Vinland Saga is a powerful twist on a conventional Viking revenge story

polygon.com:

This weekend sees the wide release of The Northman, the new film from director Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse) starring Alexander Skarsgård and Anya Taylor-Joy. Set between A.D. 895 and approximately A.D. 914, Eggers’ historical revenge drama follows the story of Amleth, the son of the deposed king Aurvandill War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) who is betrayed by his brother Fjölnir (Claes Bang). Seeking retribution, Amleth flees his home and trains with the goal of one day returning to avenge his father and save his mother (Nicole Kidman) by slaying his uncle.

Told across visceral episodes of gut-churning violence, phantasmic dream sequences, and the vast picturesque landscapes of Iceland and Northern Ireland, The Northman is “Conan the Barbarian by way of Andrei Rublev,” according to Eggers; it’s a medieval Viking epic of brutality and obsession underscored by fastidious attention to historical detail. If Eggers’ latest has whet your appetite for more stories of its ilk, look no further than the 2019 anime Vinland Saga (available on Prime Video), produced by Wit Studio of Attack on Titan fame, for another entertaining and inventive take on a Viking revenge epic.

Set predominantly in England around A.D. 1013, the historical adventure epic follows the story of Thorfinn, the son of a former Viking soldier named Thors who is murdered by a band of mercenaries at the behest of Floki, Thors’ former comrade and the acting commander of the Jomsvikings. The similarities between Vinland Saga and Eggers’ The Northman are already apparent from this brief synopsis. Both stories’ protagonists are the sons of great warriors who aspire in their own way to follow in their fathers’ footsteps, only to witness them betrayed by someone once