In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Layla Hassan is the principal modern-day protagonist.
Layla operates the Animus while the historical story follows Eivor during the Viking expansion into England. Her modern-day storyline frames the historical simulation and continues narrative threads established in Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey. The player spends most of the game in Eivor's era, but Layla remains the modern viewpoint character.
Desmond Miles is the modern protagonist of the original Assassin's Creed trilogy and returns in a different narrative role through the series' broader mythology. William Miles is Desmond's father and a senior Assassin, while Rebecca Crane is a technical specialist. None of those characters is Valhalla's main modern-day lead.
Valhalla was released in 2020. Its modern-day plot involves environmental and global consequences connected to the Isu storyline, a fictional advanced civilization that has shaped the series' mythology.