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Druth: Valravn, ancestor of the seers, and master of ravens. He hunts his prey with his powers of illusion and feasts on their remains. Follow the path to Valravn and defeat him in battle to earn his mark. The gate to Helheim cannot be opened without it.
Furies: What’s that? It’s a bridge, idiot. Push it! She did it!
Druth: Illusion hides the path to Valravn. Don’t trust your eyes. Find another way to see the truth.
Furies: Focus! Look. Something’s different. Can you see it? Why can’t she see it?
Narrator: It’s funny. We all want to see behind the veil, don’t we? But once we do… we mostly just close our eyes again and pretend what we saw was never really there. Senua never could close her eyes, however hard she tried… and begged. This is the price she pays for seeing things differently. Because once you gaze into the relentless darkness, all that lurks within it… can see you too.
Narrator: The Northmen will not stop her. She will find what she’s looking for.
Druth: Valravn’s power of illusion comes from ravens. Align the ravens to break his magic seal.
Senua: Show me what you have seen, Druth.
Furies: Look around you. It’s all different now. Something’s shifted. Can you feel it?
Narrator: Do you feel it too? It’s like crossing into another world that looks the same, but feels different… an imposter world… where the forest itself is watching.
Furies: Another gate! You know what to do!
Druth: To break the seal, align the ravens with the mark of Valravn…
Furies: What does he mean? Line up the ravens. Where are they? Look around. Shh. Can you hear it? Valravn’s song! You have to focus! Focus!
Senua: I hear something.
Druth: If you hear the song of Valravn, follow it and it will lead you to him. But be aware of his illusions. You can’t always trust your eyes.
Furies: The song. Valravn’s song. Focus! Focus!
Senua: Valravn! Challenge me!
Furies: He’s gone! Where did he go? You lost him. It’s all your fault!
Senua: Fight me!
Furies: You lost him again. You’re stupid!
Narrator: Is she lost? It wouldn’t be the first time. Last winter, before the tragedy, she journeyed into the wilds of her native land, living off berries, roots and rabbits. It’s not uncommon, you see. We call such a person a Geilt. Some, like Druth, become Geilt in search of penance. Others, like Senua, to purge a curse. Those who make it back, are forever changed.
Furies: She can get up now? It must be magic! A trick. Valravn’s magic.
Narrator: We picture fear, and we think of a shadow in the woods, a creature in the night. If only it were that simple. The worst kind comes without warning, a deep and primal signal from within. A reminder that just because you cannot see the threat, it doesn’t mean that it’s not already here.
Furies: She can’t go in there. Druth says there’s always another route.
Furies: Watch out! Behind you!
Narrator: Do you know what it’s like to leave everything behind, your home, loved ones, to head deep into the wilds, perhaps never to return? Senua does. Because, when darkness speaks, it changes everything, turning home into a foreign land and loved ones into strangers. Exile makes sense when you realise that you were never really home in the first place.
Furies: She has to align the ravens! There’s too many of them! Too many!
Senua: There are too many of them!
Furies: The song. Valravn. Valravn’s song. It’s here. No it’s there! There’s two of them! Focus! This reminds her of somewhere. The forest. Which forest? The forest in the wilds. A long time ago. She went to the wilds a long time ago. Why did she go to the wilds? She wanted to fight her own darkness. She thought she could beat her own darkness. Did she beat her darkness? No. It nearly killed her, but she tried. Druth. Druth helped her. If it wasn’t for Druth, she’d be dead. She can’t beat her own darkness. She wanted to marry Dillion. She came to beat her own darkness. She thought her curse would infect him. The ravens have gone! No, half have gone. It’s a trap. No. Valravn is helping.
Senua: Quiet! I need to think.
Narrator: Out in the wilds, in the cold winter woods, she no longer felt fit for this world. She almost gave in to the darkness. Almost. But she remembered Dillion’s words. She remembered her promise. She resolved to fight on and kill that which had become a part of her.
Furies: Open it! She can’t! Not from this side. The other side. She did it! The ravens! They have gone! No, there’s still three.
