Hello, again friends, here we are with more
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla news and a new
video in which we’ll discuss birds.
Not all birds in general, but a specific and
iconic type of bird: the raven.
Or, if you want’ Eivor’s raven or our
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla companion.
As usual, before we begin, thank you for your
support on my YouTube videos, and if you could
drop a like on the one above as well, it would
mean a lot.
Last but not least a small shoutout to all
new subscribers who have joined my YouTube
Channel.
Thank you guys for joining and for your support!
Back to our raven now because we are going
to 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.
So, make sure you watch the video until the
end because I believe there is a lot to learn
from it; or keep reading the summary below.
Ok, so in order to make everything easier
to follow, we are going to 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 and it is pronounced Suenin.
Not Sainin and not Sinin.
But Suenin.
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.
In 2017, when Assassin’s Creed Origins released,
we got the chance to meet Bayek and his companion
Senu.
We can remember Bayek calling on Senu with
a quote that is quite iconic: “Be my eyes,
Senu!”
Senu’s role in the game was very important.
Bayek used Senu to scout areas, to hunt animals
or to harass and distract enemies.
Because of the symbiotic relationship between
them, Bayek’s Eagle Vision transfers to
Senu.
Although there are more details about Senu,
two things that we need to remember here are
her name, because Senu was a female; and her
species.
Senu’s name means sister which denotes the
connection she has with Bayek and a relation
with the word Bennu.
Bennu was an ancient Egyptian deity linked
with 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.
In 2018 Ikaros replaces 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,
tag, and distract enemies.
While hunting, we can also see Ikaros swooping
down and kill smaller animals.
A major 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.
Moving back to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
companion let’s start with the most common
of questions.
Why a raven?
Before talking about mythology, it’s worth
pointing out that ravens are considered to
be unusually intelligent birds.
The common ravens, like Synin, played an important
role in Norse mythology.
If you watched the Vikings TV series you may
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.
Which 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.
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 dots we can clearly see
why developers picked a raven for Assassin’s
Creed Valhalla.
In Origins we had Senu to 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?
He will definitely retain the abilities from
the previous games.
We can use him to scout areas, tag enemies,
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 have to remember
that Synin is a raven and due to its size,
it will be impossible.
One new feature that Synin will bring to Assassin’s
Creed is the ability to steal.
I remember Ashraf Ismail mentioning this but
I wasn’t able to find the source.
If this is the case, then we can expect to
see Synin stealing important things such as
quest items, keys, letters, and small items
in general; but not heavy stuff such as weapons.
It would be interesting to use Synin as a
thief and I can see this happening; 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 only.
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 is going to fix this by
bringing back the Eagle Vision as it was in
the previous games when we were able to 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.
