Religion and Prince Canute

Aug 14, 2023 9:39 AM

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Jun 2023

In Vinland Saga, Prince Canute is one of the central characters and his rejection towards Christianity was the tipping point of season 1. The anime introduces Prince Canute in a dichotomous world where the Prince is torn between the binaries of peace, and love hatred, and blood shed.
Despite his lack of interest in politics, and governance, prince is in the center of the conflicts. While the wars were happening, prince is found inside a tent kneeling infront of cross and praying with a priest. Here with this very scene, anime defines prince’s ideology of placing religion on a higher pedestal. Solider were dying but prince took no heed. He kept on praying till he was caught. He relies on the entity beyond humanity and shrugs off his responsibilities. Hundreds of Villages are plundered and innocent villagers are murdered. Yet, these horrifying events could hardly move Prince Canute.
But, destiny took a different turn. Prince’s inaction and escapism from his responsibilities took the life of Ragnar. His death became a traumatic experience for prince. Death of Ragnar made him realize two things: first that if he does not perform his responsibilities then he will be losing his loved ones. And the other one is that he has already lost his only loved one.

After such a realization, prince gives a speech in which he questions God’s plan and rejects his authority. He decides to stand for himself and create a paradise in the earth. Canute feels disillusionment from religion and realizes that God’s plan fails our society. He feels that humans are doomed and they can not survive the adversities set by God.

But what Canute did not realize is that he fails to draw a boundary between reality and fantasy. He idealizes teachings of Jesus Christ but never took effort to create them as a reality. For him, a world of love, peace and kindness were like fantasy which were far from his reality. It takes tremendous form of effort to create these ideals into reality. Canute gave up on his responsibility and wishes for a miracle. When miracles did not reach him, he gave up his fantasies and chose to blame God for creating humans into mad beasts. Canute fails to realize that a person’s action determine their destiny and future.

Our actions are the only ones which manifest miracles. We are the only ones who have the power to create miracles. In the Bible’s New Testament, the parable of Talent is a great example of responsibility, efforts, and action which lead to success and blessing. The character of Canute illustrate that praying does not make miracles possible. Religion can only guide humanity to get closer to God. It is up to us to pay attention and act accordingly.

Aug 14, 2023 9:54 AM

deg

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Jan 2009

103071

i like buddhism more when it comes to religion since it accepts that life is suffering

and at those viking times life is sure extremely suffering

there is problem of evil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil that contradicts an all loving god so canute rebelled against that kind of god and thinks better to create a paradise or utopia here on earth than wish for heaven above

canute believes in the end justifies the means or necessary evil

Aug 14, 2023 11:29 AM

anyaaa31

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Aug 2021

I feel like Canute didn't act because he felt scared, not that he was unmoved. There was no way to stop war because his father had decided to conquer, so either he could rebel and fight with the father or fight with the people of England. He was unsure of what his responsibilities actually were. He prayed because that was all he could do. He lacked the ability and confidence to command a whole army. It would be wrong to say that he didn't care or that he shrugged his responsibilities. I'm not familiar with Christianity but religions often portray God as real, an entity with immense power. People turn to God for help when things are beyond their control. And I believe that is exactly what Canute felt. But the death of Ragnar made him realise that God does not act. Therefore, praying will not have any consequences. That's when he knew what had been expected of him all along.

Aug 14, 2023 5:58 PM

Voidalexandra

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Jun 2019

I haven’t really thought about it much, but I like to think as Canute being a foil for Thorfinn. We see Thorfinn adopt some forms of Christian ideology and Canute rejects it.

Aug 14, 2023 6:49 PM

Kockorzo

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Jun 2021

300

Are you insinuating he brainwashes people like the fakes before him? That’s only giving birth to further insurgency. As for God, he is truly dead but Canute‘s resolve doesn’t waver. It is an insult to compare him to your ideal of Christ or whatever given your own pathetic existence. So now that we have established your standing as unfit to critique anyone, I shall inform you of Canute’s clemency. To expand his power and influence, he conquered England and killed his brother. Sacrificing his everything, he become an undisputed king and now all he needs are the resources to establish a judicial system as part of a greater welfare state. His execution has thus far been singular-sighted and much exceeded his abilities.

You just made stuff up to satisfy your warped emotions so you never had a point to begin with.

///

Aug 15, 2023 1:28 AM

Ashikhi

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May 2021

308

yeah I doubt the author was going for that but sure

Aug 15, 2023 1:30 AM

Ashikhi

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May 2021

308

yeah, I doubt that's what the author was going for lol

Aug 15, 2023 4:36 AM

HigherLvLThinker

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Dec 2021

857

That cannot change the fact that Midland Saga was an epic debacle

It's just bootleg version of Berserk especially the religious themes

If you want to reply to my posts, come up with valid arguments instead of ad hominem HIGHER LEVEL THINKERS ONLY

Aug 15, 2023 12:45 PM

bokoudan

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Aug 2021

não concordo. Acredito que o príncipe Canute não "parou de acreditar" em Deus, mas só percebeu que rezar sem tomar alguma atitude não funcionaria. O príncipe Canute fala que ele quer tornar a terra um paraíso e por mais q esteja subestimando os planos de Deus, ele ainda acredita que seguir os passos de Jesus Cristo é melhor do que seguir os passos do pai. Inclusive é justamente por isso que, por mais que não pareça, ele continua acreditando. Agora traduz aí no Google tradutor q eu não sei escrever isso em inglês não

Aug 16, 2023 6:07 AM

#10

EliteWarrior910

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Feb 2021

deg said:
i like buddhism more when it comes to religion since it accepts that life is suffering

and at those viking times life is sure extremely suffering

there is problem of evil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil that contradicts an all loving god so canute rebelled against that kind of god and thinks better to create a paradise or utopia here on earth than wish for heaven above

canute believes in the end justifies the means or necessary evil

Ah, the classic question of 'if God is good why does He allow evil?'
The simple and short answer is: He doesn't. Evil and suffering are a consequence of abusing free will.
Here's a short video if you're curious. https://youtu.be/HN53uHzOoXs

I would add my thoughts about Canute here, but I can't since he was so forgettable, I had to go back to the character list just to remember him. All I remember was that he changed into a completly new character in the span of half a second. I get that death can be one hell of a motivatior, but come on. There wasn't a single trait left.
At least he actually is a character now, but with Vinland's character writing, I still can't imagine he'll be a good character.

Aug 16, 2023 6:17 AM

#11

deg

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Jan 2009

103071

EliteWarrior910 said:

the free will defense for the problem of evil is a weak argument now considering that just explains moral evil but not all things are alive and are humans so there are natural evils like natural disasters, pandemics, etc that are more common than moral evils here is my counter 2 minute short video about it https://youtu.be/qJYycge3eFc

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Religion and Prince Canute

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