Askelives Propaganda

Also Askeladd: Every single one of my men is about to start a mutiny but I will tell Bjorn I know about it because I know he would never go against me. I will entrust the Prince's life to him and with it all the hopes and dreams I've had since I was a child. When he asks for a final duel I will miss the first strike even thought I'm a master swordsman who is never seen missing before. As he dies in my arms I will tell him the one thing he wants to hear most and admit he was my one and only friend. I will take the cloak off my back to cover his corpse and then proceed to visibly show deep emotional turmoil despite how much I pride myself on self-control. When everything is done, I will carry him to his final resting place. I won't live without Bjorn for long and die mere days after I kill him.

How he probably killed just as much as he stood there and let himself be killed once he realized he wouldn’t actually die. How he probably saw Bjorn there and debated whether he should try to get through to him, only to decide not to. Bjorn was right where he belonged. And so was he.

How he eventually wandered enough to find remnants of battlefields of old and came upon the Roman pillars. How he used all his strength to climb one so he sat above the rest of them and just watched, waiting for nothing.

Until one day he heard a familiar voice struggle in the cavernous rocks above.

Hear me out.

In the first scene with Floki and Askeladd, Floki comments that Askeladd’s men are “as boorish as ever.” This isn’t the kind of dialogue that you would expect from someone you’re meeting for the first time. It sounds like he is familiar with Askeladd’s men.

Askeladd asking for double the payment can also be a hint that he’s had previous deals with Floki and therefore feels more comfortable/cocky in squeezing more gold out of him. Floki is a powerful man, and while Askeladd is certainly confident and cunning, I don’t think he’d risk the ire of a group of Jomsvikings right after meeting them for the first time. It would make more sense if he had a feel for Floki’s character and how far he could push his buttons before he actually pushed them.

Floki recognized Askeladd on sight when he came with Canute into Gainsborough (and seemed nervous about it). The way he addressed Askeladd directly implied that they were on closer speaking terms than ‘I talked to you once ten years ago and never again until now’. Additionally, his nervous attitude in this scene makes more sense if Askeladd had more than one piece of blackmail on him.

Look at Askeladd’s smug little smirk…he knows things about Floki that would end his entire career.

If Askeladd could do something like kill Thors and succeed with basically no losses and no snitching, it would be logical that Floki would hire him for other jobs of importance.

Later in the manga, Hrafnkell (Hild’s dad) immediately speculated that Askeladd’s men were hired to kill him by either Sweyn…or Floki. What if Floki was the one to hire them to assassinate Hrafnkell?

Askeladd also mentioned in this scene that they weren’t going to be paid anything if they didn’t kill Hrafnkell. I think it would be funny to imagine that Floki hired them for the job and refused to do a repeat of the payment for Thors’ assassination where he paid Askeladd half the gold upfront, so he was more stubborn about paying only after the job was completed this time.

love how exasperated he is here

A little extra: Adult Thorfinn said he knew Floki from numerous battles. If you assume that Askeladd’s band didn’t fully join up with the main Danish army until Sweyn launched his big invasion in 1013, then Thorfinn must have met Floki from Askeladd’s band being independently hired to fight with them (or for them).

vs Thors’ face during the duel

The door to her house closes on its own, which means she probably made other cool improvements to her house that we just didn’t see.

The mess in Hild’s tinkering room includes skis, and airplane, and something that looks like a gas mask.

Hrafnkell (Hild’s dad) knew that it was Askeladd and his band attacking his village. So he either knew Askeladd somehow, or they had met before, etc.

When confronted by Thorfinn, Hranfnkell immediately suspects that either Floki or Sweyn was behind this attack. This implies that he somehow has beef with them, or at least has something (land? resources? technology?) they would want. This also implies that he’s had problems with them before at some point.

…..and this might imply that Floki has hired Askeladd for more than one job over the years. But that’s more headcanon.

And yet when Thors ‘died,’ not only did he weep openly at Thors’ funeral, but he was an emotional wreck for months afterwards. He drank, he was quicker to anger, he moped around Thors’ house knowing the man himself wasn’t there.

His biggest regret in life had nothing to do with war or battle. He regretted not following Thors when he left from Jomsborg (again, this is coming from a man who hates cowards, which Thors was when he decided to defect).