Hello, friends, here we are with more AC Valhalla news, but this time, we discuss Eivor’s Raven or our Assassin’s Creed Valhalla companion. So, we will cover several topics, including Eivor’s raven connection with the Norse gods, the meaning of his name, his role in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, his abilities, and more.
Companion Name
To make everything easier to follow, we will start with our Assassin’s Creed Valhalla companion name. According to a tweet from Ashraf Ismail, the creative director of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and my favorite news bringer, Eivor’s raven is known as Synin, pronounced Suenin. Not Sainin and not Sinin. But Suenin.
It’s spelled Synin
And
Pronounced “Sue-nin”We wanted as close a meaning to “insight” in Old Norse 🧐 pic.twitter.com/2sM7MnOYx1
— Ashraf Ismail (@AshrafAIsmail) May 13, 2020
As you can see in the tweet, the developers wanted a name close to the term insight in Old Norse, and they kinda succeeded because Sight is the translation for Synin. Now, you may wonder why a raven and not an eagle or a hawk or other type of bird. The long answer short is: Because of Odin. To better understand Ubisoft’s decision and Synin’s connection with Eivor and the Norse Gods, let’s backtrack a bit and see the companions we have used in the previous two Assassin’s Creed games.
Assassin’s Creed Origins: Senu
In 2017, when Assassin’s Creed Origins was released, we got the chance to meet Bayek and his companion Senu.
We can remember Bayek calling on Senu with a quite iconic quote: “Be my eyes, Senu!” Senu’s role in the game was very important. Bayek used Senu to scout areas, hunt animals, or harass and distract enemies.
Because of their symbiotic relationship, Bayek’s Eagle Vision transfers to Senu. Although there are more details about Senu, two things we need to remember here are her name, because Senu was a female, and her species. Senu’s name means sister, which denotes her connection with Bayek and her relationship with the word Bennu.
Bennu was an ancient Egyptian deity linked to the sun, creation, and rebirth. According to mythology, it looked like a heron. But the key aspect is that the Bennu bird was connected to Ra, who is the most iconic solar deity that ever existed in all of ancient Egypt.
According to Assassin’s Creed Origins, Senu was an “aspect” of Bayek that would continue living on after his body died. Last but not least, Senu is a Bonelli eagle, which is considered to be an opportunistic predator.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Ikaros
In 2018, Ikaros replaced Senu. Ikaros is the golden eagle from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Unlike Senu, Ikaros was a male. We remember that Ikaros had the same abilities as Senu.
Alexios and Kassandra used him to scout areas before engaging enemies, find specific objects such as treasure chests and collectibles, and tag and distract enemies. While hunting, we can also see Ikaros swooping down and killing smaller animals.
A significant difference between Senu and Ikaros is that the latter was able to kill humans on his own. Ikaros was named after the son of master craftsman Daedalus. According to Greek mythology, Ikaros flew too close to the sun and fell to his death after the heat melted his wings made of wax.
What is more important, though, is that Ikaros is also the “eagle of Zeus,” which is why Kassandra and Alexios are known as “Eagle Bearers.” From this, we can learn that in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Ikaros shows the connection between our beloved assassins and almighty Zeus, the king of the Greek Gods.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Synin
Moving back to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla companion, let’s start with the most common question. Why a raven?
Before talking about mythology, it’s worth pointing out that ravens are considered unusually intelligent birds. The common ravens, like Synin, played an essential role in Norse mythology. If you watched the Vikings TV series, you might remember that Ragnar Lothbrok has two tattoos on his head. Early in the series, those tattoos depict two ravens.
Although we have discussed how important the gods are in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in another video, we need to remember that the strongest connection Eivor has with the Norse Gods is the one with Odin. Who, as you can most likely guess, had two ravens: Huginn and Munnin.
They were sent to fly all over Midgard and bring information to the god Odin. Their names can be translated into thought and memory, while Synin’s name is translated into sight.
Odin’s Sight
In a recent interview, Ashraf Ismail tells us that the Eagle Vision returns in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla but as Odin’s Sight. If we connect all the dots, we can clearly see why developers picked a raven for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
In Origins, we had Senu connect Bayek with Ra; in Oddisey, Zeus was represented by Ikaros. And in Valhalla, we have Synin, who serves as Odin’s messenger. This leaves us with one final question. What can Synin do? Or what are Synin’s abilities?
Synin’s Abilities
He will definitely retain the abilities from the previous games. We can use him to scout areas, tag enemies, and find treasure chests and collectibles; however, I believe he will not be able to kill enemies. Harass and distract them, yes. But not kill them because we must remember that Synin is a raven, and it is impossible due to its size.
But what about Odin’s Sight or the Eagle Vision? How will this work since developers confirmed that along with our trusty raven, a return to the roots of Eagle Vision is also expected? I believe that this will be possible in specific areas. If you remember, in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, while exploring a cave, for example, Ikaros could not be used to scan the area for chests or to tag enemies.
Hopefully, Ubisoft will fix this by bringing back the Eagle Vision as it was in the previous games when we could scan surrounding areas and see enemies and other items of interest. So, what do you think about Synin? Do let me know in the comments section, and don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel for more AC Valhalla news and breakdowns.
Have Something To Add? Do It Here: