Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 20 Ending Explained: Can Thorfinn really stop this painful war?

Vinland Saga Season 2 is a strong continuation of a Viking journey with themes of war violence and freedom.

Fans love the narrative storytelling of the Viking universe, that hasn’t been previously explored in anime.

The show takes us to various lands dealing with conflict and focuses on exceptionally strong character development, giving each character depth and complexity. The animation from Studio MAPPA remains of top-notch quality, capturing the brutal nature of medieval combat in a stunning new action format, well-choreographed.

Vinland Saga is a must-watch for fans of historical epics and character-driven narratives.

A Painful Recap: Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 20

Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 20 ‘PAIN’ kicks off with a raging bloodshed war between King Canute and Ketil. Whereas, Thorfinn and Einar have made their chance to escape with Arnheid to safety.

One of Snake’s mercenaries, Fox is too scared to fight in this losing war.

He notices Badger, one of his mates fighting with only one arm. This short fight scene was however nicely rotoscoped, something where they use real-life footage and motion track the frames for a smooth animation.

Fox unable to snap out of fear to help Badger, stood there to watch his boss, Snake rescue Badger by cutting down the enemy in one amazing quick blow.

Snake yells at Fox to take Badger back to the fort. Fox screams ‘Retreat!’ and Ketil’s men start to fall back in agony.

Ketil disappointed, grabs hold of a runaway and tells he won’t forgive the debt if they don’t fight. But the runaway guy tells him that it didn’t matter as Ketil is anyways finished because he defied the King.

All of sudden, Ketil is attacked by one of King Canute’s men.

This episode shows light on the tragedies of war and traumatic distress.

King Canute sends Wulf, his personal guard to tell Floki to not pursue the ones who are fleeing and to have Ketil captured.

Meanwhile, Thorgil who swam across to sneak upon King Canute from behind performs an attack in which King Canute defends himself with a quick draw of his sword which almost breaks with the clash of the swords.

King Canute sprains his hand while blocking the swing.

Thorgil is impressed by the block, and instantly kills two of his guards.

King Canute having no advantage with a broken sword, begins to flee to get a sword but Thorgil does a hard thigh kick on his stomach and steps on King Canute’s armored head.

Suddenly, Wulf stabs Thorgil’s wrist from afar and comes to the rescue.

Wulf charges on him and aggressively starts choking Thorgil.

Thorgil pokes his finger in Wulf’s right eye and throws him aside.

King’s men finally arrive to the scene while Thorgil let’s out a scream in pain after pulling the sword out of his wrist.

Thorgil flees back to the waters as he can’t take on all of King’s men.

King Canute acknowledges his boldness and wished that he was serving him.

Snake confused by King’s men falling back, finds his chance to carry away Ketil who is at the verge of death.

Hearing all the war cries, Arnheid wakes up to a reminiscent sound of the world falling apart.

From here on, Arnheid starts questioning if there is a land free from slaves and battles. She begins to fade while showing gratitude to Thorfinn and Einar for helping her out of a nightmare.

Einar is extremally sad and emotional about Arnheid. He claims that she needs to protect the child inside of her. But we get to know from Arnheid, that the child has already left the painful world.

Einar tries to confess his affection towards Einar in these fleeting moments but its already too late. Thorfinn quickly performs an abdominal CPR to bring her back to life but it had no effect.

Arnheid quietly leaves with sad melody and a soft breeze.

Thorfinn lifts her head up gently and tells about Vinland, a peaceful land far away where he promises to take her.

Snake appears carrying Ketil on his back which infuriates Einar with rage to see the man responsible for Arnheid’s death.

Thorfinn tries to stop Einar from hurting Ketil. He had to punch Einar out of his blind rage, which instead breaks him to tears.

He hugs Einar in sad comfort and sheds a tear along with him.

Before departing back to Iceland, they made a burial for Arnheid.

All of the suffering, death and despair leaves Thorfinn to think about his own life and how he desperately wants the pain in his chest to come to an end. He finally makes the decision in his head to see his old friend, King Canute to convince and prevent any further loss of life.

But Leif, Thorfinn’s uncle wants him to come back home to Iceland.

Thorfinn recalls one of his memories with Leif, where he shared tales of his ancestors who fled away from the battle to live peacefully in Iceland. As a kid, he used to not respect his ancestors for running away but he finally understood why they had to escape and he is proud of their decision.

Thorfinn seems quite determined to come back alive even if things go south.

Leif unable to convince him that it is a bad idea, has no choice but to believe in him.

Leif tells that he will be ready and waiting for him at the docks for his return.

Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 20 Ending Explained: Can Thorfinn really stop this painful war? and What to Expect Next?

The episode ends with Thorfinn going to meet and convince King Canute to stop a meaningless war.

But how is Thorfinn going to achieve that? Is this a bad idea? Should he just return back home?

In this episode, we got to see how war can effect everyone and Thorfinn and Einar build character with a harsh experience of life and death. This sets up Thorfinn’s ending arc of this season, where he is no longer a slave but a man driven by a purpose to stop war and its suffering.

A final trailer was dropped during the MAPPA Stage 2023 that predicts what might happen.

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TVアニメ「#VINLAND_SAGA」SEASON 2
ファイナルトレーラー公開
FINAL TRAILER is available
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トルフィンの軌跡を振り返りながら、
最新映像を加えたファイナルトレーラーが公開

A final trailer that looks back on Thorfinn's journey has been released

▼YouTube https://t.co/0Eo9j9lN9V pic.twitter.com/Y1IvF6piUl

— TVアニメ「ヴィンランド・サガ」/「VINLAND SAGA」Official (@V_SAGA_ANIME) May 21, 2023

The fans cannot hold the excitement for Thorfinn to finally meet King Canute face-to-face.

The internet has been crazy over the lines: ‘I Have No Enemies’. Will he finally say the line?

How is Einar going to aid Thorfinn in stopping this war? How can one end the cycle of violence?

The next episode, 21 is titled ‘Courage’, where we might see a courageous act to stop the war.

Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 21 releases on Monday, 29th May 2023 at 9 pm IST / 12:30 am JST (Tuesday)

Leave a comment on how you think Thorfinn will convince King Canute!