One of the standout characters from Assassin's Creed Origins was 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 and community driven projects like Assassin's Creed Sisterhood. It also likely helps that Aya's role in Assassin's Creed Origins help 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.
In fact, while Aya was originally introduced as a major support character in the 2017 title Assassin's Creed Origins, she can actually be traced as far back as Assassin's Creed 2.
Villa Auditore
One of the mechanics introduced in Assassin's Creed 2 was 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 her husband 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 of Assassin's Creed Origins where 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 the DLC expansion Legacy of the First Blade for Assassin'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 larger Assassin's Creed player base.
- Qulan Gal - A member of the Mongolian Brotherhood, Qulan Gal is largely the most renown member for assassinating Genghis Khan who wielded the Sword of Eden. Working with Altair and his son Darim, the trio overpowered Genghis by knocking him off his horse and firing a crossbow bolt into him.
- Wei Yu - Interestingly enough, Wei Yu wasn't actually a member of the Assassin Order. Still, he stood up against tyranny by assassinating the first emperor of China, Quin Shi Huang. For his actions, he was revered by the Assassin Brotherhood and posthumously made an honorary member.
- Iltani - A member of the Babylonian Brotherhood, Iltani is largely considered one of the first assassins. Living in the Macedonian Empire, Iltani is famous for assassinating Alexander the Great who wielded the Staff of Eden to accelerate his conquest. After infiltrating his palace, she successfully poisoned the young king, killing him slowly over the course of a few days.
- Leonius - The final statue belongs to the Roman assassin Leonius. He reached legendary status among the Assassins by killing the Templar backed emperor Caligula with a dagger in an underground corridor under Palatine Hill.
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 the franchise to explore more Asian history. The success of Ghost of Tsushima has definitely made Assassin's Creed fans 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 Valhalla releases November 17 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox One versions to follow.