This article contains lore based on real-life sources from Norse and Celtic Mythology as introduced in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.
This article contains lore based on real-life sources from Norse Mythology as introduced in Senua's Saga: Hellblade II.
| “ | For my tales of the northmen, they call me Druth, a liar, an old fool! Druth is my Truth. To guide you in this life and the next... I will tell you my stories of Hel, if I may walk with you?
―Druth to Senua
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| “ | 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.
―Druth to Senua
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Druth, formerly known as Findan, was an old Irish scholar who was imprisoned by the Northmen as a slave in their attempts to conquer new lands. Upon one of their raids in Orkney, he was able to escape through the ensuing confusion of the fires and ran into the wilds where he met Senua.
Druth appears in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice as a vivid recollection of Senua's memories of him. The Lorestones feature Druth narrating the many Norse legends that he was able to learn from his captors, each story bearing some relation to an aspect of Senua's journey.
Appearance[]
Druth appears as an old bearded man, partially scarred around his face by the fires he escaped. He wears thick cloaks of animal fur and feathers and has dark blue face paint around his eyes like Senua. On his head, he wears a leather cap adorned with the skull of a small animal and also has a three pronged sigil on his forehead underneath it.
History[]
Long before his imprisonment by the Northmen, Druth was known as Findan and lived with his father, brother and sister in Èirinn (modern day Ireland). One day, the Northmen captured Findan's sister and he was sent to pay for her release. Instead of honouring the proposal, the Northmen instead took Findan's gold and imprisoned him as well, keeping him for a full day and night without food or water. Strangely, he was released the next day and never told why.
Upon his return home, the enemies of Findan's father burnt their house to the ground, killing both his father and brother in the process. As an offer of redress for his loss, those enemies invited Findan to a feast, but they betrayed him to the Northmen and he was captured as a slave. He would remain in the Northmen's grip for six years before they landed on the shores of Orkney, Senua's home.
In the attack that burnt everything before them, Findan made his escape, running through the flames and becoming grievously injured as he escaped into the wilds. He cast off his old name and took on the title of Druth, a "liar" and "old fool", driven mad by the horrors he had been made to witness.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice[]
When Druth managed to reach the wilds, he encountered Senua, who had willingly isolated herself in an attempt to purge the darkness from her mind. Druth spoke of his own darkness and related his experience with the Northmen to like being in Hel itself and noted that Senua was one of the only few who had ever listened to him rather than laugh at his tales. He told her of the Northmen's ways and legends and vowed to guide her in this life and the next for hearing him. He died soon after.
After Senua returned to her home, she found her village raided and Dillion sacrificed to the Norse gods. Thinking that Druth's own darkness was the same as her own, her mind believes that the Norse legends she was told were real and she sets off on a quest to save Dillion's soul from the underworld. During her journey, Senua interacts with her memories of meeting Druth, remembering his tales of how to overcome the trials of reaching Hela.
If the player has managed to collect all 44 Lorestones, an extra scene will play just before Senua enters Hela's inner sanctum. Here, she recalls a memory of Druth admitting the part he played of the Northmen's conquest over his six years of enslavement as Findan. The Northmen initially took him because he was well travelled and spoke both his own and their languages. Though he had initially hoped to try broker peace or to stop the raids from turning into bloodshed, he did no such thing after being tortured by the Northmen.
Though regretful of his actions, he reveals to Senua that the attack on her home was not his doing. It instead was done willingly by a 'man in black' from Orkney, trading his safe passage for his treason. It is strongly implied that it was Zynbel, Senua's father.
Trivia[]
- Like Zynbel, Galena, and Dillion, Druth is portrayed both in audio and live video, integrated into the computer graphics of the rest of the game.
- When Druth takes off his headpiece and reveals the truth about the attack on her village, the sigil on his head looks remarkably similar to Senua's mirror.