Freya Goldsoul

"The road to hell is filled with good intentions."

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Freya Goldsoul is a fitcional character featured in the videogame Dry Drowning. She first appears in Chapter 1 and has a chance of appearing again in every other subsequent chapter except Chapter 4B, making her one of the most important female characters in the whole story.

## Psychological profile:

"Freya's hot headed personality consists mainly of a strong desire for justice and equity united with a very litigious nature, both traits that often cause her to clash with the others. This gradually pushed her into a life made of violence, disillusionment and cynism.

## Biography:

"Freya's past remains completely shrouded by mystery despite the fact she's the daughter of Hedric Goldsoul, one of the most renowned bankers in Nova Polemos.

She was able to join the police force when she was 20 thanks to her father's influence, but managed to reach the rank of lieutenant thanks to her own dedication, hard work and merits, which include the arrest of many of Nova Polemos' worst criminals. She's also the one who started the inquiry against Mordred Foley, whom she despises deeply."

## Character overview (spoilers):

The general cornerstone of Freya's whole personality is her strong sense of justice. One of her own colleagues pointed out that her zealous, talented, and genuine character makes her the typical policeman that wouldn't last long in a city like Nova Polemos, as honest people like her are seen as nothing but danger or risk in such a corrupt environment. Since she still managed to survive it's likely that her harsh manners are the direct consequence of her chronical clash with a toxic environment that collides with her own morality a lot. Her perception of Mordred in Chapter 1 provides a fine example of how her actions are mainly justice driven: Freya's sense of justice is on the one hand what causes her to hate Mordred so much, but on the other one also what compels her to get along with him once she realizes he can be more helpful in leading her to the truth than her own colleagues. True to her fashion, she will still keep a considerable distance, never fully trusting him and even scorning him by remarking she would never take advice from a criminal (implying she considers herself superior out of her moral integrity). Following the Freya route will conversely reveal that her general attitude towards Hera is actually a lot more friendly: at the beginning of Chapter 2 she is for example genuinely pleased to meet her. The most significant instance occurs however in Chapter 4C, where her sincere intent to comfort Hera is actually what gives her a lead to Mordred's wrongdoings, thus prompting her to start investigating again.

Despite her truthfulness and strong sense of justice, Freya herself has a secret she would never speak of: she was actually born a male and underwent sex reassignment surgery at a very young age. Her family made consistent efforts to hide this truth as the police would likely have never accepted her otherwise. It is also subtly implied that her own family actually despised her choice despite granting her the surgery. The moral intolerance displayed by both her family and the police towards transexuality was likely another one among the main factors that contributed to shape Freya's harsh personality. Knowledge of Freya's secret (obtained thanks to his connection to Haephestus Tech) would later be exploited by William Payne/Pandora to threaten Freya and lure her into a trap aimed at capturing her (her survival ultimately depending on the player's actions at the end of Chapter 1). Her fears of ostracism should the police find out about her past are shown to be founded in narrative branches that feature her death: as explained by Emily Boone, the police will totally lose interest in investigating her death after finding Payne's papers, proceeding instead to dismiss the case. Conversely, said evidence gets destroyed by Freya herself before escaping Variagian 47 if the player chooses to let her live (this isn't shown directly but Mordred mentions it at the beginning of Chapter 2).

This isn't the only instance in which Freya's sense of justice somehow leads her to think the best course of action would actually be concealing the truth or adopting other equally extreme measures. The subsequent chapters include a couple more cases in which this occurs (provided the player left her alive by triggering the Freya route). One occurs right after rescuing her if the player also triggered the JailedBaker route: since in this branch Mordred decides to let Baker get framed for the murder, Freya will help him by providing a false deposition that corroborates the assumption, ultimately claiming Abigail must have been killed by an accomplice of Baker in order to protect him from her testimony. This narrative element has multiple interpretations: Freya could have done it either out of her own hatred for the Black Bands or to guarantee a scapegoat for Pandora (whose potential retaliation would otherwise still be a real danger since he had escaped Mordred's grasp). Finally, in Chapter 4A she plays an active role in tricking the border patrol to ensure Mordred and Hera can safely flee Nova Polemos.

One of the pictures hanged on the board at Variagian 47 as well as the riddle contained in the doll's envelope seem to suggest Freya has (or at least used to have) two other siblings. They are never mentioned ever again elsewhere in the game and their faces on the picture are not clearly visible due to black scribbles covering them (though it's still possible to distinguish they were respectively a male and a female). Pandora's riddles reference them directly as the "Sons that were erased by vanity", also claiming elsewhere that "Wolves (i.e. Freya's parents) are always willing to devour their cubs rather than showing their shame to the whole pack".

## Trivia:

* The surname Goldsoul is likely a reference to her being the only character in the game that is truly good.