Episode 23: Miscalculation

At York in 1014, lords and elders assemble for the king's feast, murmuring about the rumored attempt on Canute and talk that Sweyn has named Harald his heir. When the king and prince arrive, Canute asks after Thorfinn, and Askeladd assures him no one would dare touch the boy here. Thorfinn, still weakened by his injuries, wanders the town and chases a man he mistakes for Askeladd. The stranger and two companions try to rob him, but Thorfinn beats them down, and the same guard who once took him for the assassin recognizes him and locks him in a cell to await orders.

Sweyn addresses the elders, thanking them for the conquest of England and welcoming his son home. He grants Mercia, England's richest region, to Canute's rule and asks Thorkell to back him, then speaks of pressing the war into Ireland next. As the speech unfolds, Askeladd smiles, reading Sweyn as reacting exactly as predicted and finding no counter to his strategy. Then Sweyn abruptly announces a spring assault on Wales, whose people twice refused to become his vassals. The news visibly shakes Askeladd.

Leif arrives to visit the jailed Thorfinn, having heard someone matching his description was arrested. He recalls the boy's old smile and shares how he once survived stranded on drifting ice after his companions died, always fighting the sea as a warrior fights for honor. Leif swore, when Thors died and Thorfinn vanished, that he would carry the boy back to Iceland no matter what.

Floki tells Sweyn that Askeladd blanched at the mention of Wales, guessing it is a weakness. Askeladd, for his part, doubts Sweyn knows of his Welsh ties and dismisses it as coincidence, though he now weighs how to act before spring; a revolt with Canute and Thorkell's forces would be too small. Leif proposes that Thorfinn sail with him to Vinland, the land Thors himself hoped to reach. Thorkell privately asks why Wales once sheltered Askeladd, who explains that his mother's grave lies there and the land is his home, then asks Thorkell to keep it secret before being summoned before the king.

Sweyn grants Canute rule over Mercia and enlists Thorkell's support, appearing to fall for Askeladd's political trap. He then upends the plan by declaring a spring war on Wales, Askeladd's homeland, rattling him badly. Thorfinn is jailed after a brawl and visited again by Leif, who renews his vow to bring him home and floats the idea of sailing to Vinland. Floki flags Askeladd's reaction to Sweyn as a possible weakness.

Miscalculation aired on December 22, 2019, adapting chapter 51 alongside a large stretch of anime-original material. In the manga Thorfinn is never arrested and does not meet Leif a second time in York. Yousuke Yamamoto directed from Atsushi Kobayashi's storyboard, with scripts by Hiroshi Seko and Kenta Ihara. Dark Crow opens and Drown closes the episode.