 Written by: Markuz, May 16, 2021 In this new article from our series dedicated to the analysis of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and its context we are going to once again pierce through the Mythological veil and witness Odin’s final confrontation with Loki, his sacrifice aimed at saving himself and the other Asgardian Isu and the final explanation about how the Seventh Method of Salvation would work. Speaking of the Seventh Method, we’re also going to delve into Odin’s theft of its components within the Grand Temple, where he also found references to the Six Methods of Salvation and even to the Creation Myth, and we’re going to show how this theft was instrumental to Juno’s creation of the Aita Sages from Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag… not without a few inconsistencies with the established lore. Quite a number of topics as usual, so let’s dive right in. These are the actual events that led to Odin’s sacrifice and the activation of the Seventh Method of Salvation Once again we pick up where we left off, with Odin darting inside the Grand Temple and … being immediately spotted by Minerva. In the game, having obtained the gift for her earlier in the arc, which seemed to be the canon path, as it had a dedicated chapter of the arc
This lead him to find six documents which, within the Jotunheim arc, depict the creation myth according to the Norse Mythology and more specifically the Prose Edda. While the six documents are basically a re-telling of the actual Norse creation myth, about which we’ll leave a link in the description, the few elements that may be of interest to us for now, are that the Isu Odin might have killed his father, helped by his brothers Vili and Ve and, more importantly, that if the allegory holds here, that it was actually the Aesir, that is, the Asgardian Isu that created the first humans. Named Ask and Embla in the Norse Mythology these were meant, according to the document, to worship the Asgardian Isu and serve them, while also staying away from the Jotnar, the Greco-Roman Ones. On another level of interpretation, Ask and Embla might also to be the equivalent of Adam and Eve who, in the Isu Narrative, weren’t the first humans created by the Isu, but were very likely two of the first human-Isu hybrids conceived in order to preserve the Isu DNA. If that interpretation of the Norse Myth within the Assassin’s Creed narrative was correct, then it would mean that the Asgardian Isu created the human-Isu hybrids so that *they* could start a war of their own against their sworn enemy, the Greco-Roman Isu… Whatever the interpretation, Odin pressed on and went deeper in the Grand Temple, where he found, as we called it in our previous article, a testament to all the Six Methods of Salvation that had previously failed. We’ll hopefully have an updated article dedicated to the Six Methods at some point to better understand what’s happening here, but suffice to say that the room in the Jotunheim arc presents them as such:
Now, hardcore fans might have spotted some inaccuracies and inconsistencies with the established lore here and there, but as we mentioned, we might have a dedicated video to explain more in detail what these methods were. At the end of the day what matters here is that finally Odin reached the final room of the Vault and obtained the technology needed to create the Seventh Method. Once again Odin dashed out of the Grand Temple ready to reach Juno, but was immediately caught red handed as Loki, who knew about Odin’s intent since he had captured him in his own house, had tipped off Jupiter about his plan, even appearing as a good Jotun who shared the information to protect his people. Obviously a fight between Odin and Jupiter ensued and bear in mind, if there’s a villain here, in this specific situation at least, in our opinion it is Odin, who selfishly stole the method to save himself and his own Aesir friends while endangering animmeasurable number
Equally obviously Odin won the fight without killing Jupiter, who with his last words told him that by actually using the Seventh Method, he would change the destiny of countless other people… but not his own. Loki was nowhere to be found because the trickster was waiting for Odin for a final confrontation right in front of the so-called Well of Mimir, where Odin was traveling to in order to reach Juno. Odin started by calling Loki oath braker because he imprisoned him in his house, to which Loki answered that Odin had done the same to his son. Odin then countered by calling Loki out about tipping Jupiter off, but Loki again answered that he did it because what Odin did was only for himself and his people but not the other Isu, let alone Loki himself. Odin then launched a third verbal attack, criticizing Loki for causing the death of so many Isu in the attack to Asgard, only to selfishly save his son. In this case and as we saw in our analysis of Odin’s and Loki’s stories, Loki admits he had to organize all the machinations surrounding his son Fenrir’s arrival to Asgard and those were caused by the fact that