A Theory on Valka’s Potions

Let’s get the major spoiler out of the way…if you haven’t finished the game (or at least gone back to Norway), turn back now.

We learn the truth that Svala is Freyja reborn.

Now, given that Svala is Valka’s mother, it can be assumed that in training her daughter to become a Seer like herself, she could’ve passed down rituals and recipes long forgotten by time, preserved only in the minds of those like Svala.

If we go out further on this limb stemming from truth, could it then support the possibility that the note found in the Seer’s Hut in Ravensthorpe, coupled with the ingredients Valka has Eivor gather for her special brews leading to Asgard and Jotunheim, could be a recipe for the first ever Animus method by imbibed inoculation?

By this theory, the long-lost “nature’s recipe” for whatever’s been chemically pumped into Animus users since the 1960’s can be easily replicated using a base of the following: + Juniper Berries + Gills of a perch + Talons of a white pigeon + Red Clay

But if we mix in Thistles, only those with a Reborn’s DNA like Eivor gets to go to Asgard, and conversely the same few with Reborn DNA are the only ones able to use Fire Weeds and St. John’s Worts for mental time-travel to Jotunheim. Perhaps Svala used this base/added ingredients to become more in tune with Freyja throughout her life before ultimately renouncing death for eternity in the Yggdrasil’s Valhalla simulation?

It’s also worth noting that Valka must’ve known about Isu technology/methods since before she arrived at Ravensthorpe for her to have taken her ailing mother into the Yggdrasil Chamber to “rest”

Just a fun one to spin, but it seems possibly spun into the fabric by the Nornir if we look critically enough, don’t you think? Freyja was an extremely powerful Vanir with vast knowledge of magics, after all!

• Your Friendly Neighborhood Mentor