Gondul

Gondul was one of the nine Valkyries cursed by Odin to remain in a corrupting physical form. Imprisoned in Muspelheim and widely held to be the most powerful of the Valkyries after Sigrun, she was freed when Kratos and Atreus defeated her body, and she later returned restored as a Shield Maiden in the war on Asgard.

The curse and imprisonment#

Gondul was among the nine Valkyries Odin cursed to hold physical bodies that slowly corrupted them and drove them mad. Her corruption left her skin an unhealthy pale blue. When she grew too dangerous, the Valkyrie Queen sealed her away at the summit of Muspelheim, where the Trials of that realm were held. She wore a golden, vulture-themed helmet, and her great mechanical wings were red and plated with golden armor. By repute she was the most powerful of the Valkyries after Sigrun.

Defeat and freedom#

Kratos and Atreus braved Muspelheim and engaged Gondul's corrupted form, one of the most formidable of all the Valkyries. She fought aggressively, raining meteors of fire from the sky to set the ground ablaze and turn the arena into a sapping hazard, then closing with wing slashes, thrusts, cyclones, a mace, and thrown feathers. After a punishing fight they defeated her, and her freed spirit reunited with her sisters.

Restoration and the war on Asgard#

After Freya restored the Valkyries with Vanir Seidr magic, Gondul returned as a Shield Maiden, her skin healed and her mechanical wings replaced with organic, birdlike ones. Acknowledging Kratos as her General, she fought beside her freed sisters in the final assault on Asgard during Ragnarok.

In legend#

By the accounts Mimir gave, Gondul was considered the most beautiful of all the Valkyries, possessed of a silver tongue and sharp wit, and a figure so stunning that she could drive men to madness. For this Odin in time forbade her from entering Midgard, holding that insanity was no welcome thing in Valhalla.