#hermond

PART ONE - The Characters

When the character designs for dr first dropped, featuring the key class that trained with Xehanort and Eraqus, a lot of people were quick to point out how they all take their names from norse gods/goddesses. They’ve already been covered in other excellent posts, plus, I’ll be talking about them more in my part two. But! With the update, we finally got to meet the eponymous upperclassmen, who also take their names from mythological figures

Vidar - The Silent God. Víðarr is the son of Odin, mostly attested as a god of vengeance, he killed Fenris wolf at ragnarok in response for the doggo devouring Odin. This fits the student leader we see in dr; broody, stern, and occupied with avenging the loss of his classmates. Some scholars propose his epithet of “silence” is specifically a part of his mourning, a part of the ritual retribution he takes part in. (More on that later)

Vala - Seer, sorceress. Not a god or goddess, Vala, or völva, is a northern germanic term for prophetess, which relates to Vala’s analytical predictions, as well as her references to her “vision” and it being unclear if she means her glasses, or a real ability to see the future. Interestingly, she is not named for the norn who sees the future. That honor goes to Skuld. So far, we’ve actually seen two norn names: Urd, meaning “That which has happened”, and Skuld, meaning “That which shall be”. I’ll let the Subject X = Skuld theorists do with that what they wish.

Vali - The Chosen. Not to be confused with Váli, the son of Loki. Váli is another son of Odin (Almost every male student is named after a god that, at some point or another, is attested as a son of Odin. The exceptions are Xehanort, Eraqus, and Helgi.) Váli, however, is a special kiddo, being born specifically to avenge the death of Baldr. According to the poetic edda, he grows to adulthood in a single day. “[He] will kill when one night old – he will not wash hand, nor comb head, before he bears to the pyre Baldr's adversary.” This not washing hand or hair is linked by some scholars to Víðarr’s silence, likely some lost ceremony of keeping a stoic lifestyle until one has delivered justice. He’s also described archer, which is probably where they got the ninja motif. An excellent marksman, he shoots the god who killed Baldr, killing them in return.

Hoder - The Battle Warrior. You may be wondering: who killed Baldr? Well, in the mythology, it’s his brother Hǫðr (Helped by Loki). In most myths said to be blind, (though this is disputed) Hǫðr unknowingly shot Baldr with the one thing that could kill him. And while she doesn’t cause his actual death in the game, it could be said that Hoder was the catalyst for Baldr being overcome by his darkness. They are said to both be reborn after ragnarock, finally free to live together in the peace they could not have in their first life. You know, like....

Ahem.

Heimdall - World-brightener. Now, sadly we’re starting to get to the three upperclassmen we know the least about.  From the few lines they have, Heimdall does seem to be cool, levelheaded, and forward thinking, which matches with the watchman of the gods. Also, Heimdall is often referred to as “the whitest of gods”, probably where the character designers came up with the silvery hair and pale outfit. Other than that, we sadly don’t have enough information to make many connections.

Sigrun and Helgi - The valkyrie and the hunter. I grouped these two together because, again, we don’t know much about them, but also, their mythological counterparts are a pair. They’re kind of of the odd ducks. First off, they’re the only upperclassmen not named after gods. Sigrun was a valkyrie who fell in love with a mortal, Helgi Hundingsbane. However, she was betrothed to another man, and Helgi ended up going to war over the whole mess and dying at the hand of her brother. Heartbroken, Sigrun curses her brother and spends the rest of her life mourning and tending Helgi’s tomb. The second interesting thing is their story doesn’t end there. The original editor of the poetic edda notes that Sigrun and Helgi are actually the second incarnation of this pair; before, they were a married couple by the names of Sváfa and.... Helgi. And then, after their second lifetime, are reborn as Kára and *pinches nose* Helgi. (Seriously man, how do you keep getting reborn with the same name?!?) These two are the only that don’t bear a very strong resemblance to their original counterparts. Aside from being a male and female fighter, I don’t think they even exchange a single line of dialogue. In the downtime where everyone’s napping in the clearing, Sigrun isn’t sitting with Helgi, she’s curled up with Vala (Which I WILL be interpreting for my own purposes, thank you very much. Harold, they’re lesbians) I think the real character inspirations here are meant to be these ideas of reincarnation and rebirth. The cycle of lives, over and over. The memories of past lives and past love. Important themes they start pushing in this game.