the Greco Roman Isu had also found about Fenrir’s true nature and wanted to kill him. Finally Loki couldn’t wait anymore, he couldn’t trust that Odin would have actually kept his son alive despite the calculations, and so ordered Odin to release his son from his imprisonment, otherwise he’d have to kill him. Thus, another fight followed and once again Odin emerged victorious, but Loki escaped, with the promise that their game wasn’t over, and that he would have renewed their fight in the future. Finally Odin reached the Well of Mimir, and interestingly enough the area looks *VERY* similar to the entrance to the Yggdrasil Vault in Norway. Maybe it’s just our feeling as this vault should be located in the area governed by the Greco-Roman Isu, represented here by Jotunheim… but judging by the ice, the lake in front of it, the corridors, the Yggdrasil roots in its last rooms… you know…
Anyway, eventually Odin found Juno and curiously enough, he found her holding not an Apple but a Crystal ball, stating the sentence “The Probabilities lead us here. The calculations give us hope”. This is not a random sentence as this is sort of a double reference. These are the exact words that Eivor hears from the Crystal Ball in the Vinland arc, right in front of the entrance to the Grand Temple from AC3, showing that Juno was sending a message of her own across time when Odin found her, but also this is a confirmation that *that* is the same Crystal Ball that then ended up in the hands of the Kanienka:ha:ka people seen in Assassin’s Creed III, through which she also sent messages to Connor and eventually made it so that at the right time she could be released to the world by Desmond’s sacrifice. Odin showed he had finally stolen the technology for the Seventh Method, but Juno told him to not use it right away because the hugr, that is, the mind would "take flight and be ever fixed". In the allegory Juno was saying that by using the Seventh method, a copy of his conscience would have been transferred to the human DNA, so he needed to do it as close to the day of the Toba Catastrophe as possible, in order to transfer a more recent version of his mind. Right after that a new voice, that of Mimir, interjected, with a dialogue that basically seems to confirm that this is actually the
In our opinion, even he, Mimir himself, was talking from within the device, as both he and Odin say that he was killed but his conscience was still there, which forced him to live incomplete, as in, without a body, but at least he survived. Seeing that Mimir was talking from within the supposed Yggdrasil device also checks out with the fact that his voice is very metallic, and very mechanical as well… Mimir stated that *that* specific vault would endure the Toba Catastrophe and would “remember”, as in, it would be able to keep the minds and conscience of those who would use it. More specifically, it is explained that the Isu that might look for immortality, as in, somehow surviving the catastrophe, along with the technology used for the Seventh Method, they would also need another item that is shown here as the waters of the well, for the method to work. Remembering Loki’s words from the Animus Anomalies dialogues, the Seventh Method would work through the use of a serum and a catalyst, so it’s entirely possible that the Mead in the Jotunheim arc is the serum (hence why it’s represented in a liquid form) while the waters of Mimir’s well, that have to work along with the serum and are needed to store the Isu minds, are the catalyst required for the method itself to work.
This last part is more tricky to interpret, as it leads to Odin’s sacrifice, but it may mean that, in order to be able to copy and upload the conscience of the various Asgardian Isu – here called the Aesir – and of Odin in particular, the catalyst needs to know of a way to recognize them, which in all likeness depends on their DNA. It’s not clear why Odin couldn’t just sacrifice a few drops of his blood instead of his eye, in order to make sure the catalyst could work for him and the other Asgardian Isu, but we surely know he indeed lost his eye, as seen in the Hidden Truth video. From within the Yggdrasil device, Mimir’s conscience seemed to warn Odin that if *he* and the other Asgardian Isu were to actually proceed with the Seventh Method, they would tarnish the destiny of the humans who would survive the catastrophe. Odin even said that he *knew* because had already been told by Minerva, but nonetheless he decided to proceed. Mimir then confirmed to Odin how things would work if he were to actually sacrifice his eye and set in motion the activation of the Seventh Method. He told him that while the catastrophe would rage all around, which would also lead to the demise of Odin himself, the world-tree, as in, the Yggdrasil device, would keep a copy of Odin’s conscience inside of it, allowing him to be reborn in time, in a new world rebuilt after the Toba Catastrophe. Interestingly enough, Juno confirmed what Mimir said, saying that she hoped to do the same to “one I love dearly who depends upon it”.
