Vinland Saga 2x23
Added 2024-09-06 13:08:02 +0000 UTCComments
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Michael Uebele
2024-09-07 05:22:03 +0000 UTCFor me it was exactly the same as for you. I also tended to disregard other's opinion, or at least not take them as seriously as I should have. As a result, discussions with me often devolved into thinly veiled "gotcha" attempts, merely leading to mutual frustration. This show taught me how to deal with these situations of disagreement, and how to come out of them with a mutual understanding. Ever since, I feel like every discussion I've gotten in, even internet trolls, we've reached at least some kind of mutual understanding, even if that understanding is to simply agree to disagree. Each time, I've learned of new perspectives which I never would have gotten without watching this show. I'm so grateful Yukimura bestowed this story upon us, as so many people just like me have been similarly affected. It goes further actually as well. This story (including the arcs beyond the anime adaptation) have taught me what it means to love someone, what it means to fight, what it means to be a man, what it means to help someone who's suffering. In other words: what is means to be a true warrior. I think this is why the phrase "I have no enemies" resonates so deeply with so many people like me. Sure, it carries a pedantic definition of "nobody deserves to get killed," but it's so much more far reaching than that. It means there is nobody who you should hate, who you want to do harm to -- even if that person is yourself. Thorfinn showed me how a person can go from, in their mind at least, from the worst, most despicable person you can think of, to someone fighting for a righteous goal; someone who can be proud of themselves. I've struggled with issues of self hate and lack of pride in myself, and it's Thorfinn's journey, all the way from the prologue to the latest manga arc, which has showed me how you can change. That even the worst person can be reborn into someone doing good to the world. And if they can manage all that, fuck it, why the hell can't I? I have no enemies after all - not even myself. I can be reborn if I want to. I can be the person I want to be. The only thing stopping me was myself.
Erjon Sejdijaj
2024-09-06 17:52:47 +0000 UTCThis is my favorite episode of any show I've seen. At the time I watched this, I was going through a huge conflict with someone. We had polar opposite points of view, and I thought we couldn't see eye to eye. We were enemies, not by swords, but by our thoughts and words. Seeing how Thorfinn approached Canute marked me. He came to hear Canute and actually listened and tried to understand him. He shared what he wanted without pretense. And he was willing to walk away without getting the thing he wanted. I am the opposite of this. I always try to manipulate circumstances and people to get what I want. In a normal story, that is how the main character overcomes conflicts. The character chooses a goal (saving the farm) and they must accomplish that goal by being cleverer or smarter or stronger than their opponent. But Thorfinn picks his goal and neither he nor the story demands that he succeed. He enters it willing to be abused, disregarded, and to fail. And although it is in no way guaranteed that it will always work out like this, it is so easy to see why that very willingness to back down softened Canute's heart. He was so used to being opposed at every turn and had built a cage around his heart as the king that told him that no one understood him. He had to do everything alone; he had to be the lone shepherd that guided the sheep. Because of this, his thoughts became twisted and he felt he had to manipulate everyone toward the ideal he imagined. I understand this because that was my attitude when my friend asked to meet to talk with me. I thought she couldn't understand my perspective so I thought I would need to control the situation for the best of both of us. When instead she came and listened, it shifted my whole center. I felt an urge to co-operate and realized I could work alongside this person if I was willing to put in the work and that there were other solutions out there than my (I realized) short-sighted ones. The imagery of Canute's twisted internal thoughts (represented by the talking head) being driven away by Thorfinn's pure friendship and honesty is a lasting image that continues to motivate how I approach conflicts within my own life.
Michael Uebele
2024-09-06 16:31:34 +0000 UTC
