The End of a 20-year Saga! Vinland Saga Chapter 220 Review!
Vinland Saga ends 20 years of amazing storytelling and Thorfinn’s actual life with a surprisingly humble chapter yet one that leaves such a strong impact through its more subtle writing and symbolisms.
After 20 years, the Saga ends today.
The story began with a 6-year old Thorfinn leaving Iceland and it ends with a 27-year old Thorfinn leaving Vinland, two places that were once “Somewhere Not Here”.
In the previous chapter, Einar passes away and is buried alongside the Arnheid bust, signifying the end of Arnheid’s Village but Thorfinn swears on the Fridr gravestone, where Einar and the spirits of Thorfinn’s past victims, that he will never give up building a country of peace.
Vinland Saga Chapter 220 is titled, “Somewhere Not Here”
The final chapter has 28 pages.
The chapter begins with Thorfinn leaving Vinland with the survivors, offering wheat seeds to Plmk as reparations for the war and to give the Lnu another food source.
Thorfinn also shakes hands with the shaman Miskwekepu’j, hoping they meet again.
As they set sail, Thorfinn warns Ga’aoqi to throw away Ivar’s sword or he will be cursed with violence.
However, the Lnu warchief hoists his sword up, reminding Thorfinn and the audience that war will always remain, even in Vinland.
Thorfinn spots a small boat coming for them.
Turns out, it was Niska stowing away on one of the Norse boats.
Just like little Thorfinn did at the start of the story.
Bug Eyes decides to leave with Niska, saying that they cannot stay in either Vinland or Greenland.
If they went back to Vinland, Ga’aoqi will kill Bug Eyes for breaking the truce.
If they went to Greenland, Leif and Bug Eyes’ home, Niska will be forced to live like a Nord.
While Thorfinn says that everyone respects Niska and can overcome the cultural differences, Bug Eyes says that, more than cultural differences, the Norse and Lnu just recently finished killing off each other.
This means there will be hostilities for a while and Niska will not know peace among Norsemen if she stays with them as the only visible member of the Lnu tribe that fought their people.
Bug Eyes is now following the path of Thorfinn’s father, Thors, who ran away from everything to live an isolated life away from the world of “here”.
In fact, when asked where they would go by Niska, Bug Eyes says that they will go to “somewhere not here”.
They will explore the ends of the earth for another settlement where no one will know their pasts and they can live out a meaningful future.
Thorfinn returns to Greenland, reuniting with his wife and kids.
Like Thorfinn, we are seeing the face of his firstborn son for the first time, a son born in the new land of Vinland.
Keep in mind that after leaving Vinland, Thorfinn buried his past and his sins, including even his failure to save Einar and Einar himself.
Now he can start over again, perhaps learn more through trade and come back to the New World to establish another settlement of peace.
The story does not end with Thorfinn after all.
The story ends with Plmk’s wheat growing from the ground, representing the prayers and hopes of those who left Vinland and the lessons the Norse and Lnu taught each other, the hope that, in the future, there will be always be peace made between people.
The story ends with Plmk’s wheat growing from the ground, representing the prayers and hopes of those who left Vinland and the lessons the Norse and Lnu taught each other.
Vinland Saga ends on a more open-ended conclusion.
Violence is not eradicated but simply held back through diplomacy and compromises.
Thorfinn, like Eren in Attack on Titan, dislikes compromising his beliefs, hence his escapism.
However, in this story, the journey to build peace does not end with one failed disastrous experiment.
Thorfinn will continue making expeditions to other parts of the New World, learn to be more worldly via trade as it seems like the two-year timeskip was not enough time.
Even if the Lnu under Ga’aoqi will drive them off, there are always other places and there are also friendlier faces among them like Plmk and the shaman.
We may never know how safe or sure Bug Eyes and Niska are but they will be a testimony to how Thorfinn is right.
Hild and Cordelia have found their peace, with Hild not only already letting go of her hatred for Thorfinn and his sins after Chapter 191 but also realizing the price of violence is losing one’s own humanity.
The story may not have the most comprehensive or exciting wrap-up but it definitely delivers on its core messages quite strongly and that is what counts.
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