Thorfinn Karlsefni

Thorfinn is the main character of Vinland Saga. As a small boy in Iceland, he lives with his family and his father Thors, who was once a great warrior. When Thors is killed in an ambush by the Viking chief Askeladd, Thorfinn's whole life changes. Filled with rage, the boy joins Askeladd's band of hired fighters with just one goal: to beat him in a fair duel and take revenge.

For more than ten years, Thorfinn fights for the man he hates. Askeladd uses the boy's anger to his own advantage. Each time Thorfinn asks for a duel, Askeladd makes him earn it first with a dangerous job, like killing an enemy leader in battle. Thorfinn becomes fast and deadly with the short blades his father left him, but he is also hotheaded. When he loses his temper he makes mistakes, and older, calmer fighters often beat him, such as the giant Thorkell.

Thorfinn is quiet, bitter, and cut off from everyone around him. His story asks what happens to a person when a life built on revenge loses its purpose. Much later, he slowly turns away from violence and starts to look for a different way to live. The character is loosely based on Thorfinn Karlsefni, a real Icelandic explorer who tried to settle in Vinland, the Viking name for part of North America.