Narrator: Looking back, it was so naïve to think she could banish it on her own. The further she saw into the darkness, the more she struggled to see anything at all. And in the gloom, the smallest hints of shape, sound or thought, grew in strength until they consumed her whole. Before she knew it, the darkness had her in its claws.
Furies: She did. The seal is broken! The gate is open!
Narrator: There is no such thing as victory when it comes to the darkness. It’s like it doesn’t want to kill her… yet. It will gnaw at her, biding its time. Only when she is at her weakest will it strike to kill. Will she find Dillion before her time comes?
Druth: Overcome Valravn’s final illusion to face him in his keep. I know you can do it, Senua. You have the sight.
Senua: We both see the darkness, we can fight it together. Speak to me, Druth. Tell me a story?
Druth: Senua, listen, and I will tell you the tale of a man called Findan. The Northmen captured Findan’s sister, and his father sent him to pay for her release. But they took his gold, put him in chains and held him for a day and night without food or water. Then they released him. I don’t know why. Upon his return, his father’s enemies in Erin set fire to his home. His father burnt to death and his brother was killed, but he escaped, with sorrow in his heart. His father’s enemies offered redress for his loss and invited him to a feast, it was at a hall near the sea. But when he went there, they betrayed him to the Northmen who enslaved him, and took him to Hel. Six years later, his slave-masters landed on the shores of Orkney, burning all before them. And into that fire, Findan made his escape. What was Findan, burnt away that day from the flames, a new man stepped forward, and Druth was born. Druth, the man that I am now. And though Findan never set eyes on his dear sister again, I, Druth, have found you, Senua…
Senua: I wish you could have seen my home before these dark times.
Furies: She did. The seal is broken! The gate is open!
Senua: Wait! This darkness. I know it from the wilds. It’s coming back for me!
Narrator: I’m still here. Are you too? Where are we? Oh. I remember.
Senua: Where am I?
Narrator: It didn’t end well in the wilds. It never does. You think you can overcome the darkness – make sense of it… and once relief settles in… it strikes out of nowhere, throwing you helplessly back into the maelstrom. Drowning the mind in fear… deeper… deeper… dragging you down so far into the void that maybe, this time, there is no coming back.
Senua: What’s happening? Help me. Help!
Narrator: But there, in the darkness, she remembered what he told her.
Druth: Senua! Senua! Hear me! Reach out to me!
Senua: Druth, help me!
Druth: Senua. Take my iron mirror. Look into it, for it is a window into the underworld. Within, you will see the face of the darkness that you fear. And if you focus, like I have taught you to, you will also see that as much the darkness has you trapped within its veil, it too is trapped within yours. Focus! Focus! Focus!
Senua: I see you! I see you now! You led me to the wilds! You trapped me there! I never beat you in the wilds, did I? It was an illusion! But not this time!
Druth: The mark of Valravn. One of the keys to the gate to Helheim. Hold it in your mind’s eye.
Narrator: With every battle, the darkness grows stronger, every victory bringing her closer to defeat. Unfair, isn’t it? In those dark winter nights in the wilds, there were times when she considered… letting go… if it weren’t for Druth, a chance encounter in the wilds, she would not have heard his stories of the Northmen. And she would not have this chance to find Dillion’s soul.
Senua: I’m coming. I still hear you.
Narrator: When she was younger, she would lay in the grass and stare at the clouds. And there she saw them, elusive, shifting faces. After a while, she could see the faces everywhere, in the trees, the mountains, caves. I wonder, can you see the faces too? They’re there if you look for them
Galena: Senua.
Senua: Mother!
Galena: Senua. You have the sight. Just like I do. Once you can see into the underworld, the underworld and all the souls within it will see you. Don’t be afraid when they speak to you. I will always be here to guide you.
Narrator: Did you see her? That was her mother, Galena. She was a priestess. A healer. She taught Senua to see the weave that binds the world together and it was beautiful. It was a time before the darkness. But when it did come, it first came for her mother. Senua still sees her face from time to time, hidden in the world. Like she is still watching over her. She misses her so much.
Furies: Hela’s gate won’t open. Why? She hasn’t challenged Surt.