Basim ibn Ishaq

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning Assassin's Creed: Mirage. 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 5 January 2024.

Patience, brothers. Soon we will reveal the secrets of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, Assassin's Creed: The Silk Road and Assassin's Creed: Mirage. This article has been identified as being out of date. Please update the article to reflect recent releases and then remove this template once done.

"But a man you trust with anything... can take everything."

―Basim recalling Odin's betrayal to Eivor Varinsdottir, c. 874 CE.

Basim Ibn Ishaq (born c. 844), also stylized Basim ibn Is'haq, is a human incarnation of the Isu Loki who used Yggdrasil to permit his consciousness to survive the Great Catastrophe millennia ago.

Born in the Abbasid Caliphate during the 9th century, Basim was the son of the architect responsible for the construction of the Great Mosque of Samarra. After his father was exiled and died impoverished upon someone else taking credit for his work, Basim became inspired to fight injustice and wished to join the Hidden Ones. However, he was frequently tormented by nightmares of a monstrous djinn, which were in fact a representation of his repressed memories as Loki.

While residing in Anbar, where he made a living as a street thief, Basim became acquainted with the Master Assassin Roshan. In an effort to impress her, he stole a mysterious artifact from the caliph's Winter Palace, but during his theft, he was forced to kill the caliph, Al-Mutawakkil, in self-defense. This act led him to become a fugitive and he was subsequently rescued by Roshan, who brought him to the Hidden Ones' base at Alamut to induct him into the brotherhood.

After completing his training, Basim was sent to Baghdad alongside several of his fellow Hidden Ones in order to investigate the presence of the Order of the Ancients. As he dismantled the Order's presence in the city by identifying and assassinating its various members, Basim rose through the Hidden Ones' ranks, eventually becoming a Master.

During this time, Basim began to question his own nature and was eventually encouraged by Qabiha, the leader of the Order in Baghdad, to investigate an Isu temple underneath Alamut to find answers to his questions. His former mentor Roshan tried to stop him, being aware of Basim's true nature, but he defeated her and entered the temple, which he discovered to be a former prison for Loki.

Following a brief internal struggle, Basim ultimately regained and embraced his memories as Loki. Recalling that his/Loki's lover Aletheia had her consciousness trapped in the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus and that Odin had both imprisoned their son Fenrir and banished his siblings Jörmungandr and Hel, Basim began looking for a way to reunite his family and take revenge on Odin, who had also used Yggdrasil to be reborn.

Over the following years, Basim continued to further the Hidden One cause as he became the leader of their bureau in Constantinople, from where he coordinated his fellow Hidden Ones' activities in foreign nations. He also took an apprentice of his own, the young acolyte Hytham, who accompanied him on his travels, but also secretly spied on him for the other Hidden Ones, who had become suspicious of Basim's motives.

In 870, Basim met and befriended the Viking Sigurd Styrbjornsson, the reincarnation of Týr, in Constantinople. Seeing a way to accomplish his plan of revenge, Basim accompanied the Viking to Norway while also tracking the Order of the Ancients in the region. In Fornburg, Basim became acquainted with Sigurd's foster-sister Eivor Varinsdottir, the reincarnation of Odin, whom he eventually informed of the conflict between the Hidden Ones and the Order of the Ancients.

When Sigurd and Eivor established the colony of Ravensthorpe in England, Basim and Hytham installed a bureau there to start a new chapter for the Hidden Ones. While his apprentice helped Eivor hunt the Order in England, Basim searched for the Saga Stone with Sigurd to awaken the consciousness of the latter's previous incarnation. After Sigurd was captured by the Ancient Fulke, who also sought to awaken Týr's memories inside him, Basim worked with Eivor and her allies to track down and kill Fulke, rescuing Sigurd.

In 877, Basim followed Eivor and Sigurd back to Norway, where he confronted them in Yggdrasil's chamber to take his revenge. However, the siblings defeated him and trapped him in Yggdrasil's simulations, where he would remain in suspended animation for the next several centuries, running countless calculations and plotting to escape in the future.

