Dawn of Ragnarok DLC, the Dwarves take on an important role in aiding Odin on his journey to save Svartalfheim. The Hobbit-like race also adds a lot of flavor to the world, as they provide context for Surtr's invasion of the realm.
Svartalfheim - the realm in which AC Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok takes place - is home to the Norse race of Dwarves. Surtr, the fire giant from Muspelheim, has invaded their territory and imprisoned Odin's son Baldur there. Both Odin and the Dwarves have a shared wish of seeing Surtr defeated and peace restored, so they work together to decolonize the land and set Baldur free. Since the Dwarves aren't typical fighting folk, they play other roles in the background, like enhancing Odin's Dawn of Ragnarok powers with an artifact called the Hugr-Rip, while also upgrading Odin's gear.
AC Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok's Dwarven race have inescapable similarities to Tolkien's Hobbits: they're smaller people in a big world filled with adventure, and they possess a culture that parallels the Hobbits' way of life. It could easily be theorized that Ubisoft used Tolkien as an inspiration when creating Dawn of Ragnarok, making smaller humanlike people rather than the Norse-inspired Dwarves many players commonly think of when they hear the term. However, not every aspect is the same between the two races, as Ubisoft also added its take on Norse mythology to the picture.
Dawn Of Ragnarok's Dwarves Are Tolkien's Hobbits In An Alternate Universe
Although AC Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok's Dwarves aren't a race that "live in a hole in the ground," like the Hobbits, they're certainly almost like them in many other respects. Dwarven height is about half the size of a regular person and much smaller compared to some of the other Dawn of Ragnarok characters from Norse myth. Frodo, Bilbo, Sam, and most of the other Hobbits in Tolkien's Middle-earth reflect the same biological features of AC Valhalla's Dwarves. Their main biological differences lie in features such as hair and feet. Hobbits have big, hairy feet and curly hair, but Dwarves generally are depicted with feet that match the size of their small frames and have hair that reflects Norse, Germanic descent.
Another area where the two races have much in common is their cultural styles. Svartalfheim isn't the same as the Shire - quite clearly - but the two groups, both Hobbits and Valhalla's Dwarves alike, stick together as a people in order to protect their customs and way of life. In LOTR games and fiction, Hobbits don't like to venture too from their area in Eriador, and it's the same with the Dwarves in Svartalfheim.
While Tolkien's Hobbits and Ubisoft's Dwarven race aren't exactly alike, they're a lot closer than players might have expected prior to new Dawn of Ragnarok footage. It would be hard to believe that some motivation from Tolkien's Middle-earth didn't make its way into the minds of developers at Ubisoft while the project was in the works. Even Tolkien himself was known to be inspired by Norse myths while crafting Middle-earth, so the parallels are definitely visible. With Dawn of Ragnarok set to launch in March of this year, players can soon dive in and partake in adventures with these Hobbit-like Dwarves and possibly experience the last big Assassin's Creed Valhalla DLC.
