The rumored Assassin's Creed: Ragnarok was revealed to be, in actuality, titled Valhalla, but the setting was correct - middle-ages Vikings, particularly England and Norway. More specifically, it's set in the ninth century.
Ubisoft's hit spiritual successor to Prince of Persia has always taken liberties with its historical accuracy in order to fit in the Templar and Assassin orders and the protagonist of each game, but that doesn't mean that the game will disregard facts entirely, and so here are ten things that you may not have known about the era of Valhalla.
10 𝄹 Sick Children Were Commonly Left Abandoned In The Woods By The Vikings
If a child was sick, deformed, or in any way deemed weak at birth, they were often thrown to the wayside, abandoned in th♉e woods, left to die. This was in-line with their mentality of only allowing the strong to survive.
It may be brutal, especially to a modern audience looking back, but it was a commonplace practice of the Vikings. Will we see this occur in Valhalla? Who knows?
9 Alfred The Great Was The Only English King To Vanq🌱uish An Entire Viking Army
The Vikings attacked the English a plethora of times and in each case, they proved themselves capable warriors, brutes of immense force. The cinematic trailer for Valhalla shows us such a battle, with the ferocity of the Danes on full display.
It might come as a surprise that only one English king managed to actually defeat a Viking invasion, and that is none other than Alfred the Great, who will feature in Valhalla. He's a great pick for an antagonist, given that he garnered fame for his handling of the Dane's many incursions.
8 The Days O🉐f The Wee𝄹k Are Named After Norse Gods
English and, by extension, the very country the language is named afte🍸r, is a mishmash of many cultures and peo𒀰ple, given that it was routinely invaded and conquered, before eventually forming its own British empire that it would go on to invade and colonize others with.
As such, there are elements of Viking culture integrated into English, such as the names of several of our days which 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:are named after various Nordic gods. Tuesday is Tyr's day, Wednesday is Woden's, more commonly known as Odin's, day, Thursday is Thor's day and Friday is Frige's day.
7 The Vikings Discovered Iceland In 861AD ⛄
Iceland and Greenland aren't technically Scandinavian, but they most definitely are in spirit. The country of Iceland, which is the opposite of its namesake, riddled with volcanos, was discovered by a Viking called Floki in 861AD.
The first settlement wouldn't be complete until two decades later, but the discovery was made by this point, which means that during the period we'll see in Valhalla, Iceland will be in its infancy.
6 ♊ Prior To Coins, Vikings Used Hack Silver🌼 As Payment
Vikings had little knowledge of coinage and inste💖ad partook in a bullion e𝔍conomy, in which trading was done through valuable metals such as silver and gold, although primarily silver, with their weight determining their worth.
Coins may have circulated in the Viking economy from trading with other lands or through their pillaging, but these coins wouldn't hold worth in the sense that they would for those they got them from, instead being valued based on their weight.
5 King Alfred Was The Youngest Of Æthelwulf's Sons
Æthelwulf was the sole hei⭕r to Egbert, the King of Wessex, and he himself had four sons, but due to the violence of the times, they had short-lived rules as kings, allowing for Alfred, his youngest, to take the throne.
This means that by the time of our entrance into the world of Valhalla, Alfred's brothers will be dead and he will be the sole surviving heir to the throne his father once held. The position was supposed to go to his nephew, but he was chosen over him.
4 At The Time, They Weren't Known As Vikings
We may call this faction Vikings today, but in their time, they were known as Vik dwellers, Danes, Norsemen or Northmen. The word Vikings actually translates from Old Norse to a pirate raid, so by technicality, you could say that this is the first Assassin's Creed pirate game since Black Flag.
Perhaps we'll hear them dubbed Vikings in the game, but it'd be inaccurate, as the English would be more likely to refer to them as pagans, Danes, or Northmen. Nonetheless, expect some angry spit-riddled insults to be hurled our way by the English.
3 King Alfred Met The Pope When H⛄e Waꦆs Four Years Old
Alfred's history is an interesting one, with him meeting the Pope himself, the head of the Catholic Church, in 853AD when he was only four years old. He and his father Æthelwulf partook in this pilgrimage, before going to Rome in 855AD.
The two then stayed in Rome for a year before returning home through France. As such, Alfred was exposed to Catholicism in a very impactful way from a very young age, and that helped to shape who he𝓰 would eventuallyꦬ become.
2 ꧑ Viking Helmets Having Horns Was A Victoriaဣn Myth
This is a myth that is now commonly disputed - Vikings never actually had horns on their helmets, and in the cinematic for Valhalla, there are no horns to be seen, so they've already got one-up on Club Penguin for accuracy in their depiction of the Norsemen.
What you may not have known, however, is the origins of the myth. This depiction of Viking helmets began in the 1870s, the late Victorian era, which isn't actually all that long ago.
1 The Vikings Sacked London 🐎in 🍌872AD
The Vikings attacked Wessex, and Alfred the Great paid for them to depart, which led to their army moving onwards towards Lon⭕don, reaching the city in 827AD. They bombarded the city with aggressive attacks, before taking over the town, pushing Christians out in terror.
With Valhalla taking place in the 9th century during Alfred's rule, for the first time since Syndicate. It would be interesting to see this capital of the Templar rule dur🌠ing a different time period, one less induℱstrial.