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| '''Þórvaldr Hjaltason''' (English: ''Thorvald Hjaltason''), was an {{Wiki|Iceland}}ic skald and proto-[[Assassins|Assassin]] active during the 10th century. | | '''Þórvaldr Hjaltason''' (English: ''Thorvald Hjaltason''), was an {{Wiki|Iceland}}ic skald and proto-[[Assassins|Assassin]] active during the 10th century. |
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| | ==Biography== |
| Alongside his old [[Mentor]], the blind [[Torgny]], Thorvald fought against [[Styrbjörn the Strong]] as the Brotherhood suspected that the fearsome prince and his ally, [[Harald Bluetooth]], were affiliated with the proto-[[Templars|Templar Order]].<ref name="ACLD FOTG">''[[Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants – Fate of the Gods]]''</ref> | | Alongside his old [[Mentor]], the blind [[Torgny]], Thorvald fought against [[Styrbjörn the Strong]] as the Brotherhood suspected that the fearsome prince and his ally, [[Harald Bluetooth]], were affiliated with the proto-[[Templars|Templar Order]].<ref name="ACLD FOTG">''[[Assassin's Creed: Last Descendants – Fate of the Gods]]''</ref> |
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| ==Biography==
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| ===The Return of Styrbjörn===
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| Around 984, Thorvald was tasked by his Mentor to investigate groups of bondsmen sighted in the woods near [[Uppsala]], the Brotherhood wanting to know why men condemned to servitude after failing to honour their debts took the risk of being captured by coming back into Uppland. After he found a camp of bondsmen and hid in a tree near the campfire, the Assassin eavesdropped on the five men who were talking about an upcoming battle he knew nothing about. Later during the night, the still hidden Thorvald witnessed one of the men, [[Heine]], slit the throat of [[Boe]], one of his sleeping companions, over a petty dispute and decided to follow the murderer after he fled the camp.
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| A little further in the forest, Thorvald jumped on Heine from above and held his blade on the stunned man's throat. Informing Heine that his back was broken, Thorvald offered the man a quick and painless death if he answered his questions. Heine revealed to the Assassin that the bondsmen came back because they were told that they could earn back their freedom and be given lands if they were ready to fight against [[Eric the Victorious|King Eric]] of [[Sweden|Svealand]]. Reneging, Thorvald pulled away his blade and instructed Heine to inform the other bondsmen once they found him, that while sympathetic to their plight as bondsmen the Assassin would hunt all of them down if they insisted on taking up arms against their King, before leaving the man to his fate.
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| Back to Uppsala, Thorvald informed Torgny of what he had learned from the bondsman, that war was looming upon Svealand, adding that he suspected Styrbjörn, King Eric's exiled nephew, of being its instigator. The blind Mentor told Thorvald about his fears that their [[Templars|Ancestral Enemies]] were behind Styrbjörn due to the Prince's alliance with [[Harald Bluetooth]], the King of the [[Denmark|Danes]]. He added than even if he was wrong about the Order, Styrbjörn would still be a threat to freedom if he ascended to the throne and had to be stopped, before instructing Thorvald to go east, on the coast, to wait for the Prince's fleet and to come back as soon as he witnessed their arrival.
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| Sometime later, after the fleet of Styrbjörn was sighted near the shore of Svealand, Thorvald escorted Torgny to Eric's Hall in Uppsala as the King was holding his war council. However, when the two men reached the door they were intercepted by Eric's Marshal, who refused to let them in despite Torgny being the Lawspeaker. After Torgny told the Marshal that he knew someone fearful of his influence had paid the warrior to prevent the old man from speaking to the King and used all the might of his religious office to threaten the beffudled man, the two men finally entered the Hall. There, King Eric and his Jarls were debating about the best strategy to adopt for the coming war, until Torgny asked for a private audience claiming he had a vision he needed to share with the King alone.
