Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Ravensthorpe is a real place, and a complete coincidence Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Assassin's Creed Valhalla's Ravensthorpe is a real place, and a complete coincidence Caw. News by Tom Phillips Deputy Editor Updated on 13 Nov 2020 33 comments Ravensthorpe is one of the many brilliant bits of Assassin's Creed Valhalla. It's your new Viking settlement, RPG hub, and home to a growing cast of characters who come and live along beside you. Valhalla features plenty of real-world locations in their Viking-era forms, such as London (Lunden), York (Jorvik) and good old Norwic (Norwich). Ravensthorpe, too, is a real place which can be found on any modern day map of England. Eurogamer editor Oli Welsh tells me he actually grew up just down the road from there, so already knew the name well. But here's the thing (and with apologies to Oli) - it's all a complete coincidence. Despite having the same name and being in the right place, Valhalla's Ravensthorpe was designed to be entirely fictional. Here's Valhalla narrative director and Assassin's Creed lore master Darby McDevitt to explain: "We chose the name Ravensthorpe because Eivor's clan was the Raven clan, and Thorpe means 'farmland'... and we set the settlement in the middle of Mercia so it was centrally located on the map. "We had NO idea that there was a real Ravensthorpe in exactly this location in real life, until a few months ago. Granted there is no river running by the real Ravensthorpe, but a lot can happen in 1000 years. Rivers change courses. "A sign from Odin, I think." McDevitt broke the news via reddit to a user who similarly lives close to the real Ravensthorpe, excited by seeing their local village getting global representation (Oli, was this you?!) You really couldn't make it up... except Ubisoft did just that. Watch on YouTube Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More News Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 59 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 3 Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 10 Latest Articles Preview Football Manager's new Console edition is the best you'll get without a PC Getting Touch-right. Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 59 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 3 Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store