Heartwarming / Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

---

• Choosing to hug Markos goodbye as the protagonist leaves Kephallonia for greener pastures. Though Markos is cheap, manipulative, and has a love of money that FAR outweighs his business acumen, he is still the protagonist's adoptive father-figure who saved them from the brink of dying a hungry, homeless orphan.
• While later context will turn the scene into a Tearjerker, the original flashback the Eagle Bearer has of their family is very sweet. They recall a training session with their parents, Nikolaos and Myrrine, and the Eagle Bearer's infant sibling is introduced—whom they are instinctually protective of. Nikolaos pulls the young Eagle Bearer aside and tells them they are his greatest pride while Myrrine watches on happily, then he sends them off to put their little sibling to bed. The whole scene is rosy and paints the picture of a very happy, loving family. If it weren't for the cult, they likely would have stayed that way too.
• In a twisted sort of way, there's something a little darkly heartwarming in Deimos covering for their sibling during the Cultist meeting. Yes, they do so by brutally killing a different cultist, but the fact that it was their instinct at all to protect their sibling is very telling. Especially so for players who chose to play as Kassandra, as the male/Alexios version of Deimos in particular comes across as almost panicking when he realizes the rogue cultist is his sister in disguise—which comes as a sharp contrast to his previous smug, Faux Affably Evil demeanor while testing the cultists before her.
• The Family Ending, if you don't kill Deimos/the other sibling, Nikolaos, and your adopted step-brother, Stentor. After all the protagonist went through in their odyssey, it's nice to know that they'll now have a home to return to at the end of each day.
  • Especially so when you've seen any of the other endings. During most endings, there's a bit of awkwardness and distance in the remaining family and a noticeable gap in the table where the family members who didn't survive should be sitting. When later talking to Barnabas, the Eagle Bearer will admit, somewhat disappointed, that things will never be the same for their family. However, in the Golden Ending, the family is at ease amongst themselves and the Eagle Bearer will instead remark in wonderment to Barnabas that they can't believe they have a family again.
• Managing to talk Deimos down from the cult; as a last-ditch effort to convince them, the Eagle Bearer allows them to touch the Spear of Leonidas, which gives them an unknown vision which finally gets through to them. Deimos collapses to the ground holding the spear and their mother instantly swoops down to comfort them as they tearfully lament the terrible things they've done. The Eagle Bearer crouches to meet their sibling and slowly pulls them back to their feet, both of them grasping the spear together. Deimos attempts to apologize but the Eagle Bearer only smiles and confirms that they know how sorry they are. Myrrine tearfully thanks her eldest child for giving her her youngest child back and hugs them, pulling Deimos into the hug a moment later. Then, all three walk back down the mountain together.
  • The facial animation on Kassandra as the Eagle Bearer during this sequence is particularly heart-squeezing. As she crouches to meet her little brother's eye, she looks at him with such soft kindness and understanding not seen from her anywhere else in the game.
  • During the 3-way hug Deimos reaches to embrace their sibling very hesitantly, like it's been a very long time since anyone hugged them and they're not really sure how. Their sibling and mother only pulls them closer in response.
    • This moment is especially sweet if the Eagle Bearer had tried to hug Deimos on Andros earlier in the game and was revoked. They finally got their hug!
• After the Battle at Pylos, if you manage to pick the right dialogue choices, you can trigger a small but sweet moment of connection with Deimos. The Eagle Bearer can reveal that they too were thrown off the cliff for dead that night, causing Deimos to remark with pride that they both survived despite the odds and seemingly warming up just a little to their older sibling for the first time since finding each other. Before the Eagle Bearer can make any more progress, Kleon will interrupt and scold Deimos for coming to speak to their sibling without permission. However, if the right dialogue had been chosen, Deimos will actually stand up to him and assert that they're not his puppet, while the Eagle Bearer watches on looking a little proud ^note if you haven't picked the correct dialogue, Deimos instead shrinks under the scolding and leaves without argument. Notably, triggering this conversation is essential to getting the above-mentioned Golden Ending where they defect from the cult—This moment of connection being perhaps the spark of rebellion Deimos needed to leave the cult.
• Upon first returning to their Spartan home, Myrrine and the Eagle Bearer reminisce about the first time the Eagle Bearer held their younger sibling. Apparently, they hugged them so tightly they feared "squeezing the life out of [them]" and gathered every pillow and blanket in the house to make sure the baby was as safe as possible. At the end of the interaction, the Eagle Bearer will wistfully comment that their sibling turned out stronger than they ever imagined.
