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Shay Patrick Cormac: A new Mythology for Assassin’s Creed?
Hephaestus, October 1, 2014
Translated by: Stefania The images and videos of Assassin’s Creed Rogue released so far and also in these last days have generated an enormous hype, to the point that somebody is looking forward to playing Rogue more than Unity in November. What many considered the Ubisoft “sweetener” for PS3 and X360 has proved to be a real chapter of the Saga, which covers the period of time between ACIII and ACIVBF, the true episode that puts an end to the events of the “Kenway Family Saga”. Also, maybe it's the most obscure story of the AC Brand as for the themes. Rogue, being the connection par excellence between ACIV and ACIII, will let us meet old and new faces from the previous ACs, like a young Achilles Davenport with his original outfit (the one he'll then give to Connor) and Adéwalé (probably killed by Shay in 1758), but looking carefully at the images released so far, it seems Shay, with his story, wants to add something completely new to AC... A new “Mythology”. Shay Patrick Cormac: Show me how you dress, and I'll tell you… what mysteries you may bring to AC Shay, from the information released by Ubisoft, was born in New York from Irish parents, and indeed his spoken language isn’t 100% Irish, but a mix with English and American, perfectly in line with his birth place and background. His middle name “Patrick” and the surname “Cormac” are, in fact, very common in Ireland. Also, Cormac is the same surname of an old acquaintance of AC. Anne Bonny. Indeed the true name of Anne Bonny is Anne Cormac, but this does not necessarily
However we have to notice that ACIVBF, thanks to Darby McDevitt, introduced a new type of imaginary characters in the universe of Assassin’s Creed. Fake characters who are kin of historical figures. Two important examples are Duncan Walpole, an imaginary Assassin but acknowledged in AC as the second cousin of the first Count of Orford, Sir Robert Walpole (1676 – 1745), the "First" English Prime Minister, and the Templar Julien Du Casse, another imaginary character who in AC is the nephew of Jean-Baptiste Du Casse (1646 – 1715), French privateer and admiral [Hephaestus’ note: “Uncle and nephew” both died in the same year]. To sum up, even though Cormac is a very common Irish surname, there's a possibility that Shay and Anne are distant, but not direct, relatives. Speaking of Character Design – something that Ubisoft always did very well with almost all its characters, not only in AC – Shay brings with him his Irish “genetic heritage”, including it also in the context of his Templar life. Indeed his outfit has some symbols of the Irish and Celtic folklore.
On the left side of Shay's outfit you can see a particular “Celtic Knot”. The Celtic Knots were linear glyphs without a beginning and an end. The knots could have both simple and very complex drawings (like the one on Shay's outfit). The use of a single line for the whole knot recalls the Celtic beliefs about the interconnection between life and eternity. The knots were created by the Celts in the first Celtic churches mainly in Ireland. When Christianity arrived in Ireland, around 450 A.C., the knots, indissolubly bound to the Celtic paganism, couldn't be completely eradicated from the popular beliefs, to the point that the first Christians in Ireland included the Celtic Knots in their religion. At this point the knots started to spread in the near lands,
Anyway we need to point out that at the beginning the Knots were probably created for purely decorative and aesthetic purposes, but then they were absorbed at first in the Celtic Paganism and later in the Christianity in Ireland. Shay's knot, to be more precise, vaguely reminds a very stylised arrow and it seems there's also an eye-shaped glyph apparently pierced by it.
In fact the Symbol is a Templar cross including in each of its four parts a Triquetra. Here you can see a high quality sketch of the symbol on Shay’s outfit made by our Simonsens. Also, the symbol’s shape calls to mind the Celtic Cross, with the internal parts of the cross rounded. There are many variations of this type of cross with four Triquetras inside, like this one and this one, but Shay’s cross is clearly unique.
The connection Shay – Ireland – Triquetra – Morrigan – Shay is very interesting, and shows how intricate the character design of every AC character is, and how much one can investigate about the nature of a character simply by studying the symbols he/she carries with him/her. The last symbol that is attributed to Shay’s celtic origins, but this time not present on his outfit, is the sword hilt. The Sword greatly reminds a classic Templar medieval sword, but the hilt calls to mind the simple Celtic cross, also known as Ancient Celtic Cross.
