Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is setting up an epic Viking adventure for the series’ next outing, with players inhabiting the role of hardened leader Eivor as either a man or a woman. While a hero with dual genders is an interesting first for the long-running series, multiple rumors have suggested the upcoming title was originally meant to feature a solely female protagonist, with Ubisoft purportedly pushing the idea of a male Eivor against that initial intent. As these claims have spread across social media, a developer with the game has now indicated the rumors may not actually be 100% accurate.

In a response posted on Reddit, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla narrative director Darby McDevitt set the record semi-straight, calling the rumors of a female-only Eivor “not wholly accurate.” McDevitt further clarified that the game’s story was “conceived from the beginning with both female and male in mind” and that there would have been “no way” for an unplanned male Eivor to be “added at the last minute.” The narrative lead assured sound reasoning went into featuring two versions of Eivor and suggested that revealing the mystery behind the decision would effectively spoil an integral part of the game.

We started ACV knowing full well that Ubi wanted to give players the ability to select characters, and we worked hard to make sure that it honored our lore.”

The new Eivor rumors stem from a fan on Twitter claiming the AC dev team was forced to include a male protagonist by executives at Ubisoft. Citing an unnamed victim of former creative director Ashraf Ismail (who stepped down from his position in June following allegations of inappropriate behavior), several posts depicted personal conversations between the two and detailed Ubisoft’s seeming unwillingness to allow Eivor to be a female-only character. In addition, the posts called attention the game’s largely male-focused marketing and the fact that Eivor is an “inherently female” name in Norse culture.

I’m posting these with the permission of the author pic.twitter.com/fnqYz6TbPp

— “Seiiki” on repeat ? (@Memento_Gallery) August 4, 2020

These claims circulating the web are only the latest to arrive ahead of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, with this particular rumor happening in the wake of a report (via Prima Games) detailing Ubisoft’s intentional reluctance to feature prominent female protagonists in the past. The company’s alleged internal philosophy that “women don’t sell” effectively nixed the idea of a solo Kassandra story in 2018’s AC Odyssey in favor of the added male option of Alexios. This report paired with the numerous abuse allegations levied against top-level Ubisoft employees likely did nothing to mitigate rumors that history may have repeated itself with Valhalla’s female Eivor.

What do you think? Are you intrigued by the narrative reasoning behind a dual-gender protagonist, or are you just going to stick with female Eivor when playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more headlines recently featured on DFTG, check out these next few news stories:

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