Her Own Personal Helheim
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice – Story and Ending Explained
Now you may be wondering how in the world did Senua manage to get to what is essentially hell. While the game definitely does hint at supernatural abilities, you can always tell something is a bit off. In moments of power, the images on screen often become distorted, as if Senua herself is forcing this reality and it’s conflicting strongly with what’s going on around it. That’s because that is exactly what’s happening. Nothing you see is real, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a real threat.
As we mentioned before, Senua suffers from severe psychosis which causes her thoughts and fears to become a reality, at least for her. While to the outside world none of it exists, it is potent enough to kill her because she believes so strongly. The beasts sent to hunt Senua are of her own imagining, as are the obstacles that rise before her. But none of these are random, they serve a purpose and each tie to specific portions of who she is. Fire shows her the pain that has left her fearful and untrusting, illusions show us her self-doubt, and darkness represents the unknown that she knows she must tread. But she feels so strongly about them that each manifests so vividly into the levels we as players explore.
Valravn, one of the first bosses you’ll face, is a master of illusions, forcing Senua to look beyond the tricks that her mind plays on her. A large focus of this section of the game is… well, focus. It’s Senua’s mind working to guide her in the right direction, even though it must fight tooth and nail through living nightmares to do so. Surtr is quite similar, burning everything around Senua, forcing her to face loss on a grand scale and teaching her to overcome the fear of pain.
It’s interesting to see how all of it, the good and the bad, comes from Senua herself. Though she does have Dillion to thank for part of it. He taught her something that his father taught him in the past, the strongest battles are fought in the mind. This is a theme that permeates the entire game, but it really comes to the forefront in a section of the game that has no combat at all: Odin’s Challenges.