In 2020, Basim managed to contact the Assassin Layla Hassan, who was the wielder of the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, and guided her to Yggdrasil. After tricking Layla into freeing him, he used the Staff to rejuvenate his body and was reunited with Aletheia. Upon meeting and offering his help to the Assassins, Basim used their Animus to explore Eivor's genetic memories, hoping to find proof of his children having survived the Great Catastrophe.

Biography

Early life

"I am merely the son of a public servant who dedicated his life to the betterment of his people... only to be slighted and forgotten."

―Basim to Nehal, 861.

A teenage Basim

Basim was born around 844 in Samarra, to the architect Ishaq and an unknown woman who died during Basim's youth. After another man took credit for his greatest creation, the Great Mosque of Samarra, Ishaq was exiled and eventually died in poverty, leaving Basim an orphan. Growing up alone on the streets of Baghdad, Basim was a frequent visitor of the city's House of Wisdom. During one such visit, he met the renowned astronomer Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, whom he described as kind and openhearted, and left him a lasting impression.

Basim was also the inheritor of the memories of Loki, an Isu who had used Yggdrasil to seed his genetic code into humanity's gene pool to circumvent the Great Catastrophe that destroyed his race. His goal was to be reunited with his lover Aletheia, whose consciousness was preserved within the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus.

Basim was unaware of his past life, though he still experienced Loki's repressed memories in the form nightmarish visions of a djinn, which represented the torture Loki had been made to endure during his imprisonment in the Alamut Temple. He also mistakenly perceived Loki's consciousness as Nehal, his alleged childhood best friend, who accompanied Basim at every step and encouraged him to pursue his own self-interests. This went against Basim's desire to fight for justice, born from the injustice his own father had experienced.

Introduction to the Hidden Ones

"I cannot explain what I saw. That object. It did something to me. I was ... somewhere else. Cold. And frightened. Before I knew it, the Caliph had his hands around my neck. I ... it was an accident, I did not mean for ... just wanted to help."

―Basim trying to explain the events that went down in the Winter Palace to Roshan, 861.

Meeting Roshan

By 861, Basim made a living as a street thief in Anbar, where he was part of a network of thieves led by Dervis, for whom he conducted various jobs on behalf of his clients. One of those clients were the Hidden Ones, whom Basim admired for their dedication to fighting injustice and oppression, wishing to one day join them.

Basim offering his services to Roshan

On 11 December 861, Basim was tasked by Dervis to steal a shipping ledger from the harbor on the Hidden Ones' behalf. This upset Nehal, who viewed the job as a favor due to the Hidden Ones usually paying very little, and she reminded Basim that he owed nothing to anyone but himself. After infiltrating the harbor and stealing the ledger, Basim returned to Dervis' hideout, finding him in the midst of a conversation with the Master Assassin Roshan.

Basim gave Roshan the ledger, from which she deduced that a chest sought by the Hidden Ones had arrived in Anbar that morning. Basim volunteered to steal the chest and expressed his intention to join the Hidden Ones, but Roshan dismissed him and left. Dervis was infuriated by this insult and threatened to reduce Basim's pay, before telling him that if he wanted to keep working for him, he had to do as he was told.

Breaking into the Winter Palace

After talking with one of his fellow thieves, Jasib, Basim learned that the chest had been taken to the caliph's Winter Palace and decided to steal it in the hopes of ingratiating himself with the Hidden Ones, much to Nehal's protests. Breaking into the palace at night alongside Nehal, Basim witnessed a meeting between the caliph, Al-Mutawakkil, and five masked figures, who threatened the caliph to keep the chest safe and to never lay eyes on its contents.

Basim confronted by Al-Mutawakkil

After the masked people left, Basim stole the contents of the chest: a disk-shaped artifact which displayed a holographic message of an unknown man striking a prisoner. This attracted the attention of Al-Mutawakkil, who realized that the masked people would punish him for seeing the artifact and attempted to take revenge on Basim. In the ensuing struggle, the caliph manage to pin Basim against a pillar and began choking him. Acting quickly, Basim grabbed the caliph's knife and stabbed him in the neck, though in his mind it was Nehal who had done this.

