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- Be a true warrior... son of Thors...
- —Askeladd's last words to Thorfinn before dying, "End of Prologue"
Askefinn is the slash ship between Askeladd and Thorfinn from the Vinland Saga fandom.
Canon[]
Prologue[]
Askeladd and Thorfinn meet when the former invades Thors' ship. Initially, Thorfinn at the young age of six yells at the Vikings by calling them names. When Askeladd is defeated by Thors, though, Bjorn uses Thorfinn as a hostage to get Thors to stand down. Thors throws his sword away and is murdered via Askeladd's order. Askeladd gives his word, allowing the rest of the men on the ship to leave rather than selling them as slaves. However, Thorfinn remained on Thors' ship. Askeladd is alerted about this, to which he tells his men to leave Thorfinn alone since he will likely die of starvation eventually.
In one of the villages Askeladd and his men pillaged, Thorfinn finds Askeladd laying. He prepares to kill Askeladd while he is sleeping but chooses not to because he internalized some sense of honor from his father. Askeladd was awake during the encounter, though he did not say anything. Whether he was going to allow Thorfinn to murder him or not is left ambiguous.
Thorfinn later confronts Askeladd later on with the intention of dueling. His lack of experience and young age makes it impossible for him to put up much of a fight. Askeladd gives him some advice, while clearly not taking the encounter all that seriously.
A time skip to Thorfinn six years later shows that Askeladd has made use of the boy's proficiency with daggers. He has him slip into a village during nightfall and light a building on fire as a signal for him and his band. Askeladd pretends to be nonchalant about the whole ordeal, but Bjorn notices that he trusts Thorfinn much more than he lets on. This does not stop him from sending Thorfinn on missions, i.e. bringing him a commander's head or to kill Thorkell, under the pretext of rewarding Thorfinn with a duel.
During their last duel together, Thorfinn had sensed something was off and was hesitant to make the first move. Askeladd is a lot tougher on Thorfinn and beats the boy to the point of losing consciousness. Askeladd even, for the first time, expresses an inclination to kill Thorfinn. Whether he would have gone through with it or not without Canute's interference is left ambiguous. When Thorfinn wakes up, Askeladd tells him about his history of being a slave despite his royal lineage. And, furthermore, how he killed the man he despised - his father, the king, to avenge his mother, Lydia. Thorfinn does not seem to internalize anything that Askeladd told him, however. Askeladd furthermore admits to using Thorfinn to his advantage and claims he has Thors to thank for that. Askeladd leaves to bury Bjorn's body, leaving Thorfinn to helplessly exclaim that he will kill him someday. Askeladd questions if that is all he had to say after everything he just told him. Once more, Thorfinn failed to internalize what Askeladd was trying to teach him.
Thorfinn is found by Leif and nearly goes with him back to Iceland. Thorfinn decides to stay behind, going to the royal meeting where Askeladd is. Thorfinn sees through the window that Askeladd is fighting several men after his treason by murdering King Sweyn. Thorfinn immediately rushes in to put an end to it, but Askeladd demands him to stay put. That is when Canute stabs Askeladd with his sword. Thorfinn rushes to Askeladd's side as he collapses, demanding that he needs to get up so they can leave. Askeladd offers to allow Thorfinn to kill him then and there, apologizing that he made him wait so long. Thorfinn takes this as a mockery, as his desire was to avenge his father by killing Askeladd in an honorable duel. Askeladd questions what Thorfinn is going to do once he is dead. Thorfinn is shocked, unable to respond, which Askeladd comments he must not have thought about it. In his dying moments, Askeladd tells him to become a true warrior.
After Askeladd dies, Thorfinn is enraged when he sees Canute who apologizes for taking 'something precious' from him - being Askeladd's life. Thorfinn rushes towards Canute, slicing the royal across the face with his dagger. Thorkell intercepts Thorfinn, though Canute demands he not be killed. Afterwards, Thorfinn is dragged away from Askeladd's body by the men now under Canute's authority. He is in a grief and panic over having lost his only purpose in life, even dropping his daggers.
Main Story[]
Beyond the prologue, after Askeladd's death at hands of Canute, Thorfinn was sold into slavery where he became an empty shell. Thorfinn has nightmares from his memories of pillaging villages with Askeladd's band. While telling Einar about his past, he recollects on his feelings towards Askeladd and states that he no longer hates him as he did before.
Throughout the story, Askeladd's spirit appears in his nightmare of being trapped in a horrific hellscape with fallen Vikings and their victims fighting one another. Askeladd here acts as an advisor, encouraging Thorfinn to carry the weight of his sins and victims as he crawls out of the dark abyss that he had been trapped in for so long.
Askeladd's spirit also reappears during Thorfinn's confrontation with Snake who is standing in his way to help Arnheid and Gardar escape the farm. Askeladd makes an appearance, questioning whether he is going to continue his life of fighting. Mentioning that just as Thorfinn has his own reasons for fighting, so does the other man.
Fanon[]
Askefinn is the most written ship in the Vinland Saga fandom. Particularly for anime viewers, being the most popular ship under the anime tag. It is the second most written under the manga tag. Askeladd and Thorfinn's relationship is widely enjoyed due to their complicated and complex relationship to one another. Particularly with the ambiguity of Askeladd's feelings towards Thorfinn, whether he saw him as a son or just a pawn to be used to his advantage.
As a romantic ship, the pairing is contentious due to the age gap and toxicity of their relationship in the source material. Many prefer their relationship platonically, as a surrogate father-son and/or mentor-mentee dynamic.
Askefinn currently has 300+ fics on A03, with its main rival ships being Thornute and Askejorn. It is the most written ship for Askeladd and the second most written for Thorfinn on A03. There are also 100+ platonic fics of them.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Askeladd/Thorfinn tag on AO3
- Askeladd & Thorfinn tag on AO3
[]
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| Vinland Saga Ships • Vinland Saga Characters | |||
| SHIPS | het | Einheid • Gardheid • Thorelga | |
| slash | Askebjorn • Askefinn • AskeThors • Einfinn • Thorgeir | ||