A long time ago, before I started to look for clues to solve mysteries, I simply played Valhalla. I took this screenshot because I liked the atmosphere. And now, when I look at it, I see runes etched in the bark of the trees...

@fudz4 Yes, the location can be found. It's the one with the cairns. It has changed a lot in these 1000+ years (there was a lake where there is now dry land next to the cabin), but it's still recognizable if you look closely. If you search around, you'll even find the location of Eivor's future grave, which is marked with 'sparkles' when using Odin's Sight.

And we all hope a later update will explain why Eivor is buried in Vinland.

@fimbulthulur We don't disagree on this. If Eivor is canonically female (and I really don't mind either way),Ubisoft certainly went out of its way to suggest otherwise in their branding etc. Because all we see is a male Eivor.

@jayveeonyt Some people like solving mysteries, some people apparently like messing with people solving mysteries.

Okay, let's take another fresh look at Bran, based on a close reading of the notes and other in-game information. Be ready for a long read.

We know Bran set out to find "Fae Treasures of Belas Knap, the ring of Silvanus, and who knows what else", "artefacts hidden around Glowecestre".

He was evidently unable to get his hands on the "Fae Treasures of Belas Knap", since we (Eivor) get to do that in the game. The treasure consists of Morrigan's Guard, a shield "of another era or another world", "made of a strange material", which is heavily implied to be an Isu-artefact (although not on the same level as Mjolnir, Excalibur, Gungnir and Nodens' Arc). The note at Belas Knap explains why Bran wasn't able to get the treasure because "only those touched may pass through Belas Knap". Eivor "Wolf-Kissed" is obviously "touched". In the same note there is also a reference to venturing "onward to worlds unspoken", but this has not (yet?) happened.

Next on Bran's list is "the ring of Silvanus". This, we know, is a reference to Tolkien, who worked at the excavation site of Nodens' temple at Lydney Park. Tolkien based his One Ring on the reference in an inscription found at Nodens' temple to a lost ring. In-game, Nodens' temple is represented by the Temple of Ceres with the associated Hidden Ones Bureau. Back to Bran: he was unable to find the ring, which had been "stolen" from the temple, but Eivor did find it in one of the houses of Glowecestre. It can't be picked up, unfortunately. In case everything was not obvious enough, Bran's note is actually titled "One Ring". So this "artefact" has been accounted for too.

Bran then takes up another clue, which was to lead him to "the Mask of Janus", described as "an enchanted item that allows the wearer to pass between the doorways between worlds" (and as "a cursed mask" by Bran's brother Dafydd, linking it to the "fae", or Isu). Bran searches high and low for the mask, but without success and finally, frustrated, returns home.

We don't know for certain what happens next. @Tchester1980 has suggested that his grave is to be found on the hilltop close to Thieves' Warren, where we can also find a superbly detailed medallion (which we can't pick up). We don't know yet where this medallion comes from. Whether or not this is indeed Bran's grave, this medallion is something out of the ordinary, which begs for an explanation, as does Bran's fate.

Although Bran was forced to conclude that "the mask is more myth than fact", there is every reason to believe that the Mask of Janus is indeed an (Isu-)artefact, that is somewhere to be found in the game, specifically somewhere around Glowecestre. The other treasures Bran set out to find did also really exist.

Janus, by the way, is the Roman god of doorways, and it has been suggested by some scholars that his counterpart in Norse mythology is Heimdall. Heimdall, of course, is one of the Isu that used Yggdrasil, only to be reincarnated too early as Rig (see the Rigsogur). His tomb could be another loose end.

Of course, the Mask of Janus could be the item we need to finally activate the runes, but it also deserves our attention in its own right. We may have learned nothing new, and we did explore this area before, but after reviewing the in-game 'evidence' once again, I still think it's worthwhile to keep investigating this. 

What do you think? Did I miss anything, did I misinterpret something?

@kreutzgang Think of all the development time that went into the careful process of hiding all that unimportant loot behind barred doors etc. Imagine if they had not went overboard with that stuff, but had spent that time balancing the game and finding and fixing bugs... We would have had a better Valhalla at launch (and now)!

@forcefrank The point is (as @kreutzgang has explained in an earlier post) that at some point in Valhalla Eivor gets so powerful that dying in combat is almost out of the question. Earlier in the game, and the zealots and witches especially, is something else.

@gloomseeker @Asgardian02 I think both your options - rivers raids integrated into the main map, and river raids in different parts of Europe - would have been better than the option Ubisoft has offered us...

I fully agree that the expeditions in Far Cry New Dawn (also developed by Ubisoft Montreal!!!) were a breath of fresh air. Each time it was amazing to see what new location they had come up with!

@imbue_ Well, pigs are known to be very intelligent animals, so I won't feel offended.

@tchester1980 The things we do to get to the bottom of this mysterie...

@kreutzgang Well, all the rumours narrow it down quite a bit. The game is set in the past. Sounds great for an AC game!

@tchester1980 yes, I've been able to catch a few fish I missed since they 'fixed' it, but I still miss quite a few.

@tchester1980 I guess. Better late than never...

Unbelievable! After 300 hours of playing Valhalla I just stumbled across the first corpse of another player I could avenge!

I was in the Weald looking for trees...

Okay, got it. Berthulf is not the Mercian king. The names (except Kjotve of course) have no significance to the main story. This little quest is a reference to one of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: The Pardoner's Tale (which is also the name of the world event.) See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pardoner%27s_Tale.

@taraatar @Tchester1980 Thanks! I was at the right place, but the letter was not were I expected it to be. Back in a sec.

@tchester1980 I don't know yet. Trying to find the letter to get the context, but I guess I'm at the wrong oak tree at the wrong world event...

@tchester1980 More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beorhtwulf_of_Mercia

@taraatar I've heard about these points, but I've never investigated them (too much to do!). I don't know if the points other people have found are the exact same ones you indicated.

@tchester1980 I don't think it's a bug. If it is coincidence, it is too much of a coincidence... And again, the medallion is just too finely detailed not to be special in some way. Great find!!! Maybe this is an alternative way to point us to the location of Noden's Arc? In that case there should be a second set of three objects (the same medallions or something else) that form a line that intersects with your line at the location of Noden's Arc.