In the upcoming Dawn of Ragnarok expansion for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, players will take on the role of Havi/Odin. The dwarven realm of Svartalfheim has been overrun by Jotnar (Frost Giants as seen in Valhalla’s base game) and Muspels (fire giant from Muspelheim), and Havi must fight his way through, find the dwarves, and save his son, Baldr.
Baldr, more commonly referred to as Baldur, doesn’t appear in the base game, but he has a good bit of mythology and lore for fans to dive into. As a refresher ahead of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Dawn of Ragnarok DLC release date in March, here is what fans should know of Baldr.
Baldr in Norse Mythology
In Norse mythology, he is an Aesir god of light, peace, innocence, purity, and prophecy. He is the son of Odin and the brother of Thor, among other Aesir. His mother is believed to be Frigg (which Assassin's Creed Valhalla seems to be working off of, as she is shown in the below screenshot with Havi). The main aspect of Baldr’s mythology is his inability to be hurt. Frigg made the objects on Earth swear an oath to never harm Baldr, with one exception due to being either unimportant or not old enough: Mistletoe.
In mythology, Loki creates a mistletoe arrow to kill Baldr and tricked Baldr’s brother Hoor into shooting him with it.
Baldr in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok, Ultimate Fate
This mythology, as well as comments about Baldr’s fate in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, largely spell out what to expect in Dawn of Ragnarok. It’s not likely Baldr dies, as fans know this happens in the hands of Loki, who is Basim in the modern-day Assassin’s Creed world. It’s also revealed in-game that Loki secretly poisoned Baldr with mistletoe for Odin’s imprisonment of Fenrir. As such, this particular event likely takes place before the Asgard saga in AC Valhalla.
However, because of how closely Baldr is tied to Loki, it’ll be interesting to see if this has major implications in-game. Baldr, due to this death, isn’t likely to be one of the Aesir Sages in AC Valhalla, even though some of the reincarnated figures are unknown. Still, given his title, connections to Havi and Loki, and the criticism that the last two Assassin’s Creed Valhalla DLCs didn’t really move the story forward, Baldr may have a larger impact than his lore thus far would suggest.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