Shay’s Journey As mentioned at the beginning of the article, it seems Shay may introduce a new Mythology in Assassin’s Creed, and to talk about it we have to take into account the “River Valley Gameplay Trailer” released by Ubisoft on August 13, 2014. In this video we see for the first time the setting of the River Valley, a river location in the Great Appalachian Valley that is able to connect without loadings the classic AC gameplay on land and the naval gameplay introduced with ACIII and refined with ACIV.
During the fulfillment of his objectives, among which making some poison reserves explode [Hephaestus’ note: what good would the poison do to the Assassins?], killing the gang’s leader (Martin Capel, Game Director for Rogue, called him “Assassin”, but even though he uses a hidden blade, the game doesn’t refer to him as an Assassin - and this validates the idea that he is a man trained by Assassins, but not a true member of the Brotherhood. Practically a mercenary), and cutting down and burning the outpost’s banner (an orange flag with the Assassin crest and a flame inside), we see a very interesting symbol, which is completely out of place compared to Shay’s actions, appearing on the mini map. The symbol appears at 5:39 in the Trailer.
It’s clearly a RUNE, a letter of the alphabet used by Vikings and by German and Scandinavian people. To be more precise, it’s the Rune corresponding (also visually) to the “R” character of the Latin alphabet. The Raido Rune.
However the Raido rune didn’t only represent the sun chariot but also the theme of the initiation search or the Journey [Hephaestus’ note: bear in mind the concept of “journey”]. Raido was also associated with a ritual the etymology of which meant “Order”. This ritual had the meaning of “to organise” or “to re-organise”, in order to find a source and an objective for life. The concepts of Order and of “organising (or re-organising) to find an objective for life” are very fitting meanings for Shay’s life and his change of affiliation from the Assassins to the Templars, when he understands that the Assassins aren’t doing anything good for the world and finds in the Templar Order the right life objective. The Rune in the game is probably a collectible, something maybe connected with a sub-quest (probably similar to the missions of the Mayan stones in ACIV), but something interesting that seems to be revealed by a few symbols and some artworks here and there is that in Rogue there will be a connection with the Journeys to the Americas in the periods BEFORE Christopher Columbus’s discovery. Mainly we’ll analyze two of these journeys, one of which (the second one) is strictly connected with the Rune above. Henry Sinclair and the Templars’ Discovery of America in 1398 There’s a famous legend nowadays saying that among the many discoveries and inventions of the real Templars there is also the discovery of America, 94 years before Christopher Columbus.
However, shortly before his death, De Molay chose nine loyal men, armed with the knowledge of the Ancients, and sent them to secretly continue the Templar work around the world. The sentence “armed with the knowledge of the Ancients” suggests that these selected men already had the “knowledge of the Ancients” (obviously the First Civilization) when De Molay chose them (maybe they came in contact with one or more POE and learnt something from them). We’d also like to point out that, thanks to one of the Mnemonic Sets of PL, we know that De Molay owned the Shroud for a while, and in those years maybe there also were some suspicious movements of a certain Sword. Among the many places where the legends says Templars went after the official dismantlement of the Order, we find Scotland. It’s said that their story is coded among the walls of the Rosslyn Chapel, built by William Sinclair, Count of Caithness (1410 – 1484).
The Rosslyn Chapel (well-known also because it appeared in The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, in which it’s the location of the “final enigma”) was built in 1446 by William Sinclair and completed in 1450 in Roslin, near Edinburg. In the building one can see many symbols that can be connected with the Knights Templar and also with the Journey to America of William’s son, Henry Sinclair. .
There’s also a mystery connected with the “indecipherable ceiling” of the Chapel, made up of a series of Cubes with glyphs inside, which according to some scholars is a code based on music. Instead the symbol connecting the Sinclair family with the journeys to the Americas is the Archivolt that is present in these pointed arches, in which you can notice what seems to be corn plants. Why is the corn strange in this context? The fact that corn was imported from the Americas after Columbus’ discovery of the continent, and that before 1492 nobody officially knew that plant, and also that the Rosslyn Chapel was completed in 1450, many years before Columbus’ discovery.
