The decision to make Angrboda a black character was criticized by some fans and led to accusations of cultural appropriation. They claimed she should have been white on account of the game being based on North Germanic mythology, and accused the developers of using the race-swap as a way to score political points. The game's narrative director Matt Sophos defended the change by grouping it with other changes made to the original Norse mythology (giving the Dwarves diverse character traits such as a Texan accent and germophobia, Mimir having a Scottish accent, straying from traditional portrayals of Loki, etc.) and pointing out that Angrboda was designed to be a Jötunn, a race of large Norse mythological deities that were seen as culturally inferior to the Æsir, but have similar powers as them including the ability to shapeshift.