Freya's medallion
|
Where are the paintings? This article is in need of more images and/or better quality pictures from official media in order to achieve a higher status. You can help the Assassin's Creed Wiki by uploading better images on this page. |
Freyja's Medallion was a device made by the Isu that was able open the door to Freyja's Cave and create a variety of previously designed simulations inside the user's mind. The medallion featured golden detail with the visages of a wolf, a bear, and a raven adorning it, and had the Elder Futhark runes Isaz (ᛁ), Haglaz (ᚺ), and Sowilō (ᛊ), respectively, associated with each animal. Whether the runes were part of the original design or added later is not known.
Owners
History
Isu Era
The medallion was created by the Æsir during the Isu Era to let its user train inside a sort of simulated mind realm with no fear of injury. The Isu device was also used as a key to open the gate to Freyja's Cave. Some time after its creation, the Isu Freyja took it to the entrance of the cave and, after locking Odin's Eye—an artifact meant to point the direction to Odin's Vault, where supposedly laid the armor of a Valkyrie turned human[2]—inside, the device was used to close the door.[1] As the millennia passed after the Great Catastrophe, the Vault became overgrown in vegetation and earth, and its location was lost to memory.
9th century CE
Circa 883 CE, a meteor landed near the Viking settlement of Ravensthorpe in Mercia. The jarlskona Eivor Varinsdottir of the Raven Clan went to investigate the crash site and encountered Hildiran, who was also inspecting it after the impact had revealed the door to the cave. She convinced Eivor to let her stay and teach her the art of Hugrheim, a form of battle meditation named for the eponymous mental realm where warriors knowledgeable of the technique could train. Eivor was initially unconvinced by her words, but after the old woman won a brief fight with her, she became interested in learning her tricks. Hildiran showed her host the medallion, activating the device and making both Eivor and Hildiran to enter a simulated space in their minds. After the two fought again, they were brought back to the normal world. Hildiran quickly told the amazed Eivor that only after the medallion was filled with the energy created in battle would she be able to open the door.[1]
Eivor then travelled to each one of the Shrines of the Valkyrie scattered throughout England and completed various series of meditation challenges,[1] eventually filling the amulet and bringing it back to Hildiran, who had spent much of her time clearing away the rubble from the door. After finally opening the gate, the women entered a vast stone room. Inside were three large archways carved into the walls, gateways to nowhere that impossibly contained cold fog spilling over stalactites and stalagmites, rubble covered in still-living vines, and a falling river of fire. The chamber was flooded in ankle-deep water save for a single stone path to the center, where the compass hidden millennia ago rested on a small plinth.[2]
Hildiran quickly spotted in and told Eivor to grab it. As the Viking stepped forward, the medallion and the Eye interacted with each other. The spherical artifact's outer shell glowed white and spun as it briefly hovered and projected glyphs, before the amulet's light deactivated it, settling it back in its spot. The old woman then demanded Eivor give her the device, saying she would need it to find Odin's Vault, and Eivor put the medallion back into her satchel then begrudgingly gave Hildiran the Eye.[2]
Behind the scenes
Each rune and animal on the medallion represent a type of trial Eivor can undertake. The rune Isaz (ᛁ) and the bear represent the Combat trials, Hagalaz (ᚺ) and the wolf represent the archery trials, and Sowilō (ᛊ) and the raven represent the stealth trials.
In an alternate reality presented in The Tyranny of King Washington, a 2013 downloadable expansion for the 2012 game Assassin's Creed III, the Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton drank tea from the leaves of the Red Willow and met almost the exact same animal totems while on the vision quests, though he learned the abilities Wolf Cloak,[3] Eagle Flight,[4] and Bear Might instead, without any connection to Raven or the legends told about him.[5]
Gallery
-
Eivor holding the Amulet
Appearances
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Assassin's Creed: Valhalla - Mastery Challenge - A Challenge from the Gods
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Mastery Challenge – The Cryptic Tutelage of Hildiran
- ↑ Assassin's Creed III – The Tyranny of King Washington: The Infamy – Sky World Journey
- ↑ Assassin's Creed III – The Tyranny of King Washington: The Betrayal – Sky World Journey
- ↑ Assassin's Creed III – The Tyranny of King Washington: The Redemption - Sky World Journey
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||