Al-Mutawakkil's son, Abu 'Abdallah, was drawn by the commotion and, upon seeing Basim standing next to his father's corpse, he ordered the guards to capture the thief. Basim managed to escape from the palace and outrun the guards chasing him before returning to his dwelling. After processing the events that had just transpired, he attempted to go to sleep, but experienced one of his recurring nightmares of the djinn.

Joining the brotherhood

Basim discovering the consequences of his actions

The following morning, Basim was awoken by Roshan, who questioned him about the artifact he had stolen, but he could not explain what he had experienced. Roshan then invited Basim to accompany her to escape from Anbar, as the guards were searching for a thief matching his description. However, Basim refused to abandon his friends and went to Dervis' hideout.

To his horror, he found the bodies of all his friends hung and tied to wooden poles—a clear warning from the Caliphate guards intended for him. At that moment, Nehal appeared to console Basim, but he angrily blamed her for killing Al-Mutawakkil and ended their friendship. Realizing that the guards would not stop until they killed him, Basim decided to accept Roshan's offer to flee with her and went to the docks.

Basim rescued by Roshan

At the harbor, Basim was caught by several guards who attempted to execute him, but he was saved by Roshan, who killed his assailants. As more guards showed up, Roshan instructed Basim to follow her to the top of a nearby building. There, he watched as Roshan took a leap and jumped into the river below. With the guards rapidly approaching him, Basim followed suit and fell into the water while dodging a soldier's sword swing.

Hidden One training

Roshan subsequently took Basim to the Hidden Ones' base at Alamut in order to induct him into the brotherhood, and became his mentor, training him in sword fighting, stealth and freerunning. During his training, Basim became acquainted with several of his fellow Hidden Ones, including Nur, who became a close friend; the Eagle Master Fuladh, who introduced him to an eagle named Enkidu; and the blacksmith Rebekah, who forged him a personal scimitar.

Two months into his training, while Basim was on patrol duty with Nur, the two spotted several mercenaries near the Hidden Ones' camp. After dispatching them, they reported back to the Mentor Rayhan, who believed the mercenaries had been sent by the Order of the Ancients to find their hideout and subsequently sent Nur to Baghdad to investigate.

Eventually, Basim completed his training and was formally inducted into the brotherhood, receiving a Hidden Blade after cutting off his left ring finger, as well as Enkidu as a companion. Shortly after Basim's induction, Nur returned from Baghdad, gravely wounded but still alive. Realizing that the Order held more power in Baghdad than they initially thought, Rayhan assigned Basim, Roshan and Fuladh to continue Nur's investigation and establish a stronger presence for the Hidden Ones in the city.

Hunting the Order in Baghdad

Basim as a Master Assassin

After helping Roshan and Fuladh establish a Hidden One bureau in Baghdad's Harbiyah district, Basim embarked on a hunt for the Order members who had infiltrated the city. As he eliminated four of the highest ranking members, his manic episodes grew more intense after each assassination, though he also rose through the Hidden Ones' ranks, eventually being promoted to Master Assassin.

During this time, Basim was reunited with Nehal, who was distrustful of the Hidden Ones and believed there was a connection between the two of them and the artifacts the Order was searching for in Baghdad and the surrounding desert. Wishing to reconnect with Nehal after their previous falling out, Basim agreed to investigate this supposed connection and promised Nehal that he would never abandon her again.

Confronting Al-Bahamut

After assassinating all his targets, Basim set his sights on "Al-Bahamut", the leader of the Order in Baghdad. The Hidden Ones believed that Al-Bahamut was either the poetess Arib Al-Ma'muniyya, Baghdad's governor Muhammad ibn Tahir, or the royal concubine Qabiha, all of whom Basim had encountered during his investigations of the other Order members and found that they had connections to the Order.

