I feel like a lot of these reactors would be right at torgrims side in the betrayal, it’s easy to point down and say “you’re so dumb!” Without thinking about the fact that while these guys are craven betrayers, they’re still human.
I mean they aren't even craven imo, anyone with a functioning brain would not want to keep following Askeladd after his string of seeming failures recently, like what real reason do they have for just trusting Askeladd when things seem so completely staked against them? Nothing, there is no rational reason, only we as the audience can see that Askeladd has a more in-depth plan but his men obviously don't fucking know that, because he hasn't shared it with anyone.
If a 2.50 meters man who can throw a spear from kilometers away and kill 4 dudes is following you with a 500 men army, and every man of this army is as strong as a bear, probably you would betray Askeladd. Even more knowing that lately everything he's done didn't go well
It's easy to talk as a spectator. Try be in Torgrim's shoes and you'd do the exact same. Your leader tells you "it'll all be fine" for the 20th time after a streak of failures, refuses to tell you his grand plans, you're all being hunted down by a giant who can lift rocks and throw them at ships to sink them, and 500 more of his men who crave for war and are akin to beasts for days, in the middle of a thick winter with barely any supplies left. Who WOULDN'T """"""betray"""""" a stubborn leader like that?
No, the author is like Araki (writer of jojo). He knows people loves dogs, so he makes his villains hit and mistreat dogs to make them far more dislikable. Yukimura is sort of similar, he makes ruthless men kill/hurt horses to portrait them as "savages" since people are fond of horses. And even back then, in that epoch of brutality and murder, killing horses was frowned upon warriors since they are noble animals that don't deserve to suffer from human shenanigans.
