Thorfinn Thorsson

Thorfinn's appearance is consistent throughout the story. He has choppy and messy hair, old clothes and two knives. He is also short, as stated by multiple characters in the story. When Thorfinn was a child, he had a happier face, round with bright, curious eyes, and well-kept hair. He has a somewhat slight build that belies his strength. Thorfinn's entire body is littered with scars, most of which were caused by blades. His face remains unmarred until he gains several obvious scars on his face in adulthood, mostly because he refuses to fight with weapons and tries his best to defend himself and neutralize his opponents without causing any lasting harm. When the series begins, Thorfinn is shown as an innocent and friendly boy who is searching for adventure. He shared a very good relationship with his family and enjoyed stories told by Leif about his adventures. He has a good relationship with his father and looked up to him immensely, shown when he decides to follow Thors by sneaking on his boat to follow him. This would become the foundation of Thorfinn's drive to avenge his father. However, by the time he joins Askeladd's band, he turns into a cold-blooded individual, hellbent on his goal to avenge his father. He becomes aloof toward others, unmoved by and uninterested in what they do or thinks of him, choosing instead to keep to himself. This is seen when Thorfinn ignores the invitations from his fellow Vikings to join in on the fun and his refusing to eat dinner with the rest of them. His flaws lie in his temper and impulsive nature. This is seen when he ignores Askeladd's input despite the benefits it may be able to bring him, which leads to him losing fights against Askeladd. Frequently throughout the series, Thorfinn's reckless nature leads to his own suffering and failure. Even if he does possess talent far beyond the norm for his age, his hot-headedness is easily his biggest weakness. This weakness also unfolds with an inability to learn from mistakes, and several times, Thorfinn has hallucinations with his late father, asking him if this is really the right way to go, and he just ignores it all. This is probably a metaphor to show that the difference between the old Thorfinn and the current one is not much big, and inside his iron fortress, he is just a wrong-headed boy. He also showed a great lack of empathy, as he did not seem to care when Askeladd's gang murdered civilians and raped women, he just walked away with disgust. Although he sometimes told his possible victims to run when he was not in the mood to kill them, but he didn't really care anyway. Thorfinn was born in Iceland in the winter of 996, where his family had fled after Thors decided to abandon his warrior lifestyle, and by virtue the Jomsvikings as well. He grew up not knowing about his father's past as a warrior, or his connection to the Jomsvikings. He lived with his family and was a happy, lively boy. He played with the children in the village especially in mock combat with a wooden sword and shield, even though he was always one of the first to lose. One day Floki, and his Jomsviking crew, come to Iceland to get aid from his father, Thors. When his father was going out to a battle, Thorfinn hid in a barrel on his father's ship. A mercenary called Askeladd, who was hired by Floki to take down Thors, came and dueled Thorfinn's father. Thors took down half of Askeladd's men, including his second in command, and then the two faced off. Thors won the battle, but in exchange for Thorfinn's life, he was killed by many arrows from Askeladd's men. After his father died, Thorfinn vowed to seek vengeance for his father, by becoming one of Askeladd's men in order to kill him in a duel, so he can avenge his father's death in a fair battle. Thorfinn then spent the next 11 years going to war with Askeladd’s band in England. He became a very strong warrior, killing a great deal of men in order to get a duel from Askeladd, in order to kill him. He became numb to these horrible acts that he witnessed daily, and became cold and distant of others, never so much as smiling. He still said that warriors are all madmen to himself after he fights Thorkell. He helps escort Prince Canute to Askeladd, after the prince had been taken prisoner by Thorkell, and left in a burning forest with his retainer, Ragnar. This was part of Askeladd’s plan to take Canute back to the king and get favor, and Thorfinn went along with his plan as usual. Canute would then accompany Askeladd’s band until his own band decided to revolt against Askeladd, and kill him, after thinking that they were too weak to defeat Thorkell, who was chasing them down across all of England the whole time. Thorkell was right on their heels, and immediately caught up to them when they stopped in order to kill Askeladd. The entire band was slaughtered by Askeladd, or Thorkell, who killed anyone who left Askeladd’s band in order to join himself, as he saw them as weak and didn’t want weak men in his group. Askeladd then became a retainer to Canute, and so Thorfinn joined The Princes personal Guard in order to stay close to Askeladd. After King Sweyn announces an invasion of Wales, Askeladd murders the king, deciding to save both Canute and Wales. Canute then stabs Askeladd as part of Askeladd’s plan after he slaughters dozens in the banquet hall. Askeladd then dies in Thorfinn’s hands, who rushed in after hearing noise from outside, where he was waiting. Canute then offers Thorfinn the chance to go wherever he wanted, even back home to Iceland, but Thorfinn was shocked and dumbfounded by this revelation, and instead he slashed Canute in retaliation on instinct, only managing to cut his cheek. As punishment for attacking the Prince, he is sold as a slave, as Canute didn’t want to have anyone else killed.