Shimazu Sei

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.

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This template should be removed from the article 5 June 2024.

"I need to be prepared to give up everything."

―Shimazu Sei, regarding her mission, c. 2023.^[src]^-[m]

Shimazu Sei is a Japanese Templar working as a doctor for Abstergo Industries aboard the Exitus research vessel in Macau, China. She is a descendant of Shimazu Saito, an 18th-century Templar and samurai of the Shimazu clan.^[1]

In 2023, Sei was charged with locating a Piece of Eden believed to have been found by the British Assassin Edward Kenway, in order to salvage relations between the Shimazu clan and the Templars. Following Abstergo's abduction of one of Edward's descendants, Noa Kim, Sei forced him to relive Edward's memories in the Animus, though she later ended up striking a deal with him, promising Noa his freedom in exchange for his cooperation.

Biography

Early life

"All my life, I've only ever served the Templars and my family."

―Sei to Noa Kim, c. 2023.^[src]^-[m]

Sei was born into the Shimazu clan, a Japanese noble clan which had been allied with the Templars since the time of the Tokugawa shogunate.^[2] After graduating from Harvard Medical School, Sei followed into her family footsteps and became a doctor for Abstergo Industries, working in their Archaeological Research Department.^[3]

Search for the Piece of Eden

Noa Kim's abduction

"Hey, test subject! Can you hear me? Stop trying to resist the Animus! You're only going to hurt yourself!"

―Sei trying to reach out to Noa, c. 2023.^[src]^-[m]

By 2023, relations between the Shimazu clan and the Templar Order had soured and Sei was tasked with overseeing an important operation in order to prove her family's loyalty and worth to the Templars.^[4] Sei's mission was to locate a Piece of Eden believed to have been found by the Assassin Edward Kenway in Southeast Asia, and so she began looking for a descendant of Edward in order to gain access to the Assassin's genetic memories.^[5]

Through the genealogy site WhyYou developed by the Abstergo Genetic Research Lab, the Templars eventually identified the Korean-American student Noa Kim as a descendant of Edward and lured him to Macau on the pretense of a vacation prize trip.^[5] Following Noa's abduction by Abstergo, he was brought to the Exitus research vessel,^[4] where Sei and her team forced him to use the Animus to relive Edward's memories.^[5]

However, due to Noa being unaware that he was experiencing someone else's memories and taking the events he witnessed for granted, he ended up causing several desynchronization errors. During one such error, the Animus reacted violently and electrocuted Noa, causing his heart rate and adrenaline levels to spike. Sei attempted to warn Noa, but due to his stubbornness, she and her team were eventually forced to end the Animus session.^[6]

A risky deal

"Okay, knucklehead. We have a deal. As long as you cooperate with us... We'll let you do whatever you want while you're in the Animus. And I promise to let you go once we get the information we want. I swear on the Shimazu family's honor."

―Sei agreeing to Noa's terms, c. 2023.^[src]^-[m]

After Noa's condition had been stabilized, Sei visited him in his room and told him the truth about the Animus, Edward's role as an Assassin, and Abstergo's search for the Piece of Eden. She also revealed that Abstergo had made sure no one would search for Noa and warned him that it was in his best interest to be cooperative. Enraged at being told what to do, Noa pulled Sei by her labcoat collar but was quickly subdued by Abstergo security. As he was being dragged away, Noa decided to offer Sei a deal.^[6]

In exchange for helping Sei acquire the information she sought, Noa asked that he be given free rein to do what he wanted while in the Animus, as well as his freedom afterwards. Though reluctant, Sei agreed to the terms, but reminded Noa of interfering with his ancestor's history, and warned him that constant interference could make the subject experience the Bleeding Effect, potentially leading to Noa forgetting his own memories.^[7]

Noa noticed Sei's sudden caring attitude towards him and teased her about being kinder than she seemed. A shocked Sei rebuffed him and insisted that she only wanted to make sure Noa did not die before Abstergo obtained what they were after. She then watched as Noa returned to the Animus to continue reliving Edward's memories.^[7]

Conversations with Noa

Noa: "I guess you can be helpful from time to time after all, Sei."

