Episode 1

"Far, far to the west, across the sea, there is a land called Vinland. It's warm and fertile. It's a faraway land, without slave traders and without war. What do you think? Come live there with us someday."

- Thors to the runaway slave

"Somewhere Not Here" (ここではないどこか) is the 1st episode of the Vinland Saga anime and also the War Arc; the prologue.

Synopsis
Thorfinn, a boy living in Iceland, longs for adventure and is eager to know more about the world. He dreams of a land of paradise called Vinland that he hears about from the adventurer Leif, while he leads his peaceful life with this father Thors, a former warrior. One day, Thors saves a runaway slave and sets a series of events in motion. This is the story of a true warrior in an age of turmoil.

Summary
The episode begins with Thors Snorresson waking up in a sunlit field surrounded by trees and grassy plains, where he is greeted from a distance by his wife Helga holding their infant child Ylva. When Thors walks to meet her, he realizes he is surrounded by corpses. Thors' comrade, Thorkell, yells at him so he can regain his focus. Thors and Thorkell quickly cut down enemies who have boarded their ship, and it is revealed that they are participants in the Battle of Hjörungavágr in the year 987. Thorkell asks Thors if he is okay because of his initial lack of focus and Thors apologizes for daydreaming. They quickly shield themselves from a barrage of arrows and Thors notes that their forces won't be able to hold off the enemies second wave of attack because they’re too spread out. Thors devises a plan to solve this: When Floki approaches, Thorkell will bring up the frontline, while he attacks the enemy. Thors splits off from Thorkell and jumps on another ship to confront the enemy alone. Thors easily decimates the wave of soldiers and witnesses his victim apologizing to his loved one for dying. Unfocused, Thors is hit in his right shoulder by an arrow and more enemies board the ship to attack. An enemy knocks his sword from his hand, but Thors tosses the man and himself off of the ship into the sea. They begin to wrestle underwater and Thors wins the fight by stealing the man's sword and impaling him. Thors abandons the man's sword and swims away from the battle to dry land. Exhausted, Thors walks away from the battle without looking back.

Later in Iceland during the year 1002, Thors young son, Thorfinn, gathers water and carries it home to his village. After storing the water, his sister, Ylva, asks him to feed their sheep and milk their cows. While he carries a bucket of milk, Thorfinn spots a seabird and looks to the sea's horizon.

Later that night, Leif Ericson and the other village children gather in Thors' home to listen to Leif's stories of his travels. Leif tells a story about how he found a new continent with his crew by sailing further south after leaving Markland. Leif described this new land as a "new world" where fruit grows and grassy plains cover the land. He decided to name this new land "Vinland". Thorfinn tells Leif that he is amazing and the children ask Leif questions about Vinland. Leif says that Vinland is much bigger and warmer than Iceland and he encountered a group of people who already lived there (Native American ancestors). Although they had troubling communicating due to the language barrier, they managed to have peaceful relations. Leif shows them a feather headdress and tobacco pipe that he received as a gift from the Natives. At the same time, Thors returns home from the snowstorm and wonders why the children are still awake. Helga tells him that she wanted them to hear Leif's stories. Thorfinn praises Leif and he asks the boy if he will sail with him when he grows up, but Thorfinn impatiently says he wants to sail now. One of children questions Leif's story, because of the legend that the World Serpent of the sea, Jormungand, eats any ship that dares to sail to west and beyond that, the world ends. Leif sees it as proof that he is a true warrior, but children scoff at the notion and call him adventurer who is useless in battle. Leif asks Thors to beat some sense into the boys, but Thors says that was enough stories for one day and tells Ari to escort the children home. Meanwhile, a man with a chain around his neck wanders in the cold snowstorm unprotected and comes across the Iceland village.

