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rukia-writes · 4 years

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Can I have some headcanons for Throkell, Askeladd, Thorfinn and Bjorn with a boy (not exactly an s/o, just a friend) around Throfinn's age who is really handsome and cute? I thought it would be funny to have a minor character, not like Canute who's the prince, being a warrior and all manly but having such a pretty face that could make him pass as a woman 😂😂 Merry Christmas, sweetie!

That’s very interesting anon ❤️✨✨

Tumblr wouldn’t let me do Thorfinn’s so I did the first three

Merry Christmas 🎄

Let’s do this.❤️✨✨

Thorkell:

🗡Picks on him a lot. But not in a cruel way.

🗡While the two are in battle.

🗡”Be careful now. We don’t want that cute face of yours to get hurt.”

🗡So Pretty boy proceeds to fuck up another Viking.

🗡Thorkell just laughs while clapping his large hands together.

🗡”Well done, pretty boy! Now let me show you how it’s done.”

🗡the two have a competition of sorts.

🗡Pretty boy gets all the ladies and Thorkell doesn’t care. Say it happens often and he’ll walk up to the group of girls and say to the pretty boy,

🗡”All these females look lovely, but what about the girl in the last town?”

🗡The girls gasp in shock and the pretty boy is confused, so Thorkell plays the part up being over dramatic.

🗡”oh don’t you remember?! She was such a pretty young thing and you promised her treasure from the king himself. Oh dear, have you forgotten already?!”

🗡The girls instantly leave and the pretty boy just sighs in frustration as Thorkell and his men laugh.

Askeladd:

🗡Picks on them every now and again.

🗡Likes the way battle too.

🗡No one thinks pretty boy can fight and surprise! Is a force to be reckoned with.

🗡Kind of like how askeladd fights.

🗡will use their pretty face as a way to get stuff.

🗡Makes him flirt with the shopkeeper to get stuff. A whole bunch stuff for like half,,75,,85 percent off.

🗡Askeladd’s men have a full stomach either of food or wine and so does askeladd.

🗡Laughs while he smacks their butt saying,

🗡”Job well done, pretty boy.”

Bjorn:

🍄Also likes the way they fight.

🍄Didn’t think much of them; cause of the pretty face.

🍄but likes them.

🍄The two will train from time to time.

🍄Arm wrestle too. Both are tied currently.

🍄once, Bjorn likes him he’ll probably look after him.

🍄Even though he knows pretty boy can handle himself.

✨Rukia-Writes✨

#vinland saga headcanons #thorkell headcanons

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animebw · 4 years

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Binge-Watching: Vinland Saga, Episodes 7-9

In which the production runs headfirst into the evils of capitalism, Askeladd continues to impress, and Thorfinn is dragged deeper into the muck.

Sympathy for the Animators

I have an immense amount of respect for Studio Wit. Ever since they stepped onto the field with my First Anime Ever(tm), Attack on Titan, it was clear didn’t just want to make anime, but genuine classics. All of their work, even the stuff I haven’t enjoyed as much, has its own instantly striking identity, rendered with a level of lavish detail that makes it sink into your consciousness and leave a truly lasting impression. The saturated summer-shower radiance of After the Rain, the subdued tranquil beauty of Ancient Magus Bride, and the sleek rip-roaring spectacle of Seraph of the End are all images I’m still thinking about even years after watching them. I remember the feeling of a Studio Wit show more regularly than I remember the feeling of most studio’s output, and I always appreciate the hell out of what they’re able to accomplish. But in recent months and years, that respect has been tempered by the frustrating, uncomfortable reality of learning how nightmarish it is to actually work there. Company president George Wada is one of the worst offender of anime’s already-abysmal tendency to overwork its creators. And under his management, Wit’s animators and storyboarders and everyone else are pushed to the point of exhaustion time and time again, forced to work inhuman schedules against impossible deadlines without so much as a moment’s rest. That’s the reason the third season of Attack on Titan was split over the course of two years: the animation team was just too fucking spent to power through a full 25 episodes at once. And as much love as I have for this studio, I still haven’t figured out how to square my appreciation of their work with the awful situation they’re placed in to make it.

I bring this all up because now that Vinland Saga’s prologue is complete and it’s shifting into its more action-oriented present storyline, the terrible strain on the animation team is sadly starting to crack through once again. I maintain that the first six episodes were genuinely beautiful, but they achieved that splendor by leaning into their artistic, emotional side, with deeply poignant cinematography and editing to supplement the action and violence. But now that we’re in more straightforward battle territory, with the focus on big armies clashing against each other, the show can’t rely as heavily on that artistry, and unfortunately, that means the ludicrous pressure the creators are under is seriously starting to drag the presentation down. The constant use of ugly CG ships and crowds is hugely distracting, especially when their sleek textures clash with the otherwise gritty and tactile 2D art. There are a lot more static shots where there’s just not much motion happening, despite ostensibly depicting a chaotic rush of army clashing against army. Character art is stiffer and more often off-model in the light of day. It’s awkward and aesthetically disjointed, and it’s indicative of a production team that wasn’t given the time to animate these complex scenarios with the level of polish they needed. It’s not a total wash, thankfully; the one-and-one duels are comparatively simple enough for the animation and camerawork to still capture the visceral intensity of the clash (Thorfinn’s duel with Throkell, in particular, was spectacular), and whenever it’s time for another moment of quiet poignancy, Vinland Saga still delivers with spectacular cinematic direction. This show is still far from truly collapsing. But every stuttering shot with limited animation only reminds me just how much suffering the team pulling this story together has had to endure, and that’s never gonna be easy to swallow.

