Is the Vinland Saga manga ending soon? Series creator Makoto Yukimura has long told fans what to expect from his manga series and it’s inevitable that Thorfinn’s story will come to an end since it’s loosely based on actual history.
On August 22, 2022, Comic Natalie released an interview with both Yukimura and Attack On Titan manga creator Hajime Isayama. The Vinland Saga creator stated that Vinland Saga’s final chapter is coming up when he was asked about the “roadmap” for completing the ending.
“It’s been about 25 years since I became a manga artist, and my current wish is to make children become adults safely, and to draw Vinland Saga properly until the final chapter,” Yukimura said. “To tell the truth, there is not much left on the roadmap. We are not that far away from the final installment. The roadmap was drawn up before the serialization started, but the details are different. There are many characters that didn’t appear in the original plan. But I have been flexible in drawing the details according to the situation. I have recently come to realize that it is better to leave some playful parts in addition to the solid bones in that way.”
The mangaka has confirmed that the manga was in its final arc starting with Vinland Saga Chapter 167. He estimates that Vinland Saga’s final chapter will be Vinland Saga 216, which means the finale in Volume 28 will come out in 2024 (barring any unexpected hiatus).
Note: This news story will be updated over time with new information.
The Vinland Saga Season 2 release date is coming up soon and there is already talk of a full adaptation, which means the anime TV series will have Vinland Saga Season 3 and 4.
- Updated August 23, 2022: Added new interview.
- Updated May 3, 2022: Added the latest info based on the mangaka speaking to the Vinland Saga anime director on Twitter Spaces on May 1, 2022.
Vinland Saga’ story is bound by the history of Thorfinn Karlsefni
In a May 2022 Twitter Spaces discussion, Yukimura commented that recent 2022 chapters have shown much happiness since the upcoming chapters will show a raw reality that’s based on real history. In August 2022, Yukimura discussed this suffering.
“Over the course of this many volumes, I have depicted Thorfinn as suffering. That’s why I learned the importance of layering stories in order to draw moving scenes. Readers who have followed Thorfinn’s journey will surely be able to sympathize with the weight of that redemption.”
Makoto Yukimura
In the same interview, Yukimura discussed the level of violence that was prevalent throughout Europe during the time period depicted by the manga.
“Before Christianity spread, apparently people had no sense of resistance to engaging in violence. The spread of Christianity throughout Europe was just after the period depicted by the Vinland Saga. So they were that much more barbaric before they were given a broad ethical view,” Yukimura said. “Due to the low value of life, violence such as domestic violence was rampant. I believe that Vinland Saga has something to depict about violence precisely because of that era.”
Warning: The following paragraph contains major spoilers.
The Monthly Afternoon September 2021 issue made a major announcement concerning the series on July 26, 2021, the day of the Vinland Saga Chapter 184 release date. The story of Vinland Saga 184 contained the first contact between Thorfinn and the indigenous people of North America.
The Vinland Saga manga’s ending will be based on the actual real-world Icelandic Vinland sagas “Saga of Eirik the Red” and “Saga of the Greenlanders”, which were texts written in the early 13th century. They told different accounts of Norse voyages to Vinland, which literally means Wineland due to the grapevines found in North America.
The Vinland Saga characters are based on historical accounts of the period. However, it’s historical fiction since the author has taken many creative liberties in filling in the blanks in the historical record.
The main protagonist Thorfinn is based on real-life explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni, whose byname means “makings of a man”. Leif is, of course, based on the historical Leif Erikson, an explorer credited in modern times with discovering the North American continent where Vinland is located.
Other characters are based on legends or invented, with Askeladd’s name based on a Norweigan folklore character that was known for being clever.
The historical accounts actually differed on significant details including who named geographical features and when Eirik the Red died. The Saga of Eirik the Red notably boosts Thorfinn and downplays the role of fellow Norse explorer Thorvald Eiriksson. It even denies Thorvald ever voyaged to Vinland, relegating the site of Thorvald’s shipwreck to an anonymous ship.
The majority of the manga story arcs leading up to the voyage to the west in the year 1010 were about fleshing out Thorfinn as a person. As such, the manga series serves as a fictional prologue to the real story.
Vinland Saga Volume 28 ending the manga’s story by 2024?
The Vinland manga series by writer and illustrator Makoto Yukimura started serialization in 2005 as a weekly shonen manga but eventually switched to a monthly seinen format by the end of the year.
Makoto has sometimes spoken about how he maintains a “leisurely style” in comparison to other manga creators.
“You just have to stay healthy and be careful not to die,” he tweeted in reference to how long it took for the Attack On Titan manga’s ending to come out.
In the May 2022 Twitter Spaces discussion, Yukimura admitted that he changed from weekly to monthly publication since he’s a “very slow author”. He typically publishes around 11 chapters per year.
As of July 24, 2022, the series was up to Vinland Saga Chapter 195: Thousand Year Voyage Part 4. As of May 23, 2022, the tankobon books were up to Vinland Saga Volume 26.
Many years ago, the creator claimed he was targeting Volume 25 for the Vinland Saga manga’s ending. Manga creators are notoriously bad at estimating the length of their stories and it seems Makoto is no exception.
What we do know for certain is that Makoto stated that he plans on creating four major story arcs: War, Slave, Eastern Expedition, and the final Vinland arc. The final arc started with Volume 24: Chapter 167.
While that sounds like the Vinland Saga manga’s ending is right around the corner, it seems more likely that the final chapter will be released years in the future. After all, Makoto promised in November 2019 that the final arc would be over 1,000 pages long and around 50 chapters.
“Vinland Saga is roughly divided into four parts. So far, I have drawn three parts, the war edition, the slave edition, and the eastern expedition edition. I’m starting to draw the last one,” Makoto tweeted. “I will draw over 1000 pages and over 50 chapters. Probably will take several years. If the serialization is not discontinued.”
(The last sentence’s disclaimer is worrisome but it seems unlikely.)
The latest chapters have ranged from 19 to 25 pages in length. Assuming Makoto isn’t planning on dramatically shortening what’s arguably the main part of the story there should be easily over 50 chapters.
Therefore, Vinland Saga Chapter 184 is less than halfway to Makoto’s original plans for the final arc. The manga is released monthly, so Makoto could reach the Vinland Saga manga’s ending between May 2024 and July 2024 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. The book would likely release in late 2024 or early 2025.
Let’s just hope that Vinland Saga manga’s ending is as epic as the rest of the manga series. Stay tuned!