This week is nothing more or less than Thorfinn’s return to his home village in Iceland, an occurance for which multiple miracles had to take place. When he sees the frozen shores, Thorfinn is scared: What if no one recognizes or remembers him? He left when he was six, after all.
Sure enough, the first people to meet him at the shore don’t know who he is, and he doesn’t know their names. When he encounters his big sis Ylva, she’s already hot from arguing with a Norwegian merchant, and kicks Thorfinn in the face, as she assumes this is some kind of scam.
His less than warm reception has Thorfinn feeling down, but however those on this island feel about him, the fact of the matter is he is Thorfinn, Son of Thors, and he is home. Bug Eyes reminds him just how frikkin’ lucky he is that he was able to return to his family, and his family is still alive.
Buoyed by Bug Eyes’ words, Thorfinn meets with his mother Helga. Unlike Ylva, she can immediately tell that this is her son, because she remembers a young Thors, and Thorfinn looks just like him. In the family home, he reunites with Ari and meets his nephews and nieces.
When Ylva comes home, Helga assures him that this is indeed her little brother. So rather than punch him for being an impostor after inheritance, she punches him for having fucked off somewhere for so long without a word, only to return with a ponytail and beard.
Because there’s no Netflix in the 11th Century, Thorfinn regales his family with the tale of his life from when he left the island to when he left Ketil’s farm. It’s a story of hatred and strife, death and destruction, despair and regret, sadness and rebirth.
At the end of it everyone is speechless but no one is unmoved. Then Thorfinn tells his family what he must do to atone for the sins that weigh so heavy upon him: create a peaceful land in Vinland. His mother gives him her blessing, while even Ylva comes around and bonds with her brother over what a strong, kind weirdo their dad was.
That night, Einar joins Thorfinn on a promontory overlooking the roiling sea below and the undulating aurorae above…until it gets too cold and he heads back to Helga’s, where he’s welcomed as a son. Once alone, Thorfinn is confronted by his younger self, who asks him where people go when they leave the island.
Thors also appears, saying Thorfinn knows the answer, and all of a sudden the two of them are in the middle of a vast pasture, on Vinland, land of plenty and peace. Leif promises to help him get that nation started, while Ylva and Helga lament that they must part ways with their brother and son, respectively, so soon, while understanding why.
The morning of his and Einar’s departure, Thorfinn ditches the ponytail and beard, and ends up looking a lot more regal. As the prospective founder of his warless nation, he will be its leader, after all; at least at first. Like last season, this feels like the end of another beginning.
Now that he is free of the bonds of both war and slavery, Best Boy Thorfinn can set to work making his and his father’s dream a reality. Here’s hoping there’s a third season of Vinland Saga to cover that.
But for now, this final episode proved that after achieving a great victory—one that required neither a single swing of a dagger nor a single thrown punch—the greatest reward is simply to be able to return to a warm home, where the people who loved you still live and thrive. But that warmth and comfort is fleeting, for Thorfinn has much yet to do.
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