Roald / Snake

Snake is a warrior who is employed by Ketil as head of his farm's guards. His real name is Roald. Snake is in his 30s. His oriental saber and equipment suggest that he possibly had been in the service of Roman Emperors in Constantinople as a Varangian Guard.

Snake is compassionate and a man of reason. During the Ketil's Farm arc, Snake often shows to be genuinely concerned for other people, free men and slaves alike. He has saved Thorfinn and other slaves countless times from brutal treatment with both reasons and his intimidating combat prowess. However, due to the times he was brought up in, he still views slaves as beneath others and openly believes that their masters can do whatever they want with slaves. He also expresses no concern with having children beaten for stealing food even though it was done for survival.

Snake rarely lets his emotion gets the better of him, however when his comrades are slaughtered by Gardar, he quickly gets angry when seeing his men being treated like mere pawns. Despite Sverkel and Thorfinn attempting to reason with Snake and make him stop his quest for vengeance, Snake refuses to see Gardar as anything less than a slave and decides to murder him to avenge the deaths of his soldiers.

Snake seems to have a strong bond with both Ketil and his father but refuses to explain further, replying that they are mere strangers. Snake is also a man of honor, staying on the side of Ketil's family despite being aware the fake story of Ketil due to feeling indebted to Ketil for letting him stay there when most needed, seen when he goes to fight against Canute despite knowing they didn't stand a chance against Jomsvikings.