Askeladd

One of the main characters in Vinland Saga Season 1

For those of you unfamiliar with Vinland Saga, you shouldn't be, it is one of the best shows I have ever watched and maintains my top spot for characters on three accounts, Askeladd being one of those three. I will sing its praises later when I write the story analysis for it so for the moment I will refrain from getting off track.

I'll start with what I feel makes him a fantastic character traditionally and then I'll go into what makes him unique, then finally talk about what all of that means in terms of larger themes or messages. Without further ado, let's analyze the man himself.

My idea of traditional character concepts is simply the pieces of standard character formulas. My own take on this formula is what I call the Character Pipeline, the framework that I'll employ for the analysis of Askeladd and every subsequent character.

We start with Askeladd's backstory. It is quite brief and presented to us through his own retelling of it. The moment this occurs is when he changes from dynamic to static and, as I will discuss in the unique section, is quite possibly the most important and impactful part of the story. In this retelling, we see him taking care of his mother, Lydia, a noblewoman of Wales who was taken as a sex slave by the leader of the raiding party that took her, Olaf. Askeladd was never truly noticed or taken care of by his father and Lydia was neglected once she fell ill. This resulted in both of them living in horrid conditions and Lydia eventually dying of that same illness. Askeladd worked and trained his sword skills in order to be noticed by his father. During this work, he picked up the nickname Askeladd which roughly translates to Ashen Lad, due to him being covered in ash at the forge where he worked at the time. Once his mother died, the rage and resentment boiled over and he set his plan in motion. He would gain his father's favor through his sword fighting skills which would get Askeladd close to him. Once he was close enough he would kill his father and blame it on his half-brother who was also on the fringes of Olaf's favor.

With this context, the other half of Askeladd's ancestry is fully revealed or confirmed for some and we are now forced to sympathize with him if you didn't like him already. Much of the time between then and the moment we see him first appear in the story is not clear or described, so there are many more details that we could be missing but since I can't do anything about that I will make my analysis off of this portion alone.

From this backstory, we can gather his flaws, handicaps, and limitations. He has displayed time and again in both the backstory and the main story that he has no impactful physical or mental handicaps. Limitations are a bit tough to make out but I would argue that one of them is that he is close-minded and set in his way when it comes to Norsemen. This is what limits his view later on in the story until we begin to see the cracks form near the end of Season 1 and into Season 2. When it comes to flaws we can definitively say that he believes in his own purpose to a fault. He acknowledges that there is no definitive proof that he is indeed the descendant of Lucius Artorius Castus which would make him the king of Britain. This whole notion of being the King of Britain has been his driving purpose for an unknown period of time which means that he has been driven by a suspicion for a large portion of his life. Additionally, he is callous, ruthless, and indifferent to the deaths of his men (aside from Bjorn kind of). He is a man riddled with flaws and flawed beliefs.

These three things take us to his motivations. As I stated before, his driving force is that he is the rightful King of Britain and that he must become that very thing. On top of that desire, the fact that the despised Norsemen are the ones standing in his way makes it even better in his mind. Additionally, it feels like, to me, he subtly wants to see Thorfinn succeed because he sees a lot of himself in Thorfinn. Askeladd had been filled with rage and driven by revenge until he got it and then was subsequently lost for a period of time (sounds similar to Thorfinn). This subtlety is stripped away to a degree in Season 2 where Askeladd appears in a nightmare and encourages him to become a true warrior. This also makes his actions in Season 1, where he spares Thorfinn and tells him to be a true warrior, more clear. Therefore, he is largely motivated by the notion of paradise free of bloodthirsty Norsemen. He knows that he likely cannot succeed in this endeavor, so he takes a risk on young Thorfinn who has the same foundation he had as a child, molding him into a man who would be able to carry the torch towards success. This is not to say that he killed Thors just to get at Thorfinn, he takes this risk on Thorfinn after he realizes the similarities between himself and Thorfinn because of his actions.

Next comes his decision-making which is a bit difficult to talk about in this context because there are so many decisions being made over the course of the story. Seeing as he is truly a static character though, very few of his decisions change him in memorable or permanent ways. The only notable ones would be the one I talked about just before, being to take Thorfinn in and mold him as opposed to just killing him off. He also chooses to trust Canute, Thorfinn, and Thorkell (sort of) who are all his despised Norsemen. These are the two major decisions that, in retrospect, show his slight dynamism.

These decisions create memories and experiences. In this case, we only have two memorable and meaningful decisions so this should be fairly short. The first decision is where he exhibits mercy for a Norseman and we can, again, in retrospect, see a shift in his goal slightly. This mercy occurs on more than one occasion: he shows empathy towards Thorfinn, Torgill, Atli, and Bjorn. This shift occurs slowly over time but the seeds are planted at the moment he decides to spare Thorfinn and essentially take him in. The shift I speak of is the one where he begins to see this whole idea of establishing a paradise as something that would go on beyond his lifetime, which is specifically attached to Thorfinn and Canute. The other decision here is the one to trust Canute, Thorfinn, and Thorkell (again, only kind of). When his plan to kill King Sweyn comes into full view he chooses to enlist Canute and Thorkell on top of the "ever-loyal" Thorfinn. You could argue that he is simply using them but I think, especially with Thorfinn and Canute, he sees something deeper within them that he innately trusts because it looks exactly like him (a connection I will cover when I get to those two characters and the overall story). To some, this might feel like a leap but it is made abundantly clear at the end of Season 1 and in Season 2 that he wants to see Thorfinn succeed where he failed. This decision just furthers the purpose of the previous one and it now includes Canute. Additionally, this is the one that I think starts to show the cracks in his demeanor toward the Norsemen that he so dearly hates. These decisions create these two core points in the story that you could frame as core memories or experiences that run contrary to his current identity.

