How many years between Valhalla and Odyssey?

As a long-time gamer and Assassin‘s Creed fan, I‘m fascinated by the huge scales of time and history covered in this franchise. A stark example is the 1230 year span between Ac Odyssey, set in Ancient Greece, and the Viking-inspired Assassin‘s Creed Valhalla.

The Golden Age of Athens Meets Viking Conquests

Assassin‘s Creed Odyssey transports players back to 431 – 404 BC, right in the midst of the raging Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. We get to meet the great philosophers and statesmen Pericles and Socrates, and see the Parthenon in all its glory. Contrast this to Valhalla in 873 AD, where Norse raiders terrorize Britain and King Alfred rallies the Saxon resistance. Both are pivotal eras that lay foundations for the modern world.

A Millenium of Assassin vs Templar Conflict

While the historical contexts may be wildly different, the age-old Assassins vs Templars conflict rages on. In Odyssey, the proto-Templar Cult of Kosmos plots to control Greek society from the shadows. In Valhalla, the Order of Ancients emerges as a precursor to the nefarious medieval Templars. This shows how the secret war between the two factions has stretched over millennia.

The immortal Kassandra from Odyssey meeting Eivor in Valhalla (Source: Gamespot)

The one link bridging these disparate periods is Kassandra, the heroine of Odyssey and descendant of Spartan king Leonidas. Granted immortality by an ancient artifact, she remarkably ends up meeting Valhalla‘s main character Eivor 1200 years after her own game.

Lasting Over 2000 Years to Pass the Torch

Kassandra‘s lifespan is astonishing – she lives for over 2400 years! From the glory days of Ancient Greece well into the Viking Age, she witnesses centuries of history before finally passing her burden to the modern-day Assassin Layla Hassan in 2018 AD.

This immense longevity allows her to directly connect with and advise descendants like Eivor who live over a thousand years later! Through this, we as fans also get to enjoy the continuity across games separated by centuries.

Witnessing the AC Timeline and History Unfold

As seen in the chart below, the Assassin Creed timeline spans many millennia, from the equivalence of the great pyramids of Egypt to the recent Victorian era. For someone like Kassandra, she would have seen civilizations and empires rise and fall over 50 generations!

(Source: Animus.MobyGames.com)

Imagine living through so many dynamic periods – the golden ages of cities like Athens, Rome and Constantinople, the Crusades, Renaissance Florence, Caribbean piracy, the French Revolution and the dawn of industralization. While daunting, this astonishing breadth of history is what makes exploring the AC universe so appealing and awe-inspiring to me as a gamer.

Playing Games Set in 395–430 in Reverse Order

An interesting consequence of this long timeline is that gamers often end up experiencing these eras in reverse chronological order. For instance I played Odyssey before Origins, and Valhalla before the first Assassins Creed set during the Third Crusade.

While this might seem jarring, I feel it provides some advantages. You approach earlier periods with some contextual knowledge of how events eventually unfold. The end of Origins sets up many AC lore foundations, so playing it last can be more rewarding. Also each game iterates on some common systems like naval combat, so mechanics gradually improve.

Still, I suggest looking up a quick primer beforehand on the era‘s key historical events and figures for better immersion and appreciation of each period.

The Huge Gap Adds Perspective

The fact that Valhalla occurs over 12 centuries after Odyssey is just mind-boggling. As seen earlier, this dwarfs the lifespans of iconic heroes like Ezio. Entire cultures and communities can emerge or vanish in such a long sweep of years.

This vast chronological divide gives a whole new perspective on the ephemeral nature of what we consider steadfast institutions and values. It also shows how seemingly disconnected events like the Peloponnesian War and Vikings attacking Paris can have unintended consequences that ripple through history.

Few other game series span such breadth, allowing players to live through moments that quite literally built our modern world. This is why despite some repetitive gameplay, Assassin‘s Creed continues to captivate gamers worldwide who yearn to explore our rich tapestry of civilizations.