Galina Voronina

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning recent or upcoming releases from the Assassin's Creed series. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. This template should be removed from the article three months after release.

"I went into it like everyone else and learned to fight from my ancestors. I just didn't go crazy."

―Galina on her use of the Animus, 2014.

Galina Voronina (born 1983) is a Russian member of the Assassin Order, as well as one of the daughters of an Assassin scientist who succeeded in constructing her own Animus inside an old Assassin laboratory, located in Protvino, Moscow.

After gaining the assistance of Gavin Banks and his allies in 2014, Galina assassinated her mother, sister and former Assassin comrades, who had been driven insane through the Bleeding Effect. In doing so, she became the last of the Russian Assassins, leading her to later accept Gavin's offer to become part of the Altair II's crew.

Biography

Early life

"What happened to us? What happened to our future? What kind of world am I leaving to my twin girls?"

―Galina's mother on the deteriorating Russian Brotherhood, 1991.

Galina and her twin sister were born to an Assassin scientist who worked in one of the Assassin Science Cities, facilities that belonged to the Russian Academy of Sciences, but were used by the Assassins for research since the early 20th century. The twins grew up in one such compound, located in Protvino, Moscow, which served as their home and hideout. By 1991, it was the only Assassin Science City left, with the others having been eradicated by the nation's increasingly powerful Templars.

Raised as Assassins, Galina and her sister bore witness to the Russian Brotherhood's further decline, which their mother desperately tried to reverse by using the Animus she had built. The experiments, however, proved to be a disaster; the subjects were driven insane and subsequently sealed off in another section of the compound. Not wanting to create even more victims, the twins' mother chose to be the machine's sole test subject, causing her sanity to be slowly frayed away by the Bleeding Effect.

In December 2012, a sudden power surge caused the twins' mother to experience a vision of Eve, which she took as a sign to redouble her efforts. While the Assassin scientist forced the remaining members of her cell into the Animus, Galina was told of an old Assassin meeting place, the footbridge that connected the old and new properties of the Moscow Zoo. On the instruction of her twin sister, who had learned of the location from their grandmother's journal, Galina began to visit the bridge every full moon, in the hopes that she could contact other Assassins.

Galina consoling her sister

On 28 June 2013, the Russian government announced its plans to put all of the Russian Academy of Sciences' remaining property and facilities under its control, putting the remaining Russian Assassins in danger. Both Galina and her twin sister, the last two sane individuals in the facility, were subsequently forced into the Animus. However, unlike the others, Galina was able to remain mentally stable and used the Bleeding Effect to learn the techniques of her ancestors.

Clearing the science city

"We have established contact with an Assassin in Moscow, Galina Voronina [...] She wants us to assassinate her mother, an Assassin scientist who went nuts."

―An excerpt from Emmett's report, 2014.

Escaping the laboratory, Galina continued visiting the footbridge and eventually made contact with Gavin Banks, Emmett Leary and Emmanuel Barraza, Assassins from the Altair II, on 16 March 2014 in Moscow. She informed them of the Russian Brotherhood's situation, before asking them to assassinate her mother. Reconvening with the trio of Assassins two days later to discuss plans, she managed to convince Gavin into aiding her. During their meeting, Emmett attempted to explain to her that her mother could not have been speaking to Eve, as experiences in the Animus were purely passive, though Galina did not seem convinced.

Accompanied by her new allies, Galina journeyed back to Protvino, which was crawling with deranged Assassins, and broke into the laboratory. Although she had requested the back-up of Gavin and his team, Galina hardly needed help, using her two Hidden Blades to put their attackers, among them her twin sister, out of their misery.

Galina mourning her mother's death

Eventually they found Galina's babbling mother strapped to the ancient Animus she had constructed, in a room filled with monitors. As Galina knelt down next to her mother, Emmett watched the screens, believing to see a face in them. When Galina ended her mother's life, the face cried out, before vanishing.