Investigating all three of his possible targets, Basim ultimately concluded that Qabiha was Al-Bahamut, coordinating the Order's activities from the safety of the Caliphate court. Basim reported his findings to Roshan, who wished to assassinate Qabiha herself, but Basim convinced his mentor to let him carry out the killing. Infiltrating the Caliphal Palace, Basim found Qabiha's hideout after solving a puzzle involving Arib Al-Ma'muniyya's poetry and confronted the Order leader.

To his surprise, Qabiha seemed to be more aware of his true nature than Basim himself, and urged him to seek out what the Hidden Ones had kept hidden from him: a temple underneath Alamut Castle. Wishing to better understand his nature, Basim retracted his Hidden Blade and got ready to listen to what Qabiha had to tell him, but before she could speak, the Order leader was promptly assassinated from behind by Roshan.

Roshan angrily questioned her apprentice's actions, to which Basim responded by accusing Roshan of preventing him from uncovering his origins. He also criticized the hypocrisy of the Hidden Ones' creed, which promoted free will but asked the brotherhood's members to obey without question. Roshan simply told Basim that it was in everyone's best interest if he did not learn what was inside the temple, and invited him to accompany her back to the Hidden Ones. When Basim refused, Roshan warned him that if he sought out the temple, she would not hesitate to kill him herself, before leaving.

Search for the truth

Defending Alamut

After escaping from the Caliphal Palace, Basim returned to Anbar and met up with Nehal, telling her that she was right to not trust the Hidden Ones. He then decided to disobey Roshan's orders and investigate the temple, riding for Alamut with Nehal. Upon arriving, however, Basim found the Hidden Ones' camp under attack by the Caliphate's forces, due to Muhammad ibn Tahir having made a deal with the Order to end his protection of Alamut.

Basim was knocked out by two soldiers, but was rescued by Nur, who dispatched his assailants and took him to a cave where he had taken refuge. After Basim awakened, Nur informed him that he was alone when he found him, to which the former was relieved to know that Nehal was safe. When Nur disheartenedly claimed that Alamut had fallen, Basim tried to encourage him to fight off the attackers, only to learn that Nur had been mortally wounded. Basim vowed to avenge him, but Nur told him that revenge was not the Hidden Ones' way and instead urged him to rescue any survivors so that the brotherhood's ideals may live on.

Despite his disillusion with the Creed, Basim agreed and headed towards the Hidden Ones' camp. There, he found several soldiers attempting to interrogate the captive Hidden Ones, Rayhan among them, for the location of the temple. After killing the soldiers and freeing the Hidden Ones, Basim convinced Rayhan to let him seek out the temple, claiming that whatever knowledge lay inside could give them an advantage over the Order and help them win their endless war.

After dispatching the soldiers in front of the temple, Basim found a familiar symbol and touched it, revealing the hidden entrance to the temple. At that moment, however, a wounded Roshan arrived, intending to deliver on her earlier promise to Basim. Taking advantage of Roshan's injuries, Basim was able to weaken her defense with a throwing knife to the shoulder before engaging his former mentor in a duel.

Basim ultimately emerged victorious, stabbing Roshan with his Hidden Blade and incapacitating her. Roshan made a final attempt to dissuade Basim from seeking the knowledge inside the temple, claiming that she only wished to protect him and the Hidden Ones, but Basim ignored her. He then cut his hand with a knife and used his blood to open the temple door before venturing inside with Nehal.

Regaining his memories

Basim and Nehal explored the temple, which the latter claimed was familiar to her, worrying Basim. After finding more artifacts like the one Basim had stolen from the Winter Palace, the pair eventually reached a chamber with a pod. When Basim opened the pod, he was shocked to see Nehal inside, and came to the realization that Nehal was never real; she existed just within his mind and all of her actions were actually his own.

At that moment, Nehal took one of the artifacts and activated it, displaying a memory of a prisoner being tortured by a guard. This caused Basim to have an internal struggle, where he tried to understand his own nature. In the end, he came face-to-face with the djinn that had been tormenting him his entire life, and realized that his visions were in fact his repressed memories as Loki. To end the nightmares, Basim had to embrace these memories, in the process erasing Nehal from his mind. After several moments of hesitation, Basim agreed to do so when Nehal assured him that he would never be alone.

