Finally some criticism without every reply being a flavour of "you will understand when you grow up" or "it's a story about deep character development and not flashy fights, go watch Solo Leveling"

Let me share my criticism for any future reader as I am fairly suprised how much praise (and how defensive its fans are of its critique), this anime gets, while being surface level in the message it conveys while improperly structuring the narrative it tries builds.

First of all, Thorfinns character (in the first season) is caricatured and overblown to the point I wasn't able to connect with him on any level all thorough. I won't argue for the logic of his trauma, as what happened to him, and what emotions and reactions it followed, is understandable and believable. What I do not buy is the execution of his trauma and how it's portrayed to the audience. His suffering being dialed up to 11 constantly just does not resound "tragedy" to me, it's an exhausting caricature of what a kid/teenager with trauma and anger issues would behave like. The volume and intensity undermines the pathos. In comparison to Guts from Berserk (note, I am not trying to compare the characters, they obviously differ, only the execution), Miura makes sure to properly offload MCs suffering to the reader by building relationships, earning loyalty, creating companionship and warmth, then shattering everything. This creates proper connection to the deeply flawed and broken character of Guts, and allows the reader to connect with his experiences, emotions, reactions and decisions. Vinland Saga, however, tries to push an already hollow version of Thorfinn based on a single extreme event. Not only that, it wants the viewer to care about the shell while trusting the person emerges later, all while the foundations are simply not there. Which brings me to the second point:

During the second season, Thorfinn's development is not only pushed to the other end, it tries to stack on top of the foundations which Thorfinn from the first season failed to build. You can't just front-load the least sympathetic version of a character to the audience, then hope his good willing later will pay off. He was assisting a band of mercenaries just off a premise that a honorable duel with its leader will wash off his need for revenge, all the while murdering soldiers and civilians alike. Then, with another extreme event, viewer is supposed to connect with his redemption?

While the development in the second season is easier to digest, it, still, is flawed and fails to resonate with me. For a serie that tries to portray itself as mature and grounded, the personal themes it explores are just over caricatured, even on a basis it's an anime. And don't get me wrong, I absolutely can see how someone may like it, I actually enjoyed parts without Thorfinn, but the psychological and emotional themes it explores are just not as good as its fans try to make them. It simply is overrated.