With the kids gone, Leif and Thors talk about the freezing weather in Greenland, which caused several people to freeze to death. Leif says that this winter will be especially cold and livestock will die. Then, Ylva returns home with two sheep who are the only ones getting weak from the cold. Leif offers to "warm up" Ylva, causing her to call him a pervert. Ylva tells Helga to sleep before she catches another cold, but Helga says that she's fine and asks for help tying up the sheep. Leif tells Thors that life is tough in Iceland, and Thors replies that it is. Leif says that one day winter will be so cold no one will survive. He says that back in his home country, his brother, Thorvald, is planning to leave Greenland. Thors says that it's far, but Leif confidently says that he made the round trip before.

Next, Thorfinn dreams that he is a sailor going to Vinland and encounters Jormungand, but he is suddenly woken up by Ylva laying on him. Thorfinn wakes up Ylva and tells her to sleep in her own bed because there's not enough room, but she refuses. Thorfinn notices that Thors and Leif are still talking, but Ylva tells him not to worry about the affairs of grown-ups. Then, she tells Thorfinn to hug her and holds him tight, to Thorfinn's discomfort.

The next morning, Thors and Ylva are shoveling the abundance of snow they received during the snowstorm off their roof. Ylva complains about the hard work and says that they should buy a slave, since Helga is sickly and now she has to help with chores. Thors says that she asks for a slave every year and their family has survived well without one. Ylva calls her father weird and accidentally slips off of the roof. Thors rushes to her aid, but Ylva is unharmed. But, she feels something under the snow and digs to see what it is. Thors and Ylva discover the slave from earlier unconscious in the snow.

While Leif paints his ship, Thorfinn sits on top and asks the sailor if his story was true. Leif angrily says that he was being honest. Thorfinn says that he will believe in Vinland if Leif lets him ride on his ship. Leif says that isn't believing and tells him to to ride in his father's much bigger and faster warship. Thorfinn says that his father won't let him, no matter how many times he asks. Leif says that Thors is trying to protect him, because the sea is very dangerous. Leif decides to tell Thorfinn a story from his past; Shortly after a young Leif moved to Greenland, his ship got trapped in an ice floe in a bay near Brattalihd for an entire month because he was careless. He and his crew quickly ran out of food and ate ice to satisfy their hunger and thirst. After the ice finally crushed their ship, Leif and his crew decided they had to try to escape via walking on the ice. After walking for two nights, Leif realized he was alone and the other 6 in his crew had died. Thorfinn looks to the sea and asks why did they come so far north, to live on the freezing island of Iceland.

Leif tells him that their ancestors from Norway fled. Leif says their ancestors lived in Norway for centuries and it was much warmer than Iceland, and protected by many fjords. But one day, a powerful man named Harald appeared. Harald's forces went coast to coast conquering the villages and he declared himself to be the first King of Norway. He gave the Norwegian people an ultimatum: Either submit and serve him or leave Norway. Many people hated Harald's tyranny and chose to leave their homes. They sailed far to the west, away from Harald's reach and landed on Iceland. However, Thorfinn doesn't believe that their ancestors would run away and calls Leif a liar, before running home.

At the same time, Thors brings the unconscious slave in his home and tells Helga to boil some water and Ylva to bring their fur blanket. Thors places the slave next to the fire and takes off his clothes, and sees his whip marks. While Thors performs chest compressions, Ylva believes that the man will die as his limbs are rotting. Helga notes that he isn't from their village and wonders why he was out in a blizzard. Ylva states that he is obviously a runaway slave and if they aid him, his master will cause their village trouble. Thorfinn returns home and tries to tell his father what Leif said, but finds him trying to resuscitate the slave. Thorfinn asks who the man is, and Ylva says that he is a runaway slave. Suddenly, the slave awakens and gasps for breath, to everyone's surprise. Thors asks for his name, but the man says that he is cold. Thors tells Ylva to make the fire stronger and asks the slave where did he come from. The slave simply asks if they will take him back to Halfdan. Ylva says that if he belongs to Halfdan, he must have come from the other side of the mountain. The slave says that he never wants to go back to Halfdan again, but he doesn't have anywhere else to go, as he cries. Suddenly, a man comes in and informs Thors that Halfdan and over thirty of his men are at the dock and tells him to come quick as he is only one who can handle him. The man says that they mentioned a slave and forced their way onto shore. He says that Leif is trying to intervene, but the younger men might start a fight.

