This Anime Teaches What They WON'T Teach In Schools! (Vinland Saga Explained)

what is up everybody its Anna Mack here for anime uproar and today I will be talking about Vinland saga which is already one of my favorite anime of 2019 and that is saying a lot 20-19 has given us some truly amazing series including mob psycho season 2 the RORO attack on titan season 3 part 2 demon slayer and many more but one land saga has made this year that much better and I absolutely had to make a video talking about it I especially want to talk about it because of the important lessons about war and human nature that this anime teaches us and in my opinion you can learn more from just watching this anime and then you can from many history or civics classes that they actually teach in schools I know I probably sound like I'm exaggerating here but I really don't think so and during the course of this video I will explain why by the way I will only be covering the part of the story that has already aired in the anime as of the making of this video so if you're concerned about manga spoilers don't worry there won't be any manga spoilers here the first thing that struck me about the Vinland saga anime was how it begins and the story of Thor's in particular Thor's was once a ruthless and remorseless Viking warrior who inspired fear in his enemies and he had risen all the way up to the rank of commander in the Yom spiking band but slowly Thor's changes and begins to see that war is not all that it's cracked up to be after the birth of his first child Thor's realizes that there are more important things in life than glory on the battlefield and he begins to see war for what it is cruel tragic and unforgiving because of this Thor's decides to stop being a warrior and opted instead to build a peaceful life in Iceland with his wife Helga and his two children tour Finn and Eva Thor's develops the belief that a true warrior does not need a sword meaning that a wise man should spend his life pursuing constructive and productive things not destructive things like war this philosophy is very much in line with the lessons we've been taught in schools and in the media ever since we were children and when I say this I am primarily referring to the Western world the so-called first world which has been largely free from large-scale military conflict since World War two and if this was the whole message of winland saga and Thor's remained the main character of the story then this anime would not be anything new to us we get to see some cool Viking stuff we'd get to enjoy the wise badassery of Thor's and that would have been that but what really makes Vinland saga memorable what really makes it stand out from other modern stories about war and conflict is what happens a mere four episodes into the anime despite his best efforts Thor's is forced to leave the peace of Iceland in order to participate in the wars that the Vikings are waging in England he doesn't do this willingly he resists the call to fight at first but he eventually relents because floki another young Viking commander threatens to make all the innocent people in Thor's village suffer unless Thor's agrees to come with him back to England Thor's doesn't want innocent people to pay the price for his warrior past and so he ultimately agrees to heed floppies call unfortunately for Thor's flock he never intended to fight alongside Thor's again instead angry that Thor's abandoned the young Viking for a peaceful life floki contracts escalada and his men to ambush stores and assassinate him even when ambushed and vastly outnumbered Thor's shows himself to be an unbelievable warrior and he out classes all of his opponents but Torf in Thor's young son had secretly boarded tours a ship back in Iceland and as a result when they are ambushed by Assad's men ass clad is able to use tor Finn as a hostage in order to protect his son Thor's agrees to give up his life and ask lads men succeed in assassinating him this sets the main story into motion as tor Fionn begins blaming himself for the death of his father and he dedicates his life to becoming a powerful warrior so that he can one day get his revenge and kill Ascalon in a duel the story then follows torrents development from a grieving child to a ruthless killer bent on revenge but beyond the surface of the story there are clear historical and philosophical lessons to be learned back in Iceland when tours and his crew were preparing to leave England many of the young men of the village and even Torf and himself were actively looking forward to going into battle Viking culture and the Norse pagan religion glorified the act of being a fearless warrior above everything else and so these young men who had never actually scene war firsthand we're excited to finally fulfill what they believed to be their true purpose as Norseman however the one experienced warrior among them Thor's is the one who dreads going into war rather than looking forward to the idea because Thor's knows the true face of war he knows the suffering brutality and destruction that war brings to him war is not just a story not just a glorious fairy tale to him war is a cruel and harsh reality that he had to face many times before and Thor's does his best to convey this message to tour Fionn and the other young men from the village but the lesson that Vinland saga teaches us is not just a simple war as bad so we should all just avoid war and then humanity can live happily ever after life is not as simple as all that and Thor's finds himself in a situation where he cannot avoid war even though he clearly wants to if he tries other innocent people that he cares about will be put in danger and he is left with little choice but to fight again this is often true in the real world too most soldiers who fight in wars don't do so because they genuinely enjoy risking their lives and killing others most soldiers fight because they believe that it is the only way to protect the people that they care about they fight because they believe that they are defending their families their friends and neighbors their communities and their countries if they had the choice most soldiers probably wouldn't fight at all but often in a war people feel that they have no choice but to fight they see fighting as self-defence they are afraid that if they don't fight they will be defenseless against the enemy or they are afraid that someone will punish them and their families for refusing to fight even if you want to avoid war you can still be dragged into it against your will and that is exactly what happens to Thor's Thor's has the right frame of mind he is wise and disciplined he is experienced and strong but he still ends up dead not to any fault of his own but because of a series of events orchestrated by other people this is the basic principle behind the realist school of thought in international relations no matter how peaceful you want to be no matter how badly you want to avoid war sometimes it's out of your control sometimes war is unavoidable because of your actions but because of the actions of someone else actions that you cannot control and that's why you have to be prepared vigilant and strong being strong might save your life one day but being idealistic will not and while you can learn this way of thinking if you start taking courses in international relations and college or university from my experience this is not the type of lesson that was taught to me in elementary school or high school in Canada now my life experiences are unique because I moved to Canada at the age of 10 and before that I lived in what is now the former Yugoslavia when I was still a small child a civil war