Shortly after Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was officially shown in its premiere trailer yesterday, the internet exploded with new information. This ranges from its exact time period and setting in the Viking era to interesting gameplay mechanics like Viking rap battles, settlement features, raid features, and more. One of the most interesting, that being whether that male or female Eivor is considered canon, was given a huge question mark.
The question is stemmed in games with choices as well as Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Whether it’s a game with multiple endings or multiple protagonists, it’s always worth asking who and what the main or canon choice is. How will the series build on the game in the future and in other mediums, and for continuing series, that’s not always a big deal. However, given that Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was the first to feature multiple endings and a choice between protagonists, it’s curious how Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will deal with the matter.
In Odyssey, the canon choice is Kassandra, meaning the canon Deimos is Alexios. But both characters appeared in-game regardless, whereas Eivor is either male or female. This means only the male or female version of Eivor will appear in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which makes Narrative Director Darby McDevitt’s comments on the matter all the more interesting. McDevitt states that “both choices are canon,” and that’s where the big question mark comes into play.
Canon Male AND Female Eivor
Once again looking at Odyssey, technically speaking, Kassandra and Alexios are both canon. It’s their assigned roles that matter, and Kassandra is the canon protagonist. It could be that the other Eivor thus appears in the game somehow in a different canonical role, which would mean McDevitt is dodging the question here. The question is clear that it’s really the protagonist being asked after, but McDevitt’s insistence on a “trick” means it’s not likely to be as simple as that.
Another possibility is that Eivor itself is some type of mantle or spirit. The Assassin’s Creed Valhalla reveal trailer shows the protagonist receiving some new facial markings, and Eivor means “defender.” It’s possible that Eivor is some type of spirit, with the male or female body serving as a type of host, meaning that both would be canon in this sense.This would also seemingly go against the idea that the core narrative is “grounded” in culture and mythology, not something heavily relying on the latter like most other franchises.
Again, though, the companion novel is going to write about a male and female Eivor, unless it avoided gendering that character altogether. Author Matthew Kirby describes it as an “original saga connected directly to the events in the new game, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla,” and that could mean it is from the perspective of a different character, which would be interesting. When it comes to canonicity, it’s always a choice–one that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, as while Kassandra is canon, Alexios was more popular.
On top of all that, it’s worth wondering if there’s a reason that the male protagonist has been the only shown so far. It remains to be seen exactly how this all comes into play and how exactly both characters are canon, but ultimately, players will be able to choose whichever gender they prefer. It’s a nice, freeing option for the once beeline that was Assassin’s Creed canon.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releases Holiday 2020 for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