Following the assassination of her mother, Galina was convinced by Gavin to join him aboard the Altair II, as her Brotherhood had become practically non-existent. Traveling with him to St. Petersburg, she met the rest of the ship's crew on the 26th of March.

Working with the Assassins

On 24 April, Galina, along with the rest of the Altair II's crew, was tasked with deciphering the riddles in William Miles' codex, in an effort to determine William's whereabouts. Eventually, they located a hidden cove in Norway, where the Altair II docked on 1 May 2014.

When Rebecca Crane began upgrading the systems on the Altair II, she discovered that a spy on the ship was uploading reports to a database run by a group called the Initiates. Unlike the rest of the crew, Galina was above suspicion, since she had only been with them for roughly a month; too short a time to have planted the bugs used by the Initiates. While the others were confined to their quarters on the ship until they could be interrogated and cleared of suspicion, Galina stayed in the bunker.

Galina preparing to kill Stephanie

On 23 May, William finally gathered the crew members to announce the identity of the spy, naming Stephanie Chiu as the culprit. On William's command, Galina moved to kill Stephanie, but Eric Cooper intervened, revealing he was the spy instead. The two eventually confessed they worked together, with Eric writing the reports while Stephanie uploaded them to the Initiates database. William then revealed he had no intention of having them killed, as the Initiates appeared "fairly reasonable". Shaun then sent a video to the Initiates, offering them to join the Assassins.

In October, an Assassin group led by Gavin Banks, Galina among them, attacked and destroyed the Abstergo facility in Paris, which was dedicated to the research and study of the Sage John Standish. She and Shaun Hastings personally confronted Álvaro Gramática, with Galina attempting to kill the scientist with a grenade; however, Gramática survived thanks to the Shroud of Eden that he was wearing.

After the attack, the Assassins were followed by Templar agent Juhani Otso Berg and his right hand, Sorkin. Galina faced Sorkin and overpowered him, stabbing Sorkin multiple times before the Assassins escaped with the ships that were waiting them.

Recruitment of Charlotte

"We kill him. A traitor almost ended the Brotherhood... and now you want to open the door for another one to finish the job?"

―Galina voicing her doubts about Joseph to Xavier, 2015.

By 2015, Galina was assigned to a new Assassin cell in California, which was led by Xavier Chen, with whom she had tumultuous relations. When a respected Assassin called Joseph, who had been thought dead, resurfaced in the Templar headquarters in September, the group felt conflicted over whether or not to trust him; Xavier was inclined to believe Joseph, but Galina thought it better to kill him, wanting to avoid a repeat of the Daniel Cross debacle.

Joseph claimed that he had been working with the Templars in order to lure out one of their top agents, by promising to help them find a Piece of Eden purportedly located in Salem at the time of the witch trials. To verify whether or not his story about the artifact was a setup, the Assassins decided to search for an individual with the necessary genetic memories. Kody, the cell's technician, hacked Abstergo Industries' Helix databases and found Charlotte de la Cruz, an employee at Malta Banking Corporation in San Diego.

File:Galinaleaping.png

Galina leaping out of Charlotte's apartment

Galina and Xavier then went to San Diego to recruit Charlotte, who was enthusiastic about the prospect of aiding the Brotherhood. During their meeting, a group of men sent by the Templars arrived at Charlotte's apartment and attacked them. The two Assassins eliminated the attackers and took their unconscious new recruit to their hideout located near the Salton Sea, where they put Charlotte into an Animus in order to relive the memories of her ancestor, Tom Stoddard, an Assassin active during the witch trials.

While Charlotte was looking for the Piece of Eden and Joseph's ancestor, the idealistic woman began to have trouble synchronizing with her ruthless ancestor and Galina expressed her doubts about Chen's judgement and the new recruit's ability to accomplish the mission that the Assassin assigned to her. Later as Charlotte was still in the Animus, Kody discovered that the Templar Didier Hawking, a genious genetic data breaker, was coming to San Diego and was the man with whom Joseph was trying to make contact. Galina then stated that finding answers in the past had become irrelevant and that they had to kill Joseph quickly, because with Hawking involved, the Templars would soon obtain everything they wanted from him, traitor or not.

