Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Is Eivor Better Than AC2’s Ezio?

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla brings a lot of changes to the franchise, even while it honors much of what’s come before. The Viking setting allows Valhalla to really dig into its world and characters, and it also adds new gameplay elements like raids.

Eivor is the main character at the heart of everything, and they’re easily one of the best Assassins the series has seen in a long while, whether players choose the male or female version. Eivor is a charismatic character who’s immediately likable, and a skilled warrior even before they become an Assassin.

Assassin’s Creed has featured a wealth of characters, but there’s no one more well-known than Ezio Auditore, the star of Assassin’s Creed 2, Brotherhood, and Revelations. So how does the series newest Assassin stack up against its most famous?

Eivor Is Fantastic But Ezio Defined the Franchise

Assassin’s Creed has explored a lot of personalities with its main characters, but Eivor is a return to the overly-confident sarcastic protagonist. Eivor exudes charisma at every opportunity, which Assassin’s Creed Valhalla drives home by having Eivor forge various alliances for their clan. Despite this, much like Ezio, Eivor prefers to be a bit of a lone wolf, striking out on their own most of the time. Unlike Kassandra and Bayek, Eivor is fairly stoic and serious, even though they’re a deadly Viking warrior. Yes, Eivor is ready to throw back flagons of mead at a moment’s notice, but by the same token, they’re ready to defend their home at any moment as well.

Eivor is easily one of the most likable characters the franchise has seen in quite some time, whether it’s in the dramatic main story or the hilarious Flyting rap battles. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey gave Valhalla big shoes to fill, but Eivor does it with gusto. Despite how good of a character Eivor is, it’s unlikely the series will ever be able to top Ezio Auditore. This is mostly due to the fact that so much about the series’ protagonists have been influenced by Ezio. After the utterly stoic Altair, Ezio was about as different as Ubisoft could have possibly done. Fans immediately fell in love with the smarmy Italian, and he’s still the only protagonist in the series t star in multiple games. That’s partly why Ezio remains the best protagonist to date because he has the most interesting character arc. Assassin’s Creed 2 shows him as a naive young man out of touch with reality, then Brotherhood shows Ezio evolve into a wiser man who uses his experience with tragedy to mentor. Finally, Revelations shows Ezio at the end of his life, reflecting on everything he’s done. Throughout the various ages fans see Ezio, the character retains that inherent charm and sense of justice. Ezio came to define the idea of an Assassin’s Creed protagonist, and it’s telling in and of itself that every new protagonist gets compared to him.

By and large, the Assassin’s Creed series has had good protagonists and Eivor, especially the female version, is a serious high point. However, the franchise won’t be able to top Ezio until it gives another protagonist as satisfying a character arc.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is currently available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.

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