Roshan

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"I won't let the past define me. This is why I now consider myself the daughter of no one."

―Roshan to Basim Ibn Ishaq, 860s.

Roshan (Arabic: روشان; born c. 802), also known as Roshan bint-La'Ahad (Arabic: روشان ابنة لا أحد), was a Hidden One of Persian descent based in Alamut during the 9th century. Holding the rank of Master Assassin, she was, alongside Rayhan and Fuladh Al Haami, part of the council that governed over the brotherhood. She was also a brief lover of the mercenary Azadeh in her younger years.

In 861, Roshan became a mentor to Basim Ibn Ishaq, a street thief from Samarra, and was secretly aware of his Isu heritage as the reborn form of Loki long before Basim himself had realized. Fiercely loyal to the brotherhood, Roshan tried to suppress his nature but became disillusioned when Basim and the Hidden Ones leadership learned the truth and stood by each other anyway. In protest, Roshan left the brotherhood and cast aside her Hidden Blade for several years until reclaiming it ahead of an encounter with the Viking Eivor Varinsdottir in England.

Biography

Early life

In 824, Roshan was captured and held deep in a prison in Cairo, Egypt. Fully expecting to die there, she was surprised when a hooded figure offered her another chance at life outside if she helped them in a dangerous mission to steal a mysterious and powerful object being transported across the Silk Road. She accepted the offer and eventually was drawn into the wider secret war between the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients.

Roshan rose through the brotherhood's ranks and, by the 860s, had become a Master Assassin, operating out of the Hidden One fortress of Alamut, which at the time was still under construction. Alongside the Mentor Rayhan and the Eagle-Master Fuladh Al Haami, she sat on the council that led the Alamut Brotherhood and ensured their tenets were up-kept. Roshan was also responsible for the training of most of the brotherhood's new initiates.

Seeking to put her past behind, she adopted the name of Roshan bint-La'Ahad, calling herself the "daughter of no one". Despite having taken on a new name and responsibilities upon joining the Hidden Ones, she regretfully had to dissuade her old friend Azadeh from constantly following rumors trying to find her.

Training Basim

Roshan rejecting Basim's services

In late 861, Roshan was operating in Anbar, where she maintained contact with her old acquaintance Dervis, who led a network of thieves in the city that the Hidden Ones regularly relied on to gather information. While trying to learn more about an artifact that had recently arrived in Anbar, Roshan met the young thief Basim Ibn Ishaq, who had been assigned by Dervis to steal a shipping ledger from the docks. The ledger revealed that the artifact had been delivered to the Winter Palace and Basim volunteered to steal it, bragging about his skills and asking to be recruited into the Hidden Ones. However, Roshan brushed him off and left.

Despite Roshan's warnings that breaking into the Winter Palace was too dangerous, Basim did so anyway and managed to steal the artifact, though in the process he was forced to kill the caliph, Al-Mutawakkil, becoming a fugitive. Roshan visited Basim at his home the next day, taking the artifact and invinting him to join her in fleeing Anbar, as the guards were searching for the thief. Basim refused at first, but after discovering that the guards had killed his friends, he changed his mind and went to the docks. There, Roshan protected him from several guards before climbing to the top of a nearby building and leaping into the water below to escape, with Basim following closely behind.

Roshan sparring with Basim

Roshan subsequently brought Basim to Alamut, where she became his mentor and trained him in sword fighting, stealth and freerunning. She also explained to him the reach of the Order of the Ancients' influence in the Abbasid Caliphate and the rest of the world, and why the Hidden Ones fought against it. In February 862, around two months into Basim's training, Roshan decided to transition his training from wooden swords to steel ones and asked the Hidden One blacksmith Rebekah to forge Basim a scimitar and an accompanying parrying dagger, which her apprentice quickly put to use in a duel against his master.

After Basim and another Hidden One, Nur, eliminated a group of mercenaries trying to find the Hidden Ones' base while on patrol, they reported back to Roshan and the rest of the Alamut council. Suspecting the mercenaries had been sent by the Order, Rayhan decided to dispatch Nur to Baghdad to investigate their enemies' presence in the city, instructing him to seek aid from the Zanj rebel leader Ali ibn Muhammad, a Hidden One ally. Although Roshan viewed Ali as a dangerous and delusional fool, she agreed with the Mentor's decision and Nur departed for Baghdad.

Mission to Baghdad

Rayhan sending Fuladh, Basim and Roshan to Baghdad

Eventually, Basim completed his training and was formally inducted into the brotherhood by Roshan and the rest of the council. However, shortly after Basim's initiation, Nur returned from Baghdad gravely wounded, as the Order had attacked him during his investigation and captured Ali and his rebels. Realizing that the Order held more power in Baghdad than they initially suspected, Rayhan decided to send Roshan, Basim and Fuladh to the city to continue Nur's investigation and find and rescue Ali.

