There is no convincing reason why any individual might forge the Vinland Map. The knowledge, skill and materials needed would limit possible forgers to a handful of experts, who would necessarily be well known.

Wilcomb Washburn of the Smithsonian Institution has suggested arrogance, wry humor, or jeu d'esprit as possible motives. He suggests further that forgery could result from the deep antagonism that can develop between academic scholars and museum curators.

Two possible names have been suggested: a Dominican friar (Luka Jelic, 1863-1922) and a German Jesuit priest (Josef Fischer, 1858-1944). Kirsten Seaver, citing circumstantial evidence and complex reasoning, proposes that Fischer did it, out of a wish to thwart Hitler.