What if Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is actually based on historical events, as your introduction screen says, is based much vaguely. Even so, despite all the simplification and misrepresentation of Britain’s Viking invasions, there is one thing that the game shows really well: the idea that the history of England is a history of immigration.
This has not been a great decade for the UK. Successive conservative governments, apparently determined to undermine their own country regardless of the cost to their people, oversaw two highly divisive and unnecessary referendums, the first on Scotland’s independence, the second and much more disastrous on the country’s exit from the European Union, throwing all of Britain’s economy into the bathroom in the process.
Boris Johnson’s government, in particular, has been hugely disqualified for the job, he and his cronies failing so much in their response to Covid that an island nation with one of the best public health systems still became one of the most deadly epicenters of the pandemic.
And still! This incompetent gang of wealthy brats and sweaty-handed swindlers has been successful by its own indicators, insofar as they may continue to be re-elected, partly due to the dysfunction of Britain’s opposition Labor Party, but also because they are the howling standard bearers of a resurgence (or a calcification among older demographics) of a certain idea. A rejection of the country that Britain has become since the 1990s, of the rapidly changing modern world, in favor of a Britain that vaguely remembers her childhood, or her parents’ tales, or old postcards , or cookie tins.
Instead of remaining part of the European Union and everything it represents, there is a considerable part of the UK’s population – no all who voted for Brexit, but he is there – who would have preferred “Britain to the British”. And when they say that, thanks to the open influence of their larger population on the country’s politics, they really mean “England for the English”.
That is … an absolute racist approach, reflected in the fact that fears about immigration were one of the foundations of the policy of definition for voters of “license” in the Brexit referendum. Believing that England is for the English depends on the existence of a definition of “English” in the first place. “Others” who arrived in the UK in the past century after successive waves of immigration, whether from the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean, Africa or, more recently, continental (and particularly eastern Europe) do not fit in, and so are not welcome .
But what does it mean to be English? Who qualifies for this prestigious group? One day a people crawled out of the mud, crossed green hills and claimed an empty land? Of course not. British history is defined for immigration, displacement and multiculturalism, sometimes peaceful, sometimes violent, something that for all his other efforts Assassin’s Creed Valhalla catch much right, and that serves as an excellent – and timely – reminder of.
Valhalla he rarely mentions the idea of an “England” except as a geographical entity. Instead, he knows that England in the 9th century was a place of tremendous social and political upheaval, featuring a number of disparate and often hostile groups, some who have been there much longer than others.
The game stars two Kingdoms – Mercia and Wessex – who hate each other and are predominantly Saxon, a group that did not begin to reach the British coasts until the 5th century. There are Britons, in the game with modern Welsh accents, a people who lived in England much longer than the Saxons. There are Picts in the north, with modern Scottish accents and strong barbaric energy, brief mention of the Irish (who are being saved for further expansion) and, finally, the youngest people off the coast of England, the Vikings (or Danes, like them) ‘(re called more accurately, even though Eivor has to keep correcting people that she is really Nordic).
In this way, England is rarely presented as no one is home of law, especially since you spend a lot of time among the Saxons and the Danes. Located between the remains of the departure of Rome and before the arrival of the Normans, it is shown in Valhalla– and quite accurately, considering how the story ended – as a prize that people are fighting for, whether they are ancient inhabitants or not.
In addition to all the people who live side by side – or alienate others – there is also their faith. The Danes brought their pagan beliefs with them and the Saxons are devout Christians (whose coexistence is again reflected directly in some minor missions), but the game is also full of older religions that remain on the edges of the map and even on a plot turns into Christian practices. Valhalla’s the architecture tells almost the same story, with ruined Roman ruins blending with Saxon huts around Viking huts, all resting side by side in the same cities and towns on the map.
While Assassin’s Creed Syndicate occurred at the height of Britain’s imperial power and, as such, is immediately recognizable, Valhalla it takes place in an almost alien England, with few gifts in its architecture or people that we can point out 1000 years later and say, yes, that is what we would define today as “English”. This way Valhalla it is showing a kind of history of national origin, a glimpse of its genesis through a fusion of people and ideas.
As the Saxons finally emerged as the dominant group in this struggle, wielding the greatest power in England’s politics and language, then we see an emerging take at the end of the game’s plot, which places the Saxons as guardians of the land to the exclusion of all others, a philosophy that is then injected into the core values of the series’ arch-villains, the Templars.
After a battle in a church, King Aelfred Goodwin’s helper, exasperated, basically says “England is for the English”, pointing out Eivor’s foreign character and spitting out “This island will never be his home”, oblivious to the fact that his own people were relatively newcomers. It is almost word for word the same kind of thing you would see in the comments section of a racist uncle on Facebook today.
However, opposed to this view are the multicultural successes of the Viking colonies depicted in the game, and the work of men like Stowe (below), who as you can see below had a more genius approach to Scandinavian settlement, which shows the fact that , although the popular (and let’s be clear, historically accurate) idea of Nordic attacks and larger invasions was destructive inroads, Viking colonization could often be a more harmonious case, as evidenced by the ongoing genetic legacy of the time, especially in the north of England and Scotland.
I’m not saying that Valhalla it was made specifically as a response to Brexit-type beliefs, or even had them in mind when writing the game. But the game’s careful exploration of the demographics of the time is incredibly useful in today’s climate as an example that history in a medium like this, no matter how loosely applied in some areas, can still be an incredibly valuable educational tool in others .