Rota

Rota, a Chooser of the Slain, was one of the nine Valkyries cursed by Odin to remain in a corporeal form until madness took her. After she grew too dangerous she was sealed away by the Valkyrie Queen within Helheim. She was freed from her corruption by Kratos and Atreus, and was later reborn by Freya as one of the Shield Maidens.

Curse and imprisonment#

Rota was one of the nine Valkyries bound into corporeal bodies by the curse of Odin, an unnatural state that slowly drove her toward madness. As her corruption made her too dangerous to roam free, the Valkyrie Queen Sigrun sealed her away in a hidden chamber within Helheim, the realm of the dishonored dead. She wore a golden helmet shaped after a deer, and her corruption left her skin a sickly pale blue and gave her great mechanical wings of red plated in golden metal. In battle she fought largely through grappling attacks, lunging across the chamber or plummeting down from above upon her foe.

Freedom and rebirth#

Kratos and Atreus found her prison in Helheim and destroyed her physical form, freeing her trapped spirit. Released from the curse, she gave the two her eternal gratitude before her spirit vanished and rejoined her sisters. During Ragnarok she was among the Valkyries Freya reborn through Vanir magic in a pure new body, her skin restored to its natural color and her metallic wings replaced with more organic, birdlike ones, and she was seen in finer, more detailed armor. As a Shield Maiden she acknowledged Kratos as her general and joined her freed sisters in the assault on Asgard.

Legend#

In legend Rota was a Chooser of the Slain. Together with Gunnr and Skuld she oversaw the judgment of the fallen, making certain that the worthy passed into Valhalla and that Hel did not overflow with souls.