Sei: "I'm only lending you a hand, given our need to extract the information from you sooner rather than later. And I don't recall allowing you to address me as anything other than Doctor Shimazu."

Noa: "Why? I thought we were on a first-name basis now that we're in the same boat."

—Noa's banter with Sei, c. 2023.^[src]^-[m]

Sei continued to converse with Noa during the latter's time in the Animus, telling him about her views of the Assassins, whom she regarded as self-righteous criminals that brought chaos wherever they went.^[8] She also noticed similarities between Noa and the Assassins in their stubborn belief that they could always help everyone, which worried her.^[9]

When a later memory required Noa to remain synchronized by staying undetected and avoiding casualties, Sei told Noa not to mess around, as he would have to restart the memory if he failed. However, Noa teased her by saying that Edward did not seem to match Sei's description of the Assassins being "ruthless criminals," much to her annoyance.^[10]

Later, Sei decided to deliver on her promise to teach Noa more about the Assassins, and used the Animus to send him information about the most notorious of them: Ezio Auditore. She then asked one of her scientists for Noa's status, to which he revealed that the test subject was displaying the most stable synchronization rates since Subject 17. Satisfied, Sei ordered her team to maintain the current synchronization level as they moved forward.^[11]

When Noa ran into an issue after completing one of Edward's memory sequences, he asked for Sei's help. The doctor took the opportunity to tease him about his earlier stubbornness and refusal to be told what to do, before bringing up a journal that had belonged to a ceramic merchant in Macau who had encountered Edward. Using this information, Noa was able to synchronize with his ancestor's memories and progress to the next sequence. As he did so, he said that Sei could occasionally be helpful and addressed her by her first name, irritating the doctor.^[12]

After completing the next set of Edward's memories, Noa began showing signs of the Bleeding Effect, leading Sei to demand that the test subject be removed from the Animus and taken to rest. However, as he was being grabbed by two guards, Noa mistook them for ninja and attacked them, though he quickly fell asleep afterward.^[2]

Sei waited for Noa to wake up in his room, whereupon she explained the Bleeding Effect to him. Noa was excited by the prospect of assimilating Edward's skills, but an angry Sei responded that she had seen people lose their minds due the Bleeding Effect and that she would not let that happen to Noa until she obtained the information she sought. Noa again teased Sei for caring about him more than she let on, and deduced that her family was in trouble if she needed to rely so much on him. He then asked that he be taken to Macau, claiming to know where Edward had gone next, and Sei reluctantly accepted.^[2]

Trip to the A-Ma Cultural Village

Sei: "Why didn't you run away? It was the perfect chance."

Noa: "Run away? I thought we had a deal. At least until we both get what we want... We still need each other, right?"

—Sei asking Noa why he returned for her, c. 2023.^[src]^-[m]

After getting dressed up for the trip, Sei went to Noa's room and handed him a blindfold and a pair of headphones to put on, as he was not allowed to see the other areas of the Exitus. After leaving the ship, Sei allowed Noa to take the items off when he began to complain that he would not get to enjoy his first vacation abroad.^[3]

Having assumed that Noa had travelled overseas before as was custom among college students, Sei asked him why that was not the case. Noa explained that he had never been able to afford it, claiming that Sei could never understand his struggles given her wealthy upbringing. To Noa's surprise, Sei agreed, but revealed that, because of her work, she had never been able to take a vacation either.^[3]

Once they arrived at the A-Ma Cultural Village in Macau, Noa told Sei that the information they sought was located inside the old Zhang residence. However, when Sei went to speak with the security guards, they denied her entrance, claiming that Abstergo's request to perform fieldwork in the area had been rejected. An enraged Sei then called on her guards and demanded to be let in or else they would be forced to take action. In the ensuing commotion, Sei failed to notice Noa running away to find an alternative way into the building.^[3]

