Ingeborg

This article is about the Order of the Ancients member. For other uses, see Firebrand (disambiguation).

Abbess Ingeborg (died 874), also known as The Firebrand, was an advisor to the High Reeve of Jorvik, Audun. She was also secretly one of the leaders of the Red Hand and a member of the Order of the Ancients' Wardens of Law sect, holding the title of Preost. She resided in Jorvik's Roman district.

Biography

As a child, an angry priest once scrubbed Ingeborg's tongue with soap for spewing "heresies and lies" that ran counter to Christian doctrine. On that day, Ingeborg learned that knowledge was power, controlled by the Church. She then rose through the Church hierarchy, but the Order offered her even more knowledge and thus more power.

Within the Order, Ingeborg came to be known as "The Firebrand". This cryptonym was first mentioned to the Viking shieldmaiden Eivor Varinsdottir when her Hidden One ally Hytham informed her of three Order members supposedly operating in Jorvik. This prompted Eivor to travel to the city to conduct an investigation.

At Jorvik's Archives, Ingeborg and Audun were discussing their plans until they were caught off-guard by Eivor's presence in their city. Interrogated by Eivor, Audun disclosed that Ingeborg was taking precautions following a series of recent thefts and was in charge of protecting the Archives. During their conversation, Ingeborg stated her suspicions of the bishop, claiming that there had been meetings in the dark between him and the priests. Leaving Ingeborg and Audun to their affairs, Eivor left to investigate this lead and headed to the Rectory.

Upon finding burnt texts and the murdered bishop, the suspicious manner of the abbess' control over the texts came to light from the bishop's charred confession letter. The Red Hand, under orders from the Firebrand, later ambushed Eivor, who survived the attack. The shieldmaiden then made her way to The Minster, where she witnessed the Red Hand burning Christian texts and a confrontation between a masked Ingeborg and a priest. During the confrontation, Ingeborg declared all the texts and writings burning to be 'lies,' which led to the priest retorting that she had gone mad. Having had enough, Ingeborg grabbed the priest by the throat and tossed him into the fire alongside the texts, killing him.

Turning her attention back to the burning books, Ingeborg instructed her henchwomen to continue their work, to which one of the guards revealingly replied, "Yes, Firebrand." Realizing the abbess and the Firebrand were one and the same, Eivor set out to track the real Ingeborg, as all of her henchwomen were dressed identically to their leader. In the end, Eivor successfully identified the real Ingeborg and assassinated her, ending her fiery rampage.

Trivia

• Ingeborg and The Seax were the only members of the Anglo-Saxon Order of the Ancients to use decoys during their operations.
• Like other members of the Order, Ingeborg's cutscene in the Memory Corridor differs. Her confession consists of her arguing about her actions with Eivor while standing in front of a burning pile of scrolls, before walking into the pile and setting herself on fire. This causes the fire to turn blue and Ingeborg's body to vanish, leaving behind only her Order medallion for Eivor to pick up.
• Ingeborg shares many similarities with the character Jubair al Hakim from the 2007 video game Assassin's Creed. Both are scholarly heads of their religion—Christianity and Islam, respectively—and are so fanatically devoted to ensuring their religion's purity that they burn texts considered heretical, proclaiming that the works "are covered in lies. So long as they exist, [the public] cannot hope to see the world the way it truly is." When a priest denounces their actions, they both resort to shoving them into the pyre. Additionally, both Ingeborg and Jubair have identically dressed followers who act as decoys during their assassinations, requiring the player to identify the real target.

Gallery

• 
  Ingeborg and Audun speaking to Eivor
• 
  A masked Ingeborg choking a priest
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  Ingeborg watching the priest burn to death
• 
  Ingeborg in the Memory Corridor

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Escape Room Puzzle Book (mentioned only)
• The World of Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Journey to the North – Logs and Files of a Hidden One (mentioned only)