Characters / Assassin's Creed: Those Who Came Before

Main Character Index

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This character page is for members of the precursor civilization known as the Isu, also known as the "First Civilization", "Precursors" or "Those Who Came Before" in the Assassin's Creed franchise.

Be aware that this page contains unhidden spoilers!

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In General

No, not gods. We simply came...before.

• Abusive Precursors: Initially, as they did originally create humanity for the sake of slave labor. And once again with Juno and Aita planning to Take Over the World.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: The games go with the idea that most, if not all, ancient religions saw the Isu as gods, and thus the various Nordic, Greco-Roman etc. gods are based on more or less the same beings, seen through different cultural lenses.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Unlike the pantheons they are based on, most Isu have different relationships with each other (ie. Juno's husband is Aita instead of Jupiter).
• Advanced Ancient Humans: Although they are not actually humans or Homo sapiens, merely the superior "missing link" in the evolutionary process. However, the lore, as per Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag credits them for several antique curiosities such as the Baghdad Battery or the Antikythera Device (regarded as the world's first computer).
• And Man Grew Proud: Their arrogance led to them being unable to stop the First Catastrophe. Though the Capitoline Triad seem to believe that it was mostly mankind's fault for rebelling against them to start with. Aletheia says that the actual cause was the Isu meddling with physics, and blaming humanity is just racism and scapegoating.
• All Myths Are True: The basic premise is that the mythology and beings of all religions are essentially extrapolated from First Civilization beings. So far, figures from the Etruscan/Greco-Roman pantheon (from II onwards), the Ancient Egyptian one (in Origins) and the Norse one (in Valhalla) have been presented on-screen, but we also have Durga, a Hindu Goddess based First Civilization figure in Assassin's Creed: Brahman, and Valhalla indicates figures from Gnosticism existed as well.
• Alternative Number System: The Isu used the Hexadecimal numerical system (0-9 and A-F) used by humans in modern times. Unlike humans, the Isu used it in their everyday life.
• Applied Phlebotinum: According to Fate of Atlantis, Isu technology didn't reach its peak until the discovery of adamant, a black metal with unspecified but "amazing" properties. Aside from being nearly indestructible, it could also be used as a power source, which handily explains why the Pieces of Eden (which were all fashioned from the stuff) are both still around and fully functional tens of thousands of years later.
• Back from the Dead: Some uses of the Shroud of Eden caused this. Additionally, the Ankh was capable of healing the sick, and temporarily resurrecting the dead. It also acted as a recording device, storing the mannerisms of a living person and being able to return those mannerisms to a corpse.
• Benevolent Precursors: Sometimes. They may have made the whole of humanity to be slaves, but they're trying to protect them in this time around. Minerva in particular had high hopes for humanity, at least until she learned of Juno's sabotage of her efforts to help. The ones who record the messages in Origins are benevolent, and trying to encourage Layla to Screw Destiny before it's too late.
• Bioaugmentation: Odyssey hints that they purposely altered their bodies on occasion.
• Bizarrchitecture: The creepiest part of the First Civilization aren't the many Mind Screw capable MacGuffins they leave behind or their quasi-humanoid appearance, so much as the really spooky architecture that sticks out in the historical setting. Several of the older historical figures find the very appearance of these buildings unnerving, noting that the buildings are both old and not made by, or for, humans. They are clearly bigger on the inside, they are filled with all manner of death traps and function on bizarre technology and engineering principles, and have all manner of odd metals. The style of the architecture is cold, grand, huge and deeply minimalist, usually in dark blue colours.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality:
  • Desmond and William note this about Juno and the other members of the First Civilization. They don't remotely see the world and life with any real concern for humanity as a whole. This applies to even "good" ones like Minerva who seems to consider the loss of 90% of the Human population a small price to pay to prevent Juno's return, which Desmond rightly calls her out on. Or Consus, who wipes Hiram Stoddard's mind of his lover's death for no readily apparent reason. Durga in Brahman is a straighter example, perhaps.
  • This gets averted with later games, as the motivations of the likes of Juno and Loki, revenge for their loved ones, is all too human to understand.
• Cool Crown: They really like wearing funky-looking headdresses. Fate of Atlantis shows it's not always for practical purposes, they just like wearing them.
• Cool Sword: The Swords of Eden seem to be used to give their wielder traits of Shock and Awe blasts, The Leader, and Super-Strength, effectively enforcing Authority equals Asskicking.
• Crossover Cosmology:
  • The Isu are implied to have influenced religions across the world, including but not limited to Etruscan, Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Norse, Celtic, Chinese, Hindu, and Christian.
  • The "syncretism" flavor appears in Valhalla, in Eivor's dreams of Jotunheim. Previously-seen Isu from the Etrsucan, Greek, and Roman pantheons appear as Norse Jotnar and Aesir.
• Conlang: While the Isu speak English throughout the games, they also have their own language with its own alphabet and pronunciation meant to be the precursor to Proto-Indo-European.
• Crystal Spires and Togas: Though this doesn't seem to extend to their weaponry, as a First Civilization soldier with a energy-handgun is seen in a vision in III.
• Deflector Shields: According to III, they had this technology, though only on a single-person level. One of their plans to protect the Earth from the solar flare was to build one of these that would envelop the planet. The only problem was even building one to protect a small city proved too costly, and the idea was abandoned.
• Dying Race: Following the Great Catastrophe, the Isu left were too little to maintain their species, and within a century or more they had all died out, their main genetic legacy being the Human-Isu hybrids and their descendants.
• Eldritch Location: The Nexus, a place outside time and space which allows the Precursors to send and record messages to Fling a Light into the Future via Timey-Wimey Ball. The other is "the Grey" which is a digital dimension where Juno stays dormant slowly rebuilding her strength and resources until the events of Uprising.
• The Fair Folk: They actually function closer to them in the series, namely the different morality, different sense of time, and even having access to a dimension called "the Nexus" which is outside time and space itself. They also look and act like them in their bemusement/contempt for humanity and their Blue-and-Orange Morality.
• Fling a Light into the Future: The messages sent by Minerva/Merva, Jupiter/Tinia and Juno/Uni are scattered across the Ezio trilogy before coming to bear in Assassin's Creed III. Also, the group who sends Layla messages via Bayek through Origins.
• Fluffy Tamer: Judging by Altethia's Atlantis simulations, they kept lions as pets.
• Gold and White Are Divine:
  • Most of the Isu acting as Ancient Greek gods in Aletheia's simulation in Odyssey's Fields of Elysium DLC follow this aesthetic. Persephone for instance is clad almost entirely in white with some golden highlights and jewelry. Hermes Trismegistus' armor and weapons are entirely golden with some spots of white instead.
  • The Pieces of Eden generally follow a gold and white aesthetic as well.
• Great Offscreen War: Mention is made of them going through a "War of Unification".
• Heal Thyself:
  • The Shroud of Eden can heal major defects and injuries, but seems inconsistent in bringing people Back from the Dead.
  • The Staff of Hermes Trismegistus seems to have the same power, granting invulnerability as long as one holds onto it, and can restore bodies to full health after even centuries of disuse.
• Human Aliens: Zigzagged, as they are not actually aliens since they evolved on Earth and were capable of making viable hybrids with humans, but as revealed in Unity, while they looked human, they had triple-helix DNA, so close enough.
• Humanoid Abomination: The Isu are an enigma unto themselves, have three-helix DNA, access to a dimension beyond time and completely mysterious origins. Add in their Blue-and-Orange Morality, and they're simply more pleasant to look at than what they actually are... and sometimes, not even that, given how some can have multiple arms.
• Immune to Bullets: Rings of Eden are man-portable Deflector Shields that can reflect bullets and energy-projectiles.
• Immortal Procreation Clause: Compared to humans the Isu had much longer lifespans but lower birth rates, which meant that each individual Isu death at the hands of the rebellion was a far greater blow than vice versa. This is also why they went extinct after the Great Catastrophe, as the Isu who survived were simply too few to stave off their inevitable extinction.
• Indo-European Alien Language: An Assassin linguist in Valhalla specializing in the translation of the Isu tongue theorizes that the similarities between it and the Indo-European languages is because the Proto-Indo European language or its ancestors are directly derived from it, or otherwise took heavy influence. Though they also make the case that it's likely that the Isu were far more diverse than they'd realized, as not all Isu scripts are the same, implying that the Isu language seen in Valhalla may not be the only kind.
• Irony: Though the Isu inspired human gods, Juno at least personifies the sun as a goddess.
• Large and in Charge: The ones encountered in Aletheia's simulation in Odyssey's Fate of Atlantis DLC are about One Head Taller than even the Eagle Bearer, who's anything but short themselves. Granted, it is a simulation, but there's nothing to suggest that Aletheia made the Isu larger than they were in reality.
• Light Is Not Good: They usually dress themselves in white and gold and their technology emits a golden light, but they have created humanity for the purpose of serving them and even after their demise they continue to manipulate humans. Ironically the sun was their doom.
• Liminal Being: Juno, Aita and Consus exist in some state but in a way that challenges ideas of existence as we know it. Consus's research allowed for digital reconstruction of consciousness. He transferred his into the Shrouds. Juno borrowed the technology to transfer and scatter Aita's consciousness across his descendants and Juno spent most of her years of hibernation inside the Grand Temple, but now exists in "the Grey", a dimension of information network.
• Long-Lived: Juno was around 111 when the Toba catastrophe happened, and was indistinguishable from a human woman in her 20s or 30s, with no sign that this is unusual for Isu at all.
• Magic from Technology: Both the technology in their Temples and the Pieces of Eden are near-indistinguishable from magic. They are specifically a tech-driven approach to certain magical phenomena.
• Mind-Control Device: The Apples and Staves of Eden seem to work this way, with just how the mind control they're capable of works varying from user to user. In one case, a shard of a Staff was capable of causing a Healing Factor.
• Mineral MacGuffin: The Koh-I-Noor Diamond is a crucial link to all the other Pieces of Eden and the famous Syamantaka Gem in Hindu Mythology.
• My Brain Is Big: Their skulls were about 30% larger than a human's, which the Templars theorize was to hold their larger brains.
• Mysterious Past: Though we do know quite a bit about their culture and history, the true origins of the Isu remain a complete mystery.
• Not So Above It All: Valhalla shows that despite their pretenses, they weren't actually all that much different than humans in terms of mindset.
• Order Versus Chaos: According to the Messengers, they fell firmly on the side of Order, which the Messengers hold as the reason they couldn't prevent their extinction.
• Portal to the Past: Crystal Balls act as a limited version of this, allowing people who use them to communicate directly with members of the First Civilization through visions.
• Posthumous Character:
  • All of them: the Toba catastrophe and the war against humans decimated them, making them go extinct long before the start of recorded history. Though according to III, they might not be as dead as previously thought. And Juno is Back from the Dead and her husband Aita has been reincarnating in human hosts the whole time.
  • Valhalla reveals that a number of Norse Isu have been reincarnating into Sages like Aita, and there's at least one running around in the present day.
• Power Trio: One of their top governing bodies was organized as such, structured around the Father of Understanding, the Mother of Wisdom, and the Sacred Voice. The position could change, with at least two known trios. The Order of Ancients eventually learned of the concept, but during Alfred the Great's purge of the Order he felt the latter two were blasphemous and had them expunged, leaving only the Father of Understanding.
• Precursors: The rulers of Earth before humanity, hence their first two known names, "Those Who Came Before" and "First Civilization". It's only starting in III that they're explicitly called "precursors".
• Psychic Link:
  • The use of Crystal Skulls, with the user of one such skull being able to communicate instantaneously and telepathically with a user of another skull who is holding one as well from vast distances. As shown in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, this works by the recipient's blood being put into the crystal in the skull's forehead, then that person's image being projected via hologram real-time in front of the wielder, complete with voice.
  • The Shroud also has one with the people who use it, and It Can Think (by virtue of hosting the consciousness of the Isu Consus).
  • All the Apples of Eden issue messages to and from the Nexus.
• Quantum Mechanics Can Do Anything: Their Pieces of Eden and other devices function on advanced high-level quantum wizardry. This includes real-life devices like the Antikythera Mechanism, which as per Abstergo, was part of a larger mechanism that allowed them to use the Timey-Wimey Ball of the Apple of Eden to send messages across centuries and make advanced quantum "calculations" as per Abstergo Entertainment's research, sifting possibilities from actualities. Assassin's Creed: Brahman reveals another message from Durga calling for "Unity" which explains how they perceive time:
  "We are one of many but essential to the unity of all. Splintered though we may appear within the limited notion of this moment, we exist as one, as we always have and always will. You have been fragmented, children, but know that you are also whole. Do not allow your concept of time to act as a paralyzing veil when the fate of all you hold dear rests in your hands. We speak through this vessel to you, this time and medium and anchor that we might commune. We must exist freely at all points for your race, our children, to exist and to remain free. Shroud this intelligent lens until you become united and can realize this heart, our heart, to be the one that endowed your precious breath."
• Ragnarök Proofing: Justified with the Vaults, since those were intentionally designed to work after a world-wide disaster, but pretty much every other piece of tech they made has survived the long millennia with no problems, the only exception being the mechanisms in Origins, which have run out of power... but still boot up instantly with some silicate to hand.
• Reincarnation: An unexpected consequence of Juno's experiments to convert Aita into an AI Construct. She ends up scattering his consciousness across human DNA, resulting in Sages, genetic copies of Aita's face, with heterochromia and all his memories and some aspects of his personality passed down from generation to generation.
  • Shortly before the Great Catastrophe destroyed their civilization, Odin and his family found out a way to mass-produce Sages with Juno/Hyrrokin's help and created Yggdrasil to do so. At least eight of them (Odin, Tyr, Thor, Heimdall, Freyja, Freyr, Sif, and Idunn) used it to be reborn as humans. Loki also used the device after killing Heimdall.
• The Reveal: Syndicate has Juno reveal that they called themselves the Isu.
• Schizo Tech: Fate of Atlantis reveals them to be a pretty extreme case that ran on a weird mix of ultra-high tech and Bronze Age technology. On one hand, the Isu constructed physics-defying buildings that are still mostly intact tens of thousands of years later, many of their artifacts bend the laws of reality itself, and even today mankind's smartest minds can barely make sense of how any of it works. On the other hand, Atlantis still relied on wooden sailing ships for water travel and horses for land travel, communication was facilitated by human runners, and the Isu military ran on swords and bows (highly advanced versions of both, but still). Valhalla suggests in this case this was a result of being one of Alethia's simulations, meant to put Kassandra at ease.
• Slave Race: They created modern humans and neanderthals as slaves, using the former primarily as workers and the latter as soldiers.
• Squishy Wizard:
  • As Uprising (and the very fact they had a war with mankind at all) demonstrates, even with their greater senses and longer lifespan, the Isu are just as fragile as any human when they get stabbed.
  • Averted with the ones fought in Odyssey, who are supremely tough customers.
• Sufficiently Advanced Bamboo Technology: Precursor Codexes, which are capable of containing unimaginable amounts of data, up to and including an entire Isu mind, look like humble wooden chests.
• Super-Senses: The Assassins' famed Eagle Vision is, going by Juno's words at the end of Brotherhood, a severely diluted version of one of their own senses, which they designed humans without, and Eagle Vision was a failed attempt to give it to them. Juno implies the sense is knowledge itself. Origins reveals that this sense is in fact the ability to perceive the flow of time itself. Fate of Atlantis meanwhile, explicitly calls it "Knowledge". Poseidon, the ruler of Atlantis was able to fully awaken it in humans, which he did with Kassandra when she entered his domain.
• Tron Lines: Their structures (and their technology) are often coated in strange, glowing patterns that resemble both magical runes as well as chemical compounds, hinting at their mystical yet scientific civilization theme. They could also be an alien form of power lines to convey energy to their devices and buildings. Later appearances of Isu show that many have similar lines on their very bodies, although whether these have an actual function or are just cosmetic is never touched upon (though a quest in Fate of Atlantis suggests it's part of their biology, when a woman "upgrades" herself into a hybrid and gains lines on her arms).
• The Unmasqued World: The Rift Data from Unity have Templars speculating about the possibility of the Muggles realizing that Juno exists among them and by extension, the true origins of humanity as a result of engineering from the First Civilization. Their conclusion is that it would at the very least spark a religious crisis, either Go Mad from the Revelation on the part of existing religious populations or a religious revival where Juno would be worshipped as a Goddess.
• Unobtainium: The Isu forged the Pieces of Eden with a metal known by them as "Adamant", an almost indestructible and malleable mineral that can also act as a power source. It's also known by Abstergo as "Pathorica".
• Unreliable Expositor: A problem with them is that across the franchise nearly every description or depiction of their civilisation has come from second-hand sources, Isu who turn out to be liars, or in the case of Eivor, memories filtered through a Viking high as a kite on potions. There are about four glimpses of full-blown Isu civilization unfiltered in the franchise; The Truth, in II, the Toba Catastrophe flashback at the end of Revelation, Charlotte's glimpse of one of Juno's memories in Uprising, and Loki's video in Valhalla.
• Video Will: The Prophecy Disk and Memory Seals seem to have been a form of this, showing life from centuries past.
• Voice of the Legion: Their manifestations speak with deep, reverberating voices.
• We ARE Struggling Together: According to Fate of Atlantis, this is part of the reason they had such problems with humans and the catastrophe, being too factionalized to agree on anything. The Capitoline Triad's faction in Valhalla is revealed to have warred with Asgard, and as the Ragnarok prediction implies, decided to settle things even as their civilizations were burning during the Great Catastrophe.
• We Will Use Manual Labor in the Future: Played with. Although the Isu civilization bloomed aeons in the past, their technological level was and is very futuristic compared to ours. This makes it more than weird that, according to Aletheia's simulation of Atlantis, Poseidon phased out the mining automatons working the adamant mines and replaced them with human labor at some point after humans were created. The reason behind this decision isn't touched upon, but considering the trouble the Isu kept having with rebellious humans up until their downfall, it must've been a damn good one. Valhalla shows this wasn't exclusive to there, as the modern Assassins have found what are essentially Isu requisition forms for shovels elsewhere, and are baffled by this.
• Wizards from Outer Space: The Capitoline Triad, especially Juno. Desmond even calls her a "Magic Space Wizard" in III. Though they aren't actually from space, they evolved on Earth and are a superior evolutionary precursor to Homo Sapiens forming part of the "missing link".
• You Can't Fight Fate: The Isu who studied the simulations came to the realization that try as they could, they couldn't actually alter time. Not even one line of it. However, they are confident that Layla Hassan could.
• Zeroth Law Rebellion: From the perspective of the First Civilization, human beings are robots or nearly the same. Interestingly, the original word "robot" is Czech for slave.

