Eir

Eir, called the Healer, was one of the nine Valkyries cursed by Odin to remain in a corporeal form until madness took her. Gentle where her sisters were fierce, she tended the wounds of mortals and gods alike. After she grew too dangerous she was sealed away in Midgard by the Valkyrie Queen, then freed by Kratos and Atreus and reborn by Freya as one of the Shield Maidens. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

Early life#

The games say little about Eir before her curse. Mimir calls her strange for a Valkyrie, very quiet and very calm, a gentle stream where her sisters were violent rapids. She healed the wounds of both mortals and gods, and Mimir admits she once patched him up too, after he drank too much and fell off a mountain. (God of War (2018))

Curse and rebirth#

As one of the nine Valkyries cursed by Odin, Eir was bound into a corporeal body, an unnatural state that drove her toward madness, and was sealed away in Midgard by the Valkyrie Queen. Her corruption turned her skin black, and she fought with bladed wings and a Valkyrie mace. Kratos and Atreus found her prison and destroyed her physical form, freeing her spirit, which thanked them and rejoined her sisters. (God of War (2018))

During Ragnarok, Freya gave Eir a pure new body, her skin restored and her metallic wings replaced with organic, birdlike ones. As a Shield Maiden she joined Sigrun and Gunnr among those who assaulted Asgard. Before Surtr delivered the final blow, Eir shielded Atreus from the explosion, and she was the first person he saw when he woke. Sigrun later named Eir, Gunnr and herself as the only Shield Maidens left after the war. (God of War Ragnarök)