Assasin’s Creed Valhalla promises to take us to the 9th century, at which time the Vikings began to expand throughout Europe. However, as was already the case in Assassin's Creed Origins and OdysseyWe are still at a point long before the creation of the Templar Order and the Hassassin sect, specifically more than 300 years before its foundation.
Until now the saga has avoided that problem by reorganizing its origins based on the appearance of the Hidden and the Ancient Order, but the appearance of the Vikings and Alfredo the Great, one of the enemies that we will hunt down in Valhalla, aim to spin even more finely the origin of both brotherhoods.
The so-called Dark Years
Featured in first trailer of Assassin’s Creed ValhallaAlfredo was nicknamed the Great for becoming king of Wessex and proclaiming himself king of the Anglo-Saxons after stopping the Viking attack that sought to appropriate English soil in the Dark Years.
The period refers to a period included between 476 and the year 1000 of which there is little information due to the lack of Latin literature, cultural production and historical records. It is a time also marked by the dark due to the constant armed conflict between kingdoms and the fall of demography.
Over time archeology has shown that the Middle AgesNamed for being between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Modern Age -two times of cultural and technological splendor-, it was far from the decadence and darkness that we are used to seeing works of literature, painting and audiovisuals.
To the Middle Ages we owe the glasses, the gunpowder, the binding, the windows, the mills, the decimal system and even the mechanical clocks, so it is far from being that era of hicks surrounded by dung that has made its way through us of little historical rigor and the rise of various Myths and legends
That does not mean that, as in the case of English lands, it was a time of great division. England it was riddled with kingdoms that fought among themselves for control of a rich and abundant land. A situation that the Vikings knew how to take advantage of to escape the Scandinavian cold.
The relationship between the Dark Years and the Viking myth
To the maximum of "history is written by the victors”Here is added the fact of not having a greater weight of Viking chroniclers and the lack of documentation typical of the time to which we referred before. What do we have left? An aura of destruction and savagery that derives in the mysticism related to that great pagan army that was collected in some chronicles.
Often related to savages that devastated everything before returning home, archeology has ended up showing a much more earthly vision than the Vikings were, recognizing their worth and influence in matters of culture and navigation. In fact, it was this last point that gave them the category of looting pirates.
As experienced sailors, vikings They were able to travel long distances, attack poorly defended coastal areas, and escape with loot before anyone knew what had just happened there. However, it was not the only thing they did on their arrival in England.
There are records of two large camps in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire in which Viking groups sought to establish themselves as farmers, thus giving meaning to the idea perpetrated by the English that the Vikings were "wolves among sheep" However, although their attempts at expansion worked with many kingdoms engaged in wars between neighbors, the entry into the scene of Alfredo the Great showed that they could stand up to them.
Who was Alfredo the Great and what relationship does he have with the Assassin’s Creed Templars?
The true story of Alfredo the Great, the youngest of the five children of Ethelwulfo, king of Wessex, could easily come in line with the lore of the saga of Ubisoft
However, the real relationship between Alfredo the Great and the Order of the Temple is non-existent because, plain and simple, it was many years before that was founded. Despite this, there is thread to pull, one that continues to have a place among the myths and legends of the time but not as historically true: the relationship between Freemasons and Templars.
For those who do not know the Freemasons, it is one of the guilds that, due to their secrecy, have caused a certain mysticism around them. Created as a brotherhood that brought together the builders of the time, over time they opened the doors to people outside the guild. Capturing great wealth and power, over time they would lead to a kind of upper class club destined to control in the shadow the future of the kingdoms.
What does Alfredo the Great paint here? He swims, but his close offspring do. It is said that 25 years after Alfredo's death, King Athelstan, his grandson, would be in charge of facilitating and promoting the Gothic Constitution, a letter that allowed the creation of the Order of Freemasons as a free organization with power to regulate each other.
Of Masons and Templars
This is all very well, but what does it really have to do with a plot that has always been about the Templars and that now also takes as reference the vikings
To understand the relationship between Masonic Lodge and the Order of the Temple we must resort to the fall of the latter. After the crusades and the conquest of the Holy Land, the Templars had accumulated a huge amount of land and wealth that caused many of them to become great bankers.
The religious and monarchical power of the time saw in its growing fame a danger that had to be eradicated. For this, in the year 1314 the Templars were accused of sodomy and heresy, thus dissolving the congregation and imprisoning or burning at the stake the knights of the Order of the Temple.
Those who fled the attack would disperse throughout Europe, escaping from the French coast and reaching England, where, it is said, many would be sponsored by societies that hid and protected them. Freemasons sponsoring great bankers? We have conspiracy.
Wait a minute, what about the Vikings?
Ready for the last cartwheel? Well, let's go there. What if the Freemasons had something to do with the Vikings and the Masonic rites were related to the Nordic initiation rituals?
Some theories claim that, with the arrival of the Vikings and their settlements, certain customs were embraced or adapted by the local population, ultimately reaching the Masons by the hand of initiation rites and key objects.
To give some examples:
- The pillars are symbols of worship found in both cultures.
- The Masonic initiation rite involves several actions related to number three apparently similar to the rites of the young Vikings, also focused on the three in honor of Odin, Thor and Freya.
- When entering a Viking clan or Lodge, the right foot is put on, leaving the left foot bare.
Surreal stories aside, what is clear is that the narrative team of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla He has a gold mine to dig into. And for those of us who enjoy the lore of the saga as much as its playability, all of these Myths and legends they are a reef that we are wanting to taste.
Images | Viking Expansion
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