Forging a Bond

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This article is about Odin's memory in Ásgarðr. You may be looking for a similarly-named memory in Svartálfaheimr.

Forging a Bond was a virtual representation of one of Eivor Varinsdottir's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan in 2020 through the Portable Animus HR-8.5, in which a vision of one of Odin's memories could be seen.

Description

Havi met with the dwarf Ivaldi to search for a solution regarding the captured wolf.

Dialogue

Havi made his way through Asgard towards Ivaldi's Forge, inside a cave below the main city and Great Hall. There, he found both Ivaldi and the Builder.

• Ivaldi: Havi! Tell this rump-cloud that he can't just wander about Asgard, poking his pecker in every cavern he pleases!

Havi approached them.

• The Builder: I was only curious, dwarf. I meant no offense. I am merely a seeker of knowledge.
• Havi: The dwarves give nothing away for free.

Ivaldi nodded in agreement.

• The Builder: Apologies for the distraction, master blacksmith. I'll leave you to your work.

The Builder left the cave.

• Ivaldi: Well, what shall I craft for you today, High One? Bottomless breeches for soiling yourself on the battlefield?

What did the Builder want?What is "Hugr Magic"?Will dwarves survive Ragnarök?

• Havi: What were you and the Builder discussing?

• Havi: Have you ever heard of hugr (mind) magic?

• Havi: Do your people believe they will survive the final battle?

Regardless of Havi's question, Ivaldi reminded him of dwarven custom.

• Ivaldi: Havi, my gentle jailor. You know we dwarves give nothing away for free. If you want your question answered, I'll need something in return.
• Havi: Such as?
• Ivaldi: A hidden fact known only to you, Far-Seer, that I may share in your secret knowledge of the world.

Great horses draw the sun and moon.An eagle's wing stirs the wind.Humans will survive Ragnarok.

• Havi: The sun and moon are pulled by two horses across the day and night skies. Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi are their names. And each morning's dew is the fallen slobber from Hrimfaxi's foaming mouth.
• Ivaldi: Curious. Thank you, Havi.

• Havi: The winds that blow over the sea are stirred by the wings of a great eagle named Hraesvelg, who sits at the edge of the sky.
• Ivaldi: Interesting indeed. I have often wondered at its source.

• Havi: The humans will survive Ragnarök in force, taking shelter in Hoddmimir's forest, eating morning dew until their race is renewed.
• Ivaldi: The humans are a hearty people indeed, much stronger than we give them credit for.

Satisfied, Ivaldi returned to Havi's question.

Asked about the Builder.Asked about Hugr Magic.Asked about the dwarves.

• Ivaldi: So, you asked what that sack of sheep guts was after? He wanted to know how magic affected your hugr (mind).
• Havi: Why would he want to know the effect of magic on my spirit?
• Ivaldi: Not just you, Havi. The lot of you! Æsir and Vanir alike. I told him to shovel his shit somewhere else.

• Ivaldi: So, you asked about hugr (mind) magic. That is Jötnar business. They can move a man's mind from one place to another. But they only dabble from what I know. Like wee boys playing with fire... don't know a wick from their dick.

• Ivaldi: As for your answer, many dwarves will die in the final battle. Ground into earth and reclaimed by the mountains.
• Havi: You talk of blood and bone, but I speak of your hugr. (mind) Can your spirit survive when life leaves the body?
• Ivaldi: Some say their hugr (mind) enters the items they craft, others believe they live on in song. Personally, I don't give a rat's ass for philosophy.

• Ivaldi: Now if that's all you came to know, you can piss off and let me work.

Ivaldi waved Havi off and went back to his anvil, but Havi followed.

• Havi: I have one more need. Can you forge me an unbreakable chain?
• Ivaldi: Chains are overrated. One weak link and it's worthless. Let me craft a cord that Thor himself could not break.
• Havi: It must be strong enough to bind a powerful beast.
• Ivaldi: I will sluice my sweat into this cord, Havi. All knowledge I have and skill I own will define it. And what will I get in return?

Your freedom.My gratitude.

• Havi: Make good on your claim and your contract is fulfilled.

Ivaldi frowned, suspicious.

• Ivaldi: I smell bait, what's the trap?

He walked to a nearby shelf.

• Havi: No trap, no trickery. Forge me this cord, and you shall be free of my service.

• Havi: My thanks and my hospitality. What more could you need?

Ivaldi rolled his eyes and turned away to a table.

• Ivaldi: Bah. You cannot barter with a man who's squeezing your balls.
• Havi: You may always return to the Land of Fire, Ivaldi. And die as your brothers did. Roasted on a spit.

Ivaldi glanced back, silent and solemn, for a moment before looking away again, rubbing the back of his neck.

• Ivaldi: Hm... to craft such a cord, I'll need a few impossible ingredients.
• Havi: Name them.
• Ivaldi: Eye the list there. I have a bear's tendon, a fish's breath, and...

Havi took the list from Ivaldi, looking over it.

• Havi: "A cat's footsteps" and "the root of a mountain". How do I find these?
• Ivaldi: How the fuck would I know? The riddles will guide you.
• Havi: I have no patience for riddles, dwarf.

This clearly offended Ivaldi.

• Ivaldi: Those riddles are as ancient as the world. With lore passed down from Nyi and Nithi to Northri and Suthri, Austri and Vestri, Althjof...

Seeing Ivaldi was not about to stop anytime soon, Havi cut him off.

• Havi: I understand. I will return shortly.

As Havi walked away, Ivaldi continued his rant.