Capitoline Triad and Allies

Minerva

Minerva

Voiced By: Margaret Easley (English)^note Other Languages:Natalia Kaznacheeva (AC II), Elena Kharitonova (AC III - Valhalla) (Russian)

Appears in: Assassin's Creed II | Assassin's Creed III | Assassin's Creed: Uprising | Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Minerva was a member of the Capitoline Triad, who worked to prevent the First Disaster.

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• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She may be slightly morally better than Juno, but she's just as arrogant and petty as her rival.
• Call-Forward: Her voice can be heard by Eivor in Vinland/Saint Brendan's Island when examining the door of the Grand Temple with a Crystal Ball in hand, in one of her messages to Desmond and Connor. Eivor outright notes that the message and location are not for them.
• Failure Is the Only Option: At the end of Assassin's Creed III, she tells Desmond that the Assassins are too late and had their chance and the only thing to do to avert the solar flare is to sacrifice 90% of Humanity and let Juno die, with the Assassins left with the task of recreating civilization in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Desmond considers this far more appalling an option than letting Juno have her way, even if he has to die in the process, noting there's no hope in Minerva's vision of things, wherein the cycle of subverted benevolence and genocidal extremism would have simply begun anew, only Desmond would be the long-dead messiah this time. One gets the feeling Minerva is being petty and selfish, wanting to sacrifice mankind to just to stop Juno from winning.

• Go Mad from the Isolation: When Odin visits her in Valhalla, she's been working at the calculations for a long time, trying to find a solution, and she even admits her mind has taken a hit. She's a little alarmed just seeing the outside world again.

• Humans Are Flawed: Acknowledged that humanity may never truly or properly understand the things she and the rest of her race have left behind, but still did her damnedest along with Jupiter and Juno to keep humanity alive.
• I Have Many Names: She's also known as Mera, Merva, Athena, Saraswati, Sulis, Vor and Gunlodr.
• Jerkass Gods: Not nearly to Juno's level, but she rudely rebukes Ezio Auditore for his presumption in asking questions, regarding him as a mere messenger for his future descendant. Ezio is left disappointed and confused at this, though in Revelations he comes around to his role as a conduit for Desmond and decides he's lived enough for one life.
  • Also, when she tries to convince Desmond to let the world burn and humanity to revert to stone age and repeat its mistakes all over again just to so Juno won't be set free. Despite claiming that releasing Juno would be A Fate Worse Than Death for mankind (not wrong from what was seen so far), one gets the distinct feeling she's being just as petty and selfish as Juno. It doesn't help she tries to use Desmond and the Assassins' own beliefs and goals to convince him it's for the best, in a similar fashion to a Templar at that (i,e. Haytham tried with Connor through the game), all the while with a subtle but noticeable smug smile on her face. And when Desmond makes his choice, she spitefully declares the consequences will be his to live and to die with, showing none of the compassion and understanding she displayed when talking through Ezio.
• Ms. Exposition: Near the end of Assassin's Creed II only, she tells Ezio about her kind and what they did to the world.
• No Social Skills: Even compared to other Isu, Minerva generally acts more detached and "alien". According to Valhalla, Minerva was the Isu equivalent of a nerdy shut-in.
• Only One Name: Though she does have other names besides Minerva.
• Sealed Good in a Can: Like Juno, she managed to digitize her mind. Unlike Juno, she had no means of resurrecting herself.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: According to Judgement of Atlantis, she and her followers didn't get on with Neokles, an Isu living in Atlantis, and would bicker incessantly.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: To ridiculous degrees. She even knows what someone would say, thousands of years after her death. And she knew someone else further along would be watching. Explained in III as her utilizing an Isu Nexus.
• Video Wills: Appears only as a prerecorded hologram with a message to give to Desmond through Ezio. Though her appearance in the Grand Temple implies that she also uploaded herself to the Grey, albeit without a way to get back.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Valhalla reveals that Jupiter was actually her father, and in comparison to him she was far more sober in personality.

Juno

Juno

Voiced By: Nadia Verrucci (English)^note Other Languages:Elena Chebaturkina (Russian)

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood | Assassin's Creed III | Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag | Assassin's Creed: Initiates | Assassin's Creed Syndicate | Assassin's Creed: Uprising | Assassin's Creed: Odyssey | Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Juno was a member of the Capitoline Triad, who worked to prevent the First Disaster but failed. She was imprisoned in the Grand Temple after Minerva and Jupiter discovered she was planning to take over the world. Part of her survived in this state and could only be released if the instrument to prevent the Second Disaster was used, which Desmond Miles was forced to do in 2012. When she was alive, she was born to the Illuminat caste in the City of Feyan in 2195 of the Isu era.