At the docks, Halfdan tells Leif and the villagers that chains are the only things that can make a human being look good. Halfdan says that one of his slaves cut his chain and escaped last night, and asks the villagers if they have seen him. Ari draws his sword and says that Halfdan is using this as an excuse to settle the score with their village. One of the villagers informs Leif that their village and Halfdan's have had several skirmishes over the boundaries of grazing land. Apparently, Halfdan's villagers like to invade their territory and harvest their grass for their own livestock. Because too many people got hurt in their fights, the two villages ended their squabbling at the last Viking assembly. One of Halfdan's men recognizes Ari from a previous fight and is still angry about the boy cutting off his left arm. Ari counters that man cut off his brother's leg. Leif and one of Halfdan's men intervene to prevent a fight. Ari says that he will avenge his brother's disability by cutting off the man's leg. The man draws his sword and says that their laws are useless. Before he can attack, Halfdan uses his chain to disarm his subordinate of his sword. Halfdan declares that he will chain him up and wraps his chain around the man's face, before violently pulling it off, leaving him bloody marks across his face. Halfdan says that he won't tolerate anyone breaking the law, as the law is chain that prevents a man from becoming a savage. Halfdan says that the runaway slave is a young man of Slavic descent and again asks if anyone saw him.

The Slavic man dreams that he is in a field filled with flowers, trees, and birds. He says that he has never felt more at peace before and smiles. Thors wakes him and tells him to stay awake or he will die, but Helga thinks its too late for him. Suddenly, the young man deliriously calls out to his parents and sister and wonders where he is. Thors tells him that far to the west, across the sea, there's land called Vinland, a warm, fertile paradise free of slaves and war. Thors asks the man will he live there his family one day. The young man says that paradise he saw earlier is Vinland.

Suddenly, Halfdan and his men enter Thors' home and apologizes for coming in so rudely, saying they came for the slave. Helga takes Thorfinn away and Ylva comes home, revealing that she informed Halfdan of the slave's whereabouts. She tries to explain that they weren't hiding him and simply nursed him back to health. Thors asks Halfdan how much the slave cost. Halfdan says it cost him two young ewes. Thors offers three sheep for slave, but Halfdan says that he must take him back to torture him as reminder of fear to the other slaves. Thors instead offers four sheep, but Halfdan asks Thors what would he do if he asked for twice as much. Thors says that he would give eight sheep, all ewes under three years old. Halfdan says that slave is half-dead, but will agree with Thors' offer. Halfdan turns to leave and says that will pick out the sheep himself. Before he leaves, Halfdan asks Thors if he really thinks he freed the man and asks where would he go, but Thors stays silent. Thorfinn peeks through a sheet and looks at Thors.

Later that night, Thors digs a grave and Ylva cries. Thorfinn asks if she is sad, Ylva says of course she is, revealing that the young man died shortly afterwards and giving up the eight sheep for him was pointless. Helga comforts Ylva and Thorfinn asks Thors if their ancestors really ran away like Leif said. Thors confirms it, so Thorfinn asks where would they go if they left Iceland. Thors pats his son on the head and looks at the Northern Lights. Meanwhile, Floki and a crew of Jomsvikings set sail to Iceland and the camera pans out to Thors' home and shows a chest containing equipment from his past as a Viking.

Characters in order of appearance

 * Thors Snorresson (debut)
 * Helga (debut)
 * Thorkell (debut)
 * Thorfinn (debut)
 * Ylva (debut)
 * Leif Ericson (debut)
 * Faxi (debut)
 * Ari (debut)
 * King Harald (flashback)
 * Halfdan (debut)
 * Floki (debut)

Differences from the manga

 * The opening scene to this episode depicting Thors' final battle and desertion from the Jomvikings is an anime original scene that was not featured in the original manga.
 * Because of this Thorkell makes his first appearance earlier than in the manga.

Trivia
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