Is Vinland Saga ending any time soon? Vinland Saga manga series creator Yukimura Makoto just announced that he has begun work on the final story arc of the series and he’s already teasing fans by telling them what to expect in the future.
Published monthly since 2005, Makoto just put the finishing touches on the third major story arc of the Nordic tale. Volume 23 will include Chapter 167, which ends Thorfinn’s adventure to the east and begins the final stage of the epic saga.
The manga is based around the life of historical Icelandic explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni, who followed Leif Eriksson’s route to Vinland in the early 11th century. Thorfinn’s expeditions were chronicled in the Saga of The Greenlanders and Saga of Erik the Red, which when combined together are called The Vinland Sagas.
To put Vinland Saga’s ending in perspective, the manga’s story that’s been told so far has taken place before the stories told in the actual real-world Icelandic saga. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end, eventually.
In November 2019, Makoto stated that he planned on dividing the manga into four major story arcs: War, Slave, Eastern Expedition, and an unnamed final arc. The Eastern Expedition arc ended with Chapter 167 and beginning with Vinland Saga Chapter 168 the manga creator began drawing the “last arc”.
Manga creators are infamous for being bad at estimating how long their stories will last and Makoto is no exception. He’s already exceeded his original plans since many years ago he estimated that he’d finish by Volume 25.
Fast forward to 2019 and Makoto still has not set an exact target for Vinland Saga’s ending. However, he expects that creating the final arc will take “several years” and the arc will exceed 50 chapters with over 1,000 pages.
Arc! そう、arcだ、そう言えばよかった。I drew three arcs, 167chapters. I started drawing last arc.
…伝わったかなー…？あと１話で終わりってことじゃないんだなー。— 幸村誠 (@makotoyukimura) November 10, 2019
Since the manga is released monthly, that means Makoto could reach the ending by 2026 at the earliest barring any hiatus or delays. Since each manga volume has either 8 or 9 chapters the final volume could be Volume 28 or 29 and the book would likely release in late 2026 or early 2027.
This is also good news for anime fans since Makoto’s plans should allow animation company Wit Studio plenty of wiggle room for creating Vinland Saga Season 2, 3, and 4. Let’s just hope that Vinland Saga’s ending is as epic as the rest of the manga series. Stay tuned!