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• Aborted Arc: Despite being set up as the Big Bad since III, none of Juno's ultimate plans are shown in the games. Instead, Juno's entire plot is resolved in a comic series and she essentially disappears from the games after Syndicate, her role largely being replaced with Aletheia in the later games. Juno keeps appearing in Fate of Atlantis and Valhalla (as Hyrrokin), but these are simulations/dreams of past events.
• Abusive Precursors:
  • Zigzagged. She is trying to prevent The End of the World as We Know It, but forces Desmond to kill one of his friends. That said, said friend was really The Mole, so she essentially helped to keep to a good cause by being what those present would consider horrible.
  • Taken further in III. Juno wants to save the world so that she can be released from her imprisonment and rule anew. However, it seems that she doesn't want to outright rule humanity nor does she want to exterminate them. Consus confirms that while Juno originally hated humanity, she has since modified her views, though given that she operates by Blue-and-Orange Morality, it still doesn't mean well for people, especially since she's convinced that she has to "save humanity".
• Always Someone Better: According to Fate of Atlantis, she's just slightly smarter than Aita.
• And I Must Scream: Her consciousness was trapped within the Grand Temple for nearly 80,000 years.
• Apocalypse Cult: The Instruments of the First Will, a collective that essentially wants her to rule over all humanity. Abstergo is using them to find Pieces of Eden, but Juhani Otso Berg suspects that they are also using Abstergo.
• Back from the Dead:
  • As of the end of III, though she resides in "the Grey" and is essentially a kind of computer virus in some system or the other, not yet back to full strength. Assassin's Creed Rogue reveals that she is inhabiting the Abstergo Helix, and that Abstergo is aware of this.
  • In Uprising she's fully revived thanks to the Phoenix Project, but Elijah betrays her before Charlotte de la Cruz kills her by slitting her throat with a Hidden Blade.
• Big Bad:
  • Set up to be the new one as of the end of III, following the aversion of the Second Disaster.
  • She's the definitive main antagonist of Fate of Atlantis being the one behind the Olympus Project, and the reason Atlantis was sunk in the first place as a way to prevent her insane experiments getting out of control.
• The Cameo: A not-obvious-at-first one in Valhalla. In Eivor's dreams of Odin's attempt to obtain immortality, the Jotun who leads him to the well of Mimir mentions that her husband went through what Odin plans to, and is seen using a Crystal Ball to leave the very same message that Juno left in III. Since the dreams are later confirmed to be real, the jotun are implied to be Eivor's interpretation of the Isu opposing Asgard, and Aita is the only known sage not from Odin's group, it's all but stated that she was actually Juno, especially since she claims the two other Jotun are seeking to stop her (implying them as Jupiter and Minerva).
• Demonic Possession: Although proposed to do this to the Abstergo Entertainment research analyst in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, she backs out of it since she is too weak to yet pull off a Grand Theft Me.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Befitting her personality.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being a malevolent Isu goddess that wants revenge on mankind, Juno loves her husband Aita, through and through.
• Everything Is Online: Juno exists in "the gray area of the systems". Otso Berg notes the implications of this:
  Alváro Gramática: Precursor minds are powerful. If Juno is inside of a network, she could control it.
  Juhani Otso Berg: And the planet grows more networked every day.
  Alváro Gramática: You were right to be concerned. This merits further study.
• The Exile: According to Eivor's visions in Valhalla, Juno was sent into exile for her attempts to revive Aita.
• Fantastic Racism: She begins utterly despising humanity, ranting how the Isu should have left them "as you were". Even after the events of Syndicate, where she no longer out-right wants us dead, she's still disgusted by humans, describing a shared Animus session with Charlotte de la Cruz with revulsion.
• Fate Worse than Death: According to Minerva, Juno herself is one, saying that most of humanity dying in the Second Disaster would be better than letting Juno be freed.
  Minerva: Better the world burn than she be loosed upon it.
  • Consus also feels much the same way, though he notes that she's not exactly seeking to exterminate humanity anymore.
• Faux Affably Evil: In Black Flag, she states she mourns for Desmond's death. Despite having manipulated events so that he had to die just so she could be freed. She also tries to put this act in Syndicate and gleefully rewrites history, by saying that Desmond's sacrifice came because he agreed with her rather than being trapped by her Batman Gambit.
• Freudian Trio: The Id of the Capitoline Triad.
• Gambit Roulette: Her whole plan is this, considering the fact that it includes such world-historical events as The Crusades, The Renaissance and The American Revolution, spreading dissension and conflict among Assassins and Templars across continents to the very minute gambit of making Subject 16 decide to help Desmond achieve his destiny that she could not foresee in any way. Which is forcing Desmond into a Sadistic Choice which would bring her back to life and kill him.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: A note in the "Dawn of Ragnarok" DLC is written by her while stuck in Svartelheim in the midst of a Jotun invasion. Juno, who wasn't exactly a paragon of rationality to start with, is noticing she's going mad from having to hide constantly.
• Grand Theft Me: Since the opportunity in 2013 was a no go, Juno is more successful with a member of the order of Assassins, Galina Voronina's mother. Using her she is able to single-handedly create a small group of followers to carry out her whims.
• Greater-Scope Villain:
  • For the series as a whole. Her machinations were a major reason the Assassins and Templars were never able to put aside their differences and work together to make a better world.
  • She's a partial example for Odyssey where all the monsters that the Eagle Bearer has killed were all experiments created by Juno.
• Happily Married: To Aita before she had to Mercy Kill him.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: While the general details of her overall plan are clear (get a body, take over mankind, kill the Assassins), the specifics are vague, beyond Black Flag and Unity mentioning "samples" she's looking for, apparently within the Abstergo Helix.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: Finally obtaining a physical, living body after spending eons as a virtual ghost made her very powerful, but also mortal again. Getting throat-stabbed with a Hidden Blade did what the Toba eruption and the flooding of Atlantis could not, and killed her once and for all.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Seems to have this view, believing that her people should have "left [humanity] as [they] were". This is because a human killed her father. In Syndicate however, she views this hatred as part of her former self although she's still critical of humanity:
  Juno: I once loathed the very sight of your kind. In the same way you recoil in the presence of an arachnid. Humans were created by we who came before, the Isu. We crafted you in our image, but deprived you of our true gifts. You were bred for hard labor, and in extreme cases, war. We built great observatories to monitor you, devices to control you. We blessed you with resilience, but cursed you with ambition. And so you rebelled against us. I suppose we are to blame for the state of your species. Is it any wonder so many of these simulations revolve around violence?
• I Am the Noun:
  Juno: I am no longer She Who Lies In Wait. I am the Mother of Wisdom. I am the nexus of flesh and wisdom. I am Juno.
• Icy Blue Eyes: As seen in Judgement of Atlantis, her eyes are a very chilling blue.
• I Have Many Names: Also known as Uni, Hera, and Hyrrokin.
• Impromptu Tracheotomy: Is killed by Charlotte de la Cruz in Uprising via stabbing her in the throat with a Hidden Blade.
• It's Personal: How Shaun Hastings feels about Juno as he writes in the database:
  Shaun Hastings: And get this. We freed her. Us. Assassins. Now she's loose, a literal ghost in the machine... in "the Grey," as she calls it - her description of living as a digital entity. Nobody knows what she wants, or even what she's capable of. All I know is, she's dangerous, she killed a friend of mine, and she's our responsibility.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In the end, she was defeated by the son of the man she manipulated into releasing her from her tomb. Even more ironic is that the boy is the latest reincarnation of her late husband who rejected Aita's will.
• Killed Offscreen: Despite being set up as the Big Bad of the franchise, Juno is never actually directly encountered in any of the games. Instead, she is ultimately defeated and killed in the Uprising comic, and as such Syndicate is the last main series game she plays any major role in (for the modern storyline at least).
• Man Behind the Man: It's hinted that some, if not all Pieces of Eden, are either under her control or programmed to follow her commands, and make everyone around, including the one holding them at any given moment, follow subliminal commands. That potentially makes her not only responsible for the war between Assassins and Templars, but also all conflicts and tragedies in human history that, in the game's lore, had a Piece of Eden involved.
• Manipulative Bastard:
  • In III she forces Desmond to choose between letting most of humanity die to keep her locked away, or activating the Temple to save the world, thus sacrificing his own life and freeing her to resume her plans to take over.
  • In Syndicate, she tells the protagonist that they need not be enemies because "the greatest Assassin of your age saw fit to free me," while leaving out the context of why Desmond had to free her.
  • In Valhalla, as "Hyrrokin", she frees Odin from the bindings Angrboda/Aletheia and Loki have him in order to help him get the "mead", only asking for a small sample in return so that she can make a Sage out of Aita.
• Ms. Exposition: Her holograms in the Temple in Assassin's Creed III provide considerable background and insight into First Civilization culture and their attempts to avert the Toba Catastrophe. She returns in Syndicate to perform the same function in The World War I simulation/Lydia Frye's memories; here she gives dates and more detailed background about the First Civilization era.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Post-release, she serves as this, seeing as she does not yet have a new mortal body through which to directly interact with the physical world, though she did cause a Computer Virus and blackout as per the multiplayer section of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and ended up driving the Russian Assassins in the Science Centre insane.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Pointed out by Otso Berg in Uprising. For all she is, and does, Juno's just another would-be absolute ruler.
• Obviously Evil: One of the Isu recordings in Fate of Atlantis has a note on how her own kind could see her rabid hatred for humans.
• Only One Name: Though she does have other names besides Juno.
• People Puppets: How she seems to control Desmond temporarily through Ezio's Apple and make him kill Lucy, though Desmond realizes that it involved his consent since she showed him what Lucy's real purpose was and how it would fail.
• Progressively Prettier: Her appearance at the end of Syndicate has her appear younger, prettier, and more human-like compared to all of her previous appearances.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Has black hair and is very pale.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Desmond on humanity as he's navigating the building her hologram resides in.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: As revealed in III. Desmond releases her to stop the Second Disaster.
• The Singularity: Her grand plan is to unleash this:
  Juno: We need not be enemies. I intend to build, to transform your age into something greater than you can currently comprehend.
• Skewed Priorities: As seen in Fate of Atlantis, she considers humans overthrowing the Isu a bigger threat than the coronal mass ejection, right up until it actually hit.
• Spanner in the Works: Using Ezio's Apple, she managed to get Desmond to assassinate Lucy, foiling Vidic's plot to get the Apple.
• Token Evil Teammate: To the Capitoline Triad. When it was revealed that she wanted to Take Over the World, she was locked away.
• The Unfought: Despite being the Big Bad for the majority of the franchise, Juno is never directly encountered in any of the games. Instead, she is ultimately defeated and killed in the Uprising comic.
• Villain Has a Point: Desmond agrees with her about averting the Second Disaster so that history does not repeat itself, even if it means allowing her to be free to rule the world. He also states that he's pretty sure the Assassins can find a stop to her even if she comes back.
• Wham Line: In Valhalla, when Odin sees her Jotun form leaving a message via Crystal Ball that is very clearly the exact same one she left in III, all but confirming who she is (and by extension who two other Jotun are).
• Worthy Opponent: She seems to be really fond of Desmond, even if she manipulated him into a trap. In Black Flag, she expresses gratitude and blesses Desmond for his sacrifice and in Syndicate, she calls him the "greatest Assassin of his age".
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: One of the files found in Unity shows that she considers the Assassins' job in freeing her as done, so they must be dealt with.
• You Killed My Father: She hates all of humanity because, at the dawn of the Human-Isu War, her father Saturn was killed by one of his own servants. Odyssey later shows that while this is still true, Juno despised mankind even before then.

Jupiter

Jupiter

Voiced By: Tony Robinow (English)^note Other Languages:Leonid Belozorovich (Russian)

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Revelations | Assassin's Creed III | Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Jupiter was part of the Capitoline Triad, who worked to prevent the First Disaster and save his kind and humanity. They failed, but Jupiter was able to contact Desmond Miles through a Synch Nexus in 2012 to warn him of the approaching Second Disaster.

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• Animal Motifs: His eagle helmet.
• Badass Cape: Attached to his robe.
• The Bus Came Back: His first appearance in Revelations was the last time he had a significant role in the games (discounting brief non-speaking appearances as a projection in III) before reappearing in Valhalla, 9 years later, as Suttungr.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Out of the Triad Jupiter comes off as the nicest, but as Odin learns, taking advantage of him is a really bad idea.
• Cool Helmet: Which seems to resemble an eagle.
• Freudian Trio: The Ego of the Capitoline Triad.
• Good with Numbers: Averted. He specifically says that it was "always Minerva's strong suit".
• Humongous-Headed Hammer: His main weapon is a giant hammer that can create shockwaves.
• I Have Many Names: Also known as Tinia, Zeus, and Suttungr.
• Large and in Charge: As Suttungr he's depicted as several times taller than all the other Jotun, themselves at least twice the size of the average human. It's likely it was the same in the real version of the events.
• Mr. Exposition: Near the end of Assassin's Creed: Revelations only.
• Only One Name: Though he does have other names besides Jupiter.
• Out of Focus: Of the Capitoline Triad, he's the one with the least amount of screentime.
• Posthumous Character: Appears only as a prerecorded hologram with a message to give to Desmond Miles, and as a dream of past events to Eivor.
• Sacred Hospitality: Despite the fact that Jotunheim has been at war with Asgard for ages, when Odin comes as a guest he lets him in anyway, only for Odin to repay his hospitality by stealing the "mead" of immortality after tricking everyone into drinking too much mead and sneaking into the vault while they're all drunk.
• Token Good Teammate: Of the three members of the Capitoline Triad, he is the only one without ulterior motives beyond preserving humankind and preventing another catastrophe. Juno was a Manipulative Bitch who wanted to take advantage of the Toba Catastrophe and rule over humans as a dictator, and Minerva was willing to allow the total extinction of both humans and Isu to keep Juno from doing so.
• Top God: Similar to his portrayal in mythology, he took charge of gathering information for the Grand Temple to prevent the First Disaster, alongside Juno and Minerva, and Valhalla depicts him as leader of the "Jotun" as Suttungr alongside Gunlodr (Minerva), and Hyrrokin (Juno), before they banished the latter for her crimes.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Is a lot more jovial and silly in comparison to Minerva, who is revealed to be his daughter in Valhalla, but don't get him angry, or you'll regret it.
• Wizard Beard: Stock in trade for Top Gods.

Aita

Aita

Appears in: Assassin's Creed III | Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag | Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Aita was the husband of Juno. He volunteered to test the fourth solution designed to prevent the First Disaster, a device which would store an individual's mind to survive the event so they could return to their body afterwards. It failed, and Juno killed Aita to end his suffering.

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• And I Must Scream: It seems that his mind was destroyed by a proto-Animus. It turns out to be much worse, his consciousness was scattered across human DNA and resulted in "Sages" or reincarnations who have Aita's memories and personality.
• Abusive Precursors: While the other First Civilization members cast themselves as either detached or indifferent to humanity, Aita is the first one to drop any pretenses of benevolence, firmly insisting that humanity's purpose is to serve their masters and that they are inferior. He also had absolutely no problem experimenting on humans by the truckload to turn them into bioweapons.
• Big Bad: Of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag in both the past and present timelines as his reincarnations, Bartolomeo Roberts and John Standish respectively, and of Assassin's Creed: Unity as François-Thomas Germain.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Aita wasn't tremendously sane to begin with, but spending countless millennia in the subconscious of human hosts has left him extremely unbalanced and deranged as is evidenced by the barely coherent notes he leaves behind. He makes Subject 16 sound like a model of clarity.
• Don't Fear the Reaper:
  • He's the death god in most religions, but he was just trying to help. This changes in the present day, as he more fits with The Grim Reaper with a Well-Intentioned Extremist vibe.
  • In Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag he seems to have drifted into Everybody Hates Hades by becoming a Satanic figure complete with possession, Mark of the Supernatural and a belief that Humans Are Morons. In other words, an inversion of this trope.
• Dragon-in-Chief: To Juno's Non-Action Big Bad in IV: Black Flag. Although it seems they have radically different agendas with Juno refusing to complete his gambit of possessing the Player Character.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Even though he is a malevolent and dangerous Isu god, Aita really loves his wife Juno.
• Everybody Hates Hades: He is named after the Etruscan analogue of Hades and the in-universe inspiration for him, and he's not very kind.
• Evil Counterpart: To Desmond Miles. Desmond sends his consciousness back to live as his ancestors, and is thrust into a position to save mankind. Aita undergoes a similar procedure but it seems his endgame is for all humanity to be slaves to Those Who Came Before.
• Evilutionary Biologist: He's responsible for Project Olympos, a semi-successful attempt at turning humans into superpowered Bioweapon Beasts through the use of specialized Pieces of Eden. "Semi-successful" because it went horribly right - the resulting monsters like the Minotaur, Cyclopses or Medusa were extremely powerful and dangerous, but proved uncontrollable and apparently undefeatable for Aita, so they ended up locked away in hidden dungeons.
• Evil Genius: As the Thom Kavanaugh letters in the bottle reveal, he seems to have come up with a lot of their crazy technology. He's explicitly described as the Architect of the Observatory. He also helped devise the products of the Olympus Project, by experimenting on a lot of humans.
• Expy:
  • As a psychologically unbalanced Cloudcukoolander AI construct that endures after his corporeal death thanks to an Ur-Animus, Aita has a lot in common with Subject 16 or Clay Kaczmarek.
  • A godlike entity deeply embedded within humanity, can surface by possessing a suitable host, is working tirelessly to restore a technologically advanced ancient civilization that will re-enslave humanity, and wishes to be with his beloved? He's the Spear Counterpart to Miang.
• Fantastic Racism: The QR notes you find in the office in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag are all from John who believes humans should get on their knees and worship Juno for their continued existence. The actual Aita also had a very dim view of humans, considering them nothing more than lab rats for his experiments.
• Fate Worse than Death: His body died, but his mind remained, begging to be released.
• For Science!: Aside from being out for more power for himself, this seems to be the only motivation for his horrifying experiments and research projects.
• Grand Theft Me: All the Sages pull this off on their human hosts, to varying degree. Thom Kavanaugh, the Sage whose letters Edward can collect, seems to have retained his original personality but it's successful on Bartholomew Roberts to the extent that he calls himself Aita in his last words. And also on John from IT.
• Happily Married: To Juno. Aita hoped to remove Juno from her tomb and free her, and later wishes to reunite with her by finding her a body and joining her "in the grey".
• Humanity Is Infectious: Although he would deny it himself, Aita's reincarnations, though thoroughly creepy, nonetheless behave in a less godlike manner and show more human characteristics than any other remnants of the First Civlization, with Bartholomew Roberts coming across as an agreeable Large Ham and John Standish coming across as a Cloudcuckoolander. Apparently, semi-valid delusions of godhood and a vulnerable human body are a poor mix. It appears that some Sages may be able to shake off Aita's consciousness, like Thom Kavanaugh and Elijah.
• I Have Many Names: Implied to also be Hades and Pluto. Other names include John Standish from Abstergo Entertainment's IT department, the Wandering Jew, and "Bartholomew Roberts".
• Irony: His latest reincarnation, Elijah, would be the one who ended Juno's ambitions.
• Large Ham: As might be expected from a Mad Scientist, he's pretty hammy.
• Mercy Kill: With a knife to the chest, courtesy of Juno.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: What Juno intended with her experiments of Aita, it didn't go as planned and she had to Mercy Kill him but it did make Aita an incorporeal consciousness that recurs in several human hosts across the centuries.
• Never My Fault: One of the Isu codexes in Fate of Atlantis mentions that if Aita screws up, he'll never admit it was his doing.
• Playing with Syringes: Odyssey reveals that he and Juno were banned from Atlantis for conducting horrific experiments on humans that must've cost thousands of lives.
• Reincarnation: His Sages are essentially his avatars, periodically recurring in human hosts with his memories, his looks and some aspects of his personality though they themselves count as separate beings. Known Sages, aside from the three in Black Flag, include two Templar Grandmasters, a 6th Century Byzantine Bishop, a 14th Century Confucian Author, the mythical Wandering Jew, a German Spy during World War I, the illegitimate son of Desmond Miles, and a certain English musician called David Jones who was said to be "otherworldly", "extraterrestrial", and "possessed by multiple personalities".^note The real David Bowie only had the appearance of heterochromia due to a childhood injury that left an eye permanently dilated.
• The Remnant: Aita and his Sages are perhaps the only living, breathing organic relics with memories of the First Civilization that continue throughout human history. Moving from body to body and host to host across the centuries. Worshiped by the Mayans as Sages, becoming a Pirate Captain in another generation, a Royal Silversmith and in modern times, a psychotic IT guy for a corporation. Curious afterlife indeed.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Aita's death as a result of a failed experiment led him to becoming a Hive Mind AI which periodically reincarnated in human hosts, where each rebirth resulted in a human born with his memories leading to a Grand Theft Me at a later stage where Aita would take over completely. His main goal is to release Juno from her prison. However he never achieves this, and Juno's own long-term Batman Gambit releases her instead. He becomes bitter as Bartholomew Roberts that he can do very little to release Juno and that Edward Kenway could perhaps be of greater use than he.
• Shirtless Scene: The only one seen of him not counting his reincarnations in III is this.
• Smug Snake: Aita is utterly convinced of his superiority over humans and most Isu alike, and makes no effort to hide it.
• The Unfettered: Has absolutely no moral compass at all, leaving him free to conduct experiments with no regard for long-term consequences or the suffering of others.
• Unholy Matrimony: The fact that their love is pure doesn't change the fact that any future relationship between them is a Crapsack World for humanity as a whole—or the fact that he was planning on allowing Juno to steal the research analyst's body so they could become lovers once more.
• Wild Card: Sages are usually unaligned to both the Assasins or Templars. Bishop in Unity states that the Assassins are aware of two occassions of Sages becoming Templar Grandmasters. Even in those cases, Jacques de Molay and especially his successor Francois-Thomas Germain, they conduct their business in a way that departs from standard Templar procedure and totally changes the game; Jacques de Molay by engaging the Templars in banking and finance and planning to shift power to the Middle classes, a vision which Germain completes. In Unity, it's clear that a lot of Abstergo's ideas of the present day weren't standard 18th Century Templar practises but a direct result of Germain's intervention.

