Varin

"Your father was a fine man. Just and loyal to me. He died bravely so that we might live."

―Styrbjorn to Eivor, on Varin, 872.

Varin (died c. 855) was a Norse nobleman who ruled over the village of Heillboer in Norway during the 9th century. He was the husband of Rosta and the father of Eivor Varinsdottir. He was also the brother-in-law of Ímar, Rosta's older brother and a famous Viking leader, and an uncle to Ímar's son Bárid.

Circa 855, Varin and his wife were killed during a raid on their village by the rival Wolf Clan led by Kjotve the Cruel. This incident marked a turning point in their daughter's life, as Eivor resented Varin for many years after he sacrificed himself to protect her, an act of cowardice in her eyes.

Biography

Early life

"But know this, height is not the only trait of a cairn's beauty. Shape, balance, expression are key. Seek a variety of these. Let your only goal in this task be to surpass your own best creation."

―Varin advising his daughter on how to build a perfect cairn.

At the age of nineteen, Varin and his lover Rosta stacked cairns on a high cliff near the fjord of their village. In 847, during a plague outbreak, Varin and a pregnant Rosta sought shelter but were turned away at every doorstep. Eventually, Rosta's brother Ímar allowed the couple to stay at his house, where Rosta gave birth to her and Varin's daughter, Eivor. For the next few years, Varin and Rosta visited Ímar and his family often, and Eivor formed a close bond with Ímar's son Bárid. However, the two families lost contact after Ímar, his wife Ségdae and Bárid moved to Ireland.

Eivor inherited her parents' love of cairns and so Varin would accompany her whenever she went to stack cairns, during which they shared conversations on a variety of subjects. On one occasion, Varin told Eivor the story of Loki and how the god's pride and jealousy cost him the trust of his fellow Æsir, advising his daughter to never be like Loki. Another time, Varin praised Eivor when she built her tallest cairn yet and told her that the secret behind a cairn's beauty was a combination of shape, balance and expression.

Around this time, Varin came to lead his own minor clan in Heillboer, a village in the Rygjafylke region of Norway, which was allied with King Styrbjorn of Fornburg. As Varin and Styrbjorn were close friends, their children would frequently play together, during which either Varin or Rosta would watch over them. On one occasion, Varin had to intervene when Styrbjorn's son Sigurd stole Eivor's stones she planned to use for a cairn, telling Sigurd to return the stones or else he would inform his father of his behavior.

Attack on Heillboer and death

Kjotve: "Now it's my turn to offer you a deal, slave-whore. Accept your fate and die a coward, here before your people... and I will spare the rest."

Varin: "If I give my life, will you spare my clan?"

Kjotve: "You have my word."

—Kjotve offering Varin a compromise prior to executing him, 855.

Around 855, Varin planned to pledge his clan to King Styrbjorn and organized a feast in Heillboer, inviting Styrbjorn and his clan to attend. During the feast, Varin gave Eivor an arm ring crafted by the clan's blacksmith Gunnar, instructing her to present the gift to Styrbjorn, as a symbol of their clans' eternal bond and friendship. He then kissed his daughter on the head and told her how proud he was of her before returning to the party.

Varin and Rosta killed during the attack on Heillboer

Shortly after Varin's clan pledged themselves to Styrbjorn with Eivor's arm ring, Heillboer came under attack by the Wolf Clan led by Kjotve the Cruel. Warning Eivor to stay inside the longhouse, Varin went to lead his men to battle and dueled Kjotve. However, he proved to be no match for the physically imposing jarl and was quickly defeated. As Kjotve's men set the village ablaze and began killing the wounded, Rosta was apprehended by a raider during her failed attempt to help her husband.

With Rosta's life as leverage, Kjotve offered Varin a chance to spare the village if he defied Viking tradition to die honorably in battle. Against his wife's protests, Varin knelt in submission and tossed aside his axe, allowing Kjotve to pick it up and execute him. Hoping to avenge Varin, Rosta rushed at Kjotve, only to make it paces from him before her captor launched a throwing axe into her back, killing her. Keeping Varin's axe, Kjotve proceeded to break his deal with him and order the entire town massacred, although Eivor managed to escape thanks to Sigurd's intervention.

Legacy

"He is a coward, as everyone says. And now he lives with Hel. Her servants Slow and Lazy, her curtains Dire Luck pulled across his bed."

―Eivor's thoughts on her father.

Varin's sacrifice allowed many of his people, including Eivor and Gunnar, to escape the Wolf Clan's raid, and most of them went on to join the Raven Clan, with Eivor being personally adopted by Styrbjorn and raised as his child alongside Sigurd. In the years following his death, Styrbjorn continued to hold Varin in high regard, considering him a just and brave man, in contrast to his own daughter Eivor, who believed him a coward due to his decision to surrender to Kjotve.

Eivor recovering Varin's axe

In 872, Eivor recovered Varin's axe after defeating one of Kjotve's men, Rikiwulf, who planned to use it to kill Eivor's crewmate Bragi in a blood-sacrifice. Eivor continued to wield the axe as her primary weapon after she relocated to England and regularly upgraded it to improve its efficiency.

Varin's death haunted his daughter for many years, to the point where she came to resent him due to his defiance of Viking tradition and "cowardly" demise at Kjotve's hands. Believing her father did not earn a place in Valhalla, Eivor dedicated herself to her pursuit of glory and sought to win back Varin's lost honor, which she succeeded in doing when she killed Kjotve in 872, avenging her parents. Even then, Varin continued to be a touchy subject for Eivor, and she could have an intense emotional reaction whenever her father was brought up.

In 877, Eivor encountered a simulation of Varin after she and Sigurd connected themselves to the Yggdrasil supercomputer, which brought them to a simulated version of Valhalla. As she did not believe her father to belong there, Eivor was able to determine the simulation's true nature and convinced Sigurd to return to the real world.

Eivor embracing a vision of her father

Before she could leave, however, Eivor was forced to battle a manifestation of her Isu conscience, Odin. Rejecting Odin's influence and the promise of eternal glory, Eivor chose to be with her loved ones instead and was reunited with a vision of her parents. As she approached the simulation of Varin, Eivor quietly embraced it, indicating that she finally forgave her father after resenting him for years.

Behind the scenes

Varin is a character in the 2020 video game Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. He first appeared in a flashback in the first issue of the prequel comic Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Song of Glory, where his death differs from its depiction in the game. While the comic portrays a bearded Kjotve impaling Varin through the chest with a sword, the game has a clean-shaven Kjotve swing Varin's own axe into his skull.

Gallery

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  Varin's death as depicted in Song of Glory
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  A young Eivor with her parents
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  Varin kissing his daughter
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  Varin talking to Rosta during the attack on Heillboer
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  Eivor greeted by a simulation of Varin
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  A vision of Varin and Rosta reaching out to Eivor

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Song of Glory (first appearance) (appears in flashback(s))
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
  • Wrath of the Druids (indirect mention only)
  • The Last Chapter (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (mentioned in Database entry only)