The Eternal Pragmatist

It’s a good thing, then, that Vinland Saga’s story and character writing is still more than strong enough to carry it through the rough patches. And once again, the undisputed MVP is Askeladd, who honestly might be more the protagonist of this story than Thorfinn at this point. Seriously, not even is he the one driving most of the action, but had we met him in any other context than as the man who killed Thors, we would easily gravitate to him as a hero. He’s the champion of his hometown, beloved by all for the points he brings back from his glorious conquests. He pulls off ridiculous acts of bravado to win the day, such as ordering his men to carry their fucking boats in a cross-land charge to get them to the next body of water. If we lived among his crew, or among his village, we’d see him as a conquering hero, just as much an idol to aspire to as Thors to his own village. And yet, he’s also the coldly pragmatic, despicable rogue that Thorfinn sees him as, completely willing to play dirty and make morally bankrupt choices if it means getting ahead. When he duels Thorfinn, he inflames the kid by slandering his father, achieving victory through psychological trickery over genuine physical prowess. And despite the care he’s shown Thorfinn, he loses little sleep over the possibility of him dying in a mission gone wrong. He’s both the hero of his own story and the villain of Thorfinn’s, not as separate entities, but as part of the same person.

But it’s his reaction to the cruel treatment of a slave girl that really fascinates me. The dehumanizing nature of slavery has been stewing in this show’s background ever since the first episode, and Askeladd’s take on it is very revealing. While he’s far from abolitionist in his views, perceiving slavery as a fact of life, he’s nevertheless amused that the man beating his slave believes himself so superior to her, despite he himself being a slave to the money he used to purchase her. In his hyper-utilitarian mindset, being a slave doesn’t make you any less human; it merely gives you a different set of parameters to work around. Everyone’s a slave to something, whether it’s literal bondage, emotional dependency, deep-seated desires, or whatever circumstances tie you to a certain course in life. No one is truly superior to anyone else; it’s all a matter of how well you’re able to yank on everyone’s chains to make them dance the way you want them to. It’s a deeply warped, but deeply fascinating take on equality, and it speaks both to Askeladd’s mercenary mindset and his genuine sense of honor. He views other people as tools to use for his ends, and he believes that with the right approach, you can make effective use of anyone. But sometimes, achieving that utilitarian bond with someone else means doing right by them as they do right by you, and that means recognizing the basic humanity of the people you’re bargaining with. That’s what makes his relationship with Thorfinn so complicated: he’s not above leaving the kid to die if the cost of keeping him alive outweighs the risks, but the skills Thorfinn offers him are powerful enough that he sees value in keeping the kid around. Which means it’s in Askeladd’s best interests both to leave Thorfinn without a safety net while still encouraging him to keep improving and maintain their curious sense of trust. It’s no wonder he’s been such a fan favorite character: there are few characters in any medium who exist as such a fascinating series of contradictions.

Broken Eyes

Of course, Thorfinn’s still too blinded by rage to see those complexities. In his mind, Askeladd is a murderer who needs to die, simple as that. But the more he pushes himself down that path, the harder the strain becomes to bear when the world he wants to exist refuses to line up with the world that actually does. He sees visions of his father, Thors’ words of pacifism ringing in his ears like a conscience he can’t quite manage to shut out. And time and time again, he faces down opponents who he can’t fit into the binary worldview he’s relying on to keep from falling apart. Thorkell, an incredibly spirited warrior, is so in love with battle that he’d rather go down in flames than rise up on fumes. It’s an enthusiasm that disgusts Thorfinn; how can this jolly giant retain his good spirits even after losing his fingers? How can he find anything exciting about the cruel horrors of war and bloodshed? But just as Thors’ words ask him to accept that reality, Askeladd’s words drag him right back toward cruel utilitarianism. He considers the slave girl weak for not killing her captors, telling her she’ll be a slave all her life if she doesn’t rebel. He’s so detached from his own trauma that he’s already forgotten just how deeply he’s been scarred by bathing in blood, and he doesn’t realize how he’s wishing that same exact pain upon someone who’s already been through far too much pain than anyone should ever bear. Like Askeladd, he’s grown into a young man of many contradictions, but unlike Askeladd, he doesn’t have the perspective to process those contradictions. And the confusion that brings only drags him deeper and deeper until he’s drowning under its weight.

So how will he escape that trap? What path can Thorfinn take that will lead him out of this muck and to accepting the life he’s grown into? Only time will tell. But it’s definitely notable that as cynical as Thorfinn’s grown, even he hasn’t forgotten the promise of Vinland, a world free of the lash of slavery and the pain of war. Somewhere deep within, part of him still desperately wants to believe there’s a way to be free of his suffering, a way to live where violence isn’t the answer. But as long as he remains the person he is, it won’t matter where he goes; the darkness will follow him everywhere. I can only hope he finds his guiding light before all is said and done, because god knows this poor kid deserves some peace after everything he’s been through. I’m rooting for you, Thorfinn. Please, don’t let me down.

Odds and Ends

-what’s with this guy’s mouth Jesus Christ

-”Just attack, you fat-ass.” asdkjhaskdha no prisoners huh

-Holy crap, that first-person slaughter cam was crazy.

-”Ah, I can’t understand French.” You ABSOLUTE bastard, Askeladd.

-”But ask me later!” He’s a fucking maniac, good lord.

-HOLY JESUS CHRIST THAT THROWING AXE

-I seem to recall Thorkell from the opening scene with Thors in episode 1... this should be interesting.

-It is fucking unsettling how we still haven’t seen the king’s full face. Good way to build suspicion for the side we’re supposedly fighting for.

-”Warrior, tell me your name.” And just like that, Thorkell respects him as an equal. God damn.

-”Does anyone want to die?” Good lord, that’s dark.

The journey continues. See you next time!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #vinland saga

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