One of the standout characters fromAssassin’s Creed Originswas Aya, the wife of protagonist Bayak. Unfortunately, her screen time was limited more than what seems the development team originally planned, due in large part to the now public knowledge of certain executives at Ubisoft who believed that women wouldn’t sell. As such,Aya/Amunet’s role was significantly cut, reducing her to just a few, small gameplay segments.
Thankfully, the time she was given in the game seems to have really struck a chord with players, who continue to support her legacy through art work andcommunity driven projects like Assassin’s Creed Sisterhood. It also likely helps that Aya’s role inAssassin’s Creed Originshelp set the foundation for the rest of the series as she’s largely known for establishing the Hidden Ones, an organization viewed as the predecessor of the Assassin Brotherhood.
RELATED:Some Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Devs Wanted Eivor to Exclusively be Female
In fact, while Aya was originally introduced as a major support character in the 2017 titleAssassin’s Creed Origins, she can actually be traced as far back asAssassin’s Creed 2.
Villa Auditore
One of the mechanics introduced inAssassin’s Creed 2was Villa Auditore, a home base for Ezio Auditore da Firenze. In addition, players could upgrade the villa as they played. In turn, this would give the player increased income that generated over time, discounts to local shops, a place to display collections players have purchased, and other benefits.
One of the major locations in the villa was the Sanctuary, a massive space featuring seven distinct statues of prominent assassins throughout history. One of the statues was of Amunet, a name Aya took after forming the Hidden Ones with herhusband Bayek of Siwa. At this point in the franchise, Aya was nothing more than a name and statue for most players.
However, that all changed inside ofAssassin’s Creed Originswhere she became a fully fleshed out character as Bayek’s wife and a critically important character for the Assassin faction. Following her stint as an agent of Cleopatra and her mission to avenge the death of her son Khemu, Aya and Bayek went on to found the Hidden Ones, the origins of the current Assassins guild. However, her history goes much deeper as she sacrificed her marriage to create a Roman branch of the faction and took on the name Amunet, the same name of the Egyptian goddess of invisibility. She’d go on to assassinate Julius Ceasar, assist in the suicide of Cleopatra, and take her son Caesarion into the Hidden Ones.
Who Are The Others?
Of the seven, only a few depicted characters have made it into the series as actual characters. Outside of Aya, Altair is also prominently featured as his role in the very first game in the series. The other character players will be familiar with is Darius, the famed assassin of Persian King, Xerxes I. Darius was also heavily featured in theDLC expansion Legacy of the First BladeforAssassin’s Creed Odyssey. Interestingly enough, Aya is a descendant of Darius, showing just how prominent this early bloodline was.
The remaining four statues are likely a little more unknown to the largerAssassin’s Creedplayer base.
While it’s unlikely that Ubisoft explores the Roman Empire due to all of the games that have already taken place within Italy, Qulan Gal and Wei Yu could make interesting protagonists, especially with fans pushing the company to use thefranchise to explore more Asian history. The success ofGhost of Tsushimahas definitely madeAssassin’s Creedfans long to see what Ubisoft could do with that area of the world that’s rich in history whether that means an alternative look at Japan or perhaps a different perspective with the Mongolians or Chinese Dynasties.
Assassin’s Creed Valhallareleases November 17 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox One versions to follow.
