Restless Dreams
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Restless Dreams was a virtual representation of one of Eivor Varinsdottir's genetic memories, relived by Basim ibn Ishaq in 2020 through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.
Description[edit | edit source]
Eivor has a vision of fire and devastation and becomes deeply troubled.
Dialogue[edit | edit source]
While Eivor was away from Ravensthorpe, she had a vision of fire consuming the world that disappeared in an instant. She thought on what it could mean.
- Eivor: That glimpse of flame and terror was gone in a moment... yet my thoughts remain darkened by it. I should return to Ravensthorpe and reflect on what I saw.
Eivor made her way back to Ravensthorpe.
- Eivor: Ravensthorpe. An island of calm in this turbulent land. But my vision of fire still troubles me. It would be good to rest beneath my dear old tree. I've always found peace there in the past.
Eivor made her way to the large tree growing at her area of respite on the eastern edge of the settlement. As she approached, she saw mistletoe growing on it.
- Eivor: The tree is overrun with mistletoe. When did that happen?
Eivor sat down at the base of the tree and closed her eyes, ready to rest.
- Eivor: Now let the sighing of the branches soothe me, and may all thoughts of chaos fade.
As she slept, she found herself experiencing the rescue of Baldr from Eitri.
- If Eivor woke up before the vision reached its conclusion, she mused on its meaning and considered returning.
- Eivor: Disturbing thoughts invade my rest. Merely a dream, or something more?
- Eivor attended to her business in the waking world before returning to her tree.
- Eivor: Perhaps I can reclaim my dream of Svartalfheim.
- Eivor sat down under the tree once more and drifted back into the realm of dreams.
Having completed the journey to the throne of Eitri, Eivor woke with a start and reflected on what she saw.
- Eivor: The smell of death lingers in my nostrils. That was no mere dream. I must seek Valka's wisdom.
Eivor brushed her hair and removed a twig of mistletoe that entangled itself while she slept.
- Eivor: Mistletoe...
Eivor crossed the settlement to the site of Valka's hut, placing the mistletoe on the table in the corner. Valka walked in behind her.
- Valka: The air hangs heavy around you, Eivor. You are troubled.
Eivor turned back to face her.
- Eivor: I had another dream. A vision, like the last. This one full of fire.
- Valka: Tell me.
- Eivor: I saw the god Baldr, broken and beaten, held captive by Surtr. I-I tried to save him, but I was defeated, left to die in a pit of corpses. When I awoke, I found this in the fold of my clothing.
Eivor gestured to the mistletoe.
- Valka: Baldr also dreamt of his own death.
- Eivor: This tale I know. Afterwards, his mother Frigg visited every thing, living or dead, and had them swear not to harm him.
- Valka: But she overlooked the mistletoe bush.
- Eivor: And so fate had its way.
Valka walked to another table and Eivor followed.
- Valka: Not all visions are premonitions, Eivor. But all hide wisdom, if we have the wit to see it.
Valka handed Eivor a potion in a bowl.
- Valka: Drink this, if you would know more. Then go to the sacred circle behind my hut. There is more mistletoe there.
Eivor drank the potion while Valka continued her instructions.
- Valka: Lay the mistletoe around the circle, light it, and stand within. We shall see what your dream has to teach you.
Eivor nodded and stepped outside the hut. She claimed additional mistletoe from the baled bundle next to the hut and began laying it in the small braziers around the ritual circle.
- Eivor: The mistletoe is in place, ready for burning.
Eivor took her place in the center of the circle and ignited all of the mistletoe. It burned fiercely, too much for such a small plant, and the blaze trapped Eivor in the circle, scaring her.
- Eivor: Valka! What is the meaning of this? Is this some part of your ritual? The flames draw ever closer!
Valka stepped outside slowly while Eivor attempted to flee, but could not without severely burning herself.
- Eivor: Valka! Would you burn me alive?
- Valka: If you would reach your dreams, Eivor, you must not run from the fire. You must become it!
Eivor took a careful breath and steeled herself at Valka's words, then crouched down between the flames and meditated, returning to the realm of Svartalfheim.
- If Eivor woke up, she found herself returned to her bedchamber in the longhouse. She swung her feet out of bed and sat on its edge.
- Eivor: These dark visions oppress me. The warm light of wakefulness is sweet relief. And yet... and yet, I must see more, wherever the darkness leads me.
- She stood up and found a message from Valka at the foot of her bed.
- Eivor: A message from Valka. If I drink the potion, I can return to my vision.
- Eivor placed Valka's message in her inventory and eventually returned to the hut, finding the potion Valka had prepared.
