Shield Maiden. Wolf-kissed. High One.
Raised alongside her adoptive brother Sigurd, Eivor Varinsdóttir, or Eivor “Wolf-Kissed,” lived the life of a Drengr. Raiding, adventuring, and making key alliances, Eivor wove her destiny thread by thread across the kingdoms of England. There, she stumbled upon the crazed Daughters of Lerion, who sought vengeance for their executed father. Upon defeating the three sisters, Eivor found they possessed a powerful set of armor thought to be forged from Æsir steel—Thor’s Battle Plate.
Now jarlskona of the Raven Clan, Eivor dons Thor’s armor in battle, continuing to protect her clan, and seek her final destiny—in Valhalla.
“My Destiny Is Mine To Weave.
– Eivor Varinsdóttir
What’s it Made Of? Eivor Cosplay
This Eivor cosplay is the culmination of over 1000 hours of work. Skills used to create the Thor Armor set cover the entire gamut of my experience as a maker. From patterning, sewing, and embroidery, to classic sculpting, molding, and casting, and even shoe making, traditional viking “card weaving,” leather working, and chain mail weaving, this build pushed my skills to their absolute limit.
One of the most visible parts of this armor is the tunic and “disguise,” which are sewn from altered patterns using a hand-dyed linen. Historically, such garments would likely have been made using wool, but living in the humidity of the Southeastern US, I opted for the more breathable, and still historically acceptable, natural linen. I sewed in a “viking style” arm pit addition to the cape, allowing for a slightly wider range of motion. The cape also uses over 3400 yards of gold thread to create the embroidered Yggdrasil and circle patterns throughout. These were done without embroidery software, but rather by hand-running the fabric through a traditional sewing machine over a custom stenciled patterns. Beneath the tunic is a full chainmail skirt, woven in European 6-in-1 style with gold aluminum jump rings. To support the maille, I created a custom leather belt, stamped with runes that translate to stanza 76 from the Hávamál. This stanza can also be read on the title screen of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
Some other notable techniques used on the armor are a leather “weave,” patterned, cut, dyed, and applied in to Worbla bases across all the armor pieces. There are also 2mm EVA foam cut sections that create the knotwork details across most of the armor pieces as well. It was definitely a challenge to mix Worbla, leather, and EVA — ensuring each was sealed appropriately and not affected by the paint or finishes of the other materials. All the woven leather was also hand painted with shadows and highlights to ensure the detailed overlapping did not get lost or appear flat.
Thor’s helmet was originally hand sculpted in Monster Clay—one of my favorite techniques. The “winged ears” are not part of the helmet cast, but were instead hand made using single and double layers of Worbla’s Black art. Other accessories include a prop “mammen” axe, customized wig, hand tooled leather quiver and belt pouch, hand-sewn “turn shoe” boots and leather gloves, a hand sculpted “mjolnir” belt buckle, and functioning “hidden blade,” to name a few.
My Eivor cosplay placed “Best in Show” at ReedPop’s Cosplay Crown Championships Southeastern Qualifier 2022. I will be taking it to C2E2 in 2023 to compete for the National Crown Champion Cosplay title.
You can see snippets of my “work in progress” making my Eivor cosplay on my Thor Armor Instagram highlight. Or check out my “900 hours in 90 seconds” Instagram Reel here. See my C2E2 competition build book here.
Eivor Cosplay Music Video
To capture the full breadth of this costume, I created an Eivor cosplay “music video,” set to Miracle of Sound‘s “Valhalla Calling.” Videography by Atlanta Film Company. Video edits by myself (Dovah Design). Filmed at Vickery Creek Falls, Roswell Mill, Roswell GA.