This led many to think that Henry Sinclair reached the Americas 94 years before Christopher Columbus. Nowadays, it seems to be considered false. Nella trama di AC però, tutto questo sembra proprio successo veramente e Sir Henry Sinclair (probabilmente Templare), insieme a Sir James Gunn, altro Templare, parteciparono ad una spedizione in Nord America nel 1398. La Spedizione si dice arrivò in Nuova Scozia e in Massachusetts. Tutto questo lo troviamo in una delle due missioni esclusive nella Collector Edition di Rogue. In the AC plot though, this seems to have really happened and Sir Henry Sinclair (probably a Templar), together with Sir James Gunn, another Templar, took part in an expedition in North America in 1398. It’s said the expedition arrived in Nova Scotia and Massachusetts. We can find all of this in one of the two exclusive missions for the Collector's Edition of Rogue. One of these missions (or better, a set of missions) is, in fact, called “The Armor of Sir Gunn's Quest”. The description reads: “Explore North America to find the remains of Scottish explorer and Templar Sir James Gunn and solve the mystery of the man who may have been the first discoverer of the New World.” Below you can see an artwork of Sir Gunn’s armour coming from the promotional image for the Collector's Edition of Rogue.
As for Sir James Gunn, there’s a very interesting detail about his life. In Massachusetts, in Westford, there’s a rock sculpture called “The Knight of Westford”, which it is thought to represent a knight wearing an armor.
Everything converges with the fact that Shay Cormac will have to find the remains of Sir James Gunn in these missions, so this implies that the Scottish explorer died in North America during the journey. From the promotional artwork of the armor we can see there’s an iron shoulder strap on the right, while on the other side there’s a red cape around the neck, exactly like in the image of the knight of Westford, in which you can notice a cape around the neck dangling on the left and a strap shoulder on the right. Getting back to the subject, this was one of the two journeys to the Americas before Columbus that seems to have something to do with Rogue. However, going backwards through time, even before Sir Henry Sinclair and Sir James Gunn, there was another journey to America, way before the events of Sinclair and the Templars, and more strictly connected with the Raido Rune. The Journey to the Wine-land (or “Pasture-land” according to some interpretations) The journey we are going to talk about, it’s easy to guess, is part of the Scandinavian legend according to which Vikings reached America shortly before the year 1000, arriving in that fertile land (probably the current Newfoundland, in Canada) that they called “Vinland”, namely (as the paragraph’s title suggests) “Wine-land” or “Pasture-land”.
The Vikings established in these lands some small villages, which, however, declined very fast, probably due to the hostility of the Native Americans and the distance from the homeland. Anyway Vikings were also able to have a peaceful relationship with the natives and it seems there were some small trades between them and even some mixed unions. The question of whether or not the Vikings reached the North America way before Christopher Columbus (maybe around the year 1000), has been discussed for a long time by historians. Around 980 Icelandic Vikings discovered Greenland and, finding it uninhabited, settled down along the south-west coast. The first hypothesis of a later landing and even of settlement attempts of Vikings in zones like Labrador and Newfoundland found justifications in some passages of the Erik the Red saga in which there's mention of the journey of Leif Erikson (Erik’s son) in an overseas region called Vinland, inhabited by people (the Skrælingar) who seem to coincide with the first descriptions of the Native Americans made by the later European explorers. Lastly, the discovery in 1961 of 11th-century Viking tombs in L'Anse aux Meadows, proved the certainty of this hypothesis. Today it’s believed to be true that Vikings also arrived in Newfoundland, as well as in Greenland. The Viking Saga we are going to analyze is the “Grœnlendinga saga” or Saga of Greenlanders, which is believed to be more reliable and historically accurate than the Erik the Red Saga (often the events are the same, but are more accurately narrated). The Grœnlendinga saga is an Icelandic nordic saga, and, together with the Saga of Erik the Red, is one of the two main literary sources that narrate the Viking colonization of America. It narrates the colonization of Greenland, which was discovered by Erik the Red and his followers. Then it describes some expeditions to the West made by other explorers among whom the sons of Erik. The narrated events would date back to a period between 970 and 1030. Although some parts of the saga narrate little credible events, the saga is thought to contain a bit of historical truth. In this story Erik the Red (Eiríkr rauði) migrates from Norway to Iceland with Thorvald Asvaldsson, his father, because of some homicides. In Iceland, Erik finds a wife, Þjóðhildr (Thjodhild). Here he is once again involved in a brawl and proclaimed an outlaw at a local assembly. He escapes to the West and seeks a land discovered by a man called Gunnbjörn, who had gone astray. Erik sets sail from near Snæfellsjökull and reaches the coast of a glacial land. He travels south along the coast searching for a habitable zone. After two years of exploring this land, he returns to Iceland and tells of his discoveries. He names the land which he had explored “Grœnland” (Greenland), in order to encourage people to settle down there. After spending the winter in Iceland, Erik sets sail again with the intention of colonizing Greenland. He leaves with 30 ships, but only 14 reach their destination. Erik founds a colony in Brattahlíð (Brattahlid), in the south-west of Greenland, and becomes a respected leader. With Thjodhild he has three sons, Thorvald, Leif and Thorstein and a daughter, Freydis. The journey of Bjarni Herjólfsson. First news from Vinland. Among the journeys narrated in the Saga of the Greenlanders, important for the point we want to reach with the AC Saga, there's the travel of Bjarni Herjólfsson, an explorer who probably was the first to see the coasts of Vinland, but never went ashore.
