thorfinn is, behind only Askeladd, the second most brutal character in the series based on the number of killings; this is especially relevant because Askeladd is dead, and Thorfinn has more than enough time to catch up to him, as the difference is only three killings in total.

Askeladd takes the top place with 70 kills, whereas Thorfinn is second with a total of 68 killings in the Vinland Saga series. He has killed five animals (two rabbits, two dogs, and one wolf) and 63 people in total; for comparison, the third one on the list, Thorkell the Tall, has “only” 49 recorded killings, almost 20 less than Thorfinn, which is a significant difference. These numbers are based on the data from the anime, as the manga deaths are basically impossible to count. Here is a list of all of Thorfinn’s killings in chronological order:

This is quite a respectable kill count for one and a half season. More names are definitely going to be revealed in the future, mainly through flashbacks, so we’ll be updating the list as necessary. It’s a good thing for Thorfin’s victims that he has since been reformed because such a formidable killer could scare anyone and everyone, regardless of one’s own powers and abilities.

The fact remains that Thorfinn is an exceptionally skilled fighter. He is able to fight face-to-face, but he is also skilled in stealth combat, as was shown over the course of the series. Based on all of these facts, it is quite understandable why and how Thorfinn was one of the series’ most dangerous and ruthless characters, which is why it is interesting to observe the contrast in his overall character development.