Valkyrie rambling.

[myaru]

I wonder how exactly Silmeria recruited her einherjar in the beginning. All three valkyries probably recruit their soldiers in all sorts of ways, but it seems they all have their own style. It was speculated that Hrist would be the type to kill her own einherjar (at least by me...), and we see some evidence of that in the new game - not enough to

Comments

[mura_arkaine]

It was speculated that Hrist would be the type to kill her own einherjar (at least by me...), and we see some evidence of that in the new game - not enough to say definitively that she does this all the time, of course.

Are you referring to a certain "manly" someone? I should really see that scene again in the dragon temple. This is one thought that never occurred to me-- how the valkyries recruit their Einherjer. Interesting.

I should have thought about this whenever I recruited people in VP:2, where she calls upon spirits via an object. It didn't even hit me that she didn't recruit them the same way Lenneth did. :P

[myaru]

Silmeria is a weird case, because I don't think she ever actively recruits einherjar during the game - she has fragments of their souls within, and she uses the various objects scattered around the world to complete their materialization. I guess she needs something to remember them, or some piece of their past to communicate their essence, maybe? Or the souls could have been fragmented and scattered when Odin smacked her down.

Since her talent seems to be reading objects, this makes sense. I don't remember if they ever went into this, though...

[prismaticdrake]

Silmeria likely does not want to recruit many more right now in case she does get caught and they get dragged into Valhalla. She's just recovering the relics of her old ones instead, which are conveniently where you need to go.

She says near the beginning that she has them, and she could manifest them now, but she's gone so long without them (or without an influx of divine power? Without going to Asgard? Without taking /them/ to Asgard? It's vague) that they wouldn't last very long before fading.

Many of her Einherjar died natural or at least very extended deaths, unlike the others, you're right.

[myaru]

Icon love!

Can she recruit at all while with Alicia? That's something I don't remember being addressed. It's possible she was weakened somehow - in fact, she said after Hrist revealed herself that she saw through the disguise, and couldn't do anything about it because she wasn't strong enough to oppose her sister.

But it still doesn't explain the problem with her power. She can clearly still do some valkyrie-like things; she can still release einherjar once they're strong enough, whatever that means on Midgard. She can draw on Yggdrasil's power in limited amounts, though we don't know how essential that is to her existence, do we? I assumed the Sovereign's Rite involved some kind of seal, ala Lenneth, but since something went wrong between Asgard and Alicia... I don't know.

I bet I'm forgetting something really obvious. Actually, I started this reply with something in mind re: the way her einherjar die, but of course I've forgotten whatever it was.

[sirusavi]

I believe the Valkyrie sisters and their personalities (Which filters into how they recruit their Einherjar) are constructed in a way as to parallel the evolution of the Valkyrie myth itself

[myaru]

That's sort of what I speculated back when I wrote the valkyrie pages for Divine Seal. In fact, that's what led me to think Silmeria would be the nice sister - if she reflects the most recent conception of valkyries as more feminine and stereotypically uh, maiden-like, it stands to reason she'd be sweet. HAHA. Lenneth certainly bears resemblence to Brynhild, who I remember labeling as an example of the middle ground. Though that's all Lucian's fault. Without him she'd have kept kicking ass and taking names.

A "dark omen" would label Hrist nicely. That would make Silmeria a bright future, but... well, you never know. We have no idea what she was like before Odin. Hrist implies she was too soft-hearted with her einherjar (namely Brahms/Dylan), which ultimately led to her downfall.

I know I'm dealing with extremes, but it seems that's exactly what Hrist and Silmeria are supposed to be. They're diametrically opposed in everything, even appearance, and certainly in philosophy and purpose

[myaru]

Silmeria's use of artifacts is the most confusing, I think. We've seen Hrist recruit twice, or think we have - there's the chance that einherjar already belonged to her, or was someone she marked before hand, perhaps. That's kind of unlikely, as the implication was that she didn't know where the orb was either (otherwise, why not just wait at the destination? though she might've had another objective in staying close to Alicia). But if she knew it had a connection to the volcano...?

The only time I checked the location vs. einherjar death was with Roland... I think. It was somebody whose sword was hanging around in exactly the area he could have died. I guess with some of them we just don't know - Seluvia and Christie come to mind. I wonder if her use of objects is just a manifestation of her talent; it might influence her tendancies.

I forgot about Falx! That's... that's actually really interesting, what with Silmeria's connection to Brahms...