EIR • GOD OF WAR RAGNARÖK

A Valkyrie healer? Strange. Eir was strange, as a matter of fact. Very quiet, very calm. Where her sisters were violent rapids, Eir was a gentle stream. She healed the wounds of both mortals and gods... and even a certain all-knowing sage who once drank too much and fell off a mountain...not my proudest moment.

Eir

Resketched based on old one

hugging the homies after splatfest

Making friends <3

Here she come

[First night at camp]

My wife and I have been playing Baldur's Gate 3 together, and these two are our co-Tav girls 🌸🔥🌖

random little ways that I've started worshipping more bc why not:

braided yarn around my wrist for Eir, pronoun bracelets for Dionysus, and chewelry necklace for Loki, and (eventually) a gold anklet for Aphrodite (currently the earrings I wear every day until I get it)

having a glass of wine and giving some to all of my deities in their respective cups

changing the color of my lamp light depending on who's hanging out (between purple red pink and green for me for now)

setting aside little trinkets I think any of them would like + putting them on their respective altars

putting on music they seem to like (at least one of them likes every single one of the songs on my playlist)

just hanging out with them when I can + they want to

letting the spirits hang around sometimes (Eir + Loki both seem to like my little buddy that has been with me for 9-10 years atp)

being cunty just bc I can (Dionysus, Loki, and Aphrodite seem to like that)

really dramatically and film-worthily acting out my daydreams (Dionysus gets SO hyped)

scrolling through the body positivity tag whenever I start to get self-conscious (they all seem proud when I do that, but Loki makes it known more (I think Aphrodite will be down too but I haven't gotten like that yet with her as part of the group))

just dressing up pretty!! it feels like I'm channeling Aphrodite :))

I'll probably put more on this list as things progress

Why GoWR Valhalla Is Important

Hey. It's me again. This time I'm not yelling about Kingdom Hearts or Drakengard, but I wanted to talk about God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla today and why I think it's important in trauma-centered narratives. This isn't a detailed analysis, just me spitballing.

SPOILER WARNING: There will be spoilers for God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, so please proceed with caution!

EDITED: 2/26/24

As a brief summary, Kratos spent almost the entirety of GoW 2018 refusing to talk about his past. His guilt, shame, and trauma deeply affected his relationship with his son, to the point where he didn't want to be around Atreus bc he was terrified of being a bad influence on him. It was only when Atreus' life was in danger did it force him to finally admit just a sliver of the truth. Now I don't mean to say that Kratos revealing his godhood wasn't a big deal because it absolutely was, I'm just saying that it's just one piece of a MUCH bigger story. Anyway, he recognized his past mistakes, but the shame was too much for him to openly acknowledge it until damn near the end of the game.

Come Ragnarök, Kratos was pretty much an open book. He had grown SO much in those short years of fimbulwinter: He openly talked about his trauma to Mimir and Freya. He worked so hard to be a good father and a good support system to his friends. He went out of his way to make amends with Freya and restore their friendship. And he fought to restore peace to the Nine Realms.

But come Valhalla, Freya wants to recruit Kratos to be the new God of War of the nine realms, or at least to be a part of the new peacekeeping council that she's putting together. Kratos is extremely hesitant to take up the mantle. He doesn't feel worthy or deserving enough to hold this position given all that he's done. He and Mimir (and later on, Tyr) are constantly going back and forth about it. Both perspectives are completely valid. Valhalla is about Kratos facing his past in a more literal sense; parts of Greece have been manifested from Kratos' memories of it, so it's like he gets to be there in real time again. This is about helping him process what happened and to add some nuance to the conversation. It's like free therapy for Kratos.

It's funny too bc you have both opposing viewpoints being represented. On one hand, you have Mimir and Tyr being the supporting/validating voice, and Helios is the contrarian. Since he's a manifestation of Kratos' memories, he represents the doubts that Kratos has about himself. The harsh voice to show how hard he is on himself, and not without good reason.

The reason why I think Valhalla is so important is bc in media, survivor narratives are often linear. The character just "gets over" their trauma and then that trauma isn't addressed again. It's presented more as a hurdle than a lifelong battle. I guess this goes to show how misunderstood survivorhood is. But that isn't how healing works. We regress sometimes, and sometimes we still mull over the things that have happened to us. We might heal, but that trauma does leave emotional scars. So even after the many leaps and bounds Kratos has made, he's not "over" his past, far from it! It still haunts him every day and every night. Valhalla is Kratos still processing everything. From my own healing journey, I've learned that it takes a long, long time to fully process your trauma, if there even is a "fully", anyway. It takes a long time to learn and understand all the complexities and how it affects you in current day. And it takes even longer to process such a complicated history like Kratos'.

Generally speaking about the idea of processing trauma, I said earlier that survivorhood is extremely misunderstood by the masses. Imo, our society is very anti-victim/anti-survivor. So with that in mind, from the perspective of the audience, some might perceive the processing trauma bit as repetitive or "milking it". These are mediums of entertainment after all, so ofc I understand wanting to put out an engaging story where the audience doesn't lose interest. But screw those ppl lol. We have to understand why we do what we do if we want to do better, and it's amazing that a video game is willing to have these conversations. Being more open about all the nuances of processing trauma, grief, healing, etc will go such a long way.

Even the roguelite gameplay style perfectly reflects this theme. Processing this stuff is slow. It doesn't happen overnight. Unless you're in Valhalla, I suppose.

Okay I said this wasn't a detailed analysis but I lied. I'm a liar now

Prayer to Eir

[prayer written by a member of the Godsring]

Oh Great Healing Goddess,

Honored by so many as caretaker of the ill and suffering,

She who Fjölsvið says shall free the sons of men from peril and pestilence,

We would ask you to free us from the same,

And join us in our place of worship.

Oh Maid who sits on Lyfjaberg,

Whose name comes down to us from ancient poems,

Whose nature is yet but vaguely known,

We pray to you to see us here,

And bless us with your presence.

Oh She with whom the ill and frail seek refuge,

We ask you humbly, with love in our hearts,

To help us know you, 

And to honor you,

As fully as you deserve.

Hail Eir!

A little piece I drew from the story Eir gave me :) (Story snippet below cut!)

She laughs. "I don't think you'd have wanted to picnic with me in Ishgard." 

"You...brought food...?" 

"Mhmm. And I talked to the Adalstienns, they're fine if the planting is delayed a few hours. Though I can help with that too." 

Then, she shrugs her shoulders a bit and walks over to a tree just inside the gate of the fence of their fields. Finn follows, knowing an argument was useless, and settles onto the grass as she pulls out some waterskins, fruit, and....

His eyes narrow. "What's going on, that you brought fried fishkin sandwiches?" 

Eir hands him his sandwich. "I have been told that you're waffling on accepting the promotion to Twin Adder Captain." She reaches into the basket again, pulling out a paper box that smells like baked goods, before leaning back against the tree. "I thought you might want a friendly ear." Finn remains silent, and she mimics her own earlier shrug. "Or we can just eat and plant some seeds." 

✨ Levitating ✨

trade with @darkness-2727 !!~

Ymir + Eir

more splat kidz

Every time I prayed to Eir, she came through and worked miracles in my life. Whether for myself or for a loved one, she blessed whoever was sick with good health, and a quick recovery. I am so grateful to her in a way that words can’t express. Hail Eir.

Installment 072: Throne featuring Yune, Sothis, Summoner, Eir, Freyja, Marth, Jagen

Artist: Hayase Reku

Released: March 24 2021

Casual affection [ F/F/F My tav + My wife's tav + Karlach ]