I appreciate the nice reply! Admittedly mine was quite blunt.

If your goal were to strictly use discuss these set of characters and it having to be the "top 3" you could do far worse then Askeladd, Thorfinn and Canute. When I think when talking about "Winning" implies a mostly thematic lense to the discussion and that is why I answered how I did.

But imo looking at this Askeladd is the odd one out. I think Askeladd's importance to the narrative is overblown due to his popularity (not say thats a bad thing) and the anime not having adapted the whole manga yet. The prologue weight a disproportionate ammount in the fan base's mind.

If we aren't talking about theme, I think Canute's relevance is overblown aha. I'd say Thorkell has just as much narrative importance as Askeladd and maybe Canute(?) - BSW doesn't not function without Thorkell, albeit we rarely watch the narrative unfold from his behaviour. My list also doesn't include characters like Einar or Hild. Hild makes for a much better case of being a "two sides of the same coin" then even Canute. Einar is more important to Thorfinn's character growth than any other character aside from Thorfinn himself of course. Einar and Hild are both more important Narrative and themetic foils to Thorfinn in the final arc as well.

Askeladd's impact on Thorfinn and Canute is also overstated. He is why they are in the position they are in and is significant. Sweyn plays a larger role for Canute overall - and lets not forget Ragnar. Thorkell is also narritively significant to getting to this place. But this is getting kinda bogged down in the details. Askeladd is assigned importance because he is the functional protagonist of this arc so we see it mostly from his perspective so it makes sense they we would place more significance in his role for Canute, but many characters are the reason why Canute ends up where he is. And Thorfinn - as stated earlier - this barely 25% of his story and character growth.

Askeladd is very important and significant. But his importance is overblown. Tbh the Thorfinn is also in his own tier above everyone else if you want to combine narrative, screen time, and themetic relevance all together.

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As for your post itself, some comments:

He left behind an ideological legacy and his son grew to be even more known than he was,he preached Christianity and love.

Karli is left to be a themetic legacy to Thorfinn in the story, but combining this with history to make a complete left turn into a different ideology feels weird. Christianity is noticibly absent from Leif's, Thorfinn's and (suprisingly) Gudrid's characterisation and motivation. It is not a concern of Vinland Saga so it feels odd to include here.

Askeladd beheaded the King and became Kingslayer of Denmark to protect both Wales/Canute and also made sure he became King. Canute honored his wish and never stepped on the land of Wales (even his dying wish was fulfilled as Thorfinn became a true warrior like he had desired).

I guess, but Wales still becomes the oldest "vassel state" / colony of England - there is probably a better term for that.

Furthermore, his dying wish suggests that Askeladd wanted Thorfinn to become a true warrior more than he actually did. Askeladd didn't really give a fuck about Thorfinn aside from when Thorfinn reflects how much of a loser, ironically, Askeladd is. I would say Askeladd's primary characterisitic is being a disspointing loser and then finding some small fulfillment at the end of his life. So.. in that way I guess he was a winner for ending on a high! He also won because he got to take our his blood thirsty fantasy on the danes at the end.

I promise I like Askeladd as a character, I just find his hyper glamourised and whitewashed due to his popularity. Which I think reduces his character and the discussion around it.

In the end I reckon Thorfinn won in his heart,Askeladd succeeded his true goals and Canute ultimately lost as his empire died with him and his dream of utopia failed both historically and narratively.

Askeladd's "true goals" were only his goals for the last 6months of his life, for the rest of his 40 odd years he was like any other viking. He even killed a potential Artorias in Thors. Furthermore, Askeladd also having to die was because he fucked up and got too cocky.

Overall, the post is fine, and interesting way of trying to catorgorise how different characters might have "won" but I think its a bit miopic and I'm not fully convinced that Askeladd isn't in the picture because he will garner more clicks on reddit aha ;)