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| After all the nobles left, Torgny warned the King of his suspicions about the involvement of the Order in the conflict, revealing to Eric, who knew that the Lawspeaker and the Skald were part of a mysterious organization which supported his rule, that their Brotherhood had an enemy. A powerful Order which controlled the Franks as well as King Harald and which, Torgny warned, was trying to establish a foothold in Svealand, to control Eric or to replace him if he didn't submit. To prevent any seedlings from taking root, Styrbjörn and his army had to be not only defeated but completely annihilated. As the King asked for military suggestions, Thorvald took over, telling Eric that instead of waiting for the Prince at Uppsala, the best course of action was to block the access to the river leading to city and to harass Styrbjörn's army on land with a small company, so he will be weakened when he will reach the battlefield. Convinced, Eric granted Thorvald the authority to recruit a company of men to fulfill their plan.
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| ===Harassing the Prince===
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| As he left the Hall, Thorvald was once again confronted by the furious Marshal whom he humiliated again, this time by twisting his arm and holding a dagger to his throat, before informing the man that he was on a mission for the King but that upon his return they could settle their score if the Marshal still wished to do so. On the plain of Fyris south of Uppsala, where the army of King Eric was camping, Thorvald looked for conscripted farmers instead of regular warriors, believing that they would fight more viciously to protect their land and having doubts about the loyalty of the Marshal's men. Thorvald eventually recruited thirty men, including [[Östen]], after the giant told him that if he could get one wish it would be to go back to his family, unlike other men who told him they wanted women, ale or fame.
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| As previously agreed with the King, Thorvald and his men placed huge stakes into the Fyris river, preventing Styrbjörn's ships from sailing directly toward his uncle. And as planned, instead of losing time by clearing the river, the restless warrior ordered his men to march on land, which in turn provoked the ire of Harald, who deserted with all the Danes during the first night. The next morning, an enraged Styrbjörn had his remaining ships burnt down to prevent further desertions among his men. Thanks to Thorvald's previous attack on the bondsmen, Styrbjörn also had difficulties to recruit local men as rumors were spreading about trolls jumping from above the trees to slays those who supported the Prince.
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| Hidden nearby, Thorvald's company witnessed the ordeal and the Assassin warned his men that from that then on their task would become ugly. They would not meet the army in plain field but attack them from the shadows before vanishing and attacking again. He allowed those who found this plan to be dishonorable to return to Uppsala, but all the men chose to stay. Later, Thorvald informed Östen that he had a mission to accomplish alone and ordered the man to take the company North, in the Mirkwoods, where he would lay traps to slow down the advancing army. He also gave Osten a lethal poison, to smear the traps with and kill as many enemies as possible. He then instructed the giant to wait for the night to attack Styrborn's camp from the cover of the trees and kill his men in their sleep.
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| Chapter 16: While his men left for Mirkwood, using his Odin-sight, Thorvald infiltrated the army of Styrbjörn,
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| Eavesdropping on Styrbjorn's council, introduction of [[Thyra]], the bastard daughter of Harald, who loathe her coward father and unlike the other Danes decided to stay. Jomsviking not happy with Styrbjorn's leadership
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| Use Osten's attack on the camp as a diversion to duel [[Palnatoke]] in order to weaken Styrbjorn control on his army, death of the Jomsvikings leader. For the first time, Thorvald see the Dagger the Prince took from Harald on Bjorn's belt
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| Regrouping with the company, half of them dead, leave to join Eric's army on the plain of Fyris. told them, he gave Torgny a plan for a mysterious war machine which was being made by Torgny.
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| ===Battle of Fyrisvellir===
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| ====First Day====
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| Chapter 19: Thanks to Thyra help, Styrbjorn assert his control over the disgruntled Jomsvikings, keeping his army.
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| The army exit Mirkwood and enter the Plain. Eric's army is nowhere to be seen, but Bjorn began to feel a rumble under his feet and they are charged by a herd of hundreds of yoked cattles, tied together and studded with weapons. Bjorn told his men to enter the Fyris river to escape the cows.
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| only half of his army made it, the others being too far. Bjorn heroically charged the herd, jumping on the back of one cow despite being injuredby the studded blades, to broke the yoke and the herd in two. jumped from cow back to cow back to broke more yokes and making openings in the charge of cattle so some of his men could make it through. Heavy casualities (1/3 of the army) with Eric's army beginning to charge the remaining men, now outnumbering them four to one.