• Ivaldi: ...Dvalin, Bivor, Bavor, Bombur, Nori, An and Anar, Ai, Mjothvitnir, Veig and Gandalf, Vindalf, Thrain, Thekk and Thorin, Thror, Vit, and Lit, Nar and Nyrath, Regin and Rathsvith...

Near Ivaldi, Havi found a note.

Ivaldi's Wood Carvings

The namesake trees of the Hollow Forest have properties unseen elsewhere in the realms. At their core, a solid emptiness that retreats from the eye, then draws near. Like the rise and fall of a down-covered bosom. Would a construct of this wood own these same shifting properties when cut off from their roots?

In Ivaldi's hidden office, Havi found another note.

Letter from Ivaldi's Son

Father –

Do not lose heart!

Even as you toil away for an ungrateful master, the Great Work goes on. We have mined greater depths than even Yggdrasil's wyrms have known, and still we do not stop. Our people will be safe within the mountain's womb when the soot-red rooster sings.

Brave your sentence, as I know you will. It is only a ripple in time's ever-flowing river.

– Alf

High above the forge, while Havi sought the tear stones of Ymir, he found an alcove with another note.

Letter from Ivaldi's Son

Father –

Your journals have been most helpful in our work! Frosti has made great advances in runecraft, binding enchantments of greater strength and durability.

Do leave more lore, scattered and hidden from jealous eyes. May they find their way to able hands!

Do not despair or lose faith in the Great Work. You are far from home but close to our hearts.

– Alf

Havi left the forge to seek out the ingredients. While he sought the first one, he focused on the foundation of the Builder's shield, built over the island of Indre Holm and upon which a tower was being erected with speed, and he noted the Builder's progress.

• Havi: He's made the base already? The Builder works fast. A bit too fast.

Havi traveled to the location of the second impossible item. Along the way, he noticed the tower's rapid growth.

• Havi: How is he building that tower so quickly? There's more to this stranger than meets the eye.

Havi collected the second item and remarked upon his collection.

• Havi: Let's see what you can make of these, Ivaldi.

His labors completed, Havi returned to Ivaldi's forge.

• Ivaldi: Aha! I know a cat's footfall when I hear one. Bring it here.
• Havi: I found everything you asked for.

Havi passed the ingredients to Ivaldi.

• Havi: How soon can you finish this unbreakable cord?
• Ivaldi: As soon as it wants to be made. You cannot rush this kind of magic. It flows with a speed all its own.
• Havi: Find me as soon as it's ready.

Havi turned to leave, but Ivaldi stopped him.

• Ivaldi: By the way, after we spoke of the hugr, a cousin came by with his own spirit tale. I don't trust coincidence, so this one's free.
• Havi: What did he say?
• Ivaldi: He told me his sister's husband Borìn drank a mead brewed in Jotunheim... and it sent his hugr into a goat!
• Havi: The spirit of a dwarf in the body of a goat?

Ivaldi laughed.

• Ivaldi: Stranger still, his sister didn't even notice!
• Freyja: Havi!

Havi turned to look as Freyja stormed down the steps to the forge.

• Ivaldi: Don't drag me into this!

Ivaldi retreated quickly.

• Freyja: The tower is nearly finished!
• Havi: Do not fret. The final hours are ticking down.
• Freyja: Not fast enough. I feel the jaws of a trap closing upon me.
• Havi: Knowing you are in a trap is the first step to avoiding it.
• Freyja: You don't care if I'm married off to this Builder, do you?

I value my queen.No need for concern.There will be no marriage.

• Havi: You are the Queen of Asgard, the Host of Fólkvangr, the shepherd-of-the-slain. Of course I care.
• Freyja: Yet you act as if I'm some treasure to be traded about.

• Havi: It does not worry me. He would not live beyond his wedding night. You would see to that.
• Freyja: Mad Deceiver, I should neuter you and make you his bride!

• Havi: Have no fear, Freyja. Whatever things transpire today, you marrying the Builder will not be among them.
• Freyja: At least have the sense to admit you betrayed my trust!

• Havi: I was wrong to use you like that. I will confront the Builder and pry the truth out of him.

Havi cracked his knuckles.

• Freyja: A limp apology, but it will suffice for now.

Freyja paused on her way out.

• Freyja: Once the Builder is dealt with, turn your spear on Loki. Every chance he had, he dug us deeper into this mess.
• Havi: If Loki is up to something, I will see to it that he is punished, blood-oath be damned.

Outcome

Ivaldi agreed to make the cord Gleipnir after Havi had collected the correct materials.

Behind the scenes

The names of the dwarves that Ivaldi recites are taken directly from the section of the poem Völuspá in the Poetic Edda commonly referred to as "Dvergatal", or the "Catalogue of Dwarves", which recounts the dwarves made from the remains of Ymir who in the text is separated into two distinct figures called Brimir and Blain.

The player's decision on whether to grant Ivaldi his freedom or merely Havi's gratitude for creating Gleipnir impacts Ivaldi's interaction with him at the start of the memory "Binding Fate". However, in the Dawn of Ragnarök expansion, Ivaldi is depicted as having returned to Svartálfaheimr some time after this arc's events regardless, and no reference is made to this decision one way or the other. In terms of narrative, this implies that the blacksmith gained his freedom some other way, or that granting him freedom was the canonical choice. In terms of gameplay, the Dawn of Ragnarök expansion can be played completely independently of the base game as a 'New Game', and thus would have no plot flag to refer to this decision—or any other—in the first place.

References

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla