VINLAND SAGA S2 E18 Reaction & Rant 😅 | Animaechan

Main thing from my review/rant I guess –

I don’t care if you like Hebi, for the most part, I like him too. That doesn’t mean I have to agree with every choice he makes or action he takes.

If, by your logic (addressing specific people from last week) Hebi had the right to kill Gardar, then you have to acknowledge (as Hebi said) Ketil also had the right to kill Arnheid.

But Hebi stopped Ketil, because sometimes even if you have “the right” to kill someone, you don’t HAVE to do it. More often than not, you have other choices. Especially when you are someone in a position of power over others.

In this episode, I’m sure you also wanted Ketil to stop beating Arnheid and let her go, instead of exercising “his right” to kill her.

So then (even if you don’t agree) you should be able to understand why, in episode 17, I wanted Hebi to let Arnheid and her husband go, instead of exercising “his right” to kill.

If people chose killing less, even when they have “the right” to do so, maybe the world would be a little better. At least Arnheid would’ve had a chance at freedom.

Let me repeat the most important part of all this rambling: even if I like a person or character, that doesn’t mean I have to agree with every choice he makes or action he takes.

Take Thorfinn for example. He made many decision in season 1 that we might understand, but that’s not to say he was right. Thorfinn has learned and grown from the past, but would anyone ever learn and change for the better if they don’t think critically about their actions and decide maybe they were wrong?

I love Thorfinn’s character more than any other in the series (besides maybe Leif 😜 jk), because he acknowledges his mistakes and is doing what he can to atone for them. That kind of self responsibility and desire to do what’s most right (not what’s most easy) is so admirable ❤️❤️

I have never seen you this angry since AOT last season lmao

Min 10:00 you have no pride left thats why you are snapping hahahhahahhahaa

I am sorry but Ketil is totally in right to do what he wants with his slaves, he wouldn't land his hands on Arnheid if she didn't betray him, furthermore the king himself is coming to take his farm, it is totally a reasonable act

21:00 Eh, I don't think Snake thought he must kill Gardar, because he has "the right to do it." He did it ,because he wanted to revenge his murdered friends. It's the same reason Thorfinn decided he must kill Askeladd.

The scene with Arnheid and Ketil. Like I forget when was the last time some scene in any anime made me this angry (my blood was legit boiling) and uncomfortable. This was hard to watch. The way it was directed, the sound design, the music and the voice acting by Arnheid and Ketil's voice actors made this scene tough to witness. And this was pretty realistic (as much I hate to say it) because actual slave owners in our world would in fact do horrible stuff like this or something even more worse.

Poor Arnheid 😢. I feel absolutely horrible for her (specially after she lost Gardar in the previous episode). And Ketil (I do see why he turned out like this as fragile men like him who can lose their minds when loads of bad stuff or even bad luck happens to them so MAYBE I can sympathize with him a tiny 0.0001% bit), he turned out to be one of the most horrible characters of all times not just in this show, but in anime general.

It's often said some of the most kindest and humble people can turn out to be some of the most horrible and fake people. Perfect definition for Ketil.

Arnheid as a slave did not have the power of speech, she could not say NO to Ketil, for fear of the punishment she could have, so technically she was being raped, and practically nobody who is watching this anime, discussed this point.
From the beginning, I never saw Ketil as a good person, the term "a good slave owner" that is being used by many, in itself is ridiculous to me. Many treated Gardar like a monster, Gardar simply wanted the best for his family and his village, I can't see this being simply Greed, because we all struggle every day to try to give a better life for our families, but his plans went wrong and they lost everything. Gardar was enslaved, tortured and humiliated for years, if Gardar is a monster as many say, what kind of people are enslavers? Freedom is one of humanity's most precious assets, the Gardar's fight for its freedom is very justifiable, but what is the justification of those who want to keep him as a slave? The Snake already had the intention of capturing Gardar, even before knowing of his connection with Arnheid, that is, at first he had no real reason to capture him, except for his own benefit, since Gardar was not Ketil's slave, the deaths of his men were consequences of his own decisions. Being a good character does not mean being a good person, Askeladd was one of the cruelest characters that was presented to us in the anime, but everyone agrees that he is an excellent character, but there is no way to say that he is a good person.

not defending snake but he was a part of a system, and those who go against it were considered wrong and in worst case were punished. Our thinking in today's date has evolved so much, so you need to think like the people in that era where treating slaves like shit was normalized. Now watch from snake's perspective, since he was the part of this so called system, he literally had no reason to stop ketil from beating her to death just to remind him that he can kill her (which were according to the rules of this so called system) Snake knew ketil would'nt kill her. Snake literally had no reason to save her but still he did. I'd say it's an excellent example of visual storytelling. Snake is more like an 'Askeladd' like character. And why is he like that ? cus ofc the author wants us to know that the how thorfinn stands out from all other characters and why he is the MAIN character cus he rejects the system and does the RIGHT thing.