From memories and experiences, we can find morals and ideals over a larger span of time. At certain points in the story, one of his goals is made clear, protecting the Welsh from further invasions by the Danes because he feels a strong connection to that side of his ancestry. I believe this is one of his goals but I also think that it is part of something larger. If you haven't noticed already he is strong in his pursuit of this paradise and is, therefore, pursuing an idea of a peaceful, united Britain. However, contrary to Thorfinn and much like Canute, he will do whatever it takes to achieve that. From this, we can gather that his main ideal is that Britain should be united and peaceful even if that means he is not necessarily the one to create it from top to bottom. This idea is Norsemen exclusive and contributes to the point of him simply using Canute but again I believe it runs deeper than that. His morals are ultimately questionable but in the world that this story takes place in, they are understandable at the least. His callousness, ruthlessness, and "do whatever it takes" mindset are what form his questionable morals. Alongside that, a lot of thought goes into his decisions and at the end of the day, he will even go so far as to break his own code of ethics (his no Norsemen policy) to achieve his goals. Therefore, to that point, one must admit that his "whatever it takes" mindset is also respectable because he defies his own beliefs to do so.

All of the things stated before create his identity. Put succinctly, he is a callous, plotter, that will do whatever it takes to reach his goal of a paradise for the people of Wales and even further, Britain, even if "whatever it takes" means that he must break his own code of ethics. At the end of the day, he demands respect, at the very least, from the viewer and those around him.

Now for the unique parts about this wonderful character.

The most interesting thing about Askeladd is that he is a perfectly static character by his own account yet he is presented as a partially dynamic character for all but the last few episodes of the season that he plays a primary role in. This is made possible by the excellent storytelling and how the world that he has built around himself functions. Many of the foundational components of his character are only guessed at by the viewer until the last few episodes of Season 1 where they are then flipped on their heads, subverting many expectations.

Yes, the pieces can be put together beforehand but only to a certain degree. From the moment you meet him, his look is off compared to the rest of his pirate crew. There's his armor which is distinctly Roman in its features. Admittedly, that didn't tie him to the Welsh in my mind because I wasn't aware of the connection between the Romans and the Welsh but upon further research, the Welsh identity is deeply influenced by the Roman one. His appearance is mostly distinct from the others in his band and even those outside of the band. He has features akin to someone who might be older than his peers. Once I dug deeper and confirmed his age, he is, in fact, younger (44) than Thorkell the Tall (50). Thorkell looks definitively younger than him, but in both cases, neither of them appear or fight like they are that old.

Not only are his looks off from those of Norse blood but you slowly start to realize that he doesn't spend very much time with them. If you noticed that before he outright said it then props to you.

Of course, there is the most obvious moment, before the declaration of his true identity and motives, that suggests he might not be being forthright about his self. That is the moment when they arrive in Wales to escape Thorkell's army and he speaks Welsh, alongside all of the other events and decisions that led up to that moment.

So all of this is to say that he is clearly, if you look hard enough, different than the people he is surrounded by. That, in conjunction with the slight changes I discussed with his identity, is what makes him feel dynamic to the audience on first watch. Of course, all of these details would become clearer on a second watch and he wouldn't be dynamic anymore but that's irrelevant to the intention of the character writing. The moment this dynamism flips on its head is quite possibly the biggest revelation in the whole of Season 1.

Aside from being an undercover static character, he has this looming inevitability both in the story and outside of it. The sense of progress for Thorfinn and the audience, seeing as he is the primary main character, is his duels against Askeladd. Each time they fight, Askeladd wins. At first, this feels normal and correct because of the age and experience gap. But, as this gap closes and sometimes even sways in Thorfinn's favor (aside from Thorfinn's uncontrollable rage), Askeladd still wins. On top of that, we find Askeladd in so many dire situations yet he still prevails despite the odds being stacked against him on multiple occasions. Over the course of Season 1, this sense of inevitability grows with each duel and each evaded scenario.

Not only does this affect the characters in the story but it also affects the viewer. From the beginning we are made to sympathize with Thorfinn because of what Askeladd did to his father, therefore Askeladd appears as the villain for at least half of Season 1. Despite being the most evil person to our beloved Thorfinn, he still grows on us all by the end of the story. Clearly, he grew on me and from everyone I've spoken to about this show, he grew on them too.

This brings us to the final point of themes. Seeing as he is mostly static it is hard to draw themes about change from his character. He's also not the best of role models when it comes to achieving goals because of his approach. Therefore, we can take his themes from the opposite of what he does. Seeing as he has, up to this point, failed in his endeavor we can take the lesson of not approaching our goals in the same manner he does. His bullheadedness led him straight to his death and the only things he changed were the king of England from Sweyn to Canute and Thorfinn's motivation. Of course, these were, what I venture to believe, secret goals of his once he finally realized that his goal was unachievable by him alone. Therefore, if we want to live to see the fruits of our labor we should not approach our goals in the same manner he does. On the other side of that same coin, we can say that another of his themes is that lofty goals and ambitions, such as creating a paradise, cannot be achieved by a closeminded, selfish person and that things like that take more than just a single individual.

Long story short, violence and neglect change people, it makes them ambitious and closeminded, a toxic combo. One holds back the other and leads to nothing but suffering for either the person who lives that existence or those who are on the other end of that person's blade. He saved Thorfinn from this existence which is his magnum opus when it comes to saving lives.