Upon leaving the temple, Basim was welcomed back by his fellow Hidden Ones, which caused Roshan to resign in protest. After witnessing an argument between Rayhan and Roshan, in which the latter discarded her Hidden Blade, Basim approached the Mentor to discuss what he had seen inside the temple.

Now fully aware of his past life as Loki, Basim became fixated on finding other Isu who had used Yggdrasil to be reborn in order to take his revenge for the suffering inflicted upon him. While he remained a loyal follower of the Hidden Ones and their creed, his allies noticed his change in character, leading to Enkidu rejecting Basim as his master and the other Hidden Ones describing him as a person of danger and intrigue.

Activities in Constantinople

In 867, Basim and his apprentice, the Hidden One acolyte Hytham, traveled to the Byzantine Empire capital of Constantinople to foil an assassination plot by the newly installed emperor Basil I, against his son Leo. Touring the city with Hytham, they ventured through the markets as Basim revealed that he made himself known to the Order of the Ancients in the city. Soon, they found Norse warriors led by a female warrior in the market but noticed other warriors waited for them. Engaging the other warriors, the Hidden Ones fought against them until the female Norse warrior killed the rest. When she introduced herself as Thyra of the Eagle Clan and leader of the Varangian guards, Basim was asked for help and a private location. Together, they made their way to the house of Demetrios Hestiun, a Hidden One ally.

At Hestiun's house, Basim discussed his intent with Thyra before meeting with Empress Eudocia Ingerina, who came in secret. Together, Basim and Hytham were informed by the Empress of the Emperor trying to kill his son. In their conversation, the Hidden Ones were asked to protect Leo. Basim agreed with Hytham becoming an undercover Varangian guard on the condition for an alliance between the Hidden Ones and the Eagle Clan. Both women agreed before leaving. Basim and Hytham discussed their plans while Basim remained hushed on his ulterior motives with allying with the Eagle Clan.

On Hytham's first day, Basim kept to the shadows on the palace's grounds while keeping an eye on Hytham. At the children's wing, Basim advised Hytham to make contact with one of the suspects, who was Leo's nurse Anna. After Leo survived the attempt with the vipers, Basim encouraged Hytham to use his hero status to gauge information from Basil. After Hytham's conversation with the emperor, Basim met with his acolyte and a sadden Leo, whom he gave a healing salve for his injury. After talking about Emperor Basil with Hytham, he showed a magic trick to Leo and vanished quickly from his presence.

Two weeks laters, Basim and Hytham tailed Anna to a fortune teller Ursina and eavesdropped on the conversation. They learned that Anna bribed Ursina to give a jeweled comb to her contact Isaac. After hiding again, they also discovered a relationship between Anna and Leo's tutor Theodore, who later came to the fortune teller. In a few days, back at the palace, they went back to the original duties. Basim later found Thyra and talked to her about Hytham's relationship to Leo as well as Anna and Theodore.

However, Hytham came and asked for help. While being shown the dead body of Varangian guard Steros, they all surmised that Basil secretly sent an order out to kill Hytham. To hide the murder, while Thyra cleaned the blood, Basim and Hytham dumped the body into the sea. Basim and Hytham talked about possible suspects being between Justin and Theodore as well as their new objectives to hunt and kill Isaac. Basim took a new position to guard Hytham for the night.

The next morning, both Basim and his acolyte trailed Justin, who left the palace to meet with an unknown man. They both noticed the conversation went sour when Justin killed the man and two more attackers showed up. Fortunately, the Hidden Ones killed the attackers, revealed themselves, and questioned Justin. When Justin told them of the Order's threats against his loved one, they believed Justin aided the Order due to apparently showing no care for Leo. However, when Justin responded that his animosity was a front to protect Leo from his abusive father, Basim realized they left the palace unprotected. Telling Justin to check on his friend, the Hidden Ones instantly left for the palace.