Crossing the desert, the three Hidden Ones eventually reached Baghdad, whereupon Roshan and Fuladh went to the Harbiyah district to establish a bureau while Basim investigated around the city before eventually joining them. Discussing their leads, the trio decided to follow up on the information Nur had managed to gather. While Basim went to meet with Ali's rebels and investigate a dyeing factory marked by Nur on a map, Roshan and Fuladh remained at the bureau to search for more clues.

Broken trust

Once Basim had uncovered the identity of the Ra's Al-Af'a of the Order, the royal concubine Qabiha, he reported his findings to Roshan, who decided to assassinate the Order leader herself, believing her apprentice was not yet prepared to undertake such a mission. However, Basim argued that this was an opportunity to put all his training to the test and Roshan relented, however uneasy she felt.

Suspicious of Basim's true motives, Roshan decided to follow him as he infiltrated the Caliphal Palace to assassinate Qabiha and, to her shock and anger, witnessed the Order leader tell Basim about the Isu temple underneath Alamut, which she claimed held the answers to all of his questions. As Qabiha offered to inform Basim about his true nature, Roshan acted quickly and stabbed her from behind with her Hidden Blade, killing her. She then angrily confronted her apprentice over his actions, only for Basim to accuse Roshan of preventing him from uncovering his origins and criticize the Hidden Ones' creed, which promoted free will but asked the brotherhood's members to obey without question.

Aware of Basim's true nature and its implications, Roshan believed it was in everyone's best interest if her apprentice remained unaware of it and invinted him to accompany her back to the Hidden Ones, no more than a man but no less than their brother. However, Basim refused, prompting Roshan to threaten him that, if he decided to seek out the temple, she would not hesitate to kill him herself. With that, she stormed off, leaving Basim to escape from the palace by himself.

Roshan's worst fears came true when, amidst an attack on Alamut by Tahirid forces allied with the Order, Basim returned to the fortress to investigate the temple. After fighting off several of the attacking Tahirid soldiers and getting injured in the process, Roshan made her way to the temple's entrance to prevent Basim from entering. As the master and her former student fought, Basim was able to break Roshan's defense with a throwing knife to the shoulder before taking advantage of her injuries to defeat and non-fatally stab her with his Hidden Blade.

No longer in any condition to fight, Roshan could only try to dissuade Basim from entering the temple, claiming that she had the Hidden Ones' best interest in mind and begging her former apprentice to trust her. However, her pleas fell on deaf ears as Basim proceeded into the temple, where he ultimately unlocked Loki's dormant memories inside him. After learning that Rayhan had given Basim his blessing to investigate the temple, a disillusioned Roshan decided to leave the Hidden Ones and, following an argument with the Mentor, discarded her Hidden Blade and departed Alamut.

Activities in England

Despite no longer serving the Hidden Ones, Roshan remained a loyal follower of their creed and continued to hunt down Order members across the globe. Two decades after leaving Alamut, she had managed to recover her Hidden Blade after some difficult years spent without it, and tracked the Ancient Makira to England, where the latter had formed an alliance with Sir Edward, Earl of Westerna. The Saxon mercenaries in Edward's employ often stole the Raven Clan's gear and launched raids with it to frame them, keeping all looted gold and silver while Makira took any writings they manged to recover for herself.

Roshan after having killed Makira, with Eivor in the back

While tracking Edward's men, Roshan encountered the Raven Clan's jarlskona Eivor Varinsdottir, who was also investigating the raids. After informing Eivor that Edward and Makira were responsible for tarnishing her clan's name, Roshan striked an alliance with the Viking to eliminate the two, who had taken refuge in Ravensburg. Eivor infiltrated the fortress and publicly assassinated Edward, sending his men into disarray and allowing Roshan to drop from a tree and kill Makira. The former Hidden One then looted a scroll from her body and said she would deliver it to Jerusalem, describing its contents as "a seed to plant" for the future, before parting ways with Eivor.

Personality and traits

Roshan was a woman of Persian descent and had a strong personality. A true warrior who was loyal and honest, she fought for justice and to protect her fellow Hidden Ones, but kept details of her life shrouded in mystery.

Behind the scenes

Roshan is a character created for the 2023 video game Assassin's Creed: Mirage, where she is voiced by Iranian-American actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, but her older self was introduced in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla as part of a free 2022 downloadable update titled Shared History.

Etymology

Roshan (روشن ) is a name derived from the Middle Persian word "lwšn'", meaning "splendid light," "bright," and "daylight." Bint-La'Ahad (ابنة لا أحد) means "Daughter of No One" in Arabic and is likely a reference to Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, with Ibn-La'Ahad (إبن لا أحد) meaning "Son of No One".

Gallery

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  Concept art portrait
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  Concept art
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  Promotional Art
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  Roshan talking to Fuladh and Basim
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  Character model of Roshan
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  Character model of Roshan
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  Character model of Roshan
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  Character model of Roshan
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  Database image of Roshan
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  An elderly Roshan in England

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Shared History (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One