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| However, Styrbjorn army was made of Jomsvikings, a brotherhood of elite warriors, while Eric's army was mostly composed of conscripted farmers. Styrbjorn's men hold, and at nightfall the two armies left the battlefield. they retired to Mirkwood and ate the cattle who reached the wood. In awe with his feat against the herd at the beginning of the battle, the Jomsvikings swore eternal fealthy to the young Prince.
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| TThe shieldmaiden asked Bjorn to marry her and he accepted. the two wed alone in the wood during the night, with the warrior putting the Dagger into a boulder as an offering to the gods so they would bless their union. During the night Bjorn fathered a child with Thyra and died the next day of the Battle of Fyrisvellir
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| Chapter 21: In Eric's tent, alongside Torgny, Thorvald tell the King about the battle and that Styrbjorn still lives and retreated into Mirkwood. The Assassin keep to himself how he was impressed by Bjorn's bravery. The King commend them for their effective strategy by giving them pouches of gold. As the king asked what the brotherhood would do for him now, Thorvald tell the King, that now was the time to deal with the Prince as the Assassins previously dealt with his father. Wanting to keep his own hands clean, the king angered Thorvald by telling that as before he didn't wanted to know the details and Torgny told him that Thorval would left during the night.
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| The two Assassins left the tent, and witnessing the men prematurely celebrating their victory, Torgny told Thorvald that if the dagger the skald saw the previous night was truly what they suspected, then the future winner of the battle was far from certain. The Lawspeaker also told his apprentice to bring the Dagger back to him after he killed Styrbjörn. Leaving the war camp, Thorvald used his Odin-sight to find his way into the darkness until he sensed a gold coin on the ground. Remembering the story of Hrolf, a mythical hero who according to tradition threw gold coins in the Plain of Fyris to distract the men of the King of Svealand launched in his pursuit. This gave him an idea and he smeared with poison the pieces that the King had previously given to him before throwing the pieces across the plain on his ways to Mirkwood.
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| Once in the woods, Thorvald freerunned into the trees to pass the sentries until he reached Styrbjorn camp. He saw the Prince in council with Gorm and Thyra and witnessed the Jomsviking Captain giving his oath of eternal fealthy to the prince and later the young couple(s private wedding. While he considered killing them both as they were alone, Thorvald decided otherwise as he was reluctant to kill an innocent woman. Ha also had the surprise to witnessed Bjorn offering the Dagger to the god.
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| After their departure from the makeshift shrine, descended from the trees to retrieve the artifact. Deciding that bringing the "Aesir blade" to his Mentor was more important than claiming the life of Styrbjorn, the skald came back to Eric's war camp. In the tent of Torgny
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| ====Second Day====
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| Chapter 22:
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| ===Hidding for the Dagger===
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| ==Legacy== | | ==Legacy== |
| Thorvald fathered at least one child at some point after the Battle of Fyrisvellir, through whom he became the ancestor of [[Javier Mondragón]], a 21st-century teenager who relived his ancestor's memories in order to collect intel about the [[Trident of Eden|Devotion Prong]] owned by Harald Bluetooth. | | Thorvald fathered at least one child in his lifetime, and as such is an ancestor of [[Javier Mondragón]], a 21st-century teenager. |
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| ==Personality and characteristics== | | ==Personality and characteristics== |
| ===Equipment and skills=== | | ===Equipment and skills=== |
| Thorvald, like some other Assassins had mastered [[Freerunning]], owned a [[Hidden Blade]] and possessed the ability of [[Eagle Vision]], though he referred to it as "Odin-sight". Thorvald also owned a horse named Gyllir. while being known as a skald, Thorvald was in fact a skilled warrior and when provoked by five men, noted to himself that he could easily kill three of them before the two others could even draw their weapons. He also dueled and killed [[Palnatoke]], who as the leader of the Jomsviking was considered to be one the deadliest viking warrior of his time. | | Thorvald, like some other Assassins, possessed the ability of [[Eagle Vision]], though he referred to it as "Odin-sight". |
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| ==Appearances== | | ==Appearances== |