At nightfall, Basim and Hytham entered the palace's children wing, where they heard silence. Basim left Hytham to find Leo while he checked for any attackers. He soon found Thyra being attacked and assisted her. Taking down multiple Order assailants, he soon caught sight of Hytham and nodded him to go while struggling against his current attacker. Taking down all of their opponents, Basim made his way outside to the garden where he found Hytham worn out. Before an attacker could kill Hytham, he assassinated him and scared off the remaining attackers. When Hytham wanted to track, Basim stopped him and implored not to take it personal. Hytham retorted that he knows of Basim's own goals but Basim stated he knew Hytham was tasked to spy on him from Mentor Rayhan and how Hytham was less experienced than another potential Hidden One. Before Hytham could respond, he disappeared.

However, Basim learned that Hytham began to track the Order assailants alone and disappeared himself. Taking Thyra and Leo with him, they investigated his acolyte's trail and found an Order hideout in an abandoned building. Attacking the Order members, Basim left Thyra to fight the attackers while he went to the basement and found an injured Hytham. Together, they went to fight with Thyra and killed the Order members, but Isaac escaped. While Hytham left the building with Leo, Basim and Thyra cleaned up and investigated the premises. Afterwards, they began to leave for the palace. However, they went to another building where Hytham informed them of Theodore's involvement with the attack and find his parchment. Basim scouted the area to avoid any attackers while they all walked back to the palace.

Days later, Basim found himself at Philopation, where the emperor and his family were having a public picnic. He called for Hytham while being approached by a wolf, which were rare in the park. Basim explained that he needed to cool off but showcased anger towards Hytham for disobeying his orders. Immediately sparring, Basim overpowered Hytham and continued to reprimand Hytham but stated that he saved him for both the Hidden Ones and himself. Wanting to leave, Basim stated they must leave the city. However, when Hytham disagreed, Basim planned to root out Isaac by having Leo set as bait. Reluctant, Hytham agreed while Basim was promised his word.

Planning their ambush during Basil's Hippodrome event, Basim was soon caught off-guard by two Order members and managed to kill one. However, he was struck by a dagger and fled to medically aid himself. Leaving a trail of blood, Basim headed atop a tower near the Hippodrome to rest. He was soon found and aided by Hytham and then made their way back to the race, right at Basil's turn. Spreading out, Basim realized he needed the Order to strike and reveal themselves so he threw a spike at Basil's chariot, causing Basil to have an accident.

Instantly, the Order attacked and kidnapped Leo from the emperor's box. Basim tried to grab the woman captor but she used Leo as a shield. Managing to find another opening, Basim took a different route to stop the fleeing Order member while Hytham, Thyra, and Justin follow onward. Basim and his allies chased them out of the Hippodrome and into an alley nearby. There, they all saw a dead end while Isaac entered from the streets to aid his warriors.

Fighting, Basim and Hytham faced off against Isaac while Justin and Thyra fought off the other assailants. When Leo managed to break free, Thyra garnered the opportunity and killed both her attacker and the captor. Basim grabbed Leo while Hytham faced off against Isaac and told the boy to run to the streets. With the upper hand, Hytham pushed Isaac back from him while Basim came in with his blade and killed him. Although chased by the last Order player, Leo was saved by Justin, who killed the last man publically.

With Justin and Leo hailed as heroes, a meeting was held at Hestiun's house between Eudocia and Hytham. After Eudocia thanked them and let Leo say goodbye to Hytham, Basim waited for his acolyte to come. After they conferred about the alliance between the Order and Basil had disintergrated, they left the city to seek out more alliances with the Viking clans. With their trust renewed, both Hidden Ones left the city.

Dealing with the Snake-Eaters

By 870, Basim and Hytham were stationed back in Constantinople, where the former served as bureau leader. During his tenure, Basim traveled to Antioch with Hytham to fight the Snake-Eaters, a new faction of the Order of the Ancients taking control of the city. However, the Antioch Bureau was decimated by this conflict and Basim sent letters to his Hidden One brothers and sisters asking for reinforcements.

