Valhalla for Translators: Story of a Project

«Assassin’s Creed Valhalla» — there is so much behind these words. Every player will agree with this statement. Anger and disappointment, admiration and awe, adventure and history… as well as an art book! “The Art of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” from MAL’OPUS publishing house has become another bright star in the vast expanse of Ukrainian translated literature. The book just fascinates with its illustrations and perfection.

Brief information about the project “The Art of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla”

He who does not have the book of art, may not enter Valhalla

No matter what is said about Ubisoft, they do know how to impress, and they took it responsibly when it came to the creation of The Art of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The book seems to be exciting from the very beginning because of its amazing images and interesting stories of the team of artists. A careful approach to historical events, cultural features, huge work on the image of nature and the general atmosphere of the locations will not leave indifferent any reader (as well as any player). There is no doubt in that. Anyone who didn’t play the game would definitely want to buy it and dive into the harsh adventures of Vikings and Saxons’ time.

This is not the first art book translated by the SBT Localization team. Despite the essence of those art books seems to be indifferent, but each of them has something special. The Art of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s is memorable for its clarity. There is no rush here (it is said that everyone publishes art books for their games so do we), but what there is that they took this case demandingly and with a careful consideration. To cut the long story short, it’s a cherished masterpiece, which can now be enjoyed in the Ukrainian as well.

Assassin’s Creed: All Translators Go to Valhalla

Through the wikipages of history

As the series of games named Assassin’s Creed has a significant cultural and historical basis, translators had to rummage through the Internet to clarify some points with terminology. For example, elements of ancient Celtic architecture, clothing, or mythology, what are hofs, broches and crannogs and Hadrian’s Wall.

In general, there were quite a few historical and truly real names, including place names, so we presented them in accordance with established tradition. For instance, Lincoln, Crowland, Glowecestre, Northwic, etc. Therefore, the fictional village where Eivor comes from, had to remain Ravensthorpe despite the background.

And here is the status of the characters

The main character of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is Eivor. Initially, according to the developers standpoint, it was a woman, but later on, they decided to allow players to choose the gender of their character, so you can destroy enemies as a man. However, the name remains female.

In the book, Eivor often appears as a woman, but there are also pages where Eivor is a man. However, looking at the matter of choice, we tried to formulate the translation so that it fits both options – at least where it was possible or there was no indication of gender. For example: “Ейвор має пернатого улюбленця…” (Eivor’s raven…) or “Рейвенсторп — селище, в якому живе Ейвор…” (Eivor’s settlement…).

Nationalities

The main problem is the names of the artists, because Ubisoft has an international team.

Roman Hardashuk, translator

Indeed, Ubisoft has a very large team from all over the world, so it took a lot of time to figure out how to translate the names of the artists correctly. However, it was also interesting, and sometimes even full of joy. For example, one of the anthroponyms was so exotic that even Google asked, “Maybe you meant damn you.”

If you are interested in art books:

The Art of the Death Stranding

The Art of The Last of Us Part II

The Art of Ghost of Tsushima

All in all, it was an entertainign experience for us. We are very grateful to the MAL`OPUS publishing house for cooperation and wish success for the following projects.

And if you read this and haven’t bought the The Art Assassin’s Creed Valhalla art book yet, now is the right time to do so! It is said that the artbook turned out to be even more exciting than the game itself. But you better check it by yourself. In the meantime, support Ukrainian so that there is more of it.

Sofia Shul

December 21, 2020