The quest "Old Wounds" presents a regular who whodunnit to players in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. A lecherous guard captain has made many enemies, but which of his men have both the motive and guts to sell out their unit to the enemy? It's up to Eivor and players to sniff out the traitor.
"Old Wounds" is a quest in the "A Beviary of Broken Hearts" questline set in Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Essexe. This longer story is about a bittersweet breakup between powerful, unfaithful lovers, the perfect noire setup for a murder mystery. Eivor decides to aid the Frankish noblewoman Estrid escape her loveless marriage from the ruler of Essexe, Birstan, who is off hunting far too often for Estrid's liking. The plan is to stage a kidnapping during a Christian feast in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, when everyone will be too drunk to notice that lord's wife has gone missing. Unfortunately, the plan's success falls on the chiseled shoulders of Rollo, a guard captain with whom Estrid - and apparently many others - has had an affair. Rollo's indiscretion and location have been ratted out by one his men, leading to twin ambushes by Saxon warriors that leave many of Rollo and Estrid's loyal men dead. But which one?
In the aftermath of Assassin's Creed Valhalla's ambush, two plausible suspects emerge: Gerhild and Lork. These two guards are under suspicion both because they each seem to have it out for Rollo and because, well, they're about the only ones left alive after the massacre. Though both have motives and shaky alibis, one of the accused emerges as the likelier culprit. As Odin puts it in a conveniently timed vision: "Both had reason to betray their jarl. But only one had the ice-heart to do so." Eivor points out that an oath-breaker cannot receive the eternal reward of Valhalla, so their mission carries spiritual significance as well as the weight of a death penalty.
Who Valhalla's Real Traitor Is In "Old Wounds"
All signs point to Gerhild being Assassin's Creed Valhalla's traitor. For one thing, Gerhild calls the adulterous Estrid a "Frankish witch," which, while not incriminating on its own, is perhaps not the wisest thing she could say to her boss about his lover while getting interrogated. While her alibi (hunting for rabbits) seems plausible, none of her comrades (much less the strung-up rabbits) can vouch for her. But Lork provides the same alibi during Assassin's Creed Vallhalla's "Old Wounds" quest. So how can Eivor be sure Gerhild sold out her compatriots?
Ironically, despite her disdain for Estrid and Rollo's romance, Gerhild herself is sleeping with the enemy. At least, that's what Lork says, and he could easily be slandering Gerhild to save his own hide. But the proof - as the Anglo-Saxons' descendants would come to say - is in the pudding. If Eivor condemns Lork, Estrid's escape will go horribly wrong, impacting the game's ending to "A Beviary of Broken Hearts."
The tricky choice presented in "Old Wounds" shows Ubisoft's commitment to meaningful choices in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. And while Lork would probably appreciated not being sacrificed for the sake of player agency, he can rest easy knowing that he is vindicated in death.