Oath | Vinland Saga S2 Ep 9 Reaction

Incredible episode!

I'm so happy to see Askeladd again 🥹

I love that in this episode they made Thorfinn look nothing like his Dad but look exactly like Askeladd

7:40 i cant stop laughing

in prolouge, thors said that same line to thorfinn.

"We are in Ohio" Lmfao XD

"We're in Ohio" lmao, love the subtle edit

Their penalty is also that their boss knows the truth. The puts them further in debt to him that he knows what they are about

This was the most meaningful and most well-written episode of anime I've ever seen (Season 2 Episode 9), and that's saying something because normally I notice a lot of literature flaws in other anime. The amount of layers of meaning in this one episode simply created peak literature – the most peak literature I've ever seen in any anime EVER – period. This episode was better written than any AOT episode I've ever seen, and that's really saying something.

The non stop contrasts and parallels, the character depth and exploration, the links between guilt and redemption, the personification of Askellad and Thors – there's so much meaning in this one dream that I can't even put it all into writing.

Both Thors and Thorfinn at the beginning were being pulled down by dead bodies, but notice that only Thorfinn fell. These bodies were the people that both of them had killed in the past, but because Thors had learnt the true meaning of being a warrior, he wasn't pulled into the ground like Thorfinn was. This detail is something that many people tend to miss.

Also, notice the way it starts off with Thors, above ground, saying "you have no enemies", which contrasts perfectly with Askellad, below ground, saying "down here, everyone is your enemy", to which he fights off every enemy to save Thorfinn by urging him to climb back up. It's as if the dream is connoting that Thors and Askellad were two sides of the same coin – two father figures for Thorfinn (which is a given). It was also really refreshing to finally observe Thorfinn's interaction with Askellad post-death. It gave a tonne of closure which adds onto the commandability of the writing here.

Did you guys notice that Askellad was actually the only person in "Valhalla" who wasn't disfigured or eaten up by rage? It's as if his knowledge of the reality of the place, and his own hatred for what he was, ended up putting him on a literal pedestal above everybody else. This was depicted by him sitting at the top, drinking and watching the endless war occur in front of his eyes. When Askellad said that "there's no end" to the fighting down in that place, it was a reference to war being a non-stop cycle of hatred, both physically and spiritually, which reminds me of the philosophy of AOT.

The pedestal of Askellad is something that has me thinking though. Does simply knowing your mistakes make you better than those who commit the mistakes when they know no better? One could actually argue that somebody is an even worse person when they understand how cruel their actions are, but still pursue those paths, as opposed to being a random warrior who simply fights because that's all he's been taught, and that's what he feels is right. Askellad knew he was wrong but still killed many people despite hating his own actions – personally I'd say that makes him an even worse person than the mindless brutes, so I'm a bit unsure how to feel about the pedestal he was given here.

Another cool contrast I noticed was the way Thorfinn woke up in the dream happy, thinking that real life was a dream, and then later woke up in real life terrified, in the same position, realising that he's back in reality. Another example of good writing. And then when he made the vow against violence, you see Thors walking in the same terrain as where Thorfinn was looking, as if to imply that this recurring vision of Thors was destined to be made clear in this moment – at this exact time and place.

To top the episode off, Thorfinn swinging the hoe into the ground and dragging it was a really cool connotation of him paving himself a new life. There's so much more I could write about but I'll leave it off here. I hope that there are more moments like these later in the anime.

Ohio is fucked

This was the best episode of the season so far !

Imagine Thorfinn embracing Christianity and decided to preach the gospel. A warrior who has seen lived through many battles, then becomes a slave, then sees what true hell really is.

Thorfinn woke up and chose peace

Nah Askeladd is DEFINITELY NOT a father figure for Thorfin not at all… he said with brutal sarcasm

A shonen were the characters actually grows, and learn, and have feelings instead of making funny jokes after killing hunders of innocents ?

finally

That scene with Askeladd also got me teary eyed. Such an amazing character! Every time he speaks with Throfinn it just feels so real and impactful. Absolute chills 🥺

yeah this is him remembering the nightmare, we've had loads of little snippets of it, him falling down the cliff and mentioning Askeladd