Mar 16
They cast him out and he wandered the lonely cliffs, until the sea took him.
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They cast him out and he wandered the lonely cliffs, until the sea took him.
Thoughts on Saegeirr as a former Bjarg
In the spirit of having Hellblade Theories / vague meta posts, I do want to spitball some thoughts about Ástríðr and Saegeirr. I have more questions than answers, but it is interesting to think about these things!!!!
A fair amount of people seem to have the theory that these two were lovers, given that Ástríðr takes Saegeirr's betrayal VERY personally ("he betrayed m—he betrayed my father" from her story in her home and also "... an echo of what I felt once mourned him. I hate him. I miss him" from the Others Narration). I'm not too certain of my own headcanons about whether they were romantically involved, if I'm completely honest, though I do see merit in it!
During the Hiddenfolk's retelling of Saegeirr's story, we start with men lifting him up from the ground... Could one of them be Ástríðr's father? Both of her brothers? Did they find him and bring him to Bárðarvík?
She talks about him in a singular fashion, "and then a man came," so it seems he was traveling alone and then got folded into the community. As he has tattoos like the Björg (who notably are the only people we encounter in the game who are tattooed in this fashion), I do have strong suspicions that he is perhaps someone who left the Björg in protest over the Goði's human sacrifices plan. Maybe this was after Fargrímr's falling out with Áleifr? Was he a warrior who decided enough was enough, he'd have no more part in that kind of violence, and so ran away from Borgarvirki?
When the Björg increased their pressure on Bárðarvík for resources, going so far as to take slaves instead of food (per this conversation), did Saegeirr stop them here by saying, no, wait, I was once one of you, see these tattoos? Is that how he got them to pause long enough to listen to him?
How much worse is the betrayal if Ástríðr's father took in a former Bjarg, told a community that has a history of mistrust with the Björg that this man had clearly turned over a new leaf and his word could be trusted... only to have this guy make a deal to save his own skin?
The Hiddenfolk say he would by trickery make over his leader to [the Björg] — did he involve Ástríðr in that trickery? Was he with her as an alibi or to keep her from fighting (and dying) to save her father? Did he justify his behavior by saying at least he'd save her?
ALSO: when she talks about her mother and father, Ástríðr says that her father tried to protect her mother, but she refused to leave his side... did they die together at the hands of the Björg? And what happened to her brothers?
I'm sure his tattoos made it easier for others to blame him or discover his guilt and then exile him to the house on the lonely cliffs...
There are so many things that AREN'T said about the backstories of the secondary characters in this game and I feel like I'm over here rolling out red string between pins on a corkboard.
Y'ALL, I took a little gander into Dev Commentary mode to take a couple quick screenshots and discovered that Sjávarrisi / Saegeirr has tattoos??????? The only other characters in Saga (that I have seen at least) are Björg?!?!?! Ninja Theory, I need access to your dev bible YESTERDAY, TELL ME WHAT THIS MEANS--