While Noa was away, Sei and her Abstergo guards were attacked and quickly overwhelmed by a number of thugs—a distraction by agents of the Zhawang Corporation, who had come to retrieve Noa. However, Noa refused to leave with the agents and instead rushed to Sei's aid, using Edward's skills he had developed as a result of the Bleeding Effect to dispatch all the thugs. When Sei asked why Noa had not run away, he simply told her that their deal was still intact, before showing her a book he had found.^[13]

After returning to the Exitus, Sei had the book translated and found that it contained information about Edward's later activities. She then went to retrieve Noa from his room so that he could continue to track Edward's memories. Before Noa went into the Animus, Sei thanked him for saving her and warned him not to succumb to the Bleeding Effect until their transaction was complete.^[13]

Later Animus sessions

Noa: "Hey, it was just a little prank!"

Sei: "A prank? Is this all a big joke to you? There's nothing funny about what you've done! You think it's funny to mess around with lives at stake? You're not a child!"

—Sei reprimanding Noa for his childish behavior, c. 2023.^[src]^-[m]

When Noa came across another one of his ancestors, the Korean scholar and engineer Yun Pyeong-Gyu, in Edward's memories, Sei added an Animus database entry for Yun to allow Noa to learn more about him.^[14] Later, Noa and Sei witnessed Edward recruit Sei's ancestor Shimazu Saito into the Zhang Wei Union. When Saito revealed her perfect photographic memory, which helped the Union members in their quest for Angkor, Noa made a joke about Sei inheriting her "Harvard-educated" brain from Saito, causing an annoyed Sei to tell him to remain silent.^[15]

Shortly after completing this memory, Sei ordered that Noa be removed from the Animus as the machine was unable to track Edward's memories any further. As Sei told Noa that he needed to find a clue about his ancestor's later activities, she became concerned to see Noa seemingly succumb to the Bleeding Effect, believing himself to be Edward and mistaking Sei for Saito.^[16] A terrified Sei immediately told her team to initiate the breakdown protocol and tried to help Noa return to his senses, only for him to pin her against the wall.^[4]

Suddenly however, Noa began to chuckle and revealed that he had played a prank. Sei was not amused and slapped Noa before returning him to his room, where she angrily reprimanded him for treating everything like a joke. Noa retorted that Abstergo had kidnapped him to use him as a guinea pig, so Sei had no right to get angry at him as she was just a criminal. Visibly hurt by Noa's words, Sei agreed to leave him alone and, as she departed, she told him she had never been worried about him in the first place.^[4]

Later, Sei called her superior to inform him of her mission's progress, revealing that she had to relocate to Cebu in the Philippines in order to physically trace Edward's footsteps. The superior reminded Sei that this operation was her only chance to prove the Shimazu clan's value to the Order, and warned her not to leave any more loose ends like the thugs who had attacked her in the A-Ma Cultural Village, whom Abstergo had yet to identify.^[4]

The superior then revealed that, given the likelihood of another attack in Cebu, he had approved Sei's request for backup, putting both an Abstergo task force and Sigma Team at her disposal. After warning Sei to only use them as a last resort, the superior told Sei that he was looking forward to good news and ended the call. Left alone with her thoughts, Sei vowed to succeed in her mission at all costs as her entire family's fate depended on it.^[4]

Investigation in Cebu

After the Exitus sailed to Cebu, Sei and Noa went to explore the city in search of leads to help them track Edward's memories. For protection, Sei donned body armor and was accompanied by an Abstergo entourage, including her personal bodyguard Yuki. Travelling to the Basilica del Santo Niño, Noa used his Eagle Vision inside the Magellan's Cross Pavilion but was unable to find anything useful, which Sei suspected was because the cross was a replica.^[17]