- Eivor: I can reclaim my vision of Svartalfheim.
- Eivor drank the potion and curled up on the bed in Valka's hut, returning to her dream of Svartalfheim. If she awoke again, it was in the hut rather than her own bed.
Eivor journeyed as far into the dream as her emotions would allow. She lost the dream and awoke in Valka's hut, awash in anguish.
- Eivor: Aaah!
Valka ran from her table to Eivor's side.
- Valka: What is it? What did you see?
- Eivor: All my struggles mattered nothing in the end. My son was lost before I began, his premonition come to pass.
- Valka: Your son?
- Eivor: Baldr! Havi's son. You know what I mean!
- Valka: So Baldr met his fate, as was foretold. Ever you have sought to elude the looms of the Nornir, but we are all caught in their weave.
- Eivor: No, I will not believe it. There is more to see yet. Why was I thrown from my dream?
- Valka: Perhaps it was not the vision that rejected you, but you who rejected the vision. Perhaps you are afraid of it.
- Eivor: I fear nothing!
- Valka: I think you do. And until you recognize that fear, give in to it, embrace it... the vision will not return. Some walls cannot be overcome by potions alone.
- Eivor: Tell me what I must do. This saga does not end here. It cannot!
- Valka: Meet me in the forest when darkness lays upon the land. There we shall see how fearless you truly are.
Eivor made her way the woods Valka mentioned to move beyond her fear and return to the dream.
Eivor successfully saw through to the end of her dreams. Having fully grasped the saga of her past life, she perched atop the longhouse and watched over the residents as Sýnin soared over Ravensthorpe, her resolve renewed.
- Eivor: The wolf is coming, brothers and sisters. It finds us all in the end, no matter how we hide. In its jaws is an end or a beginning, and we will never know which till that last black bite. Should we lay down for it, then? Bare our throats to its teeth? Or fight with every sinew in our bodies to hold it away, knowing always that our strength must fail, and the wolf will take us? I know only this. Each day is a gift from the dead to the living. Each smile brought by another's tears. And when the wolf runs free, all we will have are those we fought to keep. So I will keep you, my people. I will fight the wolf for every inch of this land, till the hour he claims me. I will buy you your days of love and laughter. Use them well.
Outcome[edit | edit source]
Eivor explored the meaning of her visions through the realm of dreams, unlocking the dormant memories of Havi and lost history of his saga in the process.
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
This memory acts as the "container" for all of Eivor's journeys into the chapters of the Dawn of Ragnarok DLC, presented as the memories of the Isu Odin during his time in the realm of Svartálfaheimr and reinterpreted through the Norse mythology of her upbringing. In other words, it functions in the same way that In Dreams..., Going Deeper..., Bound to Fate, and A Gift from the Otherworld serve as waypoints into the realms of Ásgarðr, Jötunheimr, and Niflheimr for their respective arcs of Havi's saga.
If the player installs the DLC and loads a file where Eivor is already in Ravensthorpe, the first line of dialogue introducing the DLC is skipped completely, as the scripting for the memory assumes the player is elsewhere in the world at the time of install. This differs from Wrath of the Druids and The Siege of Paris, which do not trigger any of their startup sequences until Eivor is physically in Ravensthorpe.
Progressing the memory beyond the events of 'The Rescue' will require completing A Wise Friend and renovating the Seer's Hut for Valka, as it is with the Asgard and Jotunheim story arcs. Even if 'A Wise Friend' is not complete and the conditions for Valka's arrival are not fulfilled, Eivor will still state she needs to seek Valka's wisdom, and the memory's objective tracker will explicitly instruct the player to "Complete 'A Wise Friend'" in this scenario.
If players below a Power level of 340 attempt to advance beyond the burning of the mistletoe in the ritual circle to begin Gift to the God, the game will offer to 'Boost' the player's stats and gear at that point. More information on the Boost itself is available on the main page. Furthermore, if players play the expansion straight from the New Game option on the starting screen, they are confined to Svartalfheim for the entirety of that new game and all its associated save files, and this memory will simply not be available.
Upon waking up after the events of Pride of the Aesir, it will not be possible to return to Svartalfheim at all until Beyond Fear is completed. While this normally a relatively short interlude, it is heavily implied that this is the point in the game narrative where The Forgotten Saga and the events outlined in "A Gift from the Otherworld" transpire; Eivor taking a break before confronting her deepest fear lines up with the point in Havi's saga where he left Svartalfheim for a time and went to Niflheim. However, players who wish to finish out the expansion's content should complete "Beyond Fear" in short order, if only to re-enable travel to the realm.