Apex Legends animated short shows off new character, a Titan pilot called Valkyrie

Apex Legends’ series of fantastic “Stories from the Outlands” animated shorts continue with Northstar, its latest release. The new entry in the series was released on Monday and revealed the game’s newest character and its most direct connection yet with Titanfall.

The animated short follows the story of Valkyrie, a pilot searching for a way into the Apex Games. As we find out, her father was once the pilot of a Northstar-class Titan but died, possibly in the Apex Games himself. Whatever the cause of death, Valkyrie blames Titanfall 2 antagonist Kuben Blisk, who knew Valkyrie (and her father) when she was a child known as Viper.

In the short, Valkyrie hunts Blisk down and is ready to take her revenge for her father. But Blisk explains that her dad knew the risks of what he was doing and would have wanted her to make her own legacy, rather than just avenging his. After a brief moment of hesitation, she tells Blisk that her new call sign is Valkyrie before walking away and seemingly preparing to enter the Apex Games.

Thanks to information from Apex Legends data miners, we’ve known about the character for a while. The character’s original leaked name was Valk, but it’s not clear if she’ll go by Valk or Valkyrie once she arrives in the game. Valkyrie has more direct connections to Titanfall than any Legend so far — including direct experience flying Titans, as we see in the Northstar short — which would fit some of the things that Respawn has teased about season 9’s connection to its previous games.

The trailer ends with the date May 4, which is likely the start of the new season and Valkyrie’s probable release date. However, we won’t know anything for sure until Respawn makes its official announcement about the new season, which should happen in the next couple of weeks.