As the Abstergo convoy headed to their next destination, they were suddenly ambushed by members of the Doom Eagle criminal organization, who sought to rescue Noa.^[17] The car transporting Sei, Noa and Yuki was able to escape and head to a shopping mall, where Abstergo was gathering the local police. However, the car was then hit by a truck, sending it flying into a fountain and momentarily knocking Sei unconscious. After she awakened, Sei was pulled out of the wrecked car by Noa and was informed by Yuki that the police had been ambushed, leaving them with no backup until the arrival of Sigma Team.^[18]

With Yuki too injured to protect Sei, she gaver her bracer, which contained a retractable electric shock baton, to Noa and ordered him to keep her boss safe. Sei and Noa then ran into the mall as Yuki provided them with cover fire, intending to hide from Nathan Zhang and his thugs until Sigma Team's arrival.^[18]

After heading into a shop and buying new clothes to disguise themselves, Noa decided to use Sai as bait to lure out the thugs pursuing them, and vanished into the crowd. Thinking Noa had abandoned her, Sei began making her way to the mall's top floor alone. She was unknowingly followed by several Doom Eagle thugs, but Noa silently incapacitated them. After Nathan fired his pistol into the air to create a commotion, more thugs attacked Sei and Noa, but the latter effortlessly dispatched them.^[19]

Upon reaching the top floor, Sei and Noa were confronted by Nathan, who the former appeared to recognize, though she could not recall why he looked so familiar. After Noa rejected Nathan's offer to surrender himself in exchange for Sei's safety, Nathan asked him how he planned to protect both himself and Sei from his gang. Agreeing with Nathan that Sei was just "dead weight" and would slow him down, Noa proceeded to push her off the balcony and onto an inflatable castle below, much to her shock and anger.^[19]

Sei survived her fall and was found by several Abstergo guards who came to check on her. Sei told them that there was no time and ordered them to find and retrieve Noa before Doom Eagle took him, only to learn that there was no reason for concern, as Sigma Team was set to arrive in one minute.^[20]

Personality and traits

"Knucklehead."

―Sei's nickname for Noa.^[src]

Due to her upbringing as a member of both the Shimazu clan and the Templar Order, Sei never got to experience life outside of serving the Templars.^[3] As a result, she was a firm believer in their cause and despised the Assassins, seeing them as nothing more than self-righteous and ruthless criminals that needed to be stopped.^[8] She also developed a strong sense of honor and believed that any failure, be it as small as failing to uphold her end of a deal, would bring dishonor not just to herself, but to her entire family.^[7]

After being tasked to search for the Piece of Eden found by Edward Kenway, Sei realized that the Shimazu clan's fate now rested on her shoulders, as failure in her mission would result in her family losing the Templars' support. As such, she became extremely devoted to her task and would not let anything distract her from it.^[4] Despite this, she still had people in her life that she cared about, such as her bodyguard Yuki, whom she regarded as a genuine friend, showing concern when she was injured.^[18]

Over the course of her interactions with Noa Kim, Sei came to show a less professional side of herself, mainly whenever Noa teased or otherwise annoyed her. Though she refused to admit it, she cared about her test subject, showing concern for Noa's well-being,^[7]^[2] and eventually grew accustomed to his comments, even teasing him in return at one point.^[12] She was also grateful when Noa chose to return to her instead of escaping,^[13] and was visibly hurt by Noa calling her a criminal for kidnapping him.^[4]

However, Sei could lose her composure if Noa did not take situations as seriously as he should, mainly in regards to the Bleeding Effect. Having witnessed many previous test subjects succumb to it, Sei was worried Noa might suffer the same fate and took all the necessary precautions to prevent it. As such, when Noa was dismissive of the Bleeding Effect's dangers, Sei could not control her anger and smashed a plate, cutting her hand.^[3] She had a similar reaction when Noa later played a prank on her, slapping him and reprimanding him for his childish behavior.^[4]