Viking media has been on the rise over the past few years. Whether it’s Vikings: Valhalla on TV, or the newer God of War video games, Norse culture is making a comeback. However, one of the best depictions doesn’t come from the West, but from the East.
Makoto Yukimura’s Vinland Saga is a manga and anime epic that uses actual famous Vikings like Thorfin Karlsefni to tell its story. It takes a few artistic licenses here and there, but its depictions of historical events are intriguing and impressive.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
6 The Battle Of Hjörngavágr
This famous battle precedes the anime but sets up its events as Thorkell the Tall and his Jomsvikings fought with Thorfinn's father Thors against the Norwegians. While Thors is fictional, the battle wasn’t. Though the scant records on it have made it part-legend, with no one knowing for sure where Hjörngavágr was, or whether it took place in 984 or 986 CE.
What is known is that it was part of King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark's attempts to reclaim Norway from its king, Haakon Sigurdsson. The Jomsvikings joined the Danes in taking on the Jarls of Lade in a naval skirmish that ultimately didn’t go their way. It would buy Norway its independence for years to come, while the Jomsvikings would decline as a fighting force.
5 Thorkell The Tall & The Jomsvikings
Just as the Battle of Hjörungavágr became part folktale, so did its heroes Thorkell the Tall and the Jomsvikings. While they were a mercenary force for hire, fighting for Saxon England against the Danes, they were said to have a code of honor that bound them together. Though they were well past their prime by the time of Vinland Saga's plot. Despite his position, Thorkell would later rejoin the Danes under King Canute for reasons now lost to history.
Maybe he did take him hostage as in the anime or taught him how to swordfight as per the legends. What's known for sure is that he joined Canute in 1016 and became Jarl of East Anglia. Then he was exiled to Denmark in 1021 for getting on Canute’s bad side. They would reconcile two years later, with Canute making him an earl in Denmark and a minder for his son Harthacnut. So, that's alright then.
4 Leif Erikson’s Discovery Of North America
This one is pretty obvious. Can’t have a Vinland Saga without Vinland. According to the Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders, Leif was blown off course on his way to Greenland. When they found land, they discovered wheat, maple trees, and wild grapes.
Leif’s crew would load up on these treats and continue to Greenland. He would become known as "Leif the Lucky," inspiring both the real and fictional Thorfinn to settle in this land of grapes, or "Vine-land." Its real location has been disputed but is generally agreed to be around Newfoundland, Canada, or even Passamaquoddy Bay on the Maine-Canadian border.
3 The Invasion Of London
However, before he sets sail for the West, Thorfinn serves under the mercenary Askeladd in the hopes of taking him on to avenge his deceased father. Together, they besiege and invade London as part of King Sweyn Forkbeard's Danish army, claiming England for Denmark. Thorfinn’s quest for vengeance isn’t based on history, but the invasion was.
It was the culmination of the conflict between Sweyn and England’s King Ethelred the Unready. The Saxon King had previously tried appeasing the Danes with large payments in gold, but this ultimately didn't work out for him. The invasion forced Ethelred into exile and put Sweyn in charge of the country. Though not for long.
2 The Rise Of King Canute
In the anime, Canute finds himself both the schemed-against and the schemer. He was meant to die when taken hostage by Thorkell but succeeded to the English throne after his father Sweyn was killed. Then he obtained the Danish crown after poisoning his brother Harald.
Canute did become King of both England and Denmark in real life, but not due to a timely assassination or plotted murder. He had to fight off Ethelred the Unready and his son Edmund Ironside to get the English Crown in 1016, then succeeded to the Danish one in 1018. Canute would also avenge his grandfather Harald Bluetooth by becoming King of Norway in 1028, forming a North Sea Empire that wouldn't last but would earn him the title of "Canute the Great."
1 The Viking Settlement Of Vinland
Thorfinn isn’t known as a fighter in history. In fact, outside the original Greenlanders and Erik the Red sagas, barely anything is known about him. But, true to Vinland Saga’s name, he settled in the land Leif found. With his wife Gudrid, Leif himself, and roughly 140 settlers, Thorfinn followed Leif’s directions and made an attempt to live there.
Thorfinn’s son Snorri may even have been the first European to be born in North America. The manga is still running and will provide more for the anime to work with. Though anyone who knows their US and Canadian history may already be able to guess how the saga ends.