Jupiter

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"I see you still have many questions. Who were we? What became of us? What do we desire of you? You will have your answers. Only listen, and I will tell you how."

―Jupiter to Desmond Miles, in the Synch Nexus, 2012.

Jupiter was an Isu scientist, Father of Understanding, and member of the Capitoline Triad. Alongside the Sacred Voice Minerva and the Mother of Wisdom Juno, he took charge of the gathering and testing of information within the Grand Temple, in order to circumvent the Great Catastrophe.

In 2012, through the Synch Nexus, Jupiter spoke with at least one descendant of both Isu and humans, Desmond Miles, giving him details about the Great Catastrophe, as well as how to prevent the Second Disaster.

Names

Jupiter was known by many names both throughout and after his lifetime due to his long life and legacy as a god to humanity. His earliest known name was Tinia, but with the evolution of human religion, a number of distinct and sometimes contemporaneous appellations arose. The Greeks knew him in their mythology as Zeus, the "golden child atop Mount Olympos" who was head of the Twelve Gods. The later Romans echoed this by naming him Jupiter in their mythology, calling him the King of the Gods. In Norse mythology, Jupiter was known as Suttungr, the king of Jötunheimr.

Mythology

Greek mythology

Statue of Zeus within the Sanctuary of Olympia

In time, Jupiter, like many of his fellow Isu, was upheld by humanity as a god. In Greek mythology, he was known as Zeus, born as the youngest son of the Titan Kronos and his wife Rhea. In fear of a prophecy foretelling his overthrow by his child, Kronos devoured all of his children, save for Zeus, who was hidden by Rhea.

In time, Zeus fulfilled the prophecy and cast Kronos out, creating a new world order with his siblings and other gods, settling on Mount Olympus with eleven other mightiest deities.

Zeus is infamous for his various relationships with multiple individuals, divine and mortal alike. Via these unions, Zeus is considered to have fathered multiple heroes of Greek mythology, including Herakles, Perseus, as well as Greek deities, including Persephone, Dionysos, Charites, Ares, Eris, Hebe, Hephaistos, Pan, Apollo, and Artemis. To seduce the human woman Leda, Zeus disguised himself as a swan and made love to her in his swan-form. This union resulted in Leda producing issue; Polydeukes and Helen, though at the same time, produced heirs of her husband; Kastor and Klytaimnestra.

In one myth, Zeus united the 'Great Twins', Castor and Pollux, in immortality by turning them into the constellation Gemini, via which they later came to signify the astrological sign Gemini.

In the myths Hephaistos was credited also as the acting midwife for Zeus when it had come the time for Athena to be born. With a labrys, Hephaistos cleaved Zeus' head open to free the goddess.

Roman mythology

Jupiter, on one occasion, seduced the human woman Io, daughter of the king of Argos, enveloping himself in a dark cloud to hide his affair from his wife, Juno.

Biography

Isu Era

During the Isu Era, Jupiter was considered the "golden child" amongst his siblings and resided on Mount Olympos. He shared a hostile relationship with his older brothers Hades and Poseidon, who ruled the realms of the Underworld and Atlantis, respectively.

According to one Atlantean myth, a matter which led Jupiter to personally visit Atlantis and reprimand Poseidon enraged the Trident King so much that he destroyed the very cycle in which the meeting had occurred and any further mentions of his sibling was considered taboo.

Isolation in the Grand Temple

"Both before the end and after, we sought to save the world."

―Jupiter, in the Synch Nexus, 2012.

Jupiter with Juno and Minerva

Upon the outbreak of the Human-Isu War, Jupiter was among those who avoided the fighting and instead focused on finding a means to prevent the coming disaster. To that end, a number of Temples were built to research possible solutions, with Jupiter, Minerva, and Juno taking on the responsibility of sorting and sampling the most promising ones. The three convened in the Grand Temple, where all the findings from the lesser Temples were gathered, in order to select and test them. However, all six methods they tried ended in failure.

At some point, Aletheia spoke with Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, who were working on a secret seventh method to ensure the Isu's survival. However, by that point, Jupiter and Minerva had their concerns about it, as this method involved uploading Isu DNA into a human host, similar to the fifth method. Minerva worried that this would pollute the human genome, and thus the seventh method was ultimately abandoned.

The enclosed content covers events or items that, while canonically experienced, may or may not have been altered in some manner and cannot be taken at face value.

