Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Male and Female Protagonists Are Both Canon

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s narrative director has confirmed that both male and female variants of main character Eivor are considered canon to the storyline. Talking to a fan on Twitter who asked “But who is cannon [sic] the female side or male side”, Ubisoft Montreal narrative director Darby McDevitt replied “Both choices are canon, but we’re not going to spoil how we managed that trick until you play the game.”

Both choices are canon, but we’re not going to spoil how we managed that trick until you play the game.

— Darby McDevitt (@DarbyMcDevitt) April 30, 2020

The question of which gender is canon stems from how Assassin’s Creed Odyssey handled its protagonist; while players had a choice of either male Alexios or female Kassandra, the official tie-in novel was written with Kassandra in the main role, thus establishing her as canon. The key difference between Odyssey’s and Valhalla’s approach is that in Odyssey, Alexios and Kassandra are two different characters; both exist within the world, and the character you don’t pick becomes an NPC. In Valhalla you play the same character, Eivor, but choose if they are male or female. By McDevitt’s comment, it seems like Valhalla will reveal the nuances of its approach to canon when we can finally play it in Holiday 2020. While both characters are canon, it is male Eivor who can be seen in Ubiosft’s marketing artwork and in the trailer. Female Eivor has been shown in screenshots, as well as in a statue that ships with the collector’s edition of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/30/assassins-creed-valhalla-official-trailer"] Male Eivor is played by Magnus Bruun, and female Eivor is played by Cecilie Stenspil. Both are Danish actors, with Brunn having played Cnut in Viking show The Last Kingdom. For more on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, check out everything we know about the story details and gameplay, as well as our trailer breakdown and 36 facts you should know. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.