In his Twitter bio, Dr. Jackson Crawford describes himself as “like if you crossed a viking and a cowboy, but got all recessive traits”. Being a cross between a cowboy and a Viking makes Dr. Crawford frontrunner in the race to be a real life version of what five-year-olds say they want to be when they grow up. And now he can add “works on video games” to the list, because Dr. Crawford revealed on Twitter yesterday that he’s been collaborating with Ubisoft on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Dr. Crawford has chops in this area, of course. He’s Director of Nordic studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder, teaching Old Norse mythology and language. Dr. Crawford has a popular YouTube channel and a Patreon where he’s been posting videos about cool Norse stuff since around 2016. Perhaps unique amongst academic YouTubers, or YouTubers in general, he also records these videos having hiked out into the wilds of Colorado, so they all have stunning backdrops.