Probably the journey occurred during the Summer of 985 or 986. Three days after the departure, Bjarni faces sudden winds from the north, fog and adverse weather conditions, and loses his bearing. After some days of bad weather, the sun shines again and Bjarni reaches a forested and hilly land. Realizing that it isn’t Greenland, he decides not to go ashore and sets sail again. After two days, his crew spots a flat coast, which also in this case can’t be Greenland, since he knows it has impressive glaciers. After three days of wind from South-West, they reach an island with some glaciers, but strongly unsuitable for a settlement. After four more days of strong wind they finally catch sight of Greenland and Bjarni settles there, abandoning trades and explorations. He talks about his discovery both in Norway and Greenland, where Leif Erikson, son of Erik, becomes extremely interested and fascinated in these new lands. The description of Bjarni’s journey is unique to the Saga of the Greenlanders and isn’t mentioned in the Saga of Erik the Red. The definitive discovery: Leif Erikson Ten years after Bjarni’s journey, Leif Erikson (Leifr Eiríksson), taking his tales seriously, buys the ship that Bjarni himself used for his voyage. Leif decides to set sail with a crew of 35 people and asks his father Erik the Red to lead with him an expedition to the west. At first Erik is reluctant but in the end he accepts. However, as he rides to the ship, his horse stumbles and Erik falls to the ground. Considering it a bad omen, Erik says:
So Leif and his men head for the west without Erik. Setting sail from Brattahlid, Leif and his crew find the same lands Bjarni had discovered 10 years before, but in the reverse order. First they come upon an icy land. They go ashore, but find it to be of little interest. Leif names this land Helluland (Stone-slab land), which approximately corresponds to the southern part of the Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Later they sets sail again and reach a forested land with white shores. Leif names it Markland (Wood Land), which maybe is part of the Labrador coast in Canada, and then they leave again. Leif sails for other two days with a north-easterly wind and comes upon a very inviting land. Leif steps ashore and decides, together with the crew, to spend the Winter there. About this new land the Grœnlendinga saga says: « The nature of the country was, as they thought, so good that cattle would not require house feeding in winter, for there came no frost in winter, and little did the grass wither there. Day and night were more equal than in Greenland or Iceland. » The place mentioned in the above passage is almost surely the Viking settlement of L'Anse aux Meadows (“The Jellyfish Cove” in French), in Newfoundland, the first known attempt of European colonization in North America.
The Viking village of L'Anse aux Meadows consisted of at least eight buildings, among which a forge and a sawmill, which had to supply a shipyard with wood. The biggest building measured 28,8 x 15,6 meters and included various rooms. When Leif and his crew explored L'Anse aux Meadows, they discovered grapes, and it is thought that Leif named the land Vinland. In the spring Leif and his crew left Vinland and returned to Greenland with a ship loaded with wood and grapes, which in Greenland, due to the climate, were scarce. All these events about Leif Erikson can be found in the Assassin’s Creed plot in one of the CTag memories of ACInitiates. Indeed in the sequence “Famous Explorers” we have a memory called “Daring Viking Explorer” set in the Iceland of 970 (year and place of birth of Leif Erikson) that could be unlocked by answering to the question “Where was Leif Erikson born?”
