Ubisoft’s popular Assassin’s Creed series seemingly has endless amounts of content thanks to its reliance on visiting major moments in history or prominent locations. This year’s game, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, takes people to 9th century England, where the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons battled each other over territory. Players will also step into the shoes of a new Viking hero named Eivor, continuing the series’ long tradition of introducing new protagonists with each new entry.
The trend has continued unimpeded since the Ezio trilogy started back in 2009 and continued through both sequels in Brotherhood and Revelations. It can be argued that Ubisoft continued Ezio’s story line due to how popular the character became after his introduction inside of Assassin’s Creed 2. The character was charming, likable, and compelling, almost an exact opposite to Altair, the stoic and series protagonist who debuted in the very first game.
These days, regardless of how popular a character becomes, Ubisoft has seemingly been unwilling to revisit past protagonists and instead continue moving forward. While there’s no doubt a big list of Assassin’s Creed characters that fans would love to see return to the franchise, one character stands out above them all.
Originally introduced in Assassin’s Creed Origins, Aya has always remained an intriguing character for fans of the game as well as the franchise. While she was introduced to players as the wife of main character Bayek of Siwa, Aya quickly developed into someone to root for due to her skill and personality. An adept fighter on her own, Aya was a strong-willed warrior, skilled fighter, and adapt ship captain.
Eventually joining forces with Cleopatra against her younger brother, Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII, Aya helped her reclaim her throne and broke away to form the Hidden Ones, an early assassin group that would eventually become the current Assassin Brotherhood. Creating various branches, Aya settled in Rome and took on the name Amunet after the Egyptian goddess of invisibility. It’s at this point where Ubisoft could opt to pick her story back up and let players run around Ancient Rome.
While fans have seen Rome before in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, this version of Rome would be quiet different as it would be during the height of one of the greatest empires in history, Rome. The huge gap in time between Ezio’s story and Aya’s means that the virtual Roman sandbox would look entirely different and giving developers a chance to tell a completely different story, one that would help show players why Aya is such a revered and legendary assassin to the Brotherhood. Plus, it would satisfy fans who want the series to return to Rome.
Her adventures quickly became legendary among the Assassins Brotherhood, having taken out many high ranking Roman generals including Julius Caesar as well as the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. For her legacy and efforts, Amunet received a statue at the Assassin Sanctuary at Monteriggioni which players could find and interact with in Assassin’s Creed 2, long before she’d go on to be featured in a game. While this character has more than enough historical value and relevancy to earn a shot as a main protagonist of a mainline Assassin’s Creed game, the biggest reason may not even be related to the series at all.
Over the past few months, Ubisoft has become embroiled in controversy largely stemming from unchecked harassment and bullying. One of the many people named was Serge Hascoet, the former Chief Creative Officer at Ubisoft. According to reports, Hascoet was largely the gatekeeper of Ubisoft titles, giving the green light for projects as well as forcing change upon games that he felt wouldn’t sell. One of those games that was forced to make big changes prior to its launch was Assassin’s Creed Origins.
Following Hascoet’s departure, new details and reports surfaced about numerous Assassin’s Creed games that underwent significant changes to reduce the roles of the females in the games from Elise de la Serre, Evie Frye, and more. One of the biggest changes was with Assassin’s Creed Origins, where Aya was going to take over as the protagonist after Bayek’s death earlier in the game. Hascoet forced the development team to not only change the narrative to prevent this, but push Aya into the background with a reduced role.
Even with a reduced role, Aya remained a memorable and standout character from Assassin’s Creed Origins. With her exploits in Rome, there’s plenty more history Ubisoft could choose to tap into while also featuring one of the more celebrated female assassins in the franchise. Fans would also get to prove Ubisoft’s old way of thinking that female characters don’t sell wrong, joining the likes of other female led franchises like Tomb Raider, Metroid, Bayonetta, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and many others like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, where most players sided with the female protagonist, Kassandra, after recent events.
Assassin’s Creed Origins is available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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