Announced almost three weeks ago, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the hottest topic right now, and information about it continues to be revealed by various sources all around the world; the latest referring to the AC Valhalla Season Pass, its release date, and content, which was leaked by Ubisoft itself on the German Ubishop store. If you visit it, you’ll notice a new pre-order tab that adds the Season Pass.
Notice that the Season Pass is included in the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Gold Edition, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Ultimate Edition, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Collector’s Edition of the game but not in the Standard Edition of AC Valhalla.
Furthermore, we can see that it includes new gear, it allows us to explore new lands, play a new mission, and access new epic content. The most important piece of info we can see is that the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Season Pass will be available at launch. If we continue to navigate the store, though, we can find more details on the Season Pass, as you can see in this image.
According to Ubisoft, the Season Pass includes the story mission: The Legend of Beowulf, which allows us to discover the cruel truth behind this legendary hero. Additionally, we get to explore new countries. But, to better understand the last piece of information, we need to pause a bit and learn more about Beowulf.
Legend Of Beowulf Setting
As said, these days, we can see a lot of information on YouTube regarding The Legend of Beowulf and its connection to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Some YouTubers claim that we’ll get to fight a dragon, and others claim that Grendel is a dragon or similar nonsense.
This honestly left me with the impression that there is a lot of reading that needs to be done by most of them. Regardless of what they say, it’s good to clarify one thing before everything else. The events in The Legend of Beowulf take place in the 6th century, and the events from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla take place in the 8th century—specifically, the year 873.
This means that there is a gap of 2 centuries, or almost 200 years, between Beowulf and Eivor. So no, there will be no dragon fights, Grendel fights, or other nonsense like this. Another important aspect we need to clarify is that The Legend of Beowulf is an Old English epic poem and not a Norse one. Why is this important?
Most likely because Eivor will find out about Beowulf while visiting England and not before. Even though the story in the poem is set in Scandinavia. Okay, then, so what is The Legend of Beowulf?
First of all, it is a Legend, and it should be treated like one. I’ll give you a small summary, but if you are interested in it, feel free to watch the movie released in 2007 featuring the voices of Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins, or you can play the hack and slash video game developed and published by Ubisoft, the same year for PC, PlayStation 3, PSP and Xbox 360.
Legend Of Beowulf Summary
So, The Legend of Beowulf tells the story of the mighty hero of the Geats, Beowulf, who is called by Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, to slay the monster Grendel. Hrothgar’s mead hall, which was located in Heorot, was constantly attacked by Grendel.
From this first part, we can learn three things. First, Beowulf was a Geat, which was a North Germanic tribe that inhabited Götaland, located in southern Sweden. Second, Beowulf visits Hrothgar, who was the king of the Danes during that period of time, and third, that one key location where the events take place is Heorot.
Although there are debates on where Heorot was located, most scholars believe it is close to today’s Roskilde on the Danish island of Zealand. Eventually, Beowulf arrives at Heorot, and during the night, he faces Grendel in combat. Without using any weapon, Beowulf tears Grendel’s arm from his body.
The monster flees to his mother, who attacks Heorot on the second night. The attack leads to the death of Hrothgar’s most loyal fighter. Seeking revenge, Hrothgar, Beowulf, and their men track Grendel’s mother to her lair under a lake; however, only Beowulf jumps into the water, but before doing that, he receives a special sword named Hrunting. We will discuss it later.
Once inside Grendel’s mother’s lair, Beowulf starts an epic fight, but not even the sword he received can hurt the skin of Grendel’s mother. Almost defeated, Beowulf sees a huge sword in the cave, and using it, he manages to strike down Grendel’s mother and cuts off her head.
Later, while exploring the cave, Beowulf finds Grendel’s corpse and cuts off his head as well, but the sword melts because of Grendel’s hot blood. With only the hilt in hand, our hero returns to Hrothgar, who gives him another sword named Nægling. After completing his quest, Beowulf returns to his homeland and becomes the king of the Geats.
Beowulf & The Dragon
The story, however, continues 50 years later when a slave steals a golden cup from the lair of a dragon at Earnanæs. When the dragon sees that the cup is missing, it leaves the cave, burning everything in its path. A much older Beowulf and his men arrive at the scene, but Beowulf wants to fight the dragon alone.
This time, our hero is overpowered, and his men flee into a nearby forest with only one remaining to help him. Wiglaf. During the fight, Beowulf is using the sword Nægling from Hrothgar, but the sword snaps in two.
Eventually, Beowulf defeats the dragon, but he is also mortally wounded and dies shortly after. When his men return, Wiglaf blames them for Beowulf’s death. Beowulf is burned on a great pyre in Geatland. A barrow, visible from the sea, is built in his memory. But now, without their hero, the Geats are left defenseless against the attacks from rival tribes.
Eivor’s Connections With Beowulf
Okay, so now that we know the plot in The Legend of Beowulf, let’s see what we should expect from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Season Pass. First, we have the following locations marked on the map you see below.
- In red, we have the territory inhabited by the Geats. Or Beowulf’s tribe. This is the area where the legend begins.
- In pink, we have the Danes or the area where Beowulf faces Grendel and his mother.
I believe that both of these locations are in The Legend of Beowulf as the new lands we can explore. There are additional locations the legend reveals, but we have discussed them here.
Season Pass Bonus Items
Regarding the new gear we will get in the Season Pass, I believe the two swords Beowulf uses are part of the Season Pass. That’s because, according to the legend, they are epic swords that played an important role in the life of our mighty hero even though both of them failed him.
First, we have Hrunting, which was given by Unferth before facing Grendel’s mother. A sword that proved useless against Grendel’s mother’s skin. And then we have Nægling, which was received by Beowulf from Hrothgar after completing his quest. Again, the sword snapped in his hand while fighting the dragon.
To better understand how important the swords were in that time period, further reading is required; but as the legend says, the sword used by Beowulf in the fight against the dragon actually snapped not because of the dragon’s power but because of Beowulf’s strength. So, I believe that the locations I have outlined are key locations in the legend and will be included in the Season Pass.
The epic weapons are the two swords from the legend, Hrunting, and Nægling, and there will be no dragon fight simply because of the timeline, which doesn’t allow it. I expect The Legend of Beowulf’s story mission to be a detective-like mission. It will reveal the sad truth regarding the death of a hero. So, what do you think? Let me know in the comments section below.
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