I love you and your reactions! Thank you for being you.

Gardar did NOTHING wrong
Thorfinn should have let Gardar kill Snake
Canute better round up this nutso slaver Ketil. HEIL CANUTE.
Also, I think Epstein only took some girls older than 14 and employed them as prostitutes. Don't know about any kidnapping, as you imply.
No, really, wikipedia doesn't mention anything about 11 yrs old girls. Is it from another news outlet?

Now you see how many people truly are wicked. So many people are hopping through hoops and lengths to justify this bs and its an anime. Imagine if it’s their family members or the celebrities they worship or the politicians they vote for or their ancestors. Now you see why people continue in the wickedness of their ancestors and never atone.

(If you read this Animaechan, it's nice to hear someone speak up about Snake. The hypocrisy hasn't registered to a lot of folks)
This started as a cathartic response to some comments. I feel this was necessary for me to write for all those who may be conflicted about their feelings on the situation, Ketil, Arnheid, etc. But I'll start with those few who genuinely believe Arnheid deserves what happened to her. I've even seen some who believe she's responsible for "playing with a man's heart". And many have said it's too complicated a situation to take sides, even if they feel for her.

Firstly, what an absolute shittake to put on the shitcake that you then proceed to feast on, you complete and utter gobshites .

Take a step back and build the story – he bought her because she most likely reminded him of the girl he lost. He then projects that same woman onto Arnheid for years while she has no right to refuse anything Ketil wants from her – the best that she could do was not having to pretend. The fact that she could be openly detached and distant just shows how delusional and self-obsessed he is. All this while he would rape her or air out all his baggage. She would then have to experience being openly abused by his wife (and probably insanely overworked out of spite) and sexually harassed by Snake's men on the farm which he didn't do shit about.

The only thing he did was to get Snake to tell his men that she was off-limits because of course he wouldn't want his 'darling' to be touched by another man – and I'd bet that even if one of them was somehow stupid enough to put a hand on her in the past, he probably wouldn't have had the balls to confront that man himself. He'd come crying to Snake instead and there's even a sad chance she would have been abused anyway because his delusion would be compromised by her "infidelity". I think it's even hinted in the first two episodes that Snake's men and the farmhands were sexually assaulting her anyway – either threatening her into silence after or testing the limits to see how much they could push Ketil before he'd do something about it. But there's no doubt he 100% saw and treated her as a slave while he was out with other people on the farm, giving her escorts on a cart, then probably caving in to his wife's demands for Arnheid with how little spine he had – remember, he can't risk afford to look weak! He's supposed to be the wealthy Norse man who's the patriarch of a big family. and a female bed slave is only supposed to be his fleshlight because otherwise it looks really bad on his marriage and honour. Reminder again that he RAPED her consistently and eventually got her pregnant, something she had no choice in if she didn't want to risk multiple beatings or death.

Also, he didn't "trust" her with the truth about him. Naturally he sees himself as gifting her a fabulous rich life as his mistress because he's so "kind", but it's not trust in the slightest, it's still delusion. The only reason she's not violently raped like how your average Viking would do is because she's forced to play his old lover. She's either not made aware of his unresolved trauma or she is which is worse (if you think being treated as less than human is bad, I can tell you how mindfucked you become because of an identity forced on you). That and he needs her to be his enabler for all the self-pitying victimisation every night about how the whole world was against him, and how great he was to have built himself up. Again, classic narcissistic behaviour of keeping up a greater fake identity to control others as much as possible – that's literally why he's made the fake origin story and why he kissed ass to the kings of his land. He masks his insecurity as false kindness and makes Arnheid maintain that lie for his gratification.

Now, people seem to have this wrong idea that he's a coward – that he doesn't have anything going for him. Again, it's hard to see it if you don't know how a person with a personality disorder thinks – we see Ketil being frustrated and intimidated by Thorgil who became the equivalent of a Viking celebrity, but not because his son is crazy or sees fatally striking children as an honourable test, but because Thorgil is a potential threat to his stability and image, who doesn't care about anything but himself. I'd imagine he reminds him of the man who killed his first love, and he's afraid a man like Thorgil could decide to take his stuff again. Ketil wasn't afraid of what he could do to the kids, he feared what he'd do to him. And notice how Thorgil was the one propping up the myth about his dad? We've seen how perceptive Thorgil is, he surely knows Ketil is a fraud but he doesn't call it out because he uses his dad's reputation and money. Like father, like son.

Others have also suggested that he's repulsed by violence/Norse culture. Ketil being against violence is also another lie he uses to mask his internalised anger – with the situation with the boy Sture, there were men and Thorgil watching and he tried to escape the responsibility of administering the punishment before needing to be bailed out by Pater (with Snake doing nothing as always because his strength and "just-following-orders" really hides a moral ambivalence that really makes you think about his hinted backstory). Pater had to enforce some measure of corporal punishment and Ketil like the pathetic person he is, overcompensates (he literally beats the kid half to death and on the face) because he was too scared of people, especially Thorgil, thinking he's weak. A weak man hiding behind the illusion of a strong, masculine figure.

Sure, Ketil doesn't like to be violent to people on a good day, he doesn't like hitting kids. Is it because he thinks it's wrong? Nah! It's because it makes his servants unable to work for him and grow indebted to him. Being cruel doesn't help him. He wants to be on good terms with everyone – that said, not a bad thing for the people involved. If you think I'm wrong, let me remind you of what he said to himself before Pater stepped in to bail him out: "Why did you have to steal from me? I have no choice but to punish you." Stop reading and think about that line – in case it isn't clear, he just went from seemingly empathising earlier with the kids because they had to take care of their sick mother alone, to shaming and blaming them for bothering him with something unpleasant that tests his image. Did he develop sudden amnesia when Snake spoke to him? Or is it that he's more afraid of what his men may think than what will happen to these kids (when Snake or Thorgil get to them)? Would he have let Thorgil finish the beating if he didn't hit Sture as hard as a truck? Better yet, I wonder what punishment he would have given if Pater wasn't there to find the best option (I respect Pater, he made the best of his situation and takes the abuse of working under Ketil to bring some fairness and justice on the farm.).

There's nothing intricate/complicated at all about this situation. Ketil has always felt off . I'm not sure how it wouldn't be proof enough here at the barn, without Thorgil encouraging him or Pater trying to stop him, his instinct is to beat a bound pregnant slave woman to death for attempting escape, and he would have killed her if Snake didn't intervene. But I also hear people saying that a lot happened to him, and he suffered a mental breakdown that anyone would have. Firstly, everything is directly or indirectly a consequence of his actions. Sverkel made this very clear. Ketil had chances to change and work on leveraging his wealth and power for ethical good, least of all with his dad trying to take responsibility for the death of Ketil's first love. He had every resource. Sure, he blames himself in part for not being strong enough to fight against the stronger clan in his past. But I'd also guess he unconsciously resented her and Arnheid for leaving him when he gave them everything. In the end, he defaults to blaming everyone else without taking any responsibility for his own part.

Breakdown my ass – this is exactly how covert narcissists operate. Someone this entitled, this unable to let go of people, with this amount of insecurity/pride can never truly love someone. And they'll always see themselves as victims, and the people they abuse as ungrateful monsters. They fool you into thinking they're pleasant/charming people but they hide a cold ruthlessness and a void of empathy. Canute is similar in this regard but maybe his conscience will win out. Even the Ketil family dynamics match – you have a covert narc dad with two narcissistic sons, one grandiose and treated like the golden child while the other…scapegoated for failing to meet expectations both as a Viking and his dad's heir. No wonder Ketil wanted another child more like him to take over the farm. I'm sure the wife is a shitshow onto herself. I was also raised by someone like Ketil who treated me like an animal when I did something that didn't make her happy for whatever reason. But everyone in public thought she was the kindest and most attentive mother ever. Except only I knew how she talked about manoeuvring and controlling people in her life, and how much of a martyr she wanted to be. That and a whole lot more besides is why I got so triggered seeing people shitting on victims of trauma. It was annoying enough with Einar at the start, but these comments at Arnheid are appalling – but our current culture of tolerance gets too easily taken advantage of by morally-bankrupt apologists who may or may not want to be the next smiling cartoon villains that lobbied for all the rights which make getting rid of them almost impossible.

How many husbands have to be killed, kids hanged and pregnant women beaten to death before people realise that maybe the people who are responsible aren't the slaves who lost their entire families and have no place to go or home to come back to?

9:19 yep, I just read a page long apologia about "Ketil being a good man and how it's Arnheid's fault that he beat her up."

Snake wanted to calm him down.I think shows everything.

I love your reactions but I don´t understand a lot of what you say
Could you put subtitles in Spanish please?:(

It’s fine to not like a character because they do bad things, but to other people including myself, bad people can still be likable, I think Canute is a scumbag but I still like him because he’s an interesting character. I can totally understand why snake would want to kill gardar even if I don’t agree with him.

Mappa just dropped 18.5 episode on their official YT channel