Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia

Anastasia: "The world is changing... my father's empire is gone... my family... dead."

Nikolai : "You will survive this. You are strong, just like Shao Jun."

—Anastasia and Nikolai Orelov discussing the future, 1918.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia (Russian: Анастасия Николаевна Романова; born 1901), called "Anya" by Nikolai Orelov, was a Russian princess, the fourth and youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and last survivor of the Romanov family.

During the slaughter of her family in 1918, the genetic memories of Chinese Assassin Shao Jun contained within her family's Precursor box bonded with Anastasia when she came in contact with both it and a shard of the Imperial Sceptre. While protected by the Russian Assassin Nikolai Orelov and tracked by both the Templars and the Red Army, Anastasia used her connection with Shao Jun to learn Assassin skills like freerunning, lockpicking and combat in order to survive. Eventually, Anastasia left Russia for Germany, adopting the name Anna Anderson.

Biography

Early life

Anastasia with her father

Anastasia was born in 1901 as the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. Anastasia had four siblings: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Alexei.

Early during the Russian Revolution, Vladimir Lenin asked the Assassin Nikolai Orelov to kill Nicholas. The tsar had just finished saying goodnight to Anastasia and her three sisters when he was confronted by Nikolai. Recognizing the Assassin as the man who had once made an attempt on his father's life, Nicholas requested that his family be spared. However, Nikolai was only interested in taking possession of the Romanov family's Imperial Sceptre and left after warning the tsar that there would be a future assassination attempt.

Losing her family

"Mama... How could I ever be as strong as you were? This bracelet bears the initials of all of us. It's mine to wear now. The last of us."

―Anastasia after retrieving her late mother's bracelet, 1918.

Anastasia and Nikolai's Pieces of Eden interacting

On 17 July 1918, at the height of the Revolution, Anastasia's family was assassinated inside Ipatiev House by Templar agents within the Bolsheviks sent to obtain the Precursor box that was in her family's possession. Anastasia temporarily escaped with the box, but was hunted down and cornered in a boiler room. Fortunately, she was soon rescued by Nikolai Orelov, who had infiltrated the house in order to take the box for the Assassins.

However, the box Anastasia held and the fragment of the Imperial Sceptre that Nikolai wore as a necklace resonated just as more soldiers rushed in, causing a blinding light to appear. When it cleared, Anastasia stood over the corpses of the now dead soldiers with Nikolai's knife, having been imprinted with the memories, experience and skills of the Assassin Shao Jun.

Anastasia being consoled by Nikolai about her family's passing

Devastated by the death of her family, Anastasia was reassured by Nikolai who helped distract the soldiers while she escaped from her pursuers through the sewers. While in the sewers, Anastasia used many of the skills inherited from Shao Jun, including whistling, freerunning, lockpicking and pickpocketing, to avoid detection from the soldiers posted there. After exiting the sewers, she attempted to find Nikolai to escape the area and amazed herself with her new-found abilities.

In order to more easily traverse the ruined environment of her now former home, Anastasia made a makeshift rope dart using Nikolai's dagger and a rope she found while scavenging through the Cheka compound. Following this, she was pinned down by a machine gun but was saved by Nikolai, who told her to meet him at the edge of the estate.

As Anastasia went through her home, she collected heirlooms belonging to her departed family. Further into her house, she overheard soldiers gloating about killing her family, which sent her into a rage and drove her to assassinate all of the present soldiers, losing herself into the persona of Shao Jun.

Anastasia regaining her senses

Exiting the house, Anastasia ran into a rifleman who was quickly shot by Nikolai, who had taken a vantage point as a sniping position. Covered by the Assassin, Anastasia escaped the compound. Once outside, Anastasia fell to the floor, feeling unwell. As Nikolai attempted to help her up a guard approached and shouted at them, causing the Assassin to push Anastasia down in an attempt to hide her.

While the guard interrogated Nikolai, Anastasia, temporally possessed by Shao Jun, strangled the guard from behind and snapped his neck. She then threatened to kill Nikolai for pushing her down and calling her "child". Anastasia only snapped out of her trance once the Assassin reminded her of her true name.

Under pursuit

"These are not your memories. You are not Shao Jun. The box or the shard did this. I've witnessed the things this technology can do. You have to remain yourself, Anastasia. You have to shut her out."

―Nikolai to Anastasia on the train ride to Kazan, 1918.

Nikolai telling Anastasia about the plan to cure her

Nikolai and Anastasia boarded a train heading from Yekaterinburg to Kazan in order to escape persecution from the Templar agents in the Red Army. While on the train, Anastasia revealed to Nikolai that she recalled events from Shao Jun's life, including the hunt for the Eight Tigers where Shao Jun freed China from Templar control. Nikolai warned her to not lose herself in Shao Jun's memories and explained that they would reach Kazan in order to head to Moscow with the aid of some of his friends who were members of the Narodnaya Volya.

When Anastasia expressed doubt about Nikolai's intentions due to his friends' allegiances, the Assassin reassured her, revealing that he had a daughter himself and that the Brotherhood's cause did not include murdering children. At that moment, a noise startled the pair as Templar soldiers boarded the train in search of the box. Nikolai left to deal with them, telling Anastasia to remain hidden.

