Roderick
Roderick was a man who lived in Lincolnscire in the latter 9th century. He physically resembled Hunwald, the son of the shire's ealdorman Hundbeorht, a fact that got him into trouble when Hunwald was being hunted by local authorities. After a Mercian soldier misidentified and arrested him, Hunwald's ally Eivor Varinsdottir of the Raven Clan rescued Roderick when she ran into his execution escort on the road and decided to intervene.
Biography
An everyday local of Lincolnscire, Roderick had no relation to the political intrigues being waged on high by the nobles.[1] In the 870s, his ealdorman Hundbeorht fell ill and died,[2] but a secret group known as the Order of the Ancients conspired to keep his death hidden to secure the succession for one of their own, Bishop Herefrith.[3] To that end, they forced Hundbeorht's son Hunwald into exile,[4][5] placed a bounty on his head,[1] and repeatedly sent soldiers to try and assassinate him on the chance that no bounty hunters acted on the contract.[4][5]
If not for the unfortunate happenstance that he resembled Hunwald, none of this would have been pertinent to Roderick, who did not even know that Hunwald was the late ealdorman's son. He was shocked when a Mercian soldier misidentified him as Hunwald one day and arrested him, binding him in ropes and putting him on his horse. Roderick frantically protested that he was not Hunwald all along the trip to an execution site north of Lincoln. When his pleas fell on deaf ears, he began to cry out desperately for help.[1]
By chance, he and his captor encountered Eivor Varinsdottir on the road. The Viking shieldmaiden had allied herself with Hunwald and was then leaving Lincoln on instructions by Abbess Acha to find him at Ealdorman's Overlook, where he was likely to be mourning his father.[5] Eivor and Roderick's paths merged, and when she noticed his plight, she intervened by striking his captor off his horse. Listless to her assertion that his prisoner was not Hunwald, the soldier fought Eivor for a few bouts with his flail until she slew him. Following this, the Viking freed Roderick from his bounds. Deeply grateful for the rescue, he expressed his hope that he could someday repay the favour.[1]
Appearances
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – The False Ealdormancy
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – In the Absence of an Ealdorman
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Where the Stone Falls
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Homecoming (Valhalla)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Salve for a Fresh Wound