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Greek Pantheon

Hermes Trismegistus

Hermes Trismegistus

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

A First Civilization member known as the Egyptian and Greek god of alchemy and magic in mythology. He is the central figure of focus and worship of the Hermeticists cult, and he plays a central role in the Fields of Elysium DLC for Assassin's Creed: Odyssey.

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• Anti-Villain: The only reason he's fought at all is that he supports the DLC's Arc Villain, and one of the main reasons he does that is because he's in love with her. He doesn't do a single villainous thing otherwise in his entire character arc.
• Bling of War: His armor and weapons are almost completely golden.
• Combat Parkour: He does quite a lot of fancy jumps during his boss-battles.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: The flesh-and-blood Hermes lived long enough to pass his Staff on to Pythagoras, but the one in Alethia's simulation gets dropped off a bridge by Persephone.
• Disney Villain Death: He gets thrown off a bridge to his death.
• The Dragon: To Persephone, kind of. He's usually the one to take care of things he considers necessary to quell Adonis's uprising against Persephone's rule in Elysium.
• Final Boss: Of the Fields of Elysium DLC episode for Odyssey, unless you ardently supported him before.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He seems to be responsible for crafting many, if not most of the gizmos associated with the Isu, up to and including numerous Pieces of Eden.
• Genius Bruiser: Possibly one of the smartest minds the Isu had to offer, yet a frighteningly powerful warrior at the same time if violence is necessary.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Even if the player tries reasonably turning down his questline by refusing to murder people for him, he'll wig out and attack the Eagle Bearer. Guy does not take being told "no" well.
• Hand Blast: One of his many combat abilities is a beam of golden energy shot from his palm, similar in effect to what the Colossi do regularly. Considering his Gadgeteer Genius status, it's likely the Colossi were his creation in the first place.
• Ignored Enamored Underling: He's head over heels for Persephone, but if she even notices, she doesn't reciprocate. Several characters point out to Hermes that he's just a tool for Persephone, but he steadfastly refuses to accept this and continues to defend her with everything he has. Boy, should he have listened...
• Passing the Torch: He passed along his Staff of Eden to Pythagoras, who became even more popular.
• Rage Quit: Mentioned in one of the Isu recording that while at a conference on what to do about the impending solar flare disaster, Hermes suddenly lost his temper for no reason anyone could understand and stormed out.
• Skippable Boss: You end up fighting him not once but twice if you antagonize him throughout the DLC's story arc, with the second battle fielding him as the Final Boss. Conversely, siding with him in the quests he hands out skips both battles entirely.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: A gender-inverted example. He's mostly a relaxed and affable guy, albeit quite arrogant, but woe betide you if you threaten Persephone in any way. Don't even badmouth her in his presence if you value your health.
• Vocal Dissonance: He's got a surprisingly deep voice for a Pretty Boy.
• We Used to Be Friends: With the Eagle Bearer, if they refuse to attack the resistance for him. He'll immediately break off all contact and say this the next time he's met.
• You Have Failed Me: After the Eagle Bearer defeats him at the end of the first Fields of Elysium episode, Persephone stops the fight dead, calls Hermes pathetic and throws him off a bridge to his death for having failed her one too many times. If you manage to convince him to side with you instead, the exact same thing happens, minus the Boss Battle.

Aphrodite

Aphrodite

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy

Aphrodite, also known as Venus, a member of the First civilization later to be revered as the Greek and Roman goddess of love, beauty and femininity.

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• The Ghost: Mentioned throughout the Fields of Elysium DLC in Odyssey, as being Adonis's lover and motivation, but doesn't put in an appearance.
• The Ophelia: The only reportedly known First Civilization member that has appeared to someone (Kyros) in their sleep, and she did it in a dream-orchard.
• Spanner in the Works: It is thanks to her directing Kyros to her temple where he found an Apple of Eden that Kyros was able to beat Atalanta in a race and win her hand in marriage. Although Kyros cheated, him winning and earning her hand in marriage saved him from being killed by Atalanta's father.

Aletheia

Aletheia

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Odyssey | Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

An Isu doing research into parallel universes and the manipulation of reality and the "Olympos". She worked with Juno but seems to have gone rogue when Juno was imprisoned. She speaks in a far more modern manner than most Isu, and also seems to hold a very cynical view of her people. Unlike the other Isu, Aletheia was personified by humans as the spirit of Truth, rather than a god.

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• …And That Little Girl Was Me:
  • At the end of Fate of Atlantis, she reveals that the Atlantis simulation was partly based on her own memories.
  • It is as well revealed during the ending of Valhalla that she was the "unknown female voice" in that game's Animus' anomalies.
• Brain Uploading: She uploaded her mind into the staff of Hermes Trismegistus. In Valhalla, it is revealed that her husband, Loki, was the one to do that to her after she suffers a fatal injury.
• Brutal Honesty: Is very upfront to the Eagle Bearer that they're mainly there to keep the Staff safe for the next two thousand years, that everyone they know and love will die, and that it will suck.
• Can't Argue with Elves: For all she was against her species' arrogance, she's pretty determined to play this with Layla after it looks like she can't control the Staff. Layla is having none of it.
• The Cynic: She is very cynical about her race's legacy:
  "It took Precursor ambitions to take such simple concepts and turn them into artifacts capable of threatening two civilizations. Bravo Us."
  "I shouldn't be surprised. My fellow precursors loved being treated like gods. Why not create pets worthy of that reputations?"
• Deadpan Snarker: Her logs drip sarcasm.
• Demoted to Extra: After being a main character in Odyssey, she's nigh-absent for most of Valhalla, going completely silent on Layla.
• Fantastic Racism: For all she talks about how inspiring she finds humans, she shows a very condescending attitude towards humans after Layla accidentally kills Victoria.
• Greater-Scope Villain: She purposefully started the events of Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla to free her husband Basim/Loki from the temple that has locked him away for millennia by convincing Layla to hand over the Staff of Hermes to them.
• Happily Married: Implied to be Loki's beloved. She loves him back as well, given her reaction when Basim was freed. She's also the mother of Loki's children.
• Hero of Another Story: Given the events of "Judgement of Atlantis" are at least partially based on her own experiences.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: The closest is a tiny image that cannot be enlarged. At least, until the mission "Heir of Memory" was added with patch 1.20, when the Eagle Bearer and Layla get to meet her.
• Humans Are Special: She regards the achievements of humans as noteworthy, unlike her fellow Isu, and decries that by trying to control and enslave the humans, the Isu cannot share in their art, culture, and inventions such as Democracy. While most Isu see humans as primitive, she finds how much they've achieved in so little time amazing. It directly contrasts her with Juno, who despises humans.
• I Have Many Names: Implied that Aletheia isn't her real name, but a name she took to represent her cause. It may be Angrboda, as that was how she was known by Loki and the Aesir.
• Knight in Sour Armor: She does have a bit of an issue with humans' propensity for violence, in a missive about the Spear of Leonidas, but still believes in the rightness of her cause of "enabling instead of interfering with" humans.
• Love Interest: Is this to Loki, having become lovers and giving birth to three children: Fenrir, Jormungandr and Hel.
• Mama Bear: As Angrboda she drugs and threatens Odin at knifepoint for threatening her son Fenrir.
• Manipulative Bitch: Possibly. As seen in Valhalla, it is revealed that she manipulated the Eagle Bearer into keeping the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus for thousands of years, only to give it to Layla Hassan so she can bring it to Basim/Loki.
• Meaningful Name: Aletheia, αληθεια, is Greek for truth. Fittingly, she's very straight forward about her opinion on her people. She outright mentions it. Though the events of Valhalla put that into question.
  "Call me Aletheia. I am truth and its revelations. And I am calling you out."
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: She outright calls herself a rebel.
  • She's rather critical of her species' ego and decision to keep manipulating humans even once extinct via their artifacts, which are designed to "educate" humans towards specific ends.
  "Too many of my people have tried to manipulate humans to their own end. I'm sorry some of them were so successful."
  • She also leads a faction of Isu who seek to undo the effort of their fellows to shape the future and humanity.
  "I've gathered some like-minded Precursors to make a new start. We'll stop interfering and start enabling."
• Navel-Deep Neckline: An Isu fashion trend and Aletheia is no exception with her plunging neckline that reaches her stomach.
• Poor Communication Kills: Repeatedly warns Layla about an interloper, but never specifies who it is, leaving Layla to think she's talking about her fellow Assassins. She's actually referring to Berg listening in on them.
• Remember the New Guy?: The first modern day segment of Odyssey treats her as a character we're supposed to know about from the get-go, despite never having been mentioned before. It does claim she was the voice in the recordings in Origins, but she doesn't sound like any of them, and never identified by name.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Vanishes immediately when some Abstergo goons show up on the doorstep.
• Shoot the Dog: She and Poseidon sunk Atlantis in order to prevent Juno's insane experiments from going wild. She regrets doing it, but is unable to change what happened.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Her eyes are a very vivid golden color.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Juno: she uploaded her mind via Isu technology and manipulated a modern-day Assassin to reunite with her husband, who was reincarnated as a Sage. Though Aletheia is considerably kinder and her motives may be more sympathetic than Juno's, as when they're talking amongst themselves she makes it clear that she doesn't share Juno's views on humanity being inherently inferior.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: She pulls this on the Eagle Bearer, Pythagoras, and Layla. Subverted, as she knows what they are saying because her mind is in the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus they hold, not because she had foreknowledge.
• Tron Lines: Has golden markings on much of her body, running down to her hands.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Is distressed and disturbed when Layla accidentally kills Victoria Bibeau in a fit of rage, saying she hadn't seen that coming at all, and asks her to leave. Layla manages to change her mind, but it took a lot of convincing to do so.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: She leaves a message to appeal to Pythagoras' current achievement, to convince him that he's done enough and that he should pass the Staff to the Eagle Bearer and not seek immortality.

Persephone

Persephone

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Persephone, also known as Proserpina, a member of the First Civilization later known as the Greek and Roman goddess of the dead and the underworld.