Anastasia and Nikolai leaping from the train

After Nikolai dispatched the soldiers, an armoured train pulled up and started attacking the train the Assassin and Anastasia were on as more soldiers boarded it. This forced Anastasia to run from the back of the train under heavy fire as the wagons collapsed and caught fire around her. Reaching the front wagon where Nikolai had commandeered a machine gun to counter-attack, Anastasia barely escaped the explosion of the back cars alongside Nikolai.

Once in Kazan, Nikolai told Anastasia to wait for him with the Precursor box while he went to talk to his friend, Leon Trotsky, and request his help to get to Moscow. After a long wait, Anastasia grew increasingly worried as the Assassin failed to return.

Rescuing Nikolai

"He should have been back by now. Something must've happened... I can't go out there. Too many of them. I'll never make it. Unless... she helps me..."

―Anastasia deciding to look for Nikolai, 1918.

Anastasia deciding to look for Nikolai

Concluding that something must have happened to Nikolai, Anastasia decided to look for him. However, she realized that unless she relied on the genetic memories of Shao Jun she would fail, and forced herself to synchronize with them, allowing her to use the Assassin's skills.

After leaving her hiding place, Anastasia heard cannon fire in the distance as Red Army forces started marching into Kazan. As she continued through the city in search of Nikolai, she freed three people she knew from before her ordeal that were being held prisoner by the Red Army. Entering a train station, Anastasia saw many refugees attempting to leave the city as well as guards patrolling the area. She proceeded while blending with the crowds in order to shield herself from the guards' eyes, and left through the station.

Anastasia rescuing Nikolai

Outside the station, Anastasia overheard a conversation between two guards, one of whom claimed to have been just stationed at Bodarenko Ulitsa outpost, where they were holding Nikolai hostage in an attempt to learn the location of Anastasia and the Precursor box. With this information, Anastasia was determined to help the Assassin escape. She sneaked past the guards and boarded a tram which she hoped would take her to the edge of the Volga. However, the train was soon stopped for an inspection, forcing her to get off and find the signal box to change the light to green while avoiding being spotted by the patrol.

Once done, Anastasia quickly returned to the tram before it left and continued riding it until it reached its final stop. There, she climbed on top of the nearby buildings and jumped on top of a train headed near Trotsky's mansion. Once the train was as close as it would get her, she jumped off and continued on foot, through some Cheka barracks, eventually reaching the mansion where Nikolai was held captive. After killing all his captors, she freed the Assassin, who was worried that she had been taken over by Shao Jun's memories, but Anastasia assured him that she was herself.

Reaching the Assassins

"I know I'm not her, but I also know I can no longer be myself. Anastasia Nikolaevna needs to... fade away... She cannot be a part of this new world..."

―Anastasia to Nikolai during their escape from Kazan, 1918.

Nikolai and Anastasia deciding to flee Kazan

Once Anastasia rescued Nikolai, he suggested that they split up in order to avoid detection from the Templars. Distressed, Anastasia believed that the Assassin wished to abandon her but he reassured her that he'd be covering her from the rooftops while she stayed on street level as they headed towards the Volga.

On their way out of the compound, Anastasia sneaked through guards' patrols and through buildings while Nikolai covered her with his rifle from afar. At times, she lured troublesome guards near windows or open areas, allowing Nikolai to shoot them. Soon enough, Anastasia encountered a barricade which she could not pass through,so she moved a barrel filled with explosives for Nikolai to shoot, destroying the barricade and allowing her to pass through.

Arriving at a warehouse near the docks filled with guards and explosives, Anastasia dropped explosive barrels near the main doors, allowing Nikolai to shoot them, killing the guards and clearing the way for her to get through the area. Once through, Nikolai again covered Anastasia as she crossed a bridge; this time, however, an alarm was raised and many guards converged on her location as she ran over the bridge. After escaping, she pushed another explosive barrel towards the bridge, allowing Nikolai to shoot it and blow up the bridge.

Anastasia and Nikolai escaping Kazan

Once clear of the guards, Anastasia and Nikolai took a small rowboat on the Volga. While drifting in the water, the former reminisced over her losses and Nikolai reassured her of her ability to get through her current predicament. Anastasia resolved that she, as Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, could not continue to exist.

Arriving in Moscow, Anastasia and Nikolai met Sergei, an Assassin scientist, who took the box. Anastasia asked him if he could cure her to which he clarified that while he could not, their Mentor might be able to. Sergei then said that he would take her to the Mentor, but when Nikolai prepared to accompany them, Sergei reminded him that he had to go to the bureau to report all he had seen. At Nikolai's protests, Sergei reassured him that Anastasia would be safe. Anastasia reassured him as well as she walked away with Sergei.

Imprisonment in the Kremlin

Nikolai: "I'm sorry, Anya, I could not have known. You must escape! Now!"

Anastasia: "Liar! I'll kill you like I killed Zhang Yong and his Tiger brothers!"

—Nikolai and Anastasia after he rescued her, 1918.