"The Norse explorer is widely recognized to be the first European to reach the shores of North America, in what is known as Newfoundland today. Although it is not clear whether he was part of the initial voyage to North America, he was certainly a member of the Viking expedition that reached L’Anse aux Meadows. According to Viking myths and sagas, Leif Ericson established a colony at Vinland". Everything that was narrated above belongs to events we already thoroughly discussed before, and the memory confirms that in the AC plot these events really happened. To sum up and get back to the main question, is it possible that those Runes, which probably are collectibles in Rogue, are part of a sub-quest connected with Leif Erikson or Vinland? Considering the presence of Viking Runes in a territory very near to the first Viking settlements of Leif (the River Valley in Rogue), it’s indeed possible. But going back to the topic of the symbols on Shay’s outfit, and connecting everything to the Viking symbology that he’ll encounter during his story in ACRogue, Shay, in some images, has on his outfit exactly a famous symbol of the Norse mythology [Hephaestus’ note: Oddly not in all the images, as if he “got” this symbol with the progression of the story]. In some screenshots coming from the trailers, in fact, or only in some promotional images, Shay’s belt has an iron Medallion engraved with no less than Yggdrasill, the cosmic tree of the Norse mythology. The fact that we have already seen two Viking symbols connected with Shay or his journey (the Raido Rune and Yggdrasill) should suggest the Viking mythology will probably have a certain importance in his story. Also, Raido and Yggdrasill are conceptually connected in the Norse symbology. Indeed, the symbol for Raido is associated with other objects of the Norse mythology, like the Sleipnir, Odin’s legendary eight-legged horse (allegory of the concept of “divine chariot” or “journey”), and, oddly enough, the Yggdrasill, which represents the symbology of life for the Vikings. One may even suppose that these Norse objects are part of a single Sub-quest in Rogue… or maybe they may be part of something bigger…
Above you can see the promotional image released by Ubisoft in which we noted for the first time the medallion with Yggdrasill. As mentioned before, this very interesting symbol doesn’t appear in every picture, and it appears only in some scenes of the trailers, while in other pictures Shay has nothing on his belt.
The symbol is unequivocally Yggdrasill (you can make a comparison with this medallion). At this point one may ask: why does Shay have a medallion engraved with Yggdrasill? At present we don’t have enough sources and speculating is practically useless and meaningless, but what can we discover about Yggdrasill in connection with AC in general? Yggdrasill, the Cosmic Tree of the Norse Mythology... but in AC?
(The Poetic Edda - Völuspá - The Prophecy of the Seeress)
With its branches Yggdrasill sustains the nine worlds of Norse cosmology, born from the sacrifice of Ymir (“the first being” or “the primeval man” according to the mythology). These worlds are: Ásaheimr, Álfheimr, , Miðgarðr, Jötunheimr, Vanaheimr, Niflheimr, Múspellsheimr, Svartálfaheimr and Hel. These nine worlds, in the Norse cosmology, form the whole universe. The roots of Yggdrasil extend far into the hell, while it’s said that its branches support the whole celestial vault. In Shay’s medallion you can notice mainly three big roots at the bottom (one on the right, one on the left and the other in the middle). It’s really not a casual element, in fact, in the Norse mythology, it’s said that Yggdrasill has three roots with which it “clings” to three of the nine worlds. Each root, in turn, culminates with a spring. It’s said that the first root is in Niflheimr, from where it reaches the spring of Hvergelmir (or “Spring of Life”), below which there’s the dragon-snake Níðhoggr (Nidhoggr), one of the many animals “populating” Yggdrasill. The second root extends into the Jotunheimr, the land of giants (in this case we could draw a parallel with the Nephilim, mentioned by William Miles in AC3), and reaches the spring of Mímisbrunnr (“Spring of Mímir” or “Spring of Wisdom”). This well conceals the absolute wisdom and knowledge. It’s said that Óðinn (Odin) went to this well to obtain the omniscience, but to do so he lost an eye. Lastly, the third root, reaches Ásaheimr, the reign of Gods, and arrives to the spring of Urðarbrunnr (“Spring of Urðr” or “Spring of Fate”). In front of this well, it’s said that there’s an abode in which the Nornir (or Norns) live, three women who decide the destiny of men: they’re Urðr, Verðandi and Skulld (their names mean respectively “Past”, “Present”, and “Future”) . These three women are perfectly comparable to the Parcae of the Roman mythology or the Moirai in the Greek mythology. Getting back to the concept of Yggdrasill in AC, is there a possibility that we have already seen the Cosmic Tree in the past?