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• Adaptational Villainy: Like her husband, Persephone is more benign in the original myths.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Is blonde in Odyssey, while described as dark haired in the myths.
• Affably Evil: She gets pretty chummy with the Eagle Bearer after they talk about the "misunderstanding" during their first encounter. Still doesn't change the fact that her actions are the driving force behind the brewing civil war in Ancient Greek's afterlife.
• Arc Villain: Of the Fields of Elysium DLC for Odyssey.
• Artistic License – Religion: While Persephone's portrayal in mythology varies, this version flies in the face of all of them, and has to be intentional.
• Awful Wedded Life: She really doesn't like being married to Hades, and does everything she can to avoid being near him. This flies heavily into Sadly Mythtaken because in the myths Hades and Persephone had one of the more, if not one of the most, healthy relationships in the mythology, in spite of the rocky start. In fact, it was traditional to present newlyweds with a gift decorated with Hades and Persephone in order to provide them good fortune.
• Bad Boss: Just ask Hermes Trismegistus. Oh wait, he's dead.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Despite the fact that the entire Elysium leads up to a grand battle to dethrone her, and Adonis' rebellion does succeed in defeating her forces, in the end it doesn't really matter. She crushes all of her conspirators (and also possibly disfigures Adonis), kills Hermes, curses Hekate, and tosses the Eagle Bearer into Tartaros to be killed by Cerbe(Ros), without ever having to partake in any fight herself.
• Control Freak: Hekate accuses her of being one. Hekate is not exactly a reliable source of information, but this time she is. Persephone gets pretty bent out of shape when people start going against her wishes.
• Cool Crown: Her crown is an Isu artifact which can control people mentally and physically.
• Deal with the Devil: Being the devil in question. She offers the Eagle Bearer a chance to resurrect one of their loved ones, in exchange for the death of their grandfather, Leonidas. If the Eagle Bearer tries to take a third option, she rescinds the deal and tells them to piss off. Later developments show that she was probably lying about being able to revive Phoibe anyway, since she'd already started off in Elysium.
• Establishing Character Moment: When the Eagle Bearer first enters Elysium, Persephone takes a look at them, chides them for not belonging there, and siccs a platoon of mind-controlled Elite Mooks on them while she retreats to her palace.
• Everybody Hates Hades: Unlike the myths, where she is a benevolent, if fearsome, figure, here Persephone is antagonistic, haughty, and has a rebellion rising up against her.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While her proclaimed "love" for Adonis is mostly selfish BS, she does seem to genuinely love her mother Demeter and speaks of her warmly. Additionally, her friendship with Hekate seems to have been pretty genuine up until she realized Hekate had other ulterior motives.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: A rare villainous portrayal of The Queen Of The Underworld. She's an iron-fisted dictator over the citizens of Elysium who blinded a man for the grave offense of not being greatful enough about the "paradise" she created. Naturally, there's a rebellion among the humans rising up against her.
• Gold and White Are Divine: No Isu exemplifies this better than her.
• It's All About Me: Everything she does serves herself, and only herself. The whole rebellion against her arose because she adamantly refuses to let the glorious dead move on to their next life, and the sole reason she does that is because she feels that if she can't leave Elysium, nobody else shall, either.
• Mind Control: Every single one of Elysium's Wardens is a dead human soldier under her mental control. It's never made clear how exactly she does it^note the Torches of Hypnos are certainly a part of it, though. A later DLC episode clears it up by revealing that her Cool Crown functions similarly to an Apple of Eden, but only the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus is powerful enough to completely break her control and return the victims' free will, which immediately results in them pulling a Heel–Face Turn and joining Adonis's rebellion.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Do you think it wise to mess with someone called the "Queen of the Underworld"?
• Oh, Crap!: Her reaction when she finds out that King Leonidas of Sparta himself took up arms again to join Adonis's rebellion. Almost nothing the Eagle Bearer does in Elysium draws more than some cursory ire from her, but this one really makes her nervous, to the point that she offers the Eagle Bearer the resurrection of another dead person of their choice that they held dear in exchange for Leonidas' life.
• Order vs. Chaos: Aletheia explicitly states that Persephone's rule was based on extreme order, contrasting her husband Hades' style of unbridled chaos. Ultimately, neither extreme proved viable in the long run. This is in contrast to the myths where both Hades and Persephone were very firmly on the order side of things and had a very cooperative and stable run of the underworld.
• Our Founder: You can't swing a dead cat in Elysium without hitting a statue or similar likeness of Persephone. By far the most impressive example (solid gold and an estimated 40 meters in height) resides in the Heart of Elysium, and about two dozen life-sized Marble Maiden statues are scattered throughout the game world. Destroying the latter rewards one ability point each and pisses Persephone off.
• Sadly Mythtaken: While most of the changes from the myths are pretty obviously intentional and even remarked upon, her Awful Wedded Life is a bit unclear. None of the human characters are surprised to find that she hates Hades, even though in real ancient Greece they were considered to be the gods with the happiest marriage (which, in fairness, wasn't a particularly high bar to clear).
• Statuesque Stunner: She's a drop-dead gorgeous woman and, being an Isu, One Head Taller than any human in the game.
• Technicolor Eyes: She has gorgeous eyes of a vibrant purple.
• Telekinesis: One of her powers, and an extremely strong one at that.
• Truth Serum: Another one of her powers seems to be removing another person's capacity to lie, which she does to Hekate if you managed to turn them against each other.
• The Unfought: Never even comes close to doing battle with anyone despite being the DLC's first main antagonist.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: If the player revisits Elysium after finishing Fields of Elysium, she's nowhere to be found.
• You Have Failed Me: Pulls this on Hermes at the climax of the DLC's Final Battle.

Hekate

Hekate

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Hekate, a member of the First Civilization later known as the Greek and Roman goddess of, among other things, crossroads, entrance-ways, magic, sorcery and necromancy.

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• As You Know: She feels the need to explain to Hermes that the key to Tartaros is hidden in Ros' collar despite the fact that he was the one who made the key in the first place.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: Assuming everything in her questline was done properly, this is how the Eagle Bearer turns Persephone against Hekate - lying out their ass as Hekate's trying to do. It doesn't quite work, Persephone will still turn on the Eagle Bearer regardless, but she'll turn on Hekate first.
• The Chessmaster: Subverted. Unlike Persephone, Hermes and Adonis's fairly straightforward plans and motives, Hekate's are a lot more involved and obscure. Only in the episode's final act do all the pieces fall in place to reveal Hekate's true intentions behind the various tasks she had the Eagle Bearer carry out before. The subversion rests in her schemes backfiring on herself if you consistently went against her wishes during the quests she gave you.
• False Friend: Demeter sent Hekate to be Persephone's friend and ally. She has her own plans.
• Fantastic Racism: Makes it clear she doesn't think too highly of humans at one point.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: Should Persephone actually turn on her and curse her with an inability to lie, the first thing Hekate yells is she thinks Persephone is terrible at ruling Elysium. And also, she hates her dress.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Has some very pale blue eyes on her, matching her cold and manipulative nature.
• Manipulative Bastard: Her quests in a nutshell. She sends the Eagle Bearer to recover some lethe water, to erase the memory of a human in Elysium. If the Eagle Bearer doesn't do so, it'll turn out she's mourning a guy whom they may have already saved working for the resistance. She claims the Devotees of Persephone are her top spymasters and fanatics, when all they are is harmless fans.
• Master Poisoner: Apparently she has, or had, a fondness for it. One of her quests has her send the Eagle Bearer to poison a whole bunch of Persephone fans. Afterward, Persephone will even note the type of poison used is Hekate's favored brand.
• Mystical White Hair: The Greek Goddess of witchcraft has white hair, symbolizing her status as the wisest resident of Elysium.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Her outfit has a plunging neckline that is one of the most revealing in the entire game, especially since it exposes Sideboob and it's also a Sexy Backless Outfit.
• Obviously Evil: For starters, in a world that runs on Gold and White Are Divine, she's the only one to wear black. She also acts very aloof and dismissive most of the time while never letting on what exactly she's up to, giving her a sinister aura pretty much from the outset. True enough, she turns out to be not nearly as friendly as she tries to present herself to the Eagle Bearer.
• Out-Gambitted: She's constantly manipulating the Eagle Bearer to further her own plans, never realizing that she's actually the one being manipulated, assuming you're making the right choices in her quests. Her arrogance comes gloriously crashing down on her in the DLC's climax if you choose this path.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Although she isn't killed, Persephone furiously ends her long-standing friendship with Hekate, takes away her capacity to lie and banishes her from Elysium if you managed to convince Persephone that Hekate was the mastermind behind all the trouble in the realm.
• Sexy Backless Outfit: Her outfit is a mixture of a dress and a toga that shows a lot of skin on both at her front and her back.
• Shipping Torpedo: If the player has been romancing Adonis, she calls them out for it and sternly warns against getting in the middle of a God's Love Triangle. To be fair, it is probably her only legitimately decent advice that isn't designed as an elaborate trap and the player should probably heed it if they'd like to avoid Adonis being disfigured in the finale of the chapter.
• Smug Snake: She doesn't even try to sugarcoat the fact that she considers humans, the Eagle Bearer included, way beneath her. It makes seeing her humbled by Persephone all the more satisfying, assuming you played your cards right during her questline.
• The Starscream: It doesn't take long for the first character to accuse her of being out for Persephone's throne. They're partially right, although she also seems to harbor some genuine concern for Persephone's mental wellbeing.
• Statuesque Stunner: Similar to Persephone, Hekate is a real looker and significantly taller than any human.
• Wild Card: Elysium hosts four major quest givers for the Eagle Bearer: Persephone and Hermes for, well, Persephone, Adonis for the humans, and Hekate, whose tasks are always somewhat shady without giving definitive hints as to which team she's actually batting for. The finale reveals who she's working for: herself.

Hades

Hades

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Hades, also known as Pluto, brother of Poseidon and Zeus, is a member of the First Civilization later known as the Greek and Roman god of the dead and the king of the Underworld.

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• Adaptational Villainy: The Hades of Greek mythology, while not someone to be crossed, was one of the least dickish of the Olympians and, when not being completely even-handed, was more altruistically inclined.
• Affably Evil: He is perfectly reasonable as long as people don't get on his bad side. After his Suddenly Shouting example, he takes a deep breath, apologizes for his outburst, and repeats his request in a much more reasonable tone.
• Ambiguous Situation: His last words after being beaten hint that he knows full well he's an Aletheia made mock-up, or that he's aware he's in a simulation, but he doesn't elaborate.
• Bullfight Boss: Has a powerful attack that consists of him pointing his scythe at the Eagle Bearer, followed by him charging across the arena extremely quickly. It's still fairly easy to dodge because it's telegraphed well in advance.
• The Caligula: Labeled as a mad king by one of the Isu records in Atlantis, more concerned with making people suffer just 'cuz.
• Continuity Nod: His armor is the store-exclusive "Dusk's Blood" chest-piece, and the "Spartan Renegade" belt.
• Cool Crown: Wears a wicked-looking crown/helmet hybrid forged from a dark metal. It's one of the two items you get for defeating him, but unfortunately its legendary effect of "+100% damage with torches" puts it squarely in Joke Item territory. Throne of Atlantis reveals it can also function like one of the Apples, or would if Hades bothered to use it like that.
• Deal with the Devil: Promises the Eagle Bearer he will help them learn more about the Staff of Hermes if they clean up the mess their actions have caused in the Underworld. He is, in fact, lying, and never had any intention of helping them, or letting them leave.
• Decomposite Character: An interesting example in that Hades is a separate character from Aita, the Etruscan analogue for the Greek deity when the series has previously established that the Roman Minerva is the same character as the Etruscan Menrva and Greek Athena. However, in real life Etruscan deities probably were originally completely different before influences from Greece began kicking in, so...
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The Eagle Bearers' stint in Tartaros actually ends with them beating the God of the Underworld, one of Ancient Greece's three principal deities, to a bloody pulp despite his best efforts.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Regardless of how the marriage started, he at least does seem to genuinely love Persephone. She doesn't reciprocate. However, it should be noted that in actual Greek mythology Persephone loved him back. At least eventually.
  • He's also genuinely broken up (and furious) about the death of Ros, his beloved dog. In the Judgment of Atlantis episode, the Eagle Bearer can find multiple written accounts of Hades lamenting the loss of his companion.
• Everyone Hates Hades: He's an asshole, which heavily clashes with the more benevolent, if fearsome, figure he is in actual Greek mythology.
• Exact Words: He's very fond of this. The deals he makes never turn out the way the other party thought they would, but that's solely because they had different interpretations of Hades' words than he did. He actually never lies outright with anything he says in his screen time.
• Final Boss: Of the Torment of Hades DLC episode for Odyssey.
• The Gambling Addict: Places bets on how the Eagle Bearer will act when completing various tasks with his brother Poseidon.
• Jerkass Gods: While not being outright malevolent, he is a thorough dick, putting Brasidas through psychological torment, lying to people, and yanking their chains at any opportunity.
• Mana Burn: While in his Super Mode, all of Hades' melee attacks drain large amounts of the Eagle Bearer's adrenaline. Two to three hits are enough to empty the entire bar and thus leave them unable to heal, making it extremely risky to engage him in melee until Hades reverts to normal.
• No, You: Hades' response to the Eagle Bearer's murder of Cerberos and subsequent dismissal of "Just find another dog!" is to order them to do it instead.
• Order vs. Chaos: Aletheia explicitly states that Hades' rule was based on pure chaos, contrasting his wife Persephone's style of painstaking order. Ultimately, neither extreme proved viable in the long run. Which is almost the exact opposite of how he is in mythology, where he was a heavily lawful and order based figure, even being a god responsible for enforcing oaths. In fact, in the myths, prior to Hades' reign the Underworld was something of a chaotic mess until he regulated how souls were judged and placed.
• Our Founder: There are a lot of statues of him scattered about Tartaros and the Asphodel Fields.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: For the really nasty occupants of his domain, he saves particularly nasty torments, such as having Kleon chewed to pieces by hounds.
• Power Floats: He floats around on occasion.
• Precision F-Strike: When the Eagle Bearer refuses to bow to his demands just prior to his Boss Battle, Hades growls "Oh, you will fucking bow!" as his Pre Ass Kicking One Liner.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: One of the most dickish Isu since Juno just happens to run on a predominantly red and black color scheme. Go figure.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes are naturally red.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: All of his torture and torment, while done for his own amusement, is also done to make sure that the souls in the underworld receive a proper afterlife. The end of the Brasidias questline stands out; if Brasidias chooses to go to Elysium, Hades puts a cruel requirement on him and doesn't even let him shake hands with the Eagle Bearer before teleporting him away. If he chooses to stay in the underworld where he belongs, Hades gives him an important job that he will enjoy. Even his attempt to force the Eagle Bearer to become a gate guardian, while not particularly nice, is rather reasonable since the Eagle Bearer killed the previous guardian.
• Sinister Scythe: Wields a large scythe almost as big as he is, which given he towers over the already six-foot and change Eagle Bearer, means it's very large indeed. It's also covered in blood-red Tron Lines. Defeating him unlocks it as a legendary heavy bladed weapon for the Eagle Bearer to wield.
• Smug Snake: So very much. Not even his defeat at the hands of the Eagle Bearer makes him drop his arrogant sneer, although the Cliffhanger to the DLC's final episode leaves it open if he's really beaten. If not, he might be justified in his behavior.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: He likes appearing behind people to startle them.
• Suddenly Shouting: Looses his cool when the Eagle Bearer tells him to find another dog after killing Cerberos.
  "YOU find another dog!"
• Super Mode: Every time you knock another 25% off his health, Hades gains a secondary health bar that must be depleted before he can be damaged normally. During this time he spams a plethora of very powerful abilities that grow more and more powerful the longer the battle goes on.
• Tsundere: He's a Cold Ham Smug Snake most of the time, which makes his occasional violent outbursts all the more shocking and terrifying.
• You Owe Me: Tells the Eagle Bearer they owe him for killing Cerberos.

Poseidon

Poseidon

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Poseidon, also known as Neptune, brother of Hades and Zeus, is a member of the First Civilization later known as the Greek and Roman god of the sea and other waters.