  • This scene makes the ending which you convince Deimos to leave the cult all the more heartwarming. The Eagle Bearer has always wanted to protect their younger sibling, and while it may be over two decades late, they finally managed to protect them from the cult's grasp.
• Upon finally getting the house back from the Spartan Kings, Myrrine will note that the skull of the first rabbit the Eagle Bearer ever hunted—apparently once displayed in the home that has presumably been unused since Myrrine left Sparta decades prior—was missing. It's never fully clarified one way or the other, but Myrrine implies that Nikolaos must have taken it as a Tragic Keepsake.
• Combined with Awesome, convincing Roxana you don't have to fight to the death at the end of the Battle of 100 Hands. Doubly so if you romanced her, as the Eagle Bearer notes she's FAR more important than fame riches for their friend. You then proceed to go Back-to-Back Badasses in fighting the cult, and can recruit her for your ship after.
• The aftermath to the "Making Friends" sidequest if you took the harsh approach and told the poor girl to stop treating the clay statues as her friends. That scene is heartbreaking, but it pays off. If you return later, you can see the clay statues have been torn down and girls are asking Khloe to make dolls for them as well, so they can all play with them together. In the end, she managed to make actual friends after all, just as her mother had asked her to with her last words.
• The ending of the Minotaur legendary boss. After Ardos has a heartwrenching moment trying to accept the fact that his father is really dead, his Caretaker reunites with him, and they both agree to figure out their futures together. Mitigated by the hilarious conversation that ensues, where Ardos confesses to stealing numerous items of the Caretaker's, many of which he wasn't aware was even missing...
• The Eagle Bearer's reunion with their mother, Myrinne. It’s especially poignant since the previous story segment the Player did was likely the Tear Jerker barrage in plague-stricken Athens. They enter the house while Myrrine is busy briefing underlings, clearly giddy in anticipation. As they follow Myrrine onto the balcony, they are at a loss for words as Myrrine tells them the meeting is over, so they instead present the Spear of Leonidas to convey their identity. Myrrine quickly figures out who this stranger in front of her is, and they tearfully embrace.
  • Directly before this scene, in some ambient dialogue as the Adrestia is pulling into Naxos' harbor, Barnabas points out that the Eagle Bearer seems nervous. The Eagle Bearer admits they're worried that Myrrine will be disappointed in how they turned out and that they don't know what they'll even say to her. Barnabas and Herodotos both take turns assuring them that won't be the case, with Barnabas telling them she'll surely be proud to know her child grew up to be so kind and loyal.
• With so many mercs that out-tier you trash-talking you and belittling you, it's a bit of a shock to hear one give words of encouragement as you pass by.
  Tundaerous the Thrill Seeker: You're on your way, young misthios. Keep at it.
• From the modern day stuff, it's nice to see Layla has actually bonded pretty well with the Assassins. Compare her e-mails and notes with the stuff from Origins, it's clear the Assassins like having Layla around. She's also showing a deeply empathetic side, expressing concern for the team who came out of Uprising.
• If you get the Golden Ending to the Family storyline with all four other family members alive, and you assign them all as lieutenants on the Adrestia, the banter scenes really sells them all being one happy family again.
  • Myrrine reminisces about her time as a pirate captain, noting that her mindset is much different than back then when she'd lost everything and was listlessly looking for purpose.
  • Nikolaos frets about the ship, but proudly defers to the Eagle Bearer's authority as captain.
  • Deimos asserts that they will not be taking orders from their sibling, and also that they want to steer. Oh and if anyone gets sick on them, they're dead.
  • Stentor acts like his general snooty Jerkass self, but there's no real malice in it anymore.
    • Additionally, whoever you've placed in the first Lieutenant slot can be called upon as a distraction to enemies with the "Call To Arms" ability. If fully upgraded, they'll even fight the enemies, meaning you can fight Back-to-Back Badasses with them too. Most notably Deimos, whose attacks have a large enough range and power to be legitimately helpful backup in many fights.
• While questing in Delos and Mykonos, the seasoned one-eyed sea dog Barnabas may find his soulmate in Iola, a similar seasoned one-eyed sailor, in the post-victory celebration if the Eagle Bearer had been kind to her.