His old friend Mahaut from Francia sent two of her acolytes, Matthias and Oisel, while the Alexandrian bureau sent four Hidden Ones led by Jessamyn. Eventually, Basim and the Hidden Ones successfully drove the Snake-Eaters away from Antioch. As he had matters to attend back in Constantinople, Basim left with his apprentice and sent the six other Hidden Ones after the Snake-Eaters' leadership on the Silk Road.

Journey to Norway

Basim learning of Ammon's failure

Also in 870, Basim dispatched the Hidden One Ammon to Bulgar to acquire a Shroud of Eden. During his mission, Ammon encountered the Viking Sigurd Styrbjornsson, who killed him in battle and took his Hidden Blade as a trophy. After being informed of Ammon's failure and death by a fellow Hidden One, Basim expressed his disappointment, but his interest was piqued when he was told Ammon's killer was a Norseman with a mark on his neck.

Basim and Hytham eventually met Sigurd in Constantinople and befriended him, teaching him many of their organization's customs. When Sigurd decided to return home to Norway in 872, the two Hidden Ones agreed to accompany him.

Basim and Hytham arrived in Fornburg with Sigurd in late 872, whereupon they were introduced to the rest of the Raven Clan, including Sigurd's wife Randvi and his adoptive sister Eivor Varinsdottir. When Sigurd presented Ammon's Hidden Blade to Eivor as a gift, Hytham objected, especially after the Viking opted to proudly wear the blade on her outer wrist rather than concealed, but Basim overruled his apprentice. He then taught Eivor how to use the blade by taking her to a training ground, where Eivor practiced various assassination techniques on straw dummies.

Basim and Hytham introduced to Sigurd's family, Eivor and Randvi

While in Norway, he was present to watch certain members of Raven Clan decide to move to England and escape the rule of Harald Fairhair under a unified Norway. In time, he indirectly told Eivor of a greater conspiracy by the Order of the Ancients to control the Norse as well as all of England.

Imprisonment

In 877, Eivor and Sigurd traveled to a fjord in the north of Hordafylke. There they found an ancient Isu ruin containing Yggdrasil, an Animus-like supercomputer. Consumed by Loki's memories, Basim attacked them. Eivor, herself the reincarnation of Odin, won the fight and Basim was trapped within the device.

Awakening

Basim meeting Layla within the simulation

By 2020, as the Earth's magnetic field began to strengthen beyond normal, Basim managed to send an audio message to the present-day Assassins, directing them to Eivor's remains in New England. Through use of the Animus, Layla Hassan synchronized with Eivor's memories and discovered the location of Yggdrasil. Venturing in with the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus for protection against the lethal radiation in the chamber, she discovered Basim's body still connected to the machine. She connected to the device and discovered that Basim's consciousness had been retained inside the shared simulation.

Layla sacrificed her corporeal form to enter the Grey with The Reader but Basim was freed and managed to grasp the Staff to rejuvenate his body. Communicating with Aletheia's consciousness within the Staff, he confirmed that Odin was long dead and that Layla had fulfilled her purpose.

Basim with Shaun and Rebecca

Traveling to Layla's safehouse, Basim met with Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings, members of Layla's Assassin cell in New England, where Eivor had been buried. After enduring the couple's anger at Layla's fate, he remarked how his brotherhood of the Hidden Ones had renamed themselves as the Assassins, and requested a face-to-face meeting with their Mentor, William Miles, to discuss action against the Templars, the successors to the Order of the Ancients. After the couple had departed the cabin, Basim visited Eivor's grave, remarking how he managed to outlive his adversary before accessing the Animus to take advantage of the Bleeding Effect in the hopes of finding his missing children.

Basim reading Viking Myths

After a prolonged time in the Animus, Eivor appeared to Basim sitting by the fire as a Bleeding Effect-induced apparition, where she smiled and nodded at him, a gesture he returned. While still waiting for Rebecca and Shaun to return with their Mentor, Basim took to reading the books Shaun had gathered in his research of Norse culture and mythology. One such title, Viking Myths, recounted the tale of Loki and Baldr's exploits and Loki's eventual betrayal of Odin's son. While the events and setting differed over centuries of retelling, certain details remained the same, which Basim reacted to with an ambiguous smile.