So, it was finally time, Odin decided to make the sacrifice and to proceed with the Seventh Method, making it so that the catalyst would recognize his DNA. In the background players can hear the voice of Aletheia, in a dialogue from the early stages of the Jotunheim arc. where she asked about how much Odin would sacrifice in order to avoid his destiny. These words, that are possibly ringing in Odin’s mind, show how desperate, and to a degree, even selfish, Odin was to save himself despite the calculations foretelling his death. Odin is then seen using his right hand to collect or touch the waters of the well – remember, that’s the catalyst of the method – and with the same hand he finally plucks his own eye in a scene where the eye is compared multiple times to the aerial view of the chamber of the vault where Odin, and Juno, are currently located. Thus, Odin paid the price – and it’s not clear if he just sacrificed his eye or more – but the waters, that is, the catalyst recognized Odin’s DNA and also activated the Vault or, more likely, the Yggdrasil device. That was also confirmed by one of the most classic sentences spoken by Juno and the Isu in general, “It is done”.
Lastly, Juno mentioned that her collaboration with Odin and especially her use of the Seventh Method wouldn’t have been forgiven by Jupiter and Minerva – and we know the reason for that is that they, especially Minerva, did not want the method to be used in order to preserve the destiny of humanity. Because of that, Juno expected she’d be hunted by both of them. Juno here confirmed once again that she was part of the triad of political leaders known as the Father of Understanding, the Mother of Wisdom and the Sacred Voice and that THEY were behind the Six attempts or methods designed to avert the Toba Catastrophe which, sadly, failed. Juno also confirmed that she had designed the Seventh Method, even though she said “we”, and that when Jupiter and Minerva found out about it, out of their fear for the potential consequences on the human race after the catastrophe, they locked it in the Vault and banished Juno from their city even though she supposedly kept her title of Mother of Wisdom, as the dialogues in the Animus Anomalies state that she was stripped of her title *after* giving the Seventh Method to Odin. Thus, Juno stated that by stealing the serum, and in general the technology for the Seventh method, he just returned to her what she believed to be rightfully hers.
This dialogue also serves as context both for the First Civilization events that we knew from the early games of the franchise and also for the events shown in Valhalla. As for what concerns Valhalla, this should have happened right before the Anomaly message featuring Aletheia getting to know about Juno being stripped of her Title, while it should also have happened after the Sixth Method of Salvation as shown in AC3 failed, but before the creation of the Aita sages, so with Aita still being alive, although just as a beating heart without amind. At the same time, though, this final dialogue of the Jotunheim arc also brings some additional inconsistencies with the established lore from past games. As a matter of fact, according to Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, Juno actually created the Sages by participating in some experiments created by Minerva and aimed at giving Humans the chance of passing the accumulations of their learnings from one generation to the next through their DNA. During said experiments, Juno would secretly add Aita’s DNA to that of the humans, creating the Aita Sages, but as we know from Valhalla, by this time Juno had both being exiled and stripped of her title so she likely wasn’t the first person Minerva would call to help with such experiments. This dialogue also states that the creation of the Seventh Method, and especially Juno’s help in allowing Odin, an enemy, to steal it, would be the cause for Jupiter and Minerva to hunt her down, but in Assassin’s Creed 3, and more specifically in its guide, it was stated that they hunted her down because of her plans to take over the world by fomenting a rebellion during the Isu Era in order to prevent the humans from getting hold of it, all the while Jupiter and Minerva were actually trying to save it from the catastrophe. So, yeah, completely different reasons (which could even coexist although it might be a stretch, and would definitely make Juno a very bad, bad Isu), but they eventually lead to the same outcome. In fact, as mentioned in AC3 and in its guide, when Jupiter and Minerva found out about Juno’s plans, they stopped her, as in, killed her and her followers, sealing the Grand Temple with the bodies of the traitors inside but somehow, with her last effort, she was able to transfer her conscience in the Grand Temple machinery to start her millenary plan involving Desmond. Despite these potential inconsistencies, that was the last of Odin’s trip to the territory of the Greco-Roman Isu as much as this is the ending of our article. Join us in our next analysis, where we’ll have a look at what Odin really did when he got back to Asgard, his final fight with Fenrir and the last calculation he saw about the fate of Asgard… and his own. Go to the SEVENTH CHAPTER of this series, go back to the FIFTH CHAPTER of the series or go back to the HUB.
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