Leif Ericson

Leif Ericson (レイフ・エリクソン) is a retired famous traveler and adventurer who lives on Greenland. He was a close friend to Thors Snorresson and later with his son, Thorfinn. He is one of the few to have made it to Vinland. He also owns a farm on Greenland, but no longer cares for it himself as his health is too poor.

He joins Thorfinn in his journey to gain money to settle in Vinland, and later decides to stop sailing and retires at his home in Greenland, and suffers a substantial decrease in health.

Appearance
In his original appearance, Leif looked rather normal for his age, being 37, however upon his reintroduction in 1014, at around age 50, he had gone completely bald on the top of his head, his hair had turned gray, and he had developed major wrinkles on his entire face. His eyebrows also seem to have shrunk. This can be assumed as stress from how many travels he does on the sea, and for searching for Thorfinn for so long.

He looked mostly the same in 1018 and 1019 other than some slight stubble added to his chin, But during 1021 he has now aged severely, and supposedly aged particularly drastically over the course of the prior summer. He had even more wrinkles on his face, and age spots on his head. His mustache had also started to droop down, and his eyebrows also have appeared to get even smaller. His eyes also tend to be closed more often now.

After getting shot in the leg by a stray arrow during the Baltic at Jomsborg, he now also has trouble walking, and requires a walking cane. Even with the cane he is visibly shaking just by standing.

Personality
Back in the past when Thorfinn was a young child, Leif kept boasting that he’s a great warrior, however, the children say the adults opinions of him say that he’s just a child with a beard and is useless in battle.

After Thors died, Leif blamed himself and made it his mission to find Thorfinn, who went missing and bring him back to his hometown. This continued for over a decade, showing how much Leif would go for a person he cares about and how he doesn't go back on his word, making him a loyal and kind-hearted person.

History
"That’s when I found it. A new world, full of ripe fruit and rippling plains. I built a cottage upon this new land and called it… Vinland."

- Leif Ericson, telling his story

Shortly after Leif moved to Greenland, his ship got trapped in an ice floe in a bay near Brattal for an entire month. After they quickly ran out of food and their ship was crushed by the ice, they 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.

He journeyed the seas for many years, and eventually discovered a huge landmass, which he named Vinland. He made friends with the natives, and become a very famous traveler.

War Arc
Leif is first shown by retelling his tales to the children of his village, including Thorfinn, who is completely enthralled by his tales. This is in the year 1002. Shortly after telling these stories to the children, the Jomsvikings and Floki come to their village. Floki meets with Thors. He tells him that his death sentence still stands from 15 years ago when he abandoned the Jomsvikings himself. Thors is then forced into going to war by Floki, as Thors didn’t want to trouble the village. Leif joined him, along with several young men, including Ari. They planned to drop everyone except Thors off once they had landed in Norway, and Leif would bring all the young men back home after doing his trading business in Norway. However, after Askeladd ambushed them and murdered Thors, Thorfinn went missing, as he stowed away on Askeladd’s ship, hellbent on killing Askeladd and getting revenge for his father. Leif then spent the next 11 years searching for Thorfinn, in honour of Thors’ memory and as a close friend to him. He finally came across Thorfinn in York in 1014, however Thorfinn was still blinded by rage and hatred towards Askeladd, and was more interested in hearing information about Vinland than his mother and sister, as Leif wanted to talk to him about. Leif asks Thorfinn to come back home with him to Iceland and says he’s done enough, however Thorfinn says that it won’t be enough until Askeladd is dead. Leif then starts to tear up and lament on the fact that the cheerful young boy Thorfinn used to be is now gone. Thorfinn then leaves, and Leif shouts out that he will wait in York until Thorfinn changes his mind to come back to Iceland. This doesn’t go to plan for Leif however, as Thorfinn was then sold into slavery as punishment for attacking Canute, who killed Askeladd in front of him.

Slave Arc
Leif would discover that Thorfinn had become a slave, and then continued searching for Thorfinn yet again for several more years. During those several years he adopted a son, who is also named Thorfinn but more commonly called Bug-Eyes, even by his own father. He was looking for any male slaves matching Thorfinn’s description, which is how he came upon Bug-Eyes. He was doing this until eventually he happened to bump into Olmar and his father Ketil, who commented on the fact that Leif’s son has the same name as one of his slaves. This prompted Leif to want to meet this person, to see if it’s the Thorfinn he is looking for. He then snuck Ketil and his family back into their own farm, after they have become wanted by King Canute for Ketil’s family’s actions, in return for seeing Thorfinn. After he meets Thorfinn, he says that he now looks much better than he did when they were in York. He says at first he though Thorfinn was a different person, and he is now a fully grown man. Initally, Leif was interested in buying Arnheid off of Ketil as a slave, however Ketil refused, so then Thorfinn says they must take Arnheid with them. He tells Leif he should leave without him, however Leif exclaims that he has finally found Thorfinn again, and he isn’t going to leave him behind again. They then proceed to attempt to sneak Arnheid out along with Einar, Bug-Eyes and Leifs companion. However, while trying to flee, Arnheid succumbs to her injuries before managing to escape. Leif then returns back to Iceland and brings Thorfinn and Einar with him.

Eastern Expedition Arc
After returning back to Iceland, Leif proposed the idea of selling the Narwhal horns that Halfdan had just given them in Miklagrad, Greece, in order to get gold to be able to make the trip to Vinland. They all agreed, and set sail on their journey. Eventually, Thorfinn is approached by Floki’s men in order to become the next leader of the Jomsvikings, however Thorfinn refuses. They then attempt to leave immediately, however they are quickly followed by Floki’s men. This prompts Thorfinn to propose that they split up, so they do. They agree to meet up in a town named Odense in four days time, however, Thorfinn still hadn’t appeared after seven days. Leif seems mildly worried about that fact. Right as this is being discussed, a little girl, followed by Garm approaches them and takes Leif, Einar and Gudrid as prisoners. Once they are in prison, they attempt to escape but are interrupted by Baldr who allowed them to escape. Leif and Einar then escape, and run across the battlefield in Jomsborg. Leif gets shot by a stray arrow, and is then bedridden while recovering from his wounds.

Vinland Arc
According to Bug-Eyes, his health started decreasing ever since he got shot with an arrow in Jomsborg. In the summer of 1021, he aged significantly, and he suffered a huge blow to his health. He now has trouble hearing, and also walking, as he requires a walking cane at all times. He has now retired completely and stays at his home in Greenland, no longer accompanying Thorfinn on his travels. Him and Thorfinn meet as Thorfinn stops in Greenland for a few days just before heading off to Vinland, and they talk about their past experiences, noting how it’s been 20 years since Thors’ death. He gives Thorfinn his old smoking pipe from when he went to Vinland, but says he can’t remember where he put the headdress he also got there. He says Thorfinn is now a great man, and he’s proud of the man he is now, and also notes that Thors would feel the same if he was still alive. He tells Thorfinn to keep following his heart and calls him son, and Thorfinn agrees to do so and calls him Father in return.

Trivia

 * Leif the character was loosely based on the real life Viking explorer Leif Erikson, son of Erik "The Red", the discoverer of Greenland and founder of the first Norse settlement there. Like the character, he was nicknamed "Leif The Lucky". Leif is said to be the first European to set foot in North America, arriving in around 1000 C.E., almost 5 centuries before Christopher Columbus.