The epic saga of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla likely carries on for many, as while the game is less bloated than Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, its offerings are nothing to scoff at. Still, for those who have reached the ending and are wanting more, Ubisoft stands ready to deliver.
Like Odyssey before it, there’s a season pass for AC Valhalla that will introduced a couple of DLCs dubbed Wrath of the Druids and the Siege of Paris. Both see Eivor set sail once again, traveling to Ireland in the former and Francia in the latter. Yet, while each seems to have its own narrative, there’s one lingering mystery from the main campaign that ought to be resolved, with the Wrath of the Druids seemingly being the best DLC to do this. PLEASE NOTE: There are MASSIVE STORY SPOILERS ahead for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Wrath of the Druids is the first Assassin’s Creed Valhalla DLC, set to release some time in Spring 2021. Its official synopsis states:
“Explore the haunted wilds and beautiful landscapes of Ireland as you battle a druidic cult known as the Children of Danu. Conquer ring forts, master the art of smuggling, and gain the favor of Gaelic kings in a new open-world adventure.”
While that’s the extent of what’s known, there’s a few things that can be inferred. Traveling to Ireland means a new map, and gaining the favor of Gaelic Kings may mean that it’ll follow a similar, if somewhat smaller, narrative structure. The Children of Danu may be yet another independent cult such as the Cult of Kosmos in AC Odyssey, but what this may mean is that the Order of the Ancient is behind them nonetheless. After all, Danu is a mysterious mythological figure, reconstructed but with no surviving myths by modern scholars. Its ripe for some Isu picking, and some indicate that she is a goddess associated with the land.
However, as Layla has joined The Reader, the new modern-day protagonist for Assassin’s Creed will be the one reliving Eivor’s memories. As the story reveals, the new main character is Basim and it’s likely players will be playing Basim as the story advances into AC 2021 (though it’s possible it’s just in DLC, if somewhat unlikely). That may be the key to resolving one big mystery: what did Odin actually do to Loki? and what was Loki’s actual role in Ragnarok/The Great Catastrophe?
Playing through the Asgard and Jotunheim sections of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla reveals that Havi/Odin had a falling out with Loki over the imprisonment of Fenrir, leading the High One to give up their eye to attain wisdom from the Well of Mimir. This taught Havi one way to survive the Isu’s Great Catastrophe: through reincarnation. Drinking a special elixir means that these Isu would attempt survival in a brand new way, reincarnating centuries later. Odin returns as Eivor, Tyr returns as Sigurd, and Loki returns as Basim, still hot for revenge after Odin’s treatment of his son.
But therein lies a mystery: Loki did not drink the special mead, at least in one ending. In fact, Odin/Eivor goes so far as to say, as Ragnarok consumes them, that “none may follow, least of all Loki.” As players unlock the secret ending, though, the cultural lens of Eivor is removed. Instead of seeing Ragnarok in its mythological representation, players see the Isu make sure they are re-incarnated as The Great Catastrophe looms. There, Loki manages to rush in, make a quick kill, and inject his consciousness into the “Life Tree” as well.
Basim’s motivation may seen clear enough, but his identity as Loki casts a big shroud over the events of The Great Catastrophe. One thing the secret Isu ending doesn’t explore is what Loki’s exact role was. It would seem that a translation of event would suggest that Loki was mad at Odin for his treatment of Fenrir, but it’s doubtful that Fenrir was actually a wolf. In Norse mythology, Loki leads the Jotnar and Fire Giants, causing Ragnarok in so many ways. As such, this would seemingly imply that Basim/Loki played a big role in either causing or guaranteeing The Great Catastrophe.
The mythological view was stripped back, but even in the advanced Isu way and the mythological way, Loki’s exact role in causing this remains uncertain. Instead of preventing it, it seems that Basim/Loki would have had some other plan, and that itself is different than Juno and those before.
As such, exploring Loki’s role in The Great Catastrophe needs to be established with less of a metaphor required and more blanks filled in. Clearly, Basim holds more of his memory as Loki than either Sigurd or Eivor, which is a question in and of itself. The DLC for Odyssey set up the main events for the modern-day of AC Valhalla, and it’s likely that Valhalla‘s DLC does the same for the next AC game. Understanding Loki’s role in all of this is important then, and it may even put him in indirect conflict with Desmond and Layla.
With the Druid’s magic though and with Loki living through Eivor’s memories, it seems likely that Wrath of the Druids will offer more details for this mystery. How that translates to the next main game remains to be seen, but players are in a series first: they’ve played a Templar in the past as one franchise break, but they’ve never played an Isu in the present.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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