‘Vinland Saga’: Who Is Roald Son of Grimm & What Happens to Him?

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, as well as 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 also based on actual historical people. In this article, we are going to talk about a character who once introduced himself as Roald, son of Grimm, but who is actually better known under a different name in the series. You are going to find out who Roald, son of Grimm, actually is.

Roald, son of Grimm, is the name that Snake was actually born with; his real name is, thus Roald. Grimm is, in accordance with tradition, the name of his father, so he would practically be Roald Grimmson if traditional naming rules were to be applied here. He would later pick the nickname Snake, which is how he is generally known. His father, Grimm, is not the Grim from Thorfinn’s village.

The rest of this article will focus, as you’ve probably deduced for yourselves, on Roald, a.k.a. Snake, and his role in the Vinland Saga manga. As you know, Snake is a very important secondary character with ties to Thorfinn, so we understand that you want to know more about him, especially in light of the mystery surrounding his name. Spoilers from the manga will be present, so be careful how you approach the article.

Roald, son of Grimm, is the real name of a very famous character – Snake!

Going back to Chapter 59 of the manga, we remember the debut appearance of a long-haired, mean-looking character. The character was a Viking warrior employed by Ketil to work as a guard on his farms. The character was introduced as Snake (Hebi in Japanese), and it was obvious from the very start that Snake was a nickname. Yet, his real name was not revealed then, and time passed, and the character known as Snake continued to evolve in the series as – Snake.

Fast forward to Chapter 99 of the manga, when Thorfinn and Einar were leaving on Leif’s Knarr. Snake was there and helped them, and as the Knarr was drifting off from the coast, Snake revealed his real name to them, stating that he is Roald, son of Grimm, to which they thanked him and told him to take care of himself.

This was a big revelation in terms of the Vinland Saga series, and it further deepened Snake’s story in the series, which was an interesting moment for all fans, we’re certain of it.

Everyone knows that Snake’s role in the series was quite strange, especially in light of his fight with Thorfinn. He was an exceptionally skilled warrior in a lot of aspects. An original anime episode confirmed that he was once a warrior of Miklagard, which is actually Constantinople, and he somehow ended up in the north, where he was hired as a warrior and protector on Ketil’s farm.

And while he seems to have a very close bond with both Ketil and his father, he refuses to speak about it and tells everyone that they are just mere strangers to him, despite it being an obvious lie.

As a person, Snake has two sides. One side, the dominant one, is that of a compassionate and caring person and a person who is always rational. Although he guards the farm, he genuinely seems to care for the slaves working them and has saved them from harsh punishment on numerous occasions.

He will also always try to calm the situation down and resolve it peacefully. He is also quite reliable and will do his job as he is supposed to.

On the other hand, he also has a violent side, but it is rarely seen, as he controls it. We’ve only seen him lose control of himself when Gardar killed his friends.

Regarding his skills and abilities, we have to state that Snake is a skilled and powerful warrior. He is exceptionally fast and one of the fastest characters in the series, with even Thorfinn admitting that Snake is faster than anyone he had faced before him. He is also physically strong and seems to be quite good at using weapons, but since we haven’t seen him fight too much, we don’t know any details in this aspect.

Snake, or Roald, whichever you prefer, is yet another original character from the Vinland Saga series

As fans of the series will know, many Vinland Saga characters are actually based on real, historical people. Some of them are direct adaptations, while others are more loosely based, but most characters contain a degree of historicity in them, despite Yukimura giving each of them their own treatment in the context of the original manga. This doesn’t mean there are no original characters in the series, so we are asking ourselves this about Snake. So, is Snake, an original person, or is he based on a real person?

As far as we know now, Snake/Roald is an original character. As we have explained above, Snake has a relatively important role in the story and is one of the more important secondary characters in the series. And since a lot of his story has already been revealed, we doubt that Yukimura will surprise us with some big revelation later on, as Vinland Saga is simply not that type of series.

Someone might have inspired him, but he is not actually a real person, as far as we know now, and since his story has already been established, we don’t think that people wouldn’t have noticed existing similarities with real-life people.