Leaving Vinland
Looking at Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s depiction of Vinland, the general strokes are accurate compared to the original Vinland Sagas. However, unsurprisingly, the unique flora, fauna, and native tribes are far more nuanced and fleshed out, creating an actual space for the player to explore alongside the Viking explorers themselves.
In Assassin’s Creed, the game justified Eivor traveling west over a century before these sagas claim by having another real historical figure in Brendan of Clonfert, an early Irish Priest born in 484 CE and known for exploration. Saint Brendan’s story was collected in Navigatio Sancti Brandai Abbatis (Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot) around 900 CE. Within this text, a mysterious land is described and dubbed Saint Brendan’s Island, still disputed today by theories including North America. Assassin’s Creed takes this route, and specific mention of Saint Brendan is given with a standing stone called the Lord and Lady Grantebridgescire; there, players can find a short page written by Saint Brendan detailing his travels west.
This storyline isn’t important for the gameplay. However, by exploring the map, a standing stone structure can be found, a letter from Saint Brendan himself that directly connects him to the larger storyline of the Assassin’s Creed universe.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Version 1.7.0. For PlayStation 4, Ubisoft, 2020
In his letter, Saint Brendan gives his reasons for heading back east that directly mirror the reasons given in the game and the Vinland Sagas Vikings, who returned home without trying to colonize or set up long-standing outposts. Valhalla saw the Vikings return east after the leader who pushed them to Vinland for a proto-archeological dig was killed, leaving them with no reason to stay in an unwelcoming land. In the Sagas, multiple leaders ordered their crews to return to Greenland and Norway after multiple battles with local tribes that resulted in the death of some Viking chiefs.
I’ve played almost all the Assassin’s Creed games and used them to begin my interest in history as a subject. Today, I’m a history-based major about to graduate. While Assassin’s Creed was far from as influential as some great history teachers, I can’t help but look back at my younger self learning about the French Revolution from a video game far better than from my 10th-grade history and government teacher. All this to say, having this game as an opportunity to look into the earliest interactions of two distinct cultures allowed me to experience it to a small extent and brought what I was learning about this semester through this project to life.
If anyone is interested in the Assassin's Creed games further, I encourage you to look at the developer’s website, Ubisoft, here. If you are looking for the entire gameplay, YouTuber Hollow’s walkthroughs have been particularly useful for me in this project.