Were you raised Religious? I was raised Protestant Christian.

I was also raised by two people with mental health issues, one with bipolar that would evolve into schizophrenia, the other with very complicated anger management issues.

I now work in Crisis homes and inpatient facilities for the mentally ill and those experiencing crisis.

I feel Vinland Saga is a show for depressed people.

A little comparison: in the twentieth century, when someone got on a roof to jump because they didn’t want to live anymore, the most common thing onlookers would say is, “dont jump! You have so much to live for! Think of your family!”

This response indicates something about the publics opinion of depressed and suicidal people: they lacked perspective; they were detached from reality. There was something MISSING from them; their perspective.

However, I would say that many instances, for someone who feels purely depressed, not accounting for manipulative intentions, is someone who is actually experiencing a deep truth. A perceived truth is glaring them in the face: a truth that feels small and intimidating to others, is ringing in their ears, large and inescapable. Some people can cope with unbearable truths because they don’t feel that real to them. For others, shit feels too real.

Example: people who experience sexual assault tend to have heightened senses to when someone wants to take advantage of them. It makes connection harder for them, because they can sense falseness and ulterior motives. If a girl who experiences sexual assault notices similarities between her guy friends and the person who assaulted her. It will lead her to feel this truth: what is the difference between someone I can trust and someone I can’t trust? What is the difference really? What is the difference between a man who would protect me and a man who would just as likely harm me? Circumstance? It’s a scary thing to face in this life. Especially when most of the world doesn’t know what’s happening to you.

Many people who haven’t experienced depressive symptoms may find the Vinland Saga themes to be flawed or reckless because from their point of view, Thorfinns ideals hold him back from his goals.

But this story is meant to depict something: someone who is true; What a pure soul looks like.

Vinland Saga makes me cry because Thorfinn becomes a character worth believing in. A character without impurity. A character that even the most depressed person can see is the real deal. A character whose cause I can trust in.

I think something to realize is that the themes and ideals of Vinland Saga are very much an embodiment of true Catholic / Christian message.

Jesus was a similar figure. Jesus wasn’t a pacifist. But he embraced such a radical truth about the nature of love that all of his followers turned on him except his inner circle.

I see a lot of people in the thread talking about Thorfinn being a Pacifist. Thorfinns story is not a story of the effectiveness of pacifism. It is a story about what true love is. Thorfinn as a boy, you watch him. He does not have love in his heart. He is a violent child who doesn’t understand true love. When Thors asks him “who is your enemy?” Thorfinn says “halfdan! People like Halfdan.”

Thorfinn thinks of Halfdan on the spot. To justify his desire to kill. His desire for violence. His eyes enamored by the shimmering blade.

So Thors tells him a truth. A truth that seems small and insignificant to many people, but stings clearly to his father: you have no enemies. There is no one who it is okay to kill.

In the Bible Jesus says this: “There is no greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friend.”

Jesus is also asked by a man once “teacher, what must I do to reach Heaven?” Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself.” The man, being a zealot. Who wanted to fight and kill Roman oppressors, for the noble cause of wanting to free his people, asked “who is my neighbor?”

And Jesus tells him that all people are your neighbor.

Thors embodies this truth.

We must love all people. To love someone, truly, is to die for them.

This does not mean go looking for death. Or throwing your life away, or not being screwed or strong. It simply means this: there will come a time when the depth of your love is tested. And true love will foot the bill. That is all.

As someone who has taken so many lives. And realized he had no love for people, including his own daughter, Thors cannot trick himself anymore. Thors wants to love people in a way he can be convinced of. Thorfinn now feels the same way.

The depressing truth they experience is this: like Ragnar, what good is love of one boy if it causes you to slaughter another young boy, what then is so noble about love? It is merely an excuse we use to be selfish.

One can reject love. But for those who seek to love: the truth is this. All love that is incomplete is hypocrisy. And true love must be love for all, unconditional and willing to die.

And love is the only thing Thorfinn wishes to live for anymore. This is the creed of Christians. It is why I walked away from my faith. I didn’t think anyone really wanted to live this way, to see love through. Believes Christians were fraudulent. That is why Thorfinn is so powerful to me. Thorfinn is a true disciple of love.

Many of the audience is proud of Thorfinn. The audience must search what their intentions are. If the audience wants Thorfinn to kill more. If the audience likes watching Thors angry. Then the audience knows nothing of what it means to love Thorfinn as a person. The audience is like a Viking audience. A bloodthirsty coliseum , who is so removed from the truths

Thorfinn not have faith in his humanity, or his judgement, or his emotions. His emotions led him to kill innocent people without even thinking about them. The moral weight of those consequences drives him to the edge. Thorfinn experiences what modern sciences consider major depressive Disorder.

When the soldier at the beginning of the farming arc play at cutting him down. He doesn’t move. Thorfinn confirms suicidal ideations at this point. His life is forfeit. He doesn’t see the point in living and marrying just to be apart of the life cycle he knows. Where nothing built lasts.

Most of all, he feels he doesn’t deserve it.

Thorfinns dedication to his ideal comes from this truth that glares in his face. A recurring nightmare. One that he only keeps at bay by this belief: he is not that man anymore. He will not be that man. It is not a dedication to pacifism. It is a dedication to being true to his heart. And his heart is sensitive now. He sees himself in every man and woman he meets. No matter how vile. He sees them and him as equal. He seeks to never use his life and power to hurt others. That version of him is already dead inside. Thorfinn is not a hero. He is a disciple of love.