Sweyn’s head tells Canute that Thorfinn is dangerous and should be killed. But when the king asks him what he’ll do, Thorfinn says he’ll simply run. He’ll run to somewhere he can’t tell Canute about, a place for people like the two of them, who won’t belong in the paradise he’s building.
Thorfinn intends to “fill the hole” Canute leaves with his methods, and warns him not to “make too much work” for him. To this Canute laughs, and not to mock Thorfinn. Rather, he’s laughing at the sheer absurdity of what Thorfinn did today: take a hundred punches without throwing a single one, all so that he could speak to him.
Canute is struck by how eloquently Thorfinn speaks now, and what a “beautiful man” he’s become, for all his scars and bruises. And you know what? Thorfinn wins. Canute decides to withdraw from the farm, ditch plans to requisition all the other farms, and even disbands his armies in England, trusting the nobles to maintain the peace.
Not only does he do these things that are seemingly in complete opposition to “the Viking way”, but it works. The English nobles acknowledge the trust he’s put in them, and the uprising that was feared never occurs. With no threat of an uprising, there was no need for an expensive army.
Floki and his Jomsvikings are disappointed, but fuck ’em. Their way only leads to ruin. Canute isn’t about that. He admires Thorfinn, and accepts that the two of them can independently peruse their paths to paradise. In the long run, Canute strengthens his reign with these peaceful moves that respect the people’s right to live.
The visual of Thorfinn, who turned a king and his vicious Viking army away with nothing but words, waking up in the same straw bed in a smelly stable as every other morning of his last few years, is a powerful one that speaks volumes. He slowly limps through the peaceful farm and joins Canute, who still tends to Arnheid’s grave.
Thorfinn tells Einar he regrets not being able to tell Arnheid that there was something more appealing than the release of death she sought after so much suffering. But now he knows what he must do: find that place that he can tell others in her situation about. And if he can’t find it, he’ll make it. He embraces Einar as a brother, and they resolve to travel to Vinland.
In another example of his selfless goodness, Thorfinn has Olmar take the credit for negotiating Canute’s withdrawal. He bids farewell to Olmar, who now wants to be strong and kind like Thorfinn, to Sverkel, who maintains he needs no thanks as he was only honoring a deal they struck; Pater, who promises to care for Arnheid’s grave, and Snake, who tells them his real name: Roald, Son of Grim, before wishing them Godspeed.
Life at Ketil’s farm continues as it had, with Olmar embracing the philosophy of tilling the land and carving one’s feelings, one’s love into it. Of building something rather than destroying. Even Snake and his men take up farm work at Sverkel’s, with no imminent enemies to fight.
Pater remains amazed that after such a long life of enduring pain and anguish, that he should come upon men like Thorfinn and Einar: strong, yet dedicated to peace. And so they go forth, a nation of just two, in search of a place without slavery and war that scarred them and so many others. They surely won’t be alone for long.
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