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• Early-Bird Cameo: He appears in a few cutscenes in Torments of Hades with very little fanfare for his introduction despite being one of the three principal deities of Greece. The following DLC gives him a much more prominent role.
• Face Death with Dignity: He's calm but remorseful about how his failures have led to the destruction of his city, wishing he could've been better.
• The Gambling Addict: Appears several times during the Torment of Hades DLC episode to place bets on what the Eagle Bearer will do in various situations with his brother Hades.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He's a little too trusting of some of his sons. Several of whom turned on him in favor of supporting Juno and Aita. He also failed to notice the horrific experiments going on in his own city.
• Kick the Dog: Hades claims he's the one who put all the illusions of Brasidas' impaled corpse around everywhere.
• Nepotism: All the major authority figures in Atlantis are his kids.
• Nice Guy: Even nicer than Aletheia for the most part, which is really saying something and puts him in the running for the title of Nicest Isu Ever.
• Order vs. Chaos: Between Persephone's order and Hades' chaos, Poseidon is portrayed as the middle ground, and although his attempt to forge a peaceful coexistence between Isu and humans also ultimately failed, he sure came much closer than both of the others.
• The Quiet One: He doesn't say very much in Torments of Hades. He's a lot more chatty in the following episode.
• Prongs of Poseidon: Naturally, he carries an Isu trident as a staff of office and he's remembered as the Greek god of the sea. It also apparently functions as a fancy keycard.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's a hell of a lot more pleasant than Persephone or Hades (not, admittedly, a massive accomplishment), giving the Eagle Bearer friendly advice and encouragement on how to improve their Eagle Vision. He also told Juno and Aita to get out of his city. When it looks like he's subverted this trope and been playing the Eagle Bearer for a fool, he actually turns out to be on the level, and helps try to stop Juno and Aita.
• Shoot the Dog: He had Aletheia sink Atlantis, killing all the Isu there, to stop Juno's schemes.
• Thinking Up Portals: He summons portals of golden light at several points in the Judgment of Atlantis episode to facilitate long-distance travel for himself and the Eagle Bearer.

Atlas

Atlas

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

One of the sons of Poseidon, and one of the Archons of Atlantis.

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• Asshole Victim: His girlfriend, having given herself Isu powers with an Apple, fries him with a laser because he threatened to kill the Eagle Bearer. Almost immediately thereafter, his brother shows up, looks at his corpse and immediately agrees to help her cover it up and grants her his old position as Archon. Nobody seems to care all that much that he's dead.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: He really doesn't like the idea of his girlfriend seeing anyone else.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Poseidon considers him the next best choice to rule Atlantis after him or at least did before he appointed Aletheia dikastes, but Atlas is pretty dodgy, selfish, and working with Aita and Juno to experiment on humans.
• Interspecies Romance: With Elpis, a human woman. He tries to keep it hidden because his enemies might use it against him.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: He has nine brothers, and doesn't seem to get on with any of them.
• Marriage of Convenience: His girlfriend Elpis would like to enter into one with him, as she has political ambitions to soothe tensions between the human and Isu populations of Atlantis. That said, when asked if they're in love, Elpis answers that she's not sure Isu men love in the first place. She seems to grow more attached to the Eagle Bearer in 3 interactions than she is to him after so long as his paramour, seeing as she kills him in order to save the Eagle Bearer from his wrath.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Starts off relatively reasonable and polite. Then he makes it look like he's going to kill three of his brothers for petty reasons, as a secret test to the Eagle Bearer.

Zeus

Zeus

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (mentioned)

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• Berserk Button: Seems to be this for his brothers. Poseidon once ended an entire Atlantean cycle prematurely after Zeus visited, just to "get [his] stench out of the air".
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: With Poseidon and Hades. They really don't get along (as in, Poseidon starts breaking stuff after he's been through).
• Decomposite Character: Seems to be a separate character from Jupiter/Tinia, since Tinia has his own archive in Atlantis.
• The Ghost: Mentioned, but not seen.

Phanes

Phanes

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (mentioned)

The Isu responsible for creating humanity, as head of Project Anthropos, he would later be remembered as the Greek primeval god of creation and procreation.

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• Been There, Shaped History: This guy is the one who first created homo sapiens sapiens.
• Crazy-Prepared: He wrote down some messages intended for Eve, which could only be accessed by a half-human, half-Isu hybrid.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Aside from the Fantastic Racism, and having to go on the run, he got killed.
• Posthumous Character: He was hunted down and murdered by the Isu before the human rebellion.
• Pygmalion Plot: Falls in love with one of the very humans he created, with Eve being the result.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Without Phanes's actions, there wouldn't be any humans at all. Not bad for a guy whose only "appearance" is in four messages in a DLC, which the player is under no requirement to find.
• Unperson: The Isu in Eden erased as much knowledge of him as they could, with only a few pre-recorded messages remaining hidden in Atlantis.
• Worth It: His prerecorded messages state that, if Eve's found them, then he's dead, knowingly having passed up a chance to save his mind to let her live, but the fact she's reading them makes it worthwhile.

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Norse Pantheon

In General

• Ambiguous Situation: It's not clear how many times they've resurrected - Odin tells Eivor her deja vu of walking under a gate with Sigurd has happened nearly a thousand times, but otherwise you could just assume that the Viking cycle was the first time. According to writer Darby McDevitt, their reincarnation was only planned to happen once.
• Contrived Coincidence: Of the Aesir we see, only Loki doesn't resurrect as a Norseman. Hell, three of them live in the same village. Granted, it's Isu tech, so this may be intentional due to their knowledge of probabilities.
• Divergent Character Evolution: According to a stream with Valhalla's narrative director, the idea of the Aesir being their own group of Isu came from the realization that if all ancient gods were just the same ones seen through different cultures, any stories focusing on them could only carry them so far before they'd run out of potential plotlines. As such, before Valhalla you could just have assumed that Odin was just Zeus/Jupiter but seen through Norse pagan beliefs.
• Face Death with Dignity: After using Yggdrasil, the Seventh Solution, to spread their DNA on the human genome to be reborn as sages, seven of the eight Aesir chose to do this, to meet the Great Catastrophe/Ragnarok head-on. Heimdall was going to follow as well, but Loki killed him before he could.
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe: In the Ancient Memory, Odin, Loki and the other seven Aesir that uploaded themselves into Yggdrasil wore silver bodysuits before they sat in the uploading chairs. Tyr's had an incomplete right sleeve due to his missing arm.
• The Ghost: Both Baldur (Odin's other son) and Heimdall are mentioned with some frequency, but don't physically appear - it's explained that both are away from Asgard during the events of the Asgard arc. Heimdall does appear in the Ancient Memory, alongside Idunn, Freyr, and Sif.
• Resurrective Immortality: Following Odin's example, many of Asgard's Isu use the "seventh solution" to survive the event that wiped the rest of the species out.
• Through the Eyes of Madness: Other than one cutscene that depicts how the events really happened, almost all info we have on the Nordic pantheon comes from Eivor's dreams. As such, some of the details are rather fuzzy. For specific examples, Loki's son is imagined as a giant wolf and some already-known Isu such as Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter are seen as Jotnar.
• Unreliable Narrator: As mentioned before, most info we have on the Asgard group is based on Eivor's dreams and what Loki shows us through the anomalies.

Odin

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Voiced by: Magnus Bruun (English)^note Other Languages:Sergey Ponomarev (Russian)

The king of Asgard in Norse Mythology, whose memories Eivor can see.

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• Adaptational Villainy: This version of Odin is a Knight Templar and a Blood Knight who only cares for himself and will manipulate and betray anyone to get what he needs. While he keeps his promises to people, he will also twist it for his own purposes. For instance, he promises Loki that he will not kill Fenrir before Ragnarok by binding him with an unbreakable leash.
• Amazon Chaser: Did genuinely love Frigg, but he had to marry Freyja to avoid a war. He's still upset over that one.
• Ambiguously Bi: While Odin is married to Freyja and fathered both Thor and Baldur, he also never objects to Eivor's choice of partners despite sharing the same body. However, given his general Lack of Empathy and his willingness to try and seduce Gunlodr/Minerva when it helped his agenda, it's hard to say whether his relationships are based on genuine love/attraction or if they're just a manipulation tactic.
• The Corrupter: In the White Room scenes, Odin always encourages Eivor to take the more violent and brutal choices, like a "true" Viking would. This begins to become worse as Odin begins to try and outright take over Eivor's mind and body.
• Determinator: He will save Baldr, no matter what it takes. Deconstructed, as even wiping his memories won't forestall his obsession, nor will Baldr telling him to stop.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Instead of his official name, everyone calls him by his nickname, Havi.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Debatable really. The animus anomalies are filled with Loki's memories. In one, he says Odin was weeping over Baldr's body when the latter died by mistletoe berries. But whether Odin was grieving over his son or grieving over Ragnarök beginning, it's hard to say. It seems to be the former, as Dawn of Ragnarök shows that Odin did genuinely love his son and after he discovers that Baldr is dead, Ragnarök itself becomes an afterthought in his quest to avenge him. It's also the reason why he tells Hyrrokin/Juno about "the elven device", as he hopes that she can free Baldr's soul from it.
  Ivaldi: What is this trick? You don't care about her lost love.
  Havi/Odin: I care about Baldr. If she can free him, even unintentionally, he may yet make it to... the other side of Ragnarök.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In Wigmund's Memory Corridor scene, Odin dislikes Wigmund's call for soldiers to die for the ealdorman, and shakes his head in disgust at the very end.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: It becomes increasingly obvious over the course of Valhalla that he can only see things in terms of their personal glory, along with how things can benefit him. In his breakdown to Eivor, he even seems to claim that his wisdom, glory, and power is all that he would ever need, and is shocked when upon asking what else there could be, the answer is "Everything else."
• Eye Scream: Rips out his own eye in order to gain the magical mead needed to resurrect after Ragnarok as a human, or in the true version of the story, as implied genetic material to create a Sage.
• Fantastic Racism: While not as openly contemptuous towards humans as Juno is, he does see them as "born to serve" and that their lot as slaves to the Isu is "simply the fate of the lowly."
• Fatal Flaw: Odin's paranoia proves to be his main weakness, as he is aware that Ragnarok is coming, but his increasingly desperate attempts to avert it simply make things worse and actually helps Ragnarok come about. This is perhaps best seen with how assaulting Fenrir when he was young leads to Loki's betrayal and Fenrir's hatred of him.
• Foil: Moreso to none other than Eivor Varinsdottir though to how great a degree can depend on Eivor's choices. As the leaders of their respective peoples, and great warriors in their own right, both forever strive to do the best they can to prevent any ill will to befall their people, and will go to great lengths to do whatever they believe necessary to achieve their goals. They also relish in the glory of battle, hate wolves, and will always keep their word once it's given. However, as it becomes more and more apparent over time, Odin is more interested in his own personal gain, which in turn only fails to avert Ragnarök no matter how hard he tries, and sees his fellow Aesir as his personal pawns for him to do with as he sees fit. There's also the matter of his opinion of humans, which he deems a weaker/lesser race, even though he doesn't truly hate them. Eivor, on the other hand, in spite of their desire for personal glory, genuinely cares for the rest of their clan and genuinely acts in the best interests of Raven Clan, even though they have a bad tendency to keep the rest of Raven Clan out of the loop. Eivor equally doesn't think any lesser of the people they come across unless they've done something to personally offend Eivor, and takes great offense to whomsoever hurts or kills the people Eivor counts among their allies or residents of Ravensthorpe, whether Norse or Saxon. And finally, Eivor is a Fatalist, choosing to embrace their eventual death, while Odin strives to avoid it at all costs. Ironically, this is exactly what allows Eivor to completely reject Odin's attempt to complete his reincarnation by taking over Eivor, sealing Odin's fate, permanently.
• Gender Bender: A late-game letter reveals that Eivor is canonically a woman, while Odin is established to have been a man. This makes Odin into one of these, as his mind resides within a female body.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Arguably, he is the true villain of the game, since he is not only the original incarnation of Eivor, but he's responsible for the death of Loki's son Fenrir.
• Icy Blue Eyes: He has very cold blue eyes, which Eivor inherits.
• I Gave My Word: The one oath he's not willing to break is the one he made with Loki not to kill Fenrir before Ragnarök/The Great Catastrophe arrives, despite admitting he truly wants to. Loki doesn't trust him not to break this eventually, which kickstarts the entire Asgard plot.
• Immortality Seeker: Valhalla's Asgard arc details his time searching for a magical mead in order to live past Ragnarok.
• Irony: Wanted to live forever, succeeded at this goal through Sagedom, but in at least one cycle he never became more than an angry voice in someone's head.
• Karmic Death: Not "death", per se, but there's a great deal of karmic justice in a Social Darwinist, Abusive Precursor being beaten in a Battle in the Center of the Mind by an otherwise regular, "inferior" human who seems to have had no idea of what was at stake if she lost.
• Lack of Empathy:
  • When he lets Fenrir rip Tyr's arm off rather than remove Fenrir's bindings, Eivor notes to Valka afterwards that while he doesn't feel malice towards Tyr while doing so, he doesn't feel guilt or pity either.
  • Again when he finds Sindri has died. Odin's immediate concern is using this to manipulate his brother Brokkr at the guy's funeral.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When in Fulke's death scene, Odin is noticeably more willing to hold back and not administer the worst punishment, while saying that Fulke "saved" Sigurd. This is because her treatment awakened Tyr's memories, bringing back Odin's ally in some form, and he doesn't want to stop the personality takeover.
• Papa Wolf:
  • All of Odin's actions in Dawn of Ragnarök is him trying to save Baldr from his captivity. When Baldr is killed, he goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge which ends with him unknowingly triggering Ragnarök.
  • While he clearly holds Vidar in contempt, he's also pissed at Malvigr for their fight which nearly killed him.
• Parental Favoritism: He's got several children, but there's clear favoritism towards Baldr first and foremost. He gets on amicably enough with Thor, and then there's Vidar...
• Pet the Dog:
  • Odin has no issue with lying and manipulating his way into getting what he wants, but he actually gives his word to Ivaldi that he will grant him his freedom once he completes Fenrir's bindings.
  • For all that he is a colossal jerkass, Odin is not above helping people he passes by with no regard to material gain.
  • Despite Odin's history of conflict with Eivor, the two start to peacefully co-exist once the latter decides they have done enough for Ravensthorpe, with him even eventually revealing to the shieldmaiden about his past and the truth about both the Isu and Ragnarök.
• Puzzle Boss: Fighting him is less about combat and more about figuring out how to escape an unwinnable battle against an invincible opponent.
• Resurrective Immortality: Thanks to the "Seventh Solution", he resurrects millennia after the Great Catastrophe as a Viking shieldmaiden named Eivor Varinsdottir.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Odin is practically the poster boy of this trope normally, but especially so in Valhalla. His desperate efforts to avoid Ragnarok increase his paranoia, alienate people close to him, make him go to extreme lengths (sacrificing an eye) to avoid Ragnarok, and ultimately ensure that Fenrir has a monstrous hate and desire to kill him. And then, to make matters worse, his efforts to live on forever are (at least in this cycle) thwarted by Eivor, who refuses to let the selfish god pull off a Grand Theft Me.
• Social Darwinist: Feels that the strong (Here defined as a strong warrior) have the inherent right to rule over the weak, regardless of morality. For instance, while Eivor exhibits disgust towards Ivarr's actions as he's blood eagling King Rhodri, Odin thinks it just makes him a quintessential Norseman.
• Think Nothing of It: For such a tremendous jerkass, several times in Dawn of Ragnarök Odin politely declines gifts from grateful Dwarves for saving them.
• The Unfettered:
  • There are almost no lines Odin isn't willing to cross to save Asgard or himself, whether betraying allies, taking advantage of the hospitality of others, or potentially seducing Minerva in order to steal the "mead of immortality" for himself and the other Aesir. He tries to get Eivor to be the same. Fittingly, Loki refers to him as "The Mad One".
  • He somehow manages to be worse on the subject of saving Baldr. He really loves his son, but there are no lines he won't cross to get him back, including potentially handing someone a doomsday weapon fueled by sucking out souls.
• Unstoppable Rage: When he finds Baldr is dead, and has been for some time, he goes out of his mind with rage. It proves so bad it throws Eivor out of her vision.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The end of Dawn of Ragnarök shows he played a big part in both starting the Rägnarök and Juno's survival into the modern day, by killing Surtr with the Twilight Sword which signaled the start of the apocalyptic event and than pointing Juno in the direction of the device she used.
• Villain Protagonist: The nearly unfettered Odin is the main protagonist of Valhalla's Asgard arc and Dawn of Ragnarök expansion.
• Villainous Breakdown: Degenerates into screaming rage when Eivor refuses to pick up an axe and fight back, deciding to leave him behind instead. By the end, he appears on the verge of tears.
  Odin: What are you doing? Take up your axe! Wield like a true warrior! Take up your axe! (Charges at Eivor, only to be slashed back with the Hidden Blade) Coward of cowards! Beggar's bastard! Stand and face me you feeble-armed thrall! Leave me now, and you are nothing! With me you have wisdom! Glory! Power! What more do you need!
  Eivor: Everything else.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Afraid of wolves, on account of that prophecy about Fenrir killing him at Ragnarok.