  • Even sweeter is later, if Iola is part of the crew and you complete the below mentioned Lost Tales of Greece quest about finding Barnabas' daughter Leda, Barnabas will specifically mention that he'd like for Leda to meet Iola.
• Also during the Delos/Mykonos questlines, if you play your cards very carefully, you can achieve a Golden Ending for that area—both Kyra and Thaelas alive and well and possibly happily in love, the war won, the Islands free from their past cruel leadership, and Barnabas finds himself a girlfriend (who can be recruited to the Adrestia as a Lieutenant, and is Legendary status to boot!). The Eagle Bearer can even make a small speech at the victory celebration, before bidding their new friends farewell for now.
• If spared, the Eagle Bearer will meet up with Nikolaos again in Boeotia and the two can share a short heartwarming moment where Nikolaos expresses his pride in who they've managed to become and the Eagle Bearer can potentially encourage him to go back to Stentor and support him.
• While the ending itself is rather bittersweet in the context of Deimos dying and Myrrine either dying or cutting off contact with her eldest child, the ending where it's only the Eagle Bearer and their step-family has a small heartwarming detail in that Nikolaos thanks them for inviting the two of them to dinner. They may have lost their birth family, but the Eagle Bearer is doing their best to patch things up where they can.
• A small detail, but if left to idle or if you spend a long time in a Blacksmith's shop, Ikaros will swoop down to perch on the Eagle Bearer's arm. Sometimes they'll even coo to him with typical pet-owner baby-talk, and it's rather sweet and shows they truly do view Ikaros as their friend and pet.
• One of the Lost Tales of Greece, involving the Eagle Bearer going on a long quest thanks to a vision Barnabas has while high, ends with them discover the "Leda" they've been chasing is not Barnabas' long lost wife, but his daughter. The quest can end with the Eagle Bearer inviting Leda to come with them, or stay at her mother's farm. Doing the latter upsets Barnabas, but the Eagle Bearer can point out that this way, it means he has a home to go to, if and when he retires from sailing.
• The Eagle Bearer's childhood friendship/romance with Anais is quite touching. The Eagle Bearer recalls that they were bullied a lot as a child and that Anais was one of the only people who stuck up for them back on Kephellonia.
  • If romanced, Anais will reveal that since moving away, she'd gotten married and had a child with someone else. The Eagle Bearer however takes the news in stride and will even take it upon themselves to help out with her rambunctious son.
• In the mission Fields of Elysium, "Dark Horse", you are tasked with retrieving a horse that has escaped into Elysium. When you find it a blind old man has befriended it, unbothered by its frightening appearance due to his blindness, claiming their friendship had been instant. While the player can choose to take the horse, you can also choose to let him keep it, despite the risk of reprisal against him, and you can hear how delighted he is to keep his one friend.
• The "Good" ending of the Tempest storyline is still pretty heartwrenching, but it ends on a bittersweet note if you keep Kleta alive, by warning her to stay back before your final duel with the Tempest. When all is said and done, Kleta will reconcile with the mortally-wounded Tempest, allowing her to Go Out with a Smile while reassuring her mother that one day they will go sailing again, "just like we used to..."
• From the Torment of Hades DLC chapter, the mission "Lost, but Not Forgotten." The Eagle Bearer meets Phoibe in the underworld. Much of the mission is a blend of Tear Jerker and Nightmare Fuel, as the Eagle Bearer learns Phoibe, in the course of looking for her parents in Elysium, was rendered amnesiatic by the Cyclops of Kephallonia, who proceeds to prove that he has definitely gone From Nobody to Nightmare - he proceeds to torment the Eagle Bearer by kidnapping Phoibe, even "killing" her again in the same way she died in life, all to get back at the Eagle Bearer. But where this trope comes in is at the end of the mission: after spending time catching up with their old friend, seeing her taken away, then catching up to and killing the Cyclops again (in what is easily the single most furious the Eagle Bearer has ever been), the Eagle Bearer guides Phoibe back to the gates of Elysium to finally meet her parents, and the base game's worst Player Punch is averted with a vengeance. No matter the player's decisions - whether the Eagle Bearer encourages her to stand tall through her own strength, wipes her memories of them so she can move on without them, or especially if they promise to meet her again in Elysium someday, you can feel the emotion in the Eagle Bearer's voice as they finally get to make up for never getting to say goodbye to her in life.