Conflict with the Æsir Odin: "Be thankful it was me who took your Mead and not Loki. What I do, I do for the safety of the Æsir and Vanir." Jupiter: "You will change countless fates, Havi, but not your own." —Odin and Jupiter following the latter's defeat. Shortly thereafter, an Isu named Ægir lost a bet and sent a cauldron to Jupiter, but it got lost along the way. Much to Jupiter’s relief, the cauldron was recovered by Odin, leader of the Æsir Isu, as a peace treaty between his own faction and the Greco-Roman Isu. Delighted, Jupiter decided to hold a feast in celebration of the peace, and agreed to Odin's suggestion to invite Minerva. However, at some point during the feast, Aletheia's lover Loki warned Jupiter of Odin's true intentions: to steal the seventh method of salvation for himself. Angered by this deception, Jupiter confronted Odin at the entrance of the Grand Temple and the two Isu fought in a duel. Odin ultimately won and took his leave, but not before Jupiter warned him that he could not change his fate, regardless of how hard he tried. Later, Jupiter, still seeking retribution on Odin for his theft of the seventh method, began rallying his forces for an attack on Asgard. He was not the only one seeking revenge against the All-Father, as the Muspels also wished to kill Odin after he had defeated their leader Surtr, while Loki and his children Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and Hel had their own grievances with the Æsir leader. The battle, which would later be remembered in Norse mythology as Ragnarök, coincided with the Great Catastrophe, and ultimately left Asgard in ruins.

Great Catastrophe and aftermath

At some point, Jupiter and Minerva learned that Juno had secretly aided Odin in his theft of the seventh method of salvation, which she needed to immortalize her catatonic husband Aita. For her crimes, Juno was stripped of her title of Mother of Wisdom and removed from the Capitoline Triad.

Later, Jupiter and Minerva discovered that Juno had used Minerva's Eye to reach out across time and manipulate humans millennia in the future for her own ambitions of world conquest. Regarding Juno as a threat, they decided to eliminate her, believing that without her interference, the world and the human race would be safe. However, Juno secretly managed to cheat death by transferring her consciousness into the walls of the Grand Temple.

Following the Great Catastrophe, which wiped out most of the Isu and the human race, Jupiter stood up as one of the survivors alongside Minerva. Together, knowing that their end was near, they helped humanity rebuild their civilization, constructed a device to prevent another cataclysm from occurring millennia later, and used the calculations to try and find the means to make future humans capable of finding it. Like what happened to all the remaining Isu, Jupiter eventually died and the makings of his life were passed down to myth.

Legacy

The Vault

In 1499, Minerva mentioned Jupiter in her warning to Desmond Miles, who she addressed through the Prophet, Ezio Auditore.

Synch Nexus

"Take my words. Pass them from your head into your hands. That is how you will open the way."

―Jupiter to Desmond, 2012.

Jupiter with Desmond in the Synch Nexus

In 2012, Jupiter spoke with Desmond, whom he referred to as "the Cipher", in the nexus of time. There, he told him of the Isu's Temples and of the First Disaster. In order to prevent the Second Disaster, Jupiter urged Desmond to seek out the Grand Temple and told him the means of opening the way.

The Second Disaster

Jupiter did not appear when Desmond entered the Grand Temple as the Second Disaster approached, as the Cipher conversed mostly with Juno. Jupiter's image was used by Juno when showing Desmond holographic projections of the Triad's proposed solutions to the FFirst Disaster. Later, Minerva appeared and revealed that she and Jupiter had imprisoned Juno and allowed the First Disaster to occur rather than allow her to enslave humanity. Minerva also revealed that she and Jupiter spent many centuries following the First Disaster walking among humans trying to rekindle the spark of civilization.

Personality and traits

"And let us not forget Suttungr in Jötunheimr. Do you really think he will miss his chance to settle old scores?"

―Juno to Odin.

Jupiter, as presented in Eivor's visions of Odin's memories, was the King of Jötunheimr. Although he was their king, he did not take his duty very seriously, since he was more preoccupied with the possibilities of the oncoming cataclysm than the wars the jötnar were engaged in. Like most of Isu, he was prideful and saw humans as inferior beings. This was made evident by how, in his realm, humans were still treated as second-class citizens, with many wanting to flee to other places like Asgard. However, during his battle with Odin, he stated that Odin has no right to gamble with humanity's fate.

Despite his scientific brilliance when compared to the other finest minds amongst the Isu, Jupiter did not display acute social intelligence and this, combined with his prideful nature, left him more vulnerable to being manipulated. An example of this was seen when Odin managed to manipulate Jupiter into letting his guard down around his Vault under the false pretense of an unconvincing diplomatic appliance. And were it not for Loki exposing Odin's true intentions, Jupiter would have been none the wiser. Even with Loki's "aid", he still did not realize Loki was manipulating him into killing Odin, a fact which Odin pointed out to Jupiter after subduing him in a one-on-one battle.

According to Juno, Jupiter could be quite vengeful, as she told Odin that Jupiter would not forget about his theft of the seventh method of salvation and would likely join forces with the Æsir's other enemies to take his revenge.

Skills and equipment

"Suttungr's ice... it looks unstable."

―Odin while battling Jupiter.