Thor

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

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• Attack! Attack! Attack!: He has no other concept of tactics or strategy other than charging straight into the enemy. This seems to be something his Sage Halfdan shares.
• Battle Rapping: He's one of the opponents Eivor-as-Odin can take on in flyting.
• Blood Knight: Pretty much every line out of his mouth involves him wanting to fight.
• Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: He's noted to be among the strongest but also the dumbest of the Aesir, and wields the hammer Mjolnir, which Eivor can acquire in-game, and an ancestor of Shaun Hastings attempted to acquire.
• Dumb Muscle: While his fighting prowess is unquestioned, Thor is not exactly the brightest of the Aesir, demonstrated when Freyja (unsuccessfully) tries to teach him the concept of battle tactics.
• I Gave My Word: He made an incredibly inconvinient pact, implied to be to Odin himself (who then forgot it) to not assist in recovering Baldr from Helheim.
• Large Ham: As might be expected of a guy whose first instinct is "smash", he tends to shout every line he has at the top of his lungs.
• My Girl Is Not a Slut: Tremendously defensive of Sif's honor. According to his database entry, he'd go out of his way sometimes to find people to fight over this.
• Resurrective Immortality: Thanks to the "Seventh Solution", he resurrects millennia after the Great Catastrophe as a sage named Halfdan Ragnarsson.
• Shock and Awe: Remembered as the thunder god, and Mjolnir is always surrounded by an electrical field even when Eivor finds it.
• Unstoppable Rage: Once Thor gets going, nothing stops him until everything that's offended him is dead. The ruins of Thyrm's house stand as an example.
• Wicked Stepmother: Sif's son, his step-son, really hates him, as shown by some notes found around Asgard.

Sif

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Thor's wife, and the mother of Ull and Thor's two sons, Magni and Móði.

---

• Gender Bender: Like Eivor, resurrected as a member of the opposite sex.
• The Ghost: She doesn't appear in most of Eivor's visions, only in the Ancient Memory alongside the other Aesir. It wasn't certain she was amongst them until Word of God confirmed it.
• Happily Married: With Thor. This makes the actions of her Sage even more ironic, as he possibly attempts to poison him.
• Irony: Resurrected as a man who, accidentally or not, drove the resurrection of her husband insane through chemistry.
• Resurrective Immortality: Thanks to the "Seventh Solution", she resurrects millennia after the Great Catastrophe as a sage named Faravid, Ragnar's closest confidante.

Tyr

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

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• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Tyr is sometimes depicted as being Odin's son, but this is never even alluded upon in the game. In an allusion to real-world research arguing that Odin supplanted Tyr as head of the pantheon, his codex suggests Odin bested Tyr in combat before becoming his friend.
• Ambiguously Evil: Tyr doesn't seem to be as hot blooded like Thor and Odin are and is the only person other than Loki to treat Fenrir with kindness. That said, considering how Sages work, he may have played a role in Sigurd's growing insanity.
• An Arm and a Leg: Loses his right arm to Fenrir after the wolf thinks he's betrayed him.
• BFS: The real Tyr had a greatsword-sized Sword of Eden of the same model as Excalibur.
• Fantastic Racism: He really hates Vanir for no reason he feels necessary to explain.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Basically his entire role is to resolve conflicts between others, and it's his suggestion that Fenrir be banished rather than executed like how Odin originally wanted.
• Resurrective Immortality: Thanks to the "Seventh Solution", he resurrects millennia after the Great Catastrophe as a sage named Sigurd Styrbjornson.
• Shown Their Work: Some modern research suggests that Tyr was originally the Top God of the Norse mythology (his name actually translates to "God") until Odin became more popular. Here, Tyr is consistently depicted as being far more rational than Odin, and his resurrected form Sigurd is even The Chosen One who receives Character Development, while Eivor/Odin basically watches from the sidelines.
• Situational Hand Switch: Tyr wielded his Sword of Eden with his left hand when he left Yggdrasil's chamber. He's the only Isu amongst the Aesir that was left-handed, though it's ambiguous whether he was always left-handed, or became so after Fenrir bit off his right arm.

Loki

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

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• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: This version of Loki doesn't seem to be related to Odin, and by extension Thor. Dawn of Ragnarok does confirm he and Odin are considered blood brothers.
• Ambiguously Evil: Though he's an antagonist in Valhalla, his true motives are unclear - his hatred of Odin/Eivor makes sense even if it's a bit misplaced, and even when he tricks Layla into taking his place in the Grey, it could have been required for some of the timelines to happen. In the present day he only mentions he wants to reunite his family, which may or may not be a good thing.
• And I Must Scream: He spends 1200+ years stuck in the Yggdrasil with nobody able to find him until the year 2020, and it's unclear whether or not he had any company in there.
• Back from the Dead: Unlike Odin's failed attempt to fully revive through Eivor, it's all but said Loki is the one in charge of Basim's body, having succeeded in taking over, effectively returning from death as a Sage.
• Back Stab: Kills Heimdall by stabbing him in the back in order to also upload his genetic material into the Yggdrasil.
• The Bad Guy Wins: While it's ambiguous as to how evil he actually is, by the end of Valhalla's vanilla story, Basim has escaped from the Yggdrasil simulation after more than 1200+ years, getting Layla to take his place as well as the Staff of Eden, rendering Kassandra's sacrifice All for Nothing. Furthermore, he gloats about how, due to the Bleeding Effect of the Animus, he has access to every one of Eivor's memories and skills, and will very swiftly get back to his Isu-era strength.
• Black Viking: Not quite, but Loki dresses in a more Eastern fashion than the other Aesir, (whose dress is more fantasy Norse) shares Basim's arabic accent, and even wields a sword that's style-wise more akin to an Eastern scimitar. It may have to do with the fact that he is not Aesir by birth, but instead hails from the Jotnar/Olympians.
• Boss Fight: He's fought once during the Asgard plot. As Basim, he's also the Final Boss.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: "Evil" may or may not be accurate, but his vendetta against Odin has some basis given how badly he treated him, his wife, and Fenrir.
• The Farmer and the Viper: As Freya points out, Loki has a habit of screwing over everyone, time and time again, often for no good reason.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Twice over by the end of Valhalla, being a men reincarnated seventy-five thousand years and then a thousand-odd on top of that from 900s England to the modern day. He adapts pretty quickly, though.
• Happily Married: Appears to have this relationship with Aletheia/Angrboda (except for the married part, given she mentions he has an actual wife elsewhere).
• Hypocritical Humor: After Loki accuses Freya of sleeping with almost everyone in Asgard after she refuses to have sexual relations with the Builder, it's immediately pointed out that as the father of a wolf, Loki is in no position to criticize anyone else's sexual habits.
• Irony: Loki created Valhalla's Animus anomalies, which show the events of "Ragnarok" without the mythological aspects found in Eivor's dreams. As such, the Nordic God of mischief and lies is the only one to tell us the actual truth.
• Love Makes You Evil: His grief over the death of Fenrir by Odin's hands makes him kill Baldur in return, and in order for him to survive and reunite his family after the Great Catastrophe, he uploads his wife's mind into the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, and manipulates several humans in the future as a sage, eventually influencing the Viking invasions in ninth-century England.
• Misplaced Retribution:
  • Odin mistreats his son? Kill Odin's son in turn.
  • On two levels: As Basim he first believes that Sigurd was Odin reborn, but once he realizes that Odin reincarnated as Eivor, he immediately turns on them despite Eivor not knowing this themselves.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Two-fold. Loki is explicitly half Aesir/half Jotnar, but Loki dislikes both. They were loyal to Odin and the other Aesir, but their bio notes that they planned to destroy them from within, and he never expresses anything but disdain for those from Jotunheim.
• Papa Wolf: He will do anything for his son Fenrir, even if that involves tricking fellow members of his pantheon to protect him.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: His disguise as Thokk, the totally ordinary Jotun. Odin nearly spots him out, since he's wearing the exact same clothes as usual, and he makes no effort to hide his voice, but Loki temporarily BSs his way through. That Odin was at a party probably helped.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: How they see it; Odin killed their son, so now Loki/Basim wants to make Eivor suffer once they realize Eivor is Odin reincarnated. It is, however, Misplaced Retribution though as Eivor being Odin's sage does not mean they are necessarily Odin themselves, and are actively fighting the Split Personality Take Over.
• Present Absence: In "Dawn of Ragnarok", he's mentioned often, but doesn't make a physical appearance in the storyline.
• Refuge in Audacity: As the Anomaly memories show, he managed to get into the Yggdrasil chambers after being made a fugitive by pretending to be one of the technicians, not even bothering to hide his face in case anyone saw him. Since the Aesir were distracted with what they were doing (and the world ending) they didn't notice.
• Resurrective Immortality: Thanks to his successful infiltration of the "Seventh Solution", Loki resurrects millennia after the Great Catastrophe as a sage named Basim.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: According to Odin's thoughts in "Dawn of Ragnarok", he was locked up after the mess with Fenrir, but (as the Animus Anomalies in the main game confirmed) he's already got out and helped kill Baldr.
• Shout-Out: Though physically they went very different with him, Loki's characterization and the way his illusion magic works is portrayed very similarly to how it's portrayed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Albeit, their Bash Brothers turned We Used to Be Friends dynamic is played here with Odin rather than Thor.
• Slut-Shaming: Engages in this with Freya when she refuses to have sexual relations with the Builder, accusing her of sleeping with almost everyone in Asgard at least once, only to fall silent when Tyr rightfully points out that, being the father of a wolf cub, he is hardly one to shame others of their sexual proclivities.^note As this is the "mythological" Asgard version of Tyr and Loki, it's ambiguous as to whether this was the literal version of events or if Loki was The Casanova.
• Split-Personality Takeover: Whoever Basim used to be, if he was ever his own person to begin with, seems to have been completely assimilated by Loki's memory by the time of the game.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The ending of Valhalla suggests he'll take over Juno's role in the plot.
• Token Evil Teammate: Appears to be this for the Aesir early on, being physically threatening and needlessly rough with the Builder despite him ostensibly being an innocent refuge. However, it's actually an act; he's trying to pretend he doesn't know the Builder and is acting as hostile as possible to hide the fact that the Builder was helping him smuggle his son out of Jotunheim.
• We Used to Be Friends: It seems they were genuine friends with the other Aesir, despite some banter and Jerkass moments between them. Odin's treatment of his son broke that, however.
• Wicked Cultured: He is philosophical as Basim, and in the modern era remarks on the simple joys of life, such as the smell of a wood fire overlooking a beautiful canyon. He also grumbles about human artwork a little.

Freyja

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

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• Amazon Chaser: She was in a relationship with the Valkyrie Hilde. The marriage to Odin prevented them from doing anything about it.
• Arranged Marriage: She's in one with Odin to prevent war. Neither of them are particularly happy in it.
• Out of Focus: Has much less screen time than Odin, Loki and Fenrir, and a bit less than Thor, but also more than the rest of them. Even her sage has little impact in the plot, only appearing at the very beginning and end.
• Really Gets Around: Loki accuses her of having slept with almost everyone in Asgard at least once.
  Freyja: I will not barter with my body!
  Loki: That'll be a first.
• Resurrective Immortality: Thanks to the "Seventh Solution", she resurrects millennia after the Great Catastrophe as a sage named Svala, Valka's mother.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She is not happy to learn that Odin decided to use her as a bargaining chip with the Builder, and takes every opportunity to remind him of that.

Freyr

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Son of Njord, twin brother of Freyja.

