Askeladd: A Manipulative Killer with Bright Desire
I’ve been watching the Vinland Saga series lately. This story is about Thorfin who wants to avenge the death of his father, Thors from the honorable Jom army. The characters and culture used in this story belong to the nordic people, so in this story it will be very thick with the vikings and their gods like Odin and Thor and their heaven called Valhalla. The starting point of this story begins when Thors is killed by the vikings who were paid to kill him, which is Askeladd and his army. When Askeladd kills Thors and sees Thorfin crying, my emotions are mixed, sad to see Thors death then added anger towards Askeladd.
Thorfin seeks revenge and infiltrates Askeladd’s ship, but Askeladd lets it go and ended up taking advantage of him after seeing his potential. Thorfin is a teenager who has a bit of idealism as a knight and he wants to kill Askeladd with a fair duel. Askeladd sees Thorfin’s idealism and promises a duel as long as Thorfin does Askeladd’s requested task.
I thought that Askeladd began to accept Thorfin as his son, as well as Thorfin who I thought would accept Askeladd’s presence and forget his grudge. After I saw this story, the longer I realized that Askeladd seemed to be using Thorfin, besides that Askeladd had several other reasons to not kill Thorfin. Perhaps Askeladd sees Thorfin as 50% to be used, 20% wants to make amends for killing his father, and 30% wants himself killed by Thorfin because he feels Thorfin is worthy and able to kill Askeladd based on his fighting abilities.
As far as the story goes, I’m beginning to see Askeladd’s intelligence and manipulative nature. Askeladd also seems a little wise and quick to make decisions, even though at the beginning of the story he looks like he is careless and doesn’t think about anything other than money.
Falling in Love with Askeladd’s Dream
Even though a person has grown up and is getting clever, but there will always be things as a child that are kept to be believed, avoided or realized. I believe in that, and I identify with affection, dreams, and trauma. Askeladd is a character who turns out to have one of them, which is dream. Askeladd heard his mother story, telling him over and over again that there would be an Artorius who would save his mother and the world from slavery and murder. Askeladd thought about it and tried to make it happen, even though his behavior did not reflect his dream at all. Askeladd just becomes a barbaric and sadistic person to survive and eat. There is one episode that I really like. In this episode Askeladd is betrayed by his troops and he expresses his feelings.
He said that all the years he sailed, killed people, hung out and laughed with them all, during that time he hated being with them so much.
He did not like his destiny who lived greedily and was very barbaric. He really adores a harmonious life. However, he did not implement what he had hoped for his desire.
