Enter Vinland
To compare these sagas with the game, we need to go to their shared location of Vinland. For this, I had to defeat nine order members to unlock the mission to head west across the "whale road." The game treated this journey as long and arduous, stating it would take four weeks and Eivor could not bring any other weapons or armor, a scheme to make you explore their map to collect all the new gear.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Version 1.7.0. For PlayStation 4, Ubisoft, 2020
Upon arriving in Vinland, Eivor lands in an established settlement named Nynfon. They are warned against leaving the town as the natives are dangerous and attack. However, Eivor immediately leaves and bonds with the Native tribe Kanien'hehá, where she begins working toward her plan of assassinating the Viking leader, Gorm. The Kanien'hehá's in-game depiction is really interesting and stark compared to the Sagas, so I'll talk more about them in a later post.
In the Vinland Sagas, the journey west is far more detailed and drawn out. The crews were the ones supposedly finding this land for the first time, not following a pre-made route. Before reaching Vinland, Viking crews land on various islands but continue heading west. Multiple crews make the journey, and the length varies greatly, with one group becoming lost in a storm and taking only four days. However, the first long-term exploration of Vinland was credited in the stories to Leif the Lucky, the son of Eirik the Red, who had discovered the land years prior but could not explore, and his crew found two different lands before Vinland, pointing to a longer journey.
Upon landing in Vinland, the Viking crew, led by Leif the Lucky, built houses and began exploring, finding vines and grapes, earning the land the name Vinland. In both the sagas, very little time is actually spent in Vinland, with at most one chapter at a time, about two pages, being spent exploring or collecting supplies before returning to Greenland with their ships full of timber.
This mention of timber is interesting, as Eivor comments on the sheer number of trees present on the new land upon arrival. When given the first chance for synchronization, the player is able to view the relatively small map, a densely forested area with several branches of rivers running through.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Version 1.7.0. For PlayStation 4, Ubisoft, 2020
From here, the game has Eivor begin exploring and interacting with the local tribes and animal life. The saga's interactions with the local environment are far more violent and less politically correct depictions of the natives.