Although I personally believe this connection between the enormous tree seen during the vision of the Nexus in Sequence 4 of ACIII and Yggdrasill is caused by two accidental coincidences, we must notice that they seem to be very “targeted” coincidences… Yggdrasill as allegory of the ancient First Civilizationcity of Turin? Questa mia particolare teoria vuole che l’intero complesso dell’Albero visto nella visione del Nexus in ACIII sia, attraverso la simbologia e i parallelismi con Yggdrasill, un’allegoria dell’antica città CVP che sorgeva vicino a dove oggi si trova la città di Turin. This particular theory of mine affirms that the whole entirety of the Tree seen in the vision of the Nexus in ACIII is, through symbology and parallelisms with Yggdrasill, an allegory of the ancient First Civilization city that rose up near the current location of the city of Turin. If, indeed, we superimpose the structure of Yggdrasill (including foliage, ground, roots), to the First Civilization city of Turin (including buildings, ”ground floor”, and foundations/basements), we can identify some particular but targeted coincidences... At the base of Yggdrasill, as previously mentioned, there are the three Norns, three female deities who know the destiny of gods and men. In the same way in Turin, at ground level, visible in the video of the First Catastrophe in ACR, there’s a statue portraying three female members of TWCB. The three TWCB are simply a triple representation of a single member of TWCB, Minerva, who, oddly enough, aimed to study and apply the Calculations, which allowed her to know the destiny of TWCB and men.
In the same way, in the foundations of the city of Turin, there’s the Grand Temple, and, to enter, (as we have seen in ACR) the structure uses an elevator located inside the statue of the triple Minerva, which exactly has the shape of a cylindrical well.
Last but not least, it’s better to describe the last coincidence talking about the TWCB counterpart first, and then about the Norse’s one. The enormous tree in the vision of the Nexus has big roots at the base that spread almost as much as the foliage, exactly like all the iconographies of Yggdrasill, including the one on Shay’s medallion, and mainly you have to notice that Juno, to show her message to a young Connor, descends into the depths of the tree’s roots. In that moment her figure incredibly reminds that character of the Norse mythology, who exactly live in the Yggdrasill’s roots, the aforementioned evil Dragon-snake Níðhöggr. Juno, exactly like Nidhoggr, who lived trapped under the well of Hvergelmir, is trapped inside the Grand Temple, under a similar structure shaped like a well that connected her to the surface. The fact that Juno, to deliver the message to Connor, takes him into the depths of the roots, where, in the Norse mythology, Nidhoggr lives, considering also the comparison between Turin and Yggdrasill, leads to the conclusion that Juno herself was exactly inside the Grand Temple, a thing that, in the end, proved to be true. Also, we have to say that the figure of the snake (sometimes portrayed as a dragon) is present also in the Uroburos, both on the internal portal of Turin’s Grand Temple and on the amulet left by Connor for Desmond and used like a key. At the end of Völuspá there’s also another very particular reference to Níðhöggr (namely “Malice Striker") that perfectly connects him with Juno, set immediately after the Ragnarök [Hephaestus’ note: we’ll profusely talk about the Ragnarök in the last part of this article]. .
These lines of the Völuspá, in fact, are usually interpreted in the following way: when the world, destroyed after the Ragnarök, will rise again from its ashes, Níðhöggr, here called “glittering serpent”, will fly over it like a shadow, carrying corpses in his plumage. The fact that after the Ragnarök Níðhöggr is officially free to roam the world following his plan is an event almost identical to the fact that Juno, after the Solar Flare on 21/12/2012 is free to roam the world to pursue her plan. Considering they are coincidences (and to some extent I sincerely think they are), they are very accurate… Now, as briefly mentioned before, let’s move on some speculations about some works and subjects of the Norse mythology that seem to have something to do with AC. The most important ones that we’re going to analyze are the Völuspá and the concept of Ragnarök, which, as we’ll see, has many similarities with the plot of AC, as for TWCB. Viking Speculations, part 1: Völuspá. The Völuspá (namely “The Prophecy of the Seeress”) is the first and most famous poem of the Poetic Edda.