---

• The Ghost: He doesn't appear in most of Eivor's visions, only in the Ancient Memory alongside the other Aesir. It wasn't certain he was amongst them until Word of God confirmed it.
• Pretty Boy: Since Sages tend to look pretty much as they did as Isu, Freyr was evidently one of these given Harald, his reincarnation, is a very handsome long-haired man.
• Resurrective Immortality: Thanks to the "Seventh Solution", he resurrects millennia after the Great Catastrophe as a sage named Haraldr I Hárfagri/Fairhair, the first King of Norway.

Fenrir

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Fenrir as seen in Eivor's visions

Loki's son.

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• Ambiguous Situation: It is unclear what exactly Fenrir actually was. As Eivor's visions were close to what happened, but not exact, it seems unlikely that he was actually a wolf, but the Olympos Project introduced in Odyssey shows he could have become one.
• Because Destiny Says So: Why Odin hates him; Fenrir is destined to kill him during Ragnarok.
• Canis Major: As Eivor's visions of Ragnarok are a combination of truth and myth, they imagine Fenrir as one. When he first appears, he's a fairly normal, if slightly larger-than-average wolf cub. By the end of Eivor's visions, he's absolutely massive.
• Death by Origin Story: His death fuels Loki's hatred of Odin.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: He starts having dreams of Ragnarok, and bringing about the end of all things. Worse, he's enjoying them.
• Evil Sounds Deep: As an adult, he has a very deep, demonic, and booming voice, and he revels in his dreams of bringing the end to all things.
• Facial Horror: The right side of his face is horrifically scarred after his fight with Odin.
• Final Boss: The last boss of the Asgard/Jotunheim arc.
• Freudian Excuse: Odin hated and mistreated him because he was destined to kill him during Ragnarok. Needless to say, if Fenrir ever needed an excuse to kill the guy, he now had one.
• Recurring Boss: Fought twice during the Asgard/Jotunheim arc.
• Suddenly Voiced: He doesn't speak a word until adulthood.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Starts off as a frankly quite adorable looking little wolf cub. As Tyr eventually points out, Odin's horrific treatment of him has burnt out any and all goodness in Fenrir.

Heimdall

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Watchman of the Aesir, and guardian of the Bifrost.

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• The Ghost: Eivor doesn't meet him in his/her visions. He only appears in the Ancient Memory, as his original Isu self.
• I Choose to Stay: He didn't follow the other Aesir when they went to face their doom during the Great Catastrophe and ended up killed by Loki.
• I Have Many Names: Heimdallr, Heimdall, Hallinskiði, Gullintanni, Vindhlér, Rig.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Stabbed in the back by Loki after the other Aesir left Yggdrasil's collapsing chamber. Loki used his glass mask to upload himself too.
• Resurrective Immortality: Thanks to the "Seventh Solution", he resurrects millennia after the Great Catastrophe as Rig Reidarasson, the protagonist of the Rigsogur.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Staying behind was a terrible idea, as it allowed Loki to kill him and use the Seventh Solution too.

Idun

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Goddess of Apples and youth, wife of Bragi.

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• Gadgeteer Genius: The descriptions of the six solutions in Jotunheim state she was the one who invented the Apples of Eden.
• The Ghost: She doesn't appear in most of Eivor's visions, only in the Ancient Memory alongside the other Aesir. It wasn't certain she was amongst them until Word of God confirmed it.
• Resurrective Immortality: Thanks to the "Seventh Solution", she resurrects millennia after the Great Catastrophe as a sage named Gull, a thrall that regained her memories after grabbing an Apple of Eden.

Hel

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Hel as depicted in Eivor's visions

Another of Loki's many children, ruler of the realm of Helheim.

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• Emperor Scientist: She's been experimenting on creating or recreating living things in her realm.
• Everybody Hates Hades: She's the ruler of the realm of the dishonored dead, which in Viking culture was a place nobody wanted to go if they could help it. In the Asgard visions, she's damned by association with Loki in addition to this.
• Facial Horror: Her experiments have had a harsh effect on her. Her head looks like it's turning into a tree, with her left eye discoloured a vivid blue, and matching glowing veins across her head.
• The Ghost: Mentioned several times through the Asgard arc, and at the end of "Dawn of Ragnarok", but she doesn't put in an appearance.
• Not Me This Time: Odin assumes she's responsible for his miseries and memory wiping in Nifleheim. As she reveals when he beats her, it was actually Baldr's idea. She wanted to kill him.
• Red Right Hand: Her left arm has turned entirely wooden, and most of her right up to the elbow as well.
• Squishy Wizard: She's not particularly tough to fight. The difficulty is more Odin being in any shape to fight her by the time he gets there.
• Unseen No More: Finally appears in a free DLC of Valhalla added in 2022.

Baldr

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Odin's son by Frigg, whose death is prophesied to start the events of Ragnarok.

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• Back from the Dead: ... maybe. A note Odin can find in Svartelheim has someone foreseeing that Baldr returns after Ragnarök, but they seem uncertain.
• Brain Uploading: When Odin does find him, his soul has been sucked out, and his consciousness is in what looks like a memory corridor, waiting for a resurrection which Odin can't provide.
• Distressed Dude: Kidnapped by the Muspels and brutally tortured for an incredibly long time.
• Doomed by Canon: Baldr's death is already mentioned in the main games, and it's kind of an incredibly big part of the whole story of Ragnarök, since it's what caused Ragnarök, so... spoilers? Odin doesn't manage to save him in time. Baldr dies, and things get worse for everyone from there.
• Kryptonite Factor: As in the myths, mistletoe. The Muspels eventually figured this out with a little help from Loki and start force feeding him them, allowing them to finally kill him.
• Light Is Good: Greatly associated with light, and his brief encounter shows he's a pretty chill guy.
• Loved by All: Pretty much everyone likes Baldr, including those who typically hate all the other Aesir... except the Jotuns.
• Revenge by Proxy: Loki kills him as payment for Odin mistreating Fenrir.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks a lot like his father Odin.
• Vagueness Is Coming: Refuses to be resurrected because of "enemies" he needs to fight.

Frigg

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

Odin's former lover, and the mother of Baldr.

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• Mama Bear: What kicks off the events of Dawn of Ragnarök is the Muspels abducting Balder, and her charging into Svartelheim to recover him, bringing Odin along for the ride.
• Slashed Throat: Sinmala slashes her throat in front of Odin, just for the evil of it.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies about twenty minutes after first appearing.

---

Celtic Pantheon

Lug

Lug

:Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (mentioned)

"In war and in love there is only one goal

The search for a better future"

One of the gods of the Celtic pantheon, Eivor finds their writings in an Isu structure below Stonehenge.

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• I Have Many Names: Lug, Lugh, Lugus.
• The Smart Guy: You don't get called "Lugh the Polymath" by being dumb.

Morrigan

Morrigan

:Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (mentioned)

"Fate is what the weak name their cowardice. The strong craft their own future."

One of the goddesses of the Celtic pantheon, Eivor finds their writings in an Isu structure below Stonehenge.

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• Mushroom Samba: The Trials of the Morrigan in "Wrath of the Druids" have Eivor take a big whiff of toxic fumes before fighting against druids and werewolves while shadows lurk over them. Finishing them nets them Mastery Points.
• Screw Destiny: Expresses the belief that fate "is what the weak name their cowardice", and that the strong craft their own future.
• Spell My Name with a "The": Winds up getting remembered by humans as "The" Morrigan.

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Other Isu

Consus

Consus

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy | Assassin's Creed Syndicate | Assassin's Creed (Titan Comics) | Assassin's Creed: Uprising

A First Civilization figure that inhabits the Shroud, a Piece of Eden discovered by Mario Auditore and later entering the possession of Perotto Calderon. He uses it to heal his deformed son Giovanni Borgia who ends up being visited by visions periodically, especially from Consus. According to Juno, he was the greatest scientific mind of the First Civilization.

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• And I Must Scream: Consus uploaded his mind into the Shroud in an attempt to cheat death. It worked, but he found himself trapped, unable to speak and only able to watch.
• Benevolent A.I.: Consus sees consciousness itself as a form of AI, and he inhabits the Shroud and serves accordingly. He heals all wounds of the wearer. Though considering what happened to Giovanni Borgia, he might not be wholly benevolent.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: The Shroud can heal most wounds worn by its owner, with Consus healing stab wounds, gunshot wounds and explosions. However, the Shroud cannot truly bring people back from the dead, nor is the Shroud itself resistant to damage or impervious to external actions. As Starrick found out when the Fryes overpower him and knock the Shroud off his neck and then kill him. Gramatica also discovers that the Shroud can heal people who experienced an explosion, but it can be easily damaged from the same. When Shaun and Galina attack the Phoenix facility in Paris, they destroy the original Shroud.
• Grand Theft Me: When Giovanni and Maria visit the Temple of Pythagoras in Rome, the same place visited by Ezio and Leonardo in The Da Vinci Disappearance, Giovanni undergoes strange visions and slowly finds his face and voice altered to resemble that of Consus; he dies in the process.
• Great Gazoo: During Giovanni Borgia's childhood, only he can interact with Consus whom he sees standing beside him and with whom he talks. Rodrigo Borgia is curious about Consus but miffed that the First Civilization deem him of little interest.
• Hijacked by Jesus: Hilariously inverted. The Shroud of Turin in real life was long believed to be the cloth that draped over Jesus. Here it turns out to be inhabited by Consus, The Erudite God. In other words, a pagan etruscan god reverse hijacks a Jesus artifact. It's stated that Jesus used the Shroud's healing abilities to perform some of his miracles.
• Humans Are Special: Consus seems to express this in one of the Reconstructed Data sessions, albeit in a slightly condescending fashion. Consus notes that humans were created after his time, so he didn't quite believe in enslaving humanity and the like:
  Consus: You are marvelous creations. Exceeded your programming. Made something from nothing. Flawed but bold. I approve.
• In-Series Nickname: He calls himself "The Erudite God".
• Master-Apprentice Chain: He was taught by Hephaistos, only Consus was better at making healing tech rather than weapons. Then Consus taught Aita, who had... "different" ideas on how to apply his knowledge of bio-tech.
• The Mentor: To Giovanni Borgia. He inspires him to join the Assassins and provides him support against the madness that is growing up Borgia. Averted years later: Consus tries to take over his body and ends up killing Giovanni in the process.
• Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Years later, Giovanni Borgia encounters Johan, a madman who calls out to Consus, discovering that the deity communicates to others as well.
• Omniscient Council of Vagueness: He's the God of this trope, being worshiped by the Romans as the God of Secret Counsels as well as the God of Grain.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Not to the same extent as Minerva, but Consus manages to converse with Charlotte de la Cruz from a few hundred years in the past.
• This Cannot Be!: Consus has this reaction at the end of 3 when Juno escapes from her prison.

Durga

Durga

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Brahman

A First Civilization being that exercised powers through the fabled Syamantaka Mani of Hindu Mythology, which eventually came to be called the Koh-I-Noor diamond.

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• And Now for Someone Completely Different: The first TWCB from another mythology, with the main series focusing mainly on the Capitoline Triad of Etruscan/Graeco-Roman derived Minerva-Jupiter-Juno.
• Benevolent Precursors: The first to regard humanity as equals in her message and insisting them, presumably Assassins and Templars but mankind in general, to unite and transcend their limited perspectives and build a better world for their children whom she regards as her children as well.
• Cool Crown: Wields an ornate bended golden crown that vaguely resembles her traditional iconography in Indian temples and images.
• Fling a Light into the Future: Through the Koh-I-Noor she delivers a message across the Nexus to Pyara Kaur, Arbaaz Mir, and Francis Cotton.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Has multiple arms.
• No-Sell: When Francis Cotton fires at her manifestation, it doesn't make a dent.
• Powers via Possession: Durga manifests herself when a woman wields the Koh-I-Noor, which is what happened when Pyara Kaur used the Diamond to stop Francis Cotton from killing Arbaaz.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: After Cotton's bullets fails to make a dent at her, Durga issues a single warning:
  Durga: And never doubt the lengths to which we will go to protect what is precious to us.
  • Cotton then fires at the Diamond which shatters but unleashes a blue energy blast that kills everyone around them with Durga siccing a Blue Energy Tiger to maul Francis to pieces right before she disappears.

The Messengers

The Messengers

Appears in: Assassin's Creed Origins

A number of Isu who following the Great Catastrophe buried messages in Vaults for Layla Hassan to hear while going through Bayek's memories hinted to be in part from the Egyptian pantheon.

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• After the End: These Isu are ones who survived the Great Catastrophe and now work to find a way to prevent a similar event from happening, even if they will all be long dead by that time.
• Fling a Light into the Future: They left messages for Layla to read millennia later. They also imply that several oddities from throughout history are also messages left for humanity by the Isu, but the right person has not found them yet.
• Mind Screw: Each of them speaks of strange, unnerving philosophical ponderings about the nature of the reality that Bayek, Layla, and the player inhabit.
• No Fourth Wall: Each of the Messengers seems acutely aware that the player is watching alongside Layla, and make reference to several real-world mysteries that still elude understanding to this day, such as Cicada 3301 and UVB-76.
• No Name Given: They're only known by their titles, such as "Amun Amunet messenger" or "Khufu messenger".
• Sdrawkcab Speech: Certain words and phrases that they say are reversed, with one of them explaining that the reason for this is that the human mind cannot comprehend what they are saying. Even when one does correct the audio, their words, while coherent, are still rather difficult to fully comprehend.
• Wham Line: In the last message, the Messenger drops a huge one.
  Messenger: Remember; nothing is real, everything is permitted.

Hild

Appears in: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla

An Isu alive during the time of the Great Catastrophe.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Most of the information about her comes second-hand from Hildiran, which is filtered through seventy-five thousand years. The AI met in the Eden Ring Station at least elaborates as to what she actually was in Isu society, and the broader circumstances of what happened.
• Best Served Cold: She learned about Odin and his inner circle making themselves Sages, and didn't take it well. Her coup was foiled, and she was locked up. Before she died, she managed to pass word along to her daughter with instructions to find Odin's reincarnation and kill them.
• Bling of War: Her Valkyrie armor, which Eivor gets for herself, is chiefly gold.
• Genius Bruiser: She was chief manager of the Eden Ring Station located under what by the 10th century CE is Ravensthrope, and judging by the armor she wore no stranger to picking fights.