She then forcefully disconnected Charlotte from the Animus and argued with Xavier, even puching him in the face, calling him a failure for not wanting to kill Joseph. Xavier draw out his gun and threatened to kill her if she prevented Charlotte from returning to the Animus and if she failed to follow his orders again. A wake-up charlotte speak of her encounter with Consus, telling to an astonished but determined Galina that she had to go back. As things were escalating, Kody told his teammates that he had a way to satisfy both of them, as he was able to power-up the Animus with the van, so they could go after the Templars in San Diego while Charlotte was still connected to the Animus, trying to discover Joseph's true allegiance. Xavier and Galina agreed and the team left Salton Sea, with Galina setting fire to the safe house and telling to Chen that his gun would not save him if he tried to stop her again.

Some hours later, as the group was arriving in San Diego, Charlotte finally discovered that Joseph's ancestor in Salem, Jennifer Querry, died before witnessing the hiding place of the Piece of Eden and so Joseph was telling the truth about lying to the Templars. They reached a renowed tea shop of the city, in fact a safehouse of the Templars where Joseph was kept, and planned what was now a rescue mission. Learning why Xavier was so adamant about trusting the AWOL Joseph, feeling guilty after leaving him for dead on a mission, Galina scolded her leader. After suiting up and arming themselves, the two assassins left, leaving Kody and Charlotte in the van.

After they left, Charlotte who had decided to continue reliving the memory of Stoddard, discovered that David, a young boy involved with the Assassins in 1692, was in fact the secret son of Querry and so Joseph had lied, he knew the location of the Piece of Eden.

Finding the Shroud

"Bishop tells me Otso Berg is here. I will kill him for you!"

―Galina to Shaun Hastings, 2015.

In late October 2015, Galina was contacted by Bishop, who asked her to meet up with Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane in London and help them locate a Shroud of Eden. Arriving at night, she snuck up on Shaun, who had been reminiscing about an old friend, and made him jump. When Shaun recalled their mission in Paris, Galina teased him for "screaming like a baby". She then eagerly told him she would kill Berg.

Once the Shroud's location was found by an Assassin initiate, Galina, Shaun and Rebecca traveled to Buckingham Palace's vault and immediately engaged Berg, Violet da Costa and Isabelle Ardant, who had arrived there ahead of the Assassins. For a while, Galina and Berg were evenly matched, with Berg managing to break her Hidden Blades, though she eventually gained the upper hand.

Just as she was about to kill Berg, the rest of Sigma Team arrived, forcing her to abandon her target and take out the reinforcements. Once they had been dealt with, she returned to Shaun and Rebecca, with the latter having been shot during the struggle, and told them it was time to go.

Trivia

• Galina is derived from the Ancient Greek galene, meaning "calm". It is also used as a Russian variant of Helen, a Greek name that means "shining brightly". The root voron from her surname means "raven". Another possible origin of her surname is the Russian word vorona, which means "crow".
• Galina wears a pendant in the shape of the Russian Assassins' insignia.
• Notably, she is one of the few modern Assassins known to wield dual Hidden Blades.
• Rebecca Crane once caught Galina talking to herself during their time in Norway. Curious, the former asked her about it, only to find Galina saying that she was conversing with her dead sister.

Gallery

• 
  Concept art of Galina with her hood
• 
  Concept art of Galina without her hood
• Galina in Moscow
  Galina in Moscow
• 
  Galina discussing plans with Gavin and Emmanuel
• 
  Galina being welcomed by the Altair II's crew
• 
  Galina as she appears in the comics
• Galina using her throwing knives to defend Charlotte de la Cruz
  Galina using her throwing knives to defend Charlotte de la Cruz