Assassin's Creed Valhalla Black Flag

The Assassinator'due south Creed franchise started dorsum in 2007 and has been going stiff always since. Several mainline titles and simply as many spin-offs have released, all of which have focused on growing or irresolute the franchise in unlike ways. Of these changes in Assassin'south Creed, it used to exist that non playing an Assassin was an exception, just that'due south not really true anymore.

From 2007 to 2015, from AC1 to Syndicate, there were only two notable exceptions to this rule (both of which are super pocket-sized in hindsight). Assassin'south Creed Rogue featured Shay Cormac, who was an ex-Assassin turned Templar, and he had all the skills of an Assassin. He was one in all only proper noun and purpose, at to the lowest degree from a gameplay perspective. Then, there's Black Flag's Edward'south Kenway.

Edward Kenway's Growth: From Pirate to Assassin

Throughout Blackness Flag, Edward Kenway is a pirate who gets dragged, mostly unwillingly or for selfish reasons, into Assassin affairs. He just care about his quest for celebrity until he came to the realization that it was fake. In pursuit of wealth and fame, he lost friends both in death or those living. Every bit such, by the end of the game, he joins the Assassin Alliance, hunts downward Templars, and entrusts the Observatory to the Assassins.

While the game doesn't go much further than that, players know that Edward becomes a Principal Assassinator during his fourth dimension with the British Assassins in London. He would proceed to research the First Civ as function of the Assassin, and because he learned from them as a pirate and grew into their organization, Edward showed a new style of growth. Assassins like Ezio and Connor rose to the ranks from the very offset, simply Edward struggled with the very premise of being an Assassinator.

There was no glory in it for him, but he decided that celebrity was a fool's game. Assassin's Creed Black Flag shows the growth that put him into his position with the lore, with his ancestry plain impacting Haytham and Connor. Eventually, it would impact Desmond too. Notwithstanding, growth from the outside-in is a primal element of Edward's story, something the franchise has failed to repeat in contempo games.

Kassandra, Eivor's Growth: The Misthios and The Viking

Since 2017, there has been iii new games in the franchise, with Assassin'southward Creed Origins' Bayek proving to be the odd human out in a strange fashion. That's considering, of the three protagonists hither, he's the simply one even loosely connected to the Brotherhood. As a member of the Hidden Ones, Bayek was a proto-Assassin—his work, and moreso his married woman Aya's, would plant the baseline for the eventual Alliance. Bayek and Aya's growth is the growth of the Subconscious Ones.

Merely, when looking at Kassandra and Eivor, this is a crucial element that is missing. They grow, sure, but they exercise not grow alongside the Hidden Ones or fifty-fifty into them. Kassandra is an of import character because of the Staff, but she start lived even before the Hidden Ones. She does encounter cults that predate the Social club of the Ancients, but their mindset and goals brand them articulate Proto-Templars. She is more connected to the Isu, which is fine, but she lacks what Kenway had.

Same goes for Eivor, if to a bottom extent so far. While Kassandra grows into her role as Keeper of the Staff, to concur it until Layla could use it properly, Eivor grows from a standard Viking into a leadership part. She fifty-fifty works with the Hidden Ones, simply her ambitions and their goals don't align. Neither have the same growth of Edward, as a consequence. Kassandra and Eivor'south pursuit of glory left them alone, with anybody Kassandra knew dying and Eivor (based on choice) alienating those closest to her. Edward saw the light; these two haven't.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla DLC – The Next Step for Eivor and Kassandra?

In truth, though, information technology'south non over. For both Kassandra and Eivor, there is still time for Ubisoft to right this wrong and bring them into the Hidden Ones properly. Every bit many know, Kassandra is notwithstanding alive thanks to the Staff, and rumors indicate Kassandra could meet Eivor in Assassin's Creed Valhalla's future DLC. Non only would this be big for Kassandra and Eivor themselves, just for the game, as the past ii DLCs have not really featured "Assassin" content.

With Kassandra's extended life and reflected ability to encounter the world, this makes sense. When players meet Kassandra in the mankind at the stop of Assassin'due south Creed Odyssey, she's wearing a suit showing that she has managed to live in the world around her. This could take led to her eventually joining the Hidden Ones later its founding, combating the Templars. Given that Kassandra's leaked dialogue seems to be alert Eivor against something Isu-related, it'd be easy to reveal her as a Hidden One.

At the same time, Eivor declines Hytham'due south invitation to bring together the Subconscious Ones every bit she does not like to operate from shadows. She wants glory, and that'southward not the manner of an Assassin. However, if the base game isn't enough of a push, perhaps her quest with Kassandra will reveal the fate of her pursuit for glory and by truly overcoming her limitations with Odin (instead of just pushing him back), perhaps Eivor will see the light like Edward too.

Edward was a prime example of why this storytelling worked, why every grapheme didn't accept to be 100% devoted to the cause from the get-go, only information technology is of import that said growth happens to call a graphic symbol an Assassin. Edward laid out the path that Kassandra and Eivor should have followed. Information technology's non likewise late to make these Assassin'due south Creed protagonists Subconscious Ones, simply if information technology doesn't happen in Valhalla's upcoming DLC, it'south unlikely to always happen.

Afterward this, fans know Ubisoft has big plans for Assassinator'due south Creed Infinity, and that's likely to be as big of a change—if not bigger—than the franchise's motility from activeness-hazard to action RPG.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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