A new in-engine trailer for Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 was revealed at The Game Awards 2021, which showed Senua and her tribe attempting to kill a giant. When they finally saw it, it looked badly beaten and nearly disemboweled, but it plowed through her tribe with ease as it called out to Senua. With this entire situation clearly being personal to both parties, it thus raises the question of what their connection to each other is, and how it may influence the sequel's narrative.
[Warning: Spoilers below for Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice]
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was an experimental narrative action game developed by Ninja Theory and released in 2017. It centers around a Celtic warrior named Senua who is traveling to Helheim to save the soul of her love, Dillion. Hellblade's approach toward mental health made it truly impactful, specifically its depiction of psychosis, in both its narrative and gameplay.
Players are encouraged to play with headphones in order to experience the voices that Senua hears in her head, which were the whispers she heard telling her to run in the Hellblade 2 trailer. In her journey through the first game, she must battle with various entities that are representative of her own struggles, trauma, and fears. This all culminates in her final confrontation with Hela, and this battle is what connects Senua and the giant.
Hellblade 2's Giant Reveals Senua's Continued Fear Of Death
The common consensus among Hellblade players is that Senua's battle with Hela represents Senua overcoming her fear of death. While Senua struggles with many representations of her psychosis, such as Valraven and his power to create hallucinations, her driving force is her fear of death - both of her own and of those she loves. Naturally, she faces that fear head-on when she confronts Hela and her Hel-Walkers (who also appear in God of War's next sequel, Ragnarok) in the game's final act. The goddess of death takes the form of a giant human figure that is pale white on her right side, and a charcoal black on her left.
Though Senua is victorious, seemingly overcoming her fears, the Hellblade 2 trailer reveals that this many not be the case. The giant shares a lot of similarities to Hela, being a pale white figure that, after being set on fire multiple times, is burnt to a charcoal black color on its left side. The opening narration also emphasizes that risking one's own life is a large sacrifice, but "to lead others to death brings a different kind of burden." This is likely alluding to Senua now leading a tribe of Celts through Hellblade 2's new and unfamiliar Icelandic vistas with the knowledge that her choices have led many to their deaths, only deepening her fears and trauma.
This is likely why Senua only recognizes the giant after it slaughters so many of her warriors, as its burnt appearance resembles Hela's. That said, it is still anyone's guess as to who the giant truly represents to her, whether it's Dillion once again or another representation of her father perhaps. Regardless, its connection to Senua and death feel quite clear and should be illuminated further as Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 gets closer to release.