MLB’s 2018 National League Rookie of the Year, two-time All-Star, 2019 National League MVP, and now World Series Champion Dodgers outfielder / first baseman Cody Bellinger can know for certain that his name will forever echo in the Halls of Valhalla.

On Tuesday, November 10, 2020, video game developer Ubisoft released the latest installment of their extremely popular Assassin’s Creed franchise, titled Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, which is sure to be a huge hit (pun intended) among Dodger-fan gamers.

The game is set in the time of Vikings and puts players in the role of a Norse assassin warrior who battles against Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the Early Middle Ages.

In every installment of the Assassin’s Creed games, players get to explore historic landmarks, from the Library of Alexandria to the Great Wall of China, and meet historical icons, such as Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, and the legendary pirate Blackbeard.

Enter a character by Ubisoft’s own mythical invention: Otta Sluggasson – voiced and motion-captured by none other than Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger.

Sluggasson, described by Ubisoft as “a Dane with a knack for hitting rocks very, very far” (go figure), approaches the character and demonstrates his prowess with the uhh… spike-studded club (go figure) that he wields. After knocking a few stones at nearby targets, he challenges the player to hit the same targets with their bow and arrow in a time-trial style minigame.

Bellinger, a self-professed video game nerd, remarked about his excitement of having “…the opportunity to be a character in a big video game.” He also compared being a Major League Baseball player to being a Viking.

“We go to war on the baseball field, you know, try to go out there and compete and win. And as a Viking, you’re gonna go out there with all your men and go and try to win and be on top.”

Video games such as these will record voice dialogue and motion capture early in the development cycle months or even years before their release, so it is very likely that Belly’s recordings were finished in 2019; perhaps before he even won his first career MVP award. Cody’s cameo in such an established game franchise is a tremendous honor and his appearance in the popular game series marks a crossover of several great fandoms and is worth celebrating.

…even if his Norse accent could use a little work.

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