Unbeknownst to Nikolai, Anastasia was taken by the Assassins to the Kremlin in order to experiment on her in an attempt to extract the genetic memories given to her by the box. While being brought there, Anastasia fought her captors, even having to resort to biting one of the Assassins that attempted to handle her, but was subdued. Once underground in the Assassin science facility, she was subjected to procedures that had previously resulted in subjects either being killed or permanently damaged.

Eventually Nikolai arrived, having betrayed the Assassins in order to save her. Upon waking up, Anastasia noticed Nikolai on the other side of an observation window as he remotely opened a door for her. The Assassin apologized for his involvement in the situation and Anastasia once again took the persona of Shao Jun — her psyche unstable due to the experiments performed on her — and launched in to a diatribe against him, threatening to kill him as "she" had the Tigers. Nikolai called out to her in an attempt to return her to her senses, and urged her to run.

Once outside of the experiment room, Anastasia attempted to escape the Kremlin. While moving through the facility, she noticed two of the scientists that had experimented on her and assassinated them. She then proceeded to the maintenance levels, dodging scalding steam sprouting from the decrepit machinery before eventually reaching a path blocked off by steam entirely. Unable to keep going forward, Anastasia waited for Nikolai to activate a piece of machinery that blocked the steam long enough for her to pass.

Once through the area, Anastasia attempted to open a security door which locked her into an airtight room with gas filtering in, choking her. She only survived thanks to the quick intervention of Nikolai, who stopped the gas and opened the door forward. However, this caused the pipes to burst, starting a chain reaction that forced the weakened Anastasia to flee from the explosions behind her. Once outside, she again reunited with Nikolai, though their reunion was cut short by the arrival of an Assassin tank. Nikolai told Anastasia to run towards the Bolshoi Theatre while he dealt with the tank.

Escape from Russia

"I have strength now. Whether that was Shao Jun or something within me, it does not matter. I know exactly who I am."

―Anastasia prior to leaving Russia, 1918.

Having successfully escaped from the tank, Anastasia later met Nikolai outside the Bolshoi, after the Assassin had disabled the tank to ensure the Brotherhood could not pursue them. When Anastasia asked how she could leave the country, Nikolai answered by giving her the fake papers that he had prepared for his wife, Anna, as he was planning on leaving Russia himself alongside his family. The papers where those of an "Anna Anderson", which, Anastasia commented, sounded American and would serve her even in Germany, where she was headed.

Before parting ways, Anastasia thanked Nikolai for everything he had done for her and bid him to take care of his family. The Assassin expressed concern for her state of mind after the experiments she had been put through, but Anastasia replied that she had the strength to survive, despite not knowing if it came from Shao Jun or herself. Nikolai questioned if she knew who she was, to which she simply replied that she was Anna Anderson.

Legacy

Due to her connection with the Precursor box, Anastasia's memories were relived through the Helix Navigator by a research analyst at Abstergo Entertainment in late 2015.

Personality and traits

"You did something to me! Cursed me... with that necklace. I could never kill anyone! I can barely hold a gun!"

―Anastasia to Nikolai, upon gaining Shao Jun's genetic memories, 1918.

Anastasia standing over a group of guards she killed

Anastasia was 17-years-old when her family was killed, and she was extremely distraught to learn about her parents and siblings' fate from Nikolai Orelov. She did not consider herself as being capable of harming others, though once imprinted with the memories and personality of Shao Jun, she became violent and ruthless, much to her shock.

Overhearing the callous and sadistic remarks made by Red Army regarding her slain family imbued Anastasia with enough anger that she was willing to violently kill several men, taking cold satisfaction in punishing those who celebrated her family's deaths. The Bleeding Effect led to her becoming more confident in her abilities but at the cost of sometimes losing herself completely in the persona of Shao Jun.

Skills and equipment

Anastasia was not adept at using weapons by age 17. Once imprinted with Shao Jun's memories, she inherited many skills and abilities from the Chinese Assassin, including freerunning, lockpicking, and Eagle Vision, as well as the knowledge of how to build rope darts, an invention of Shao Jun's and her signature weapon. Unlike the Master Assassin Nikolai Orelov with whom she travelled, Anastasia's equipment was limited to a knife given to her by Nikolai and her makeshift rope darts, which she used with great skill.

Behind the scenes

Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova first featured in the 2010 comic Assassin's Creed: The Fall, before becoming a secondary protagonist in the 2016 video game Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia.

At the end of Chronicles: Russia, Anastasia assumes the identity of Anna Anderson. Historically, Anderson was an impostor who insisted she was Anastasia. While her claims were never proven in her lifetime, they became notorious due to extensive media coverage. Through surviving medical samples and hair, Anderson herself was confirmed to be Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker with a history of mental illness, as first discovered in 1927. This was matched to a living descendant of the Schanzkowska family. After the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, the bodies of the Romanov family were subjected to DNA tests which revealed that the real Anastasia had died with the rest of her family on 17 July 1918.

Gallery

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  Anastasia strangling a guard
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  Nikolai telling Anastasia to stay put
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  Anastasia and Nikolai meeting with Sergei

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: The Fall (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia