Vinland Saga (Season 2) Episode 16: Recap & Ending Explained – Why Does Thorfinn Have To Fight Again?

Vinland Saga (Season 2) Episode 16: The latest episode of Vinland Saga has characters making some very difficult choices in a morally grey area. The characters, including Arnheid, Thorfinn, and Einar, have to grapple with these choices made to protect their loved ones. We see a plan to rescue Gardar and lead him and Arnheid to safety, assisted by Thorfinn, Einar, and Sverkel in different ways. Whereas Snake and his mercenaries want to kill Gardar and get revenge for his killing their comrades. All of this makes for a fascinating episode where we can understand and sympathize with everyone’s perspectives, and will no doubt have fans eagerly awaiting the next episode.

Vinland Saga (Season 2) Episode 16 Recap:

Resuming where last week’s episode finished, we see the mercenaries thoroughly searching Thorfinn and Einar’s barn for Gardar, with the two realizing that Gardar must have escaped from them.

In the next scene, Einar is running across an open area towards Sverkel’s hut, where Arnheid is, so that he can help her. Thorfinn is following closely behind him and asks him what he intends to do. Einar says he is worried about Arnheid and that he must be able to help in one way or the other.

As they reach their destination, they see Arnheid coming out of Sverkel’s hut and talking to her outside the hut. Inside the hut, there are three mercenaries, including Snake, lying in wait for Gardar to show up and attempt to rescue Arnheid. Badger asks if he should let the two slaves talk to Arnheid or chase them away. But Snake recognizes them as Thorfinn and Einar and lets them stay.

Outside, Arnheid knows that the two of them have come regarding Gardar and reveals that she cut Gardar’s ropes, helping him escape captivity. At this point, she starts crying as she reveals that Gardar killed all of the guards, which shocks Thorfinn, who also realizes that the mercenaries are observing them closely.

To hide their conversation, Thorfinn and Einar pretend to help Arnheid by washing dishes, with Einar asking Arnheid to update them on the current situation. Arnheid says that Gardar was injured in the fight and that she treated him in Sverkel’s house, who is helping them. However, Gardar passed out, and she was unable to carry him, so she hid him in Sverkel’s hut. Snake and his mercenaries arrived soon after, and they haven’t caught on yet, but she isn’t able to move them either.

Einar questions why Arnheid would be so reckless, particularly since she had previously spoken of waiting out the storm that is Gardar for the sake of her unborn child. Here, Arnheid starts crying again, stating her dream, which is her living together with Gardar and the new child despite everything that has happened. She further adds that Gardar’s eyes have changed owing to their difficult lives and the death of their son Hjalti.

Thorfinn enquires as to the state of Gardar’s injuries, and Arnheid says that they are bad and that one wound, in particular, hadn’t stopped bleeding. Einar asks her if she is prepared to share Gardar’s fate, and he offers to help them escape together if that is what they want. It will be a tough path, he says, but it is the only option left to them in the current situation. After a moment, Thorfinn agrees to help out too. Arnheid is taken aback by their kindness, tearing up again.

Inside the hut, Badger has fallen asleep and is awoken by Snake while Arnheid enters to cook lunch. Snake tells her to cook outside as she is bait for Gardar, which she does. Sverkel converses with Snake, saying how pitiful the slaves (Arnheid, Einar, and Thorfinn) are before wondering if they are really inferior, which is the common belief behind slavery in general.

Sverkel then declares that he disagrees and that slaves are unlucky, which he and Snake could have been as well. Snake reminds him that Gardar killed five of his men and that he wants vengeance for that, and that he won’t have the right to carry his sword without his revenge. Chuckling, Sverkel says that he should throw away his sword in that case.

He continues by revealing that he is aware that Snake isn’t from the region and that Snake has his own reason for being there. Putting down his blade will allow him to escape from that past, but Snake tells him to go to sleep, to which Sverkel responds by offering up his own farm. He knows he will die soon and wants Snake to try growing life for a change, which shocks Snake.

Snake, though, refuses as one of the mercenaries reveals a cloaked man hiding in the distance behind trees, which the audience knows to be Einar as the camera zooms in. The three mercenaries chase him on horseback as Thorfinn lies hidden in a field observing all of this. Following their departure, he runs to Sverkel’s hut and says he is taking a horse and cart, which he will work off later. Sverkel tells him not to worry and adds that they should take him as well since his presence on the cart will not raise suspicion on the farm, at least.

Gardar is revealed to have been hidden under Sverkel’s bed, and while alive, he is still unconscious and has gone completely cold. Meanwhile, Snake observes the running Einar, who they believe to be Gardar, and later realizes he isn’t Gardar as he was seriously injured, and an injured man couldn’t run that fast. He splits up from his mercenaries, telling them to follow the man, while he heads back to the hut by himself.

Vinland Saga (Season 2) Episode 16 Ending, Explained –

Why Does Thorfinn Have To Fight Again?

Back at the hut, Thorfinn has finished readying the cart and is in the process of carrying Gardar onto it as he explains their plan to Arnheid, saying they will travel to the border in the south, and he will go with them part of the way. After that, he will split with them while going abroad so that the mercenaries are unable to track them.

However, Snake shows up at this point, out of breath, having run on foot so as not to alert them of his arrival, which the horse would have done. Snake realizes that Gardar is unconscious, which is why he can’t sense him in the hut. He draws his sword and warns Thorfinn that there will be no negotiations as a horrified Arnheid and Sverkel look on.

Thorfinn starts strategizing, as he believes they can still escape according to plan, deciding to dodge Snake’s first attack and knock him unconscious with an uppercut to the chin. A vision of Askeladd appears to him and says he is about to fight again, but to help someone, which is a good reason.

However, his opponent Snake has a good reason as well, and Askeladd asks him if he will still be nonviolent or fight and asks him which one will lead to the path of a true warrior. He concludes that there is no time to think as the enemy is right in front of him.

As Snake approaches, Thorfinn strikes for his chin as planned, but Snake dodges and follows with his own attack, which Thorfinn blocks and jumps back. Askeladd appears again, asking him if he can win with his head still in the clouds.

After hearing that, Thorfinn assumes his knife-style based battle stance, which Snake doesn’t recognize immediately, but then he does, and he assumes his own stance as the episode ends.

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Vinland Saga (Season 2), Episode 16 Links: IMDb
Vinland Saga (Season 2), Episode 16 Cast: Yûto Uemura, Naoya Uchida, Mike Haimoto

Where to watch Vinland Saga