Leif Eriksson

Leif Eriksson was, as his name suggests, the son of Erik the Red. Perhaps due frequently moving as a child, he became an explorer.

Fiction

Nearly two thousand years ago, Erik was exiled from Norway with his wife Thjodhilde and their son Leif. They relocated to Iceland, where Erik attempted to set up a farm. After Erik got into a dispute with his neighbour that ended in manslaughter, the family was once again exiled. Thjodhilde held Leif as they and Erik's allies boarded a boat; when Leif asked his father where they were going, Erik explained they were sailing to discover a far-off country once sighted by the legendary Gunnbjorn.

Within a few days, they successfully navigated to a landmass they called Greenland, where they set up a colony. After three years of peace, Erik's exile expired, and he returned to Iceland to persuade others to join the colony. Five hundred Vikings in twenty-five longships returned with him, but ten of the ships sank in a turbulent storm. In an unrelated incident, a settler named Bjarni was blown off course and sighted a landmass in the distance.

At least fifteen years later, Leif had grown into a man and had converted to Christianity. Leif reminded his father of the coast spotted by Bjarni; despite Erik telling him he was simply restless, Leif was insisted the new land would be rich in the resources their colony was running out of. When they put the idea to the Vikings, the men insisted that Erik take charge of an expedition, despite Erik's advanced age and faith that Leif would do a better job.

Shortly before embarking, Erik took a fall from his horse, which he believed to be an omen from the gods. He named Leif as the leader in his place. As Leif departed with thirty-five men, Erik acknowledged that while Leif honoured only one God, he would pray in his own way to the Norse gods to return him safely one day. Leif and his men consequently became the first explorers of North America, long before the expedition of Christopher Columbus. The Saga of Erik the Red

Notes

• Leif Erikson, a.k.a. "Leif the Lucky", lived approximately between the 970s and 1025. His expedition – which he underwent on a boat purchased from Bjarni – took him to an area of North America referred to by the Vikings as Vinland, theorised to be modern-day Newfoundland. He is historically notable for being the first European to set foot on North America and for converting Norse Greenland to Christianity.
• The comic implies Erik's family to have travelled to Norway when he was married to Thjodhilde and with a young Leif, but in real life, Erik was ten years old. He didn't even meet Thjodhilde until he moved to Iceland; Leif was most likely born in the country. The comic also does not depict Leif's reported siblings, Freydis, Thorvald, and Thorstein.