Vinland Saga Season 2

Episode 14

“Freedom” is such a painful title for an episode of Vinland Saga that goes so far out of its way to emphasize how little freedom any of its characters have. With Gardar's violent arrival at Ketil's farm throwing everyone's lives into chaos, the show even highlights the devilish paradox of the slaves' status quo that even we, the audience, have become accustomed to. Gardar is animated and framed as a feral monster, barely human, his rage and bloodlust hardly contained by the quivering and flimsy film of his flesh. At the same time, Snake and his cohorts must fight to defend themselves and protect Arnheid from being “kidnapped.” On the surface of it, it is a fairly typical action plot for a story like this.

Of course, it is Einar who finally vocalizes the simmering tension that we've been navigating this whole season when he reminds everyone that Gardar is, in fact, Arnheid's husband, come to rescue her from a life of slavery. No matter how charming and “likable” Snake has made himself out to be in this recent story of caring for Sverkil, he's still a hired blade that is defending the “property” of his boss; no matter how relatively reasonable and level-headed Ketil has been made out to be compared to his insane son, Ketil is still a slave-owning rapist. We should be rooting for Garder — and we are, on some fundamental level — but for people like Arnheid, Einar, and Thorfinn, the line between freedom and servitude has been so horribly blurred that a freed slave can come to rescue his wife from a life of torment can feel, at the moment, like some monstrous intrusion on the status quo.

This is no accident of the system but a fundamental aspect of what makes the machine work. Arnheid is a testament to that. In a moving and heartbreaking monologue, the woman shares her story for the first time and gives context for why she would be willing to “wait out the storm” and let her husband die at Ketil's hands. As a woman, she had always lived at the mercy of men's whims and pride, even when she was ostensibly “free” and when her husband Gardar joined a company of their village's warriors to lay claim to a stash of iron that could reverse the whole town's fortunes, Arnheid could do nothing but coddle their baby son and hope that things worked out for the best. When the soldiers' failure resulted in Arnheid getting kidnapped and her son Hjatil being lost to her forever, it only reinforced the idea that, in a world where “freedom” is hardly a given, even for the people whose arms are not shackled in chains, a woman like her often has no choice at all but to weather the storm and protect what little she has a claim to. Her first child may be gone, and Gardar may be doomed, but she is now growing new life in her belly thanks to her “service” to Ketil, and that life must be protected at all costs.

I've said it time and time again. At the rate this series is going, I'll have to keep preaching the good word until the sun fizzles out, but it still bears repeating: Vinland Saga's greatest strength is the deft way in which Makoto Yukimura has weaved these tales of violence and tragedy with such soul-shattering empathy for the victims of the world's worst circumstances. It certainly helps that the MAPPA crew (and its Wit Studio migrants) have done such an impeccable job of bringing the small but earth-shaking drama to life with such skill and precision. The sound design of these last few episodes has been especially excellent; Yutaka Yamada's mournful, piano-driven score sounds positively haunted with remorse and regret, while the unearthly wind and snap of the embers in even the quietest of scenes make that haunting presence feel much more literal than symbolic. Every movement, every twitch of the mouth, has so much weight, and it gives scenes like Arnheid's decision to go and give comfort to the man she once called her husband in what may be his final hours the dramatic impact of a mallet to the chest.

I don't know how Vinland Saga can keep up this hot streak that it has been on all damned season, but at this point, I'm afraid to look a gift horse in the mouth by asking too many questions. That we can have such a compelling, mature, and multi-faceted drama continue to drop incredible episode after incredible episode feels like a miracle. The show may stumble, eventually, but until that horrible day arrives, I will treasure every single second of this wonderful series that we are fortunate enough to experience.

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Vinland Saga Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.