The poem starts with a speech about Odin. The seeress starts telling the story of the creation of world. She explains how Odin, “the father of everyone”, obtained his omniscience [Hephaestus’ note: as mentioned before, Odin is a God of Wisdom NOT by bestowal, but he obtains Wisdom and omniscience thanks to the well of Mimir, where he loses his eye], and indeed the seeress implies she knows the origin of the Odin’s omniscience, and also many other secrets of the gods of Ásgarðr. Then she starts talking about past and future events, mentioning the majority of the Norse myths, as the death of Baldr at the hand of Höðr, planned by Loki with a trick. The prophecy officially starts with the seeress telling the sons of Heimdallr (who are humans) to be quiet. Then the seeress asks Odin whether he wants her to recite ancient traditions and legends (In AC we could see the expression “sons of Heimdallr” as a synecdoche to identify the whole humankind, in this way the seeress would narrate the story of TWCB to a group of men). So the seeress starts narrating the Creation Myth; the world was empty until the sons of Borr lifted the earth out of the sea. The Æsir then established order in the cosmos by finding places for the sun, the moon and the stars, starting the cycle of day and night. A golden age ensued, during which the Æsir (the gods of Asgard) had plenty of gold, and happily constructed temples and every other thing. [Note of Hephaestus: If we compare the Æsir to TWCB, then we can also compare what the seeress is saying to a golden era of TWCB on Earth before the creation of men]. But then three young and mighty giant maidens came from Jötunheimr and the golden age came to an end. The Æsir then created the Dwarves, of whom Mótsognir and Durinn are the mightiest. At this point of the poem, there are six stanzas including only a list of names of Dwarves. This part, sometimes called Dvergatal (catalogue of dwarves), is usually considered an interpolation and sometimes omitted by editors and translators. Since it’s “useless” to find connections with AC, we’ll skip it. After the Dvergatal, though, the poem, through the words of the seeress, narrates the creation of Askr and Embla, the first man and the first woman, (Hephaestus’ note: here the connection with the creation of Adam and Eve and so with the creation of men is obvious… please notice that also their names start respectively with A and E, like Adam and Eve) and describes the Yggdrasill, the tree of world. Then the seeress recalls the events that led to the very first war [Hephaestus’ note: since this war happens AFTER the creation of mankind, can we compare it to the War between Men and TWCB?] and the battle between the Æsir and the Vanir. The seeress reveals to Odin that she knows some of his secrets, and she knows what he sacrificed to pursue knowledge. She tells him she knows about Mimir and where his eye is, and how he gave it up in exchange for knowledge. She keeps asking him if he would like to hear more. Up until this point the story seems very similar to those events of the AC plot preceding and directly following the First Rebellion, which then led to the War between Men and TWCB. In this story, Askr and Embla (Adam and Eve) were both artificially created by Odin and his brothers, Vé and Víli. According to the myth, the group of gods used two logs from a shore to create two human figures. Odin breathed life into them, Víli the soul and the emotions and Vé the senses and the speech.
Viking Speculations, part 2: Ragnarök Near the end of the Völuspá, the seeress prophesies the end of the world and talks about the Ragnarök, and its second coming in the future [Hephaestus’ note: I’d say a clear parallelism with the First Catastrophe during the age of TWCB and the “Second Catastrophe”, then averted, on 21 December 2012].
The seeress warns Odin that from that moment on she’ll narrate terrible events. Events like the slaying of Baldr, the best and fairest of the gods. The rebellion of Loki, and of many others. Lastly she says that all the gods will perish when fire and flood overwhelm heaven and earth as the gods fight their final battles with their enemies (the War between Men and TWCB is still going on). This is the prophecy of the Seeress, this is the Ragnarök, the fate of Gods. The poem goes on describing the summons to battle and the personal suffering of each Gods. She describes the tragic death of many gods and how Odin himself is slain [Hephaestus’ note: A direct coincidence with the tragic death of many members of the First Civilization during and after the First Catastrophe]. Exactly as in the first video of the First Catastrophe in ACR, the world doesn’t end with the Ragnarök, because “Finally a beautiful reborn world will rise from the ashes of death and destruction”, a new world where the soil sprouts abundance without sowing seed. Indeed, according to the poem, from the Ragnarök come a man and a woman, Lífþrasir and Lif, who survive the catastrophe finding refuge and salvation inside a tree called Hoddmímis, and after the fire stopped breaking over the world, they come out and repopulate it. According to some scholars of the Norse mythology, the Hoddmímis tree is none other than Yggdrasill itself. However, the poem ends with a warning. The Ragnarök, one day, will come back, bringing back the same fire and the same destruction of the first one.
And we all know how it’s ended… To sum up, Shay will probably be connected with the Norse Mythology (we don’t know to what extent, though), and, as analyzed in this article, many events of the Norse mythology, in addition to being strictly connected with each other, also have strong equivalents in the plot of AC. Only by “experiencing” the mysteries that ACRogue will offer we’ll know what happens, but with these potentially valid ideas and theories, some of which go deep into the plot of AC, we already have a modest idea of what we may expect.
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 The forgotten TWCB  Six we tried in succession |