After a "face-to-face" meeting with William through the Animus, Basim agreed to help the Mentor understand how he survived for so long in suspended animation in return for providing the Assassins a blood sample to parse its genetic sequences through the Animus.

Personality and traits

Little is known about Basim prior to him fully transforming into a reincarnation of Loki. Even before he became a proper reincarnation of Loki, he still had all of Loki's inner desires. He shared in Loki's deep commitment to the pursuit of scholarly activities and hungered for uncovering more knowledge and wisdom. During his time being trapped inside Yggdrasil, he spent his time studying the calculations over and over again to determine the best paths to take for his next plots. By the time of the 21st century, his repeated studies of calculations and Loki's memories had made him capable of understanding how modern human societies functioned and how their equipment functioned, particularly the Animus. ^{[citation needed]}

Like his original predecessor, Basim valued loyalty and kindness towards his kin. He was loyal to Sigurd's clan, despite knowing his true status, and showed them his kindness and loyalty throughout their time together in England. He only became antagonistic towards the Raven Clan after realizing that Eivor is actually Odin's reincarnation. Basim even displayed a vengeful and determined side which he inherited from Loki. Upon discovering Eivor's true status, he goes into a manic state, rambling on about his family's pain caused by Eivor, much to Eivor's confusion. He fought with great ferocity, even resorting to trickery to gain the upper hand on her. ^{[citation needed]}

Skills and equipment

Basim wore the standard attire of the Hidden Ones in the Middle East of that time. His red sash signified his rank as a Master Assassin. His weaponry, combat stances and prowess as well as his personal sword were mirror images of the same equipment and combat skills possessed by Loki back in the Isu Era. To reinforce his ties to his past life, he later ensured his Hidden Ones cloak was fastened by a broach on the right side that featured a wolf, a snake, and a skull, representing Loki's children Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and Hel.

Upon emerging from Yggdrasil in the 21st century, Basim wore a grey hoodie, a black t-shirt with a wolf and moon design on the front, brown cargo pants and brown shoes with red laces.

Behind the scenes

Basim Ibn Ishaq is a character introduced in the 2020 video game Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, in which he is portrayed by the Canadian actor Carlo Rota. He later appeared as the protagonist of the 2023 game Assassin's Creed: Mirage, where he is portrayed by the Lebanese-Canadian actor Lee Majdoub. This makes Basim the second protagonist in the series who was introduced in a previous installment, after Edward Kenway, who was referenced in Assassin's Creed III and first appeared in the novel Assassin's Creed: Forsaken.

In Valhalla, Basim's robes can be obtained for for free from Ubisoft Connect as an outfit for Eivor to wear in-game. While wearing the outfit, Eivor's Hidden Blade is repositioned under her forearm as opposed to on top of it. As a result of this, she will have her left hand open as opposed to clenching it into a fist when assassinating enemies with the Hidden Blade. The repositioned Hidden Blade however, can result in some animation errors in which the blade would clip through Eivor's hand while extended during certain attack animations and cutscenes.

Etymology

Basim is an Arabic name meaning "one who smiles", derived from بَسَمَ (basama) meaning "to smile". His nasab (نسب) ibn Ishaq means "son of Ishaq" with Ishaq, the Arabic form of Isaac, meaning "laughing".

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (first appearance)
  • The Last Chapter
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Song of Glory
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion
• Assassin's Creed: The Silk Road
• Discovery Tour: Viking Age (avatar only)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Sword of the White Horse (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Where's the Assassin? (non-canonical appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Forgotten Myths
• Assassin's Creed: Escape Room Puzzle Book (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: The Golden City
• Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game
• The World of Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Journey to the North – Logs and Files of a Hidden One (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage
  • The Forty Thieves

An image gallery is available for Basim Ibn Ishaq

References

de:Basim Ibn Ishaq es:Basim Ibn Ishaq fr:Basim it:Basim pt-br:Basim Ibn Ishaq ru:Басим ибн Исхак zh:巴辛姆·伊本·伊沙克