A Life Without Purpose After the assassination of King Sweyn and the execution of Askeladd, Thorfinn lost the object of his vengeance, his sense of purpose, andhis freedom. Now a broken young man, he labors far from the battlefield, clearing a forest for his slave master s farm alongside the amiableEinar. But a sudden and brutal tragedy will shock Thorfinn out of hisapathy, and force him to answer the question, Do I still want to live? ".