‘Vinland Saga: Season 2’ Episode 22 Recap & Ending Explained: Does Thorfinn Get to Talk to Canute?

Welcome to the Ending Explained for Vinland Saga: Season 2, Episode 22, titled “The King of Rebellion.” Vinland Saga: Season 2 has been building up to this moment. Thorfinn has relearned how to live and has now chosen to abandon violence as the first course of action. Meanwhile, Canute, Thorfinn’s former master, has built himself up to be the king of kings in the Viking world, and his mission is to make a paradise out of the world. The two former allies now see each other again on opposite sides of a conflict and in life in general. Episode 22 sees these two important characters finally meeting each other again after so long.

In the previous episode, Olmar, the new head of Ketil’s farm, now that his father is unconscious, decided to surrender the farm to Canute’s forces, even if he and his family needed to go into exile. However, seeing that the bloodshed will not end soon, Thorfinn decides that he needs to see Canute one last time and try to convince him to leave the farm alone.

Of course, getting to Canute is no easy task. Canute is a king, and Thorfinn is only a slave—total opposites on the power scale. And so, Canute’s soldiers and Thorfinn make a deal. If Thorfinn can withstand 100 punches from a warrior named Brott, then he can see the king. Thorfinn accepts the challenge.

The following paragraphs contain spoilers for Vinland Saga: Season 2, Episode 22. Read at your own risk.

Does Thorfinn Get To Talk To Canute?

As the episode opens, a circle of warriors surrounds Thorfinn and Brott. The big warrior has made it his mission to topple the little Thorfinn on the ground with one of his punches. The surrounding warrior bet on how many punches Thorfinn can withstand before he surrenders or dies.

It is very hard to see, but just before the challenge began, Thorfinn told Einar that he was up to it, as there is a trick to being hit. Einar doesn’t know what this means, he is not a warrior, but as Thorfinn begins to withstand more and more punches, it seems that Thorfinn is definitely doing something that makes him more resistant to each strike.

Many warriors start losing their best when Thorfinn keeps and keeps withstanding Brott’s blows. Wulf, Canute’s head of security, who is watching from the sidelines, realizes what Thorfinn is doing. Just before he is about to get hit, Thorfinn raises his neck and turns his body’s direction away from the blow, making the strike’s energy go somewhere else, at least partially, instead of going full into his body.

Wulf is impressed and sees that Thorfinn’s claim of being a member of Canute’s Guard in the past might be true. Wulf points out that Thorfinn’s technique is so subtle that not even Brott, who is punching him, has noticed it.

Snake and Olmar arrive at this moment. They see the circle of warriors and see Thorfinn getting punched. Snake tries to intervene, but this distracts Thorfinn slightly, and he gets punched full force in the head. Snake and Einar go to help, and they get explained what is happening.

Olmar cannot believe someone so brave can even exist, and he cries. Snake says to Thorfinn that if a conversation could end this, they would have already done it. Thorfinn gets angry and asks an answer: if they really try, for real, to end this with a conversation before killing each other. Thorfinn stands up and declares that the challenge is not done.

The sunset has come, and Thorfinn is still getting hit. We see as Brott launches the final hits upon Thorfinn, and then he falls on one need. Brott apologizes to Thorfinn for having doubted him, and he declares Thorfinn, a true warrior. Wulf intervenes and approves Brott’s request to give Thorfinn an audience with the King. The warriors make way, and Thorfinn brings Einar with him, as he thinks Einar will have some things to say to the person who starts wars. They continue to walk through the beach to see Canute, Snake, and the others are left behind.

Does Thorfinn Manage To Convince Canute To Not Seize The Farm?

The moment has finally arrived. Thorfinn and Einar follow Wulf to the place on the beach where Canute has been waiting for them. We can see Wulf talking with Canute, and in a flash, we see the blade that Thorfinn used long ago to cut Canute’s face, giving him his scar.

Canute accepts to see his old guard, and they finally meet face to face. Canute notices himself surprised that Thorfinn is alive. He thinks that by making him a slave, Thorfinn must really hate him. He seems to be ready for Thorfinn’s revenge. But Canute doesn’t know about this new Thorfinn, who actually thanks Canute for his decision to make him a slave instead of just outright killing him.

Thorfinn asks his question. He asks Canute if he can leave Ketil’s farm intact. Thorfinn explains that with so many dead farmers, it will be almost impossible for the people to rebuild the farm as it was again. Canute replies, saying that he cannot do that. He says that he didn’t want to do war, and he justifies himself by saying that he gave Ketil a chance to surrender, but they Ketil underestimated Canute’s forces, and the result is the death of his men.

Einar gets angry and accuses Canute of being just a simple robber. Not a king. Einar explains that if he really wants a farm, he should make it instead of just taking it from someone who has already done all the hard work.

Einar explains that the way Canute is doing things just makes him a gang lord, nothing more. Thorfinn asks Canute if his objective is still to make a paradise on Earth. To these statements, Canute answers that he is the gang lord of all gang lords; he is an emperor and then commands the ocean waves to stop.

Of course, the waves don’t stop, but that is Canute’s point. He believes that the rules God has set upon the world are the ones that have made all Vikings unworthy of living in paradise. Thus, he rebels against those rules and against God. He will make his own rules and give his people his own paradise.

Einar gets even angry at seeing Canute justify the killing and the pillaging he does as a way to save the Viking culture from getting assailed by God’s rules. Canute then commands his soldiers to surround Thorfinn and Einar and says that the only way for him to stop will be for him to die. The episode ends, leaving us with a conflict between two people who have chosen opposite sides in life. Can it really be a place where these two can meet in peace?