Iver

Iver is an important Varl Hero in The Banner Saga series.

Background
When Skogr was still young, Iver wandered into the town’s center, startling the settlers from Rundwall who had rarely seen a Varl before. He’s never said why he left Varl lands to help men build a small town, but each chieftain in Skogr’s family line is happy to have him. He’s known Rook since the man was young, and the two quickly formed a kinship.

Active Ability: Battering Ram
The Strongarm smashes an adjacent unit with his shield knocking it back up to 4 tiles and pushing it through anyone in the way. Battering Ram does Armor damage to the target, adding 1 more Armor damage for each unit it passes through.

The ability can be used on both friend or foe, making it versatile in many situations by changing a unit's position on the board. Ramming a Shieldbanger does not trigger the Return the Favor.

Rank 1: Knock-back and 1 Armor damage

Rank 2: Knock-back and 3 Armor damage

Rank 3: Knock-back and 5 Armor damage

Note: The way that Iver pushes his enemies changes after Chapter 4, as he loses the ability to hold a shield, but the result is the same.

Second Active Ability: Choice
In the second part of The Banner Saga, when Iver reaches Rank 6, he can choose a second active ability between:


 * Tempest_icon.png Tempest (Warhawk), like Gunnulf, Bersi or Sigbjorn
 * Forgeahead_icon.png Forge Ahead (Warleader), like Krumr

Passive Ability: Return the Favor
A character who performs a melee attack on a Shieldbanger loses 1 point of Armor for each successfully landed hit.

Return the Favor triggers every time the Shieldbanger takes Strength or Armor damage from an adjacent enemy, which can make it devastating to hit him with attacks that strike multiple times, like Bloody Flail. Ranged attacks do not Return the Favor.

Passive Ability: Heavy Impact
After Chapter 4 and the battle on Einartoft bridge where he loses the ability to hold a shield, Iver's Return the Favor passive ability will be replace by Heavy Impact (Warrior varl).

Joining the Party
Saga 1:  Iver joins your party in Chapter 2. He is also available in Chapter 4 and stays until the end of the game.

Saga 2:  Iver stays with the Skogr caravan until the end of Chapter 12, where he leaves with Juno and Eyvind on a special errand. He is the lead POV character in Chapter 15, serving as the epilogue of the second game.

Saga 3: Iver is the other lead POV character aside from Rook/Alette from the beginning of Chapter 17.

Possible Death or Departure
Saga 1:  There is no event leading to Iver's death. However, Iver will become temporarily unavailable in Chapter 5 and he will be subject to a 'transformation' that will alter his stats as well as his passive ability.

Saga 2:  There is no event leading to Iver's death. However, as described in the previous section, he will split from the Skogr caravan in the end of Chapter 12.

Saga 3: Whether Iver survives at the end of the game when Eyvind performs a ritual on Juno to stop the world's destruction, depends on the ending you get based on Eyvind's predisposition or whether you kill him. His predisposition is influenced by some of your actions throughout the series and dialogue choices.

If you tell him that making a deal with the Serpent to return his power while sparing Juno wasn't what she wanted in case his predisposition isn't high enough, he will battle the Serpent resulting in the world being completely desolated.

If Alfrun performs the ritual to seal Juno within the Dark Sun at the White Tower, the tower is instantly destroyed and probably kills Iver along with the Ravens. If Alfrun is dead after the fight with Bolverk and Eyvind is killed by Iver, Juno is the sole survivor.

Playstyle

 * Iver is a key character of the game and story as well as one of the most valuable units in the tactical turn-based battles. From Chapter 6 and on he becomes the Hero unit with the highest stats; refer to the Hero Comparison Table for details.
 * He is a very versatile unit that can be used either as a typical Shieldbanger (in this case max out his Armor and Break) or as Warrior (max out his Strength at 15).
 * Battering Ram can be really useful to change the formation of the ally or enemy pieces on the board. For instance, a bulky enemy can be pushed behind other enemy units effectively blocking him out.
 * Battering Ram can also be used for damage-dealing combos in combination with Impale or Rain of Arrows, even when Iver himself is injured.
 * Be sure to check Iver's stats at the beginning of Chapter 6 and re-distribute any points available. Increasing his Exertion to 2 is suggested so that you can make full use of his high Willpower.

Trivia

 * Iver is instantly recognized and respected by almost all the Varl you encounter. During the course of the story, important details about his past will be revealed.
 * (Spoiler) The name Iver is synonymous with the name Yngvar, and seems to reference the Swedish King Yngvar Harra.