With every new Assassin’s Creed game comes a fresh set of characters. These can be anything from close allies of the main character, potential villains, or side roles that show up to advance the plot. That’s not to say supporting characters are always new ones as certain older characters also make returns.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla does just this, bringing in both fresh and previously seen allies and villains into the story. While some hit the right mark and can be considered both strong and memorable, certain others are so weak that their appearances are just annoying and it’s worth taking a look at the supporting characters that fit both categories.
10 ANNOYING: Styrbjorn
One of the mistakes from the series that Valhalla repeated was bringing in characters who seemed to be important, only to remove them without much impact. Styrbjorn was set up as Sigurd and Eivor’s caring father, but his character then devolved to purely annoying them.
His hopes of reconciling with his son didn’t make sense when he was the one who betrayed him by pledging his allegiance elsewhere and robbing Sigurd of the throne. By the end of Styrbjorn’s relevance to the plot, his only role was to keep causing problems for Sigurd and Eivor to the point where they ditched him and left.
9 BEST: Shaun And Rebecca
These two made a return to the series after a five-year gap. Along with their redesigns, their personalities were also altered to make them more compassionate than they used to be. While Shaun’s main trait had once been to be a jerk, he was much nicer this time round. Rebecca was also far less goofy and straight-laced.
It might have sounded stale on paper to see this duo again, what with their recurring role in the Desmond Miles games, but their presence was kept balanced enough that they didn’t seem to be interfering with the plot and could be seen as Layla’s friends.
8 ANNOYING: Ivar
There’s always that one character in Assassin’s Creed whose only role is to cause problems. Ivar was introduced as a bloodthirsty, stereotypical Viking and remained as such during the game. In fact, his brutal personality became more annoying as the story progressed.
It seemed as if the game was trying too hard to make him out as something like Trevor Phillips from GTA V was, but Ivar’s over-the-top antics had no charm behind them. Instead, his constant displays of violence absolved the player of any feelings of regret when the time to kill him arrived.
7 BEST: Basim
It didn’t seem as if his introduction was going to change the series as we know it, yet Basim has rocked the franchise’s presentation going forward. There’s even a chance that he might be the playable character in the next game, stemming from his successful scheme of trapping Layla and escaping from his confinement.
Basim brought that classic Assassin’s Creed style from the Altair days back again and could be seen as a valuable ally until the twist revealed his true intentions. This had the effect of making him a pretty layered villain, which is a good change from the one-note antagonists the series has delivered for some time.
6 ANNOYING: Kjotve
Speaking of one-note villains, here’s a guy who fits that bill. Kjotve was presented as the killer of Eivor’s parents but was never given any room to actually build upon this established backstory. Instead, he proved why the Assassin’s Creed series isn’t fully included in open-world games with the best side quests, seeing as Kjotve’s death was treated as a side mission.
He seemed to be there just so the game could have a tragic opening, yet the moment where Eivor took her revenge was hardly worth the payoff. Kjotve’s attitude was of a meathead, having no personality and only there to be killed off.
5 BEST: Hytham
While you shouldn’t expect him to be included in the list of best assassins so far, Hytham did have the qualities of a good assassin. He was relatively underused in the story but is perfect for harking one back (chronologically forward) to the times where assassins were presented as a brotherhood with a set of rules and a mission.
Hytham wasn’t shown as an aggressive personality and went along well with Eivor despite their vastly different backgrounds. His hopes to impress Basim was a good enough arc for him that showed how badly the assassin mentality brings in hope for validation.
4 ANNOYING: Randvi
The romance option is one of the weaker gameplay aspects of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Here, Eivor has the choice to hook up with his own sister-in-law, who’s a pretty lame character in general. Rather than build on Randvi’s feelings of inadequacy over her arranged marriage, the game chose to turn her into a person who pursued Eivor to have a “real” romance.
It doesn’t help that Randvi’s voice acting is also pretty weak, making anything she says ten times more boring than it already is. Overall, the lack of any characterization and her pursuit of her own in-law as a romantic option takes away any appeal Randvi might have had.
3 BEST: Desmond Miles
While he personally appears as the Reader personality, Desmond is heard throughout the game if his tapes are accessed on Layla’s laptop. The insights to his mindset in his last days make him one of the assassins we want to see return, and his turn as the Reader was a fascinating angle.
He might not have been everyone’s favorite lead character back in the day, but Desmond provided solid support in this game as a way of communicating to us that the burden of being a fated hero is hardly as appealing as it sounds.
2 ANNOYING: Odin
It’s more than likely that the games you play after finishing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla have a better depiction of Odin. His role in the story was to continually send vague messages to Eivor and the intrigue ran thin very soon as his mysterious personality wasn’t engaging.
While it turned out that Odin was Eivor herself in her past life, that didn’t mean the Odin persona was any less boring. He would have been okay had he appeared in small bursts, but his recurring appearances were so cryptic that he was more annoying than anything else.
1 BEST: Sigurd
It’s very common for Assassin’s Creed games to bring in a close friend of the main character and set them up to either be the villain or be killed off to further the plot. Sigurd ended up as a great exception, being Eivor’s equal in impact to the story and having his own arc.
His flaws weren’t presented as a backstory for a future villain but were in such a way that you’ll feel both bad for him and hope to see him see the light. Sigurd and Eivor’s dynamic was filled with chemistry as well, turning him into the secondary protagonist of sorts.
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