In Eivor's visions of Odin's memories, Jupiter displayed a number of supernatural abilities. In addition to his superhuman strength and overbearing physical might, he displayed a variety of cryokinetic capabilities. Despite lacking any real combat skills, Jupiter's superior physical abilities allowed him to hold his own against a battle-hardened Isu like Odin, even though Odin eventually won. Due to Jupiter's unnaturally greater might when compared to the other Isu, his physical blows were devastating and he could also take a great deal of physical damage without slowing down, with Odin's success in their fight merely angering him further.

Jupiter's most noted ability in Eivor's visions was his diverse range of cryokinetic capabilities, which were focused through his sword and battle axe. Jupiter could summon hail storms, blasts of cryokinetic power, as well as generate a cryokinetic bliss which knocked out all of the heat within his area.

Jupiter may have also held greater scholarly abilities than most of his race, as he was part of the Capitoline Triad, a group of brilliant Isu who were working hard to stop the oncoming cataclysm.

Legacy and influence

Greek culture

The banner of Elis featuring the stylized lightning bolt

Zeus' main emblem was lightning bolt, and in the 5th century BCE, a stylized version of it graced the banner of Elis as well as the drachmae. The god was also associated with the eagle, often standing for the god himself, or perched near him.

During the 5th century BCE, multiple locations related to the stories told of Zeus' life were named after him throughout the Peloponnese and the Aegean Sea.

Several statues of him also graced locations like Mount Ainos on the island of Kephallonia, though most notable among them was the statue made by the Athenian sculptor Phidias in Temple of Zeus within the Sanctuary of Olympia in Elis. The Spartan misthios Kassandra visited a number of them over the course of her journeys.

Behind the scenes

Jupiter, the Roman name for the Greek god Zeus, is a character first introduced in the 2011 game Assassin's Creed: Revelations, where he was voiced by the Canadian actor Tony Robinow. Jupiter appeared next in 2012's Assassin's Creed III, though in a non-speaking flashback. Robinow would not reprise his role until the 2020 game Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, where he voiced Jupiter's Norse analog of Suttungr.

Jupiter is also referred to as Tinia in the artbook for Revelations and the Revelations novel, as well as throughout Assassin's Creed III. Jupiter was first referred to as "Zeus" in Issue 26 of Assassin's Creed: The Official Collection.

In Assassin's Creed II, a statuette of Jupiter is among those that can be collected in Monteriggioni. It is paired with a statue of Minerva. The pair's description read "Here sits the king of all Olympus and beside him stands wisdom, to guide his rule." The statuette of Jupiter is based on Jupiter of Smyrna, also called Zeus de Smyrne.

Jupiter's helmet resembles an eagle, his animal motif in Greco-Roman tradition and a common symbol of the Assassins.

In the Assassins Creed: Revelations novel, Jupiter refers to Minerva and Juno as his sisters. However, in Roman mythology, Minerva is his daughter while Juno is indeed his sister, whom he is married to. Similiarly in Greek mythology, Athena is his daughter while Hera is also his sister-wife.

Jupiter is briefly seen in the holographic projections inside the Grand Temple, which is shown to Desmond by Juno upon describing the six solutions that the Isu had worked on.

Tinia is one part of the Capitoline Triad that ruled over the Roman gods. The triad consisted of Tinia (Jupiter), Uni (Juno), and Merva/Mera (Minerva).

Gallery

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  Concept art of Jupiter
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  Jupiter in the Synch Nexus
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  A projection of Jupiter seen in the Grand Temple
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  The statuettes of Jupiter and Minerva in Monteriggioni
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  Jupiter and Io by Antonio Allegri da Correggio
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  A 5th century mural depicting Zeus defeating Typhon
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  Kassandra and Barnabas visiting the Statue of Zeus within the Temple of Zeus
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  The statue of Zeus on Mount Ainos, Kephallonia
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  The emblem of Elis: the stylized lightning bolt of Zeus
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  Zeus (center) amongst the Greek pantheon
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  Jupiter as Suttungr
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  Jupiter with Juno, Minerva, and Aita

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (first mentioned)
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations novel
• Assassin's Creed III (flashback only)
• Assassin's Creed: Pirates (first identified as "Zeus")
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (mentioned only, as "Tinia")
• Assassin's Creed: Origins (sculpture only)
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (as "Zeus")
  • The Lost Tales of Greece (as "Zeus")
  • The Fate of Atlantis: Judgment of Atlantis (mentioned only, as "Zeus")
• Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece (mentioned only, as "Zeus")
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (as "Suttungr")
  • Dawn of Ragnarök (mentioned only, as "Suttungr")
  • The Forgotten Saga (mentioned only, as "Suttungr")
• Echoes of History (indirect mention only)
• The World of Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Journey to the North – Logs and Files of a Hidden One (mentioned only, as "Suttungr")
• Assassin's Creed: Nexus VR (mentioned only, as "Zeus Agoraios") (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple (cameo)