broke out in Yugoslavia and I was a refugee from the war I saw and experienced a lot of hardship and I don't say that to present myself as a victim on the contrary as hard as those experiences were they made me stronger in the long run but the point I want to make is that having lived in both a war zone and a calm Western nation like Canada during my formative childhood years I learned to look at the world from multiple perspectives with that said it seems to me that here in the West many people operate under the assumption that large-scale conflict is a thing of the past just because there is no large-scale conflict going on where they currently happen to live I love Vinland saga but we don't have to look back to the Viking era to see the horrors of large-scale conflict as we speak there are large-scale conflicts taking place in parts of the Middle East Africa Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe and there is civil unrest in many other places of the world as well and yet here in the West there are individuals who will get genuinely upset about mean words on Twitter and play the victim while people in other parts of the world are facing life and death struggles on a daily basis when you live such a sheltered and insulated existence that even mean words on the internet offend you you will find the idea of an actual war absolutely incomprehensible you will start believing that if we all just wish hard enough and retweet enough tweets world peace will be achieved I am NOT saying that these are bad goals I am of course anti-war and I believe that world peace would be an amazing thing but we have to understand that sometimes events are out of our control and sometimes we have no choice but to fight back even if we hate the idea of biting that is just a harsh truth about life especially when we look beyond the so-called first world the school system and the media apparatus here in the West don't always paint an accurate picture of the world they act as if war conflict and struggle are relics of the past and they imply that society is sure to one day progress beyond such petty things as war again this sounds nice but there is no guarantee that this will happen progress is not some inevitable historical force there is no such thing as an end of history and merely wishing for world peace will not make the world peaceful thor's wanted to live in peace he did his best to live in peace he risked his life to live in peace and in the end violence still found him and then after his death this same violence turned his own son into a ruthless soldier even though that is exactly what thor's wanted to avoid we've all heard the expression violence is never the answer but Vinland saga teaches us that life is not that simple in recent years we've all heard the media makes sweeping generalizations about men and we've seen men as a group in general being accused of not doing enough to stop toxic masculinity some major brands even believed that implying that some men might be good but most others need to be ashamed of themselves was actually a good way to sell shaving products to those same men the truth is that toxic behavior is toxic behavior and it can be exhibited by both men and women there is nothing toxic about being a strong man about being assertive and about being prepared to protect your family from attack you might be the most peaceful man in the world you might be a vegan who refuses to hurt a fly but if you're walking in the woods with your wife who is eight months pregnant and a wolf attacks you you better be willing to grab a rock and smash that wolf's skull to protect your family you may not want to hurt the wolf you may not have any ill-will towards the animal but if the wolf attacks you you must fight back there is nothing toxic about understanding that sometimes despite your best efforts you will be faced with violence and aggression when that happens the solution is not to curl up in a ball and cry or to close your eyes and wish for a more peaceful world the only solution is to be a warrior and that means having the stress to deal with less than ideal circumstances there is an old latin saying if you want peace prepare for war and I think that this is one of the biggest lessons of Vinland saga so far you should seek peace you should be a good person and you should not engage in toxic behavior whether you're a man or a woman but you should also be aware that other people don't have the same values as you and they may try to trick you trap you and attack you you need to be aware of that and you need to prepare for that otherwise you'll end up like Thor's or Ned Stark and in the end your loved ones will still suffer you can't protect anyone if you're dead so you must always be vigilant clever and strong enough to survive setting a story in a harsh setting like the world of the Vikings is a great way to illustrate this point but the message is just as applicable in our own lives here in the modern world in your own life whether at work at school or at home you will face challenges that are no fault of your own you will deal with things that you never wanted to deal with and that you did your very best to avoid don't expect to live a life free of challenges no matter how hard you want to and don't be surprised when those challenges one day cross your path instead of being surprised be prepared instead of giving up in despair fight and overcome be a good person but be a clever and vigilant person to expect the best but prepare for the worst whether you live in the 11th century or the 21st century this is the only way to survive unless you live in a perfect world and spoiler alert no one lives in a perfect world you will have to deal with imperfect circumstances with imperfect people and with an imperfect society we have to accept it embrace it and push through it and in that sense we are all warriors and every day is a battlefield if you enjoyed this video you can leave a like to let me know and if you happen to be new to anime uproar please consider subscribing and hitting that notification bell I want to give a big thank you to all of our anime upper patrons for supporting our work and making our videos possible a special thank you to all of our pro hero to your patrons including the one Gilgamesh nothing but a fan Jason Wilson Kings ell drous and on he'll cruise on epic thank you to all of our the one tier patrons the ones who stand above all other clans including baby ray ace in grata alone Adam Maddy Mac makoto-kun and Keylong and finally at the pinnacle of interdimensional greatness a tier reserved only for legends a massive thank you to Regan Harrison and Lord naksan or disciples of Lord we go himself if you enjoy our videos and you think they provide value for you consider supporting us on patreon link in the description even a single dollar will give you access to our exclusive patron only discord and your name will appear in our videos along with these amazing people as always thank you guys so much for watching and until next time see us bass cowboys [Music]

Channel: AnimeUproar

Views: 178,941

Keywords: vinland, saga, vinland saga, vinland saga explained, vinland saga philosophy, philosophy of vinland saga, vinland saga anime, vinland saga manga, explaining vinland saga, thorfinn, thors, thorfinn explained, askeladd, vinland saga viking, vinland saga vikings, thorfinn viking, vikings explained, vinland saga vikings explained, animeuproar, anime uproar, anime explained, vinland Saga Review, Vinland Saga Analysis, Vinland Saga OP, VInland Saga ED, stop sleeping on vinland saga

Id: sbviIbP_cLU

Length: 14min 37sec (877 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 18 2019