Niflheimr

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Concept art of Niflheim

Gorm Kjotvesson: "Wait. Wait. This is not the hall of five hundred doors. This is not the rock of the fallen. Where are the women on winged horses? Where are the Choosers of the Slain? You. My blood enemy."

Eivor Varinsdottir: "This is Niflheim, the hell of mist and cold. This is where the faithless dead come to die again. This is where ghosts fade to mist, to be forgotten."

—Gorm and Eivor's final words to each other in the Memory Corridor, 872.

Niflheim was one of the Nine Realms of the Isu Era which later became an aspect of Norse mythology. It was ruled by Hel, Loki and Aletheia's daughter, and was divided into the regions of Kaldstad, Døkkerland, and Nidheim.

Mythology

A primordial realm of ice and mist that stretched into an endless expanse, Niflheim followed Múspellsheimr as the second place to arise from the chaotic void of Ginnungagap. Its location in the Norse cosmos varied by author; the Poetic Edda placed it outside Helheim, while the Gylfaginning poems in Snorri Sturluson's 13th century text Prose Edda put it within the region. However, both texts agreed that it later was ruled by Hel, Loki's child through Angrboða, and was the final resting place for all souls who did not have heroic deaths, were faithless in life, or who died without a weapon in hand.

History

In the prelude to the Great Catastrophe, Loki and Odin's son Baldr journeyed through Niflheim as part of Baldr's efforts to win the heart of the princess Eysa, Surtr's daughter.

Influence

In 872, Eivor Varinsdottir and three Raven Clan Vikings conducted a series of raids in Rygjafylke, Norway as retaliation for Kjotve the Cruel having attacked a nearby settlement under the protection of jarl Styrbjorn Sigvaldisson. After clearing the village of Kjotve's men, the group attacked the central meadhall, where they found Hrolfr Kjotvesson guarding a treasure chest. Hrolfr declared that they would do well to know his name before he killed them, though the Vikings retorted that they would send him and his father to Niflheim by nightfall. Having exchanged barbs, Hrolfr and the Vikings drew their weapons, and the Raven Clan made good on part of their word by killing Hrolfr.

The next year, Eivor tracked Hrolfr's elder brother Gorm, a member of the Order of the Ancients, to his camp in Vinland and killed him. As he died, she experienced a vision in the Memory Corridor in which Gorm was condemned to "fade to mist [and] be forgotten" for eternity in an empty Niflheim instead of joining the glorious dead in Valhalla, much to his spirit's horror.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (first mentioned)
  • The Forgotten Saga (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Geirmund's Saga (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion – The Ravens' Wound (mentioned only)
• Discovery Tour: Viking Age (concept art only)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Forgotten Myths (first appearance)
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)