Assassin's Creed (Les Deux Royaumes comics)
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Assassin's Creed is a series of French comic books split into three tomes, focusing on Desmond Miles and his various ancestors. It is mostly based on the main games in the series, but adds certain new elements which aren't featured upon in the games, such as the Aquilus storyline, of which several contradict the original canon.
Tomes
Tome 1: Desmond
The comic begins at a Psychiatric Hospital known as St. Erembert. Supervisors are rounding up patients at the end of the day, and notice somebody is missing; said person is shortly discovered dead. As a supervisor panics and calls for help, he is assaulted by a man who calls himself Subject 16. He then proceeds to climb over a wall and execute a Leap of Faith, and his fate is otherwise unknown until later into the comic.
The plot then moves onto an Assassin traveling to a town on horseback in what appears to be Roman times, introducing himself as "Aquilus, son of Lucius". He then proceeds to speak to the leader of the town about various matters, but is then stabbed in the shoulder and is knocked out.
The scene then moves to Desmond at Abstergo's labs, who was living the previous experience via the Animus as Warren Vidic and various Abstergo executives watch. Lucy then interrupts, insisting that Desmond should take a rest. The executives unwillingly oblige.
The executives then have a meeting inside the Conference Room, discussing things such as the Animus Project before moving onto discussing Subject 16; he is shown as a large, bald-headed man in medical-like garment upon the Animus. Things seem to be running smoothly, before he screams in terror and violently awakes from the Animus, ripping open his shirt and tracking his nails violently down his face. He assaults Lucy and Vidic, and it is apparently "10 Minutes before security arrived and sedated him.". In these 10 minutes, 16 is seen writing atomic structures of elements and other such drawings on the floors from the blood pouring down his face. He is sedated and strapped down to the bed in the adjoining room, however, for reasons unknown, he was found naked and bleeding on the floor in the morning, the Cryptic Messages seen in both games having been drawn on the walls and floor. It is mentioned he lived though, as seen at the beginning of the comic.
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Desmond is then seen awaking in said room, seemingly a short period of time after his capture by Abstergo; he is awakened by Lucy inserting a syringe of some kind into his arm. After a brief introduction and conversation, Lucy suggests Desmond gets some sleep. While sleeping, Desmond dreams of his capture by Abstergo; Lucy is seen at the bar ("L' Horizon") Desmond worked at, and is seen flirting and making conversation with him. After hours, they head back to an apartment and proceed to have drinks. However, Lucy had slipped a sedative into Desmond's and he proceeds to pass out. Desmond then awakes, and demands answers from Lucy and Vidic, however Vidic sedates him and he falls back into slumber. He is then taken back to the Animus, in which he relives Altaïr's assassination of Tamir during Assassin's Creed, a brief encounter with Malik (however seemingly before the events at Solomon's Temple, they share a friendship) and the final encounter with Al Mualim. Vidic views a hologram of the World Map seen in the ending of Assassin's Creed, is pleased, and then leaves after having a brief confrontation with Lucy. Desmond awakes, and is stunned to discover blood messages written all over the floors and walls of both the lab and his room. (However these messages share no resemblance to those seen in-game.)
The events of the beginning of Assassin's Creed II then occur; Lucy finds Desmond, enters him into the Animus for a few short minutes and they make their escape via the Parking Lot. When they arrive at the seemingly identical warehouse however, they are confronted by an ally known as Tom, with no sight nor mention of Shaun or Rebecca. They discuss plans, before a man in a leather jacket arrives, greeting them and announcing his escape from St. Erembert; Subject 16. Lucy addresses him as Michael, they argue over whether it should be him or Desmond deserving to be put into the Animus based on their heritage, which Michael claims to be superior much to the denial of Lucy and Tom. He finally produces a Hidden Blade and moves to attack Desmond, before being knocked-out by Lucy; who tells Tom to find somewhere for Michael where he can neither harm others nor himself. The scene then shifts to Desmond in an Animus almost identical to Abstergo's, in a dark smoky lab, surrounded by Lucy and various scientists. He then enters Ezio's memories, and the comic ends.
Tome 2: Aquilus
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On 21 October 2010, the official French Assassin's Creed YouTube channel uploaded a trailer for a second volume of the comic, which focuses on the comic's original character Aquilus. The second volume was released on 12 November 2010.
It story starts with a flashback in an Arabic country. Desmond's father tells him a riddle, that 'Eagles are not afraid of vultures, but they should learn to distrust them'. The riddle becomes an important part of the story. On his way to Monteriggioni in a truck, Desmond relives the life of one of his ancestors through the Animus, namely the life of Aquilus. A Roman Assassin in 259, Aquilus traveles to a Roman camp site to visit a Roman General named Gracchus. Gracchus stabs Aquilus after a quick conversation and the assassin loses consciousness. Now lying on the ground in a tent, a battle ensues with Gracchus' army and a second army of Alamans, who become victorious. Accipiter, An Alaman General and the cousin of Aquilus, rescues him from the destruction of the tent, and takes him to the top of a Roman Tower to tend his wound. Afterwards both Accipiter and Aquilus mount horses, but after a short distance, they split up. Accipiter had vowed to protect Lugdunum in troubled times and departs with his army of Alamans. Before leaving, Accipiter gives Aquilus an artifact which he received from Aquilus’s father, Lucius, which is a Piece of Eden, an Ankh that can revive the dead. Aquilus departs for his father’s house in Lugdunum, Lyon. After arriving, Lucius introduces him to one of his old friends, Caius Fulvus Vultur, a Roman senator and a secret member of the Templar Order. After a quick conversation, Aquilus sets out to find a man named Faustin in Lugdunum. Upon being interrogated by the Assassin, Faustin reveals his ally is Vultur Caius Fulvus. Aquilus finally kills Faustin and jumps out of the window.
The story returns to present day, where the Assassins' van gets attacked by mercenaries. The driver is shot and an ally by the name of Herman Geier takes over the wheel, but loses control. Desmond shows off his improved abilities by killing the mercenaries. Afterwards Geier assumes the Templars must have found them with some tracking device, but no such thing is found. Later, Desmond proposes to continue his sessions in the Animus.
Back in the past, Aquilus rushes to his father’s house only to find that Vultur has killed Lucius and fatally wounded his servant Weke, who told Aquilius the same riddle Desmond heard from his father. Weke dies before he can reveal the answer to the riddle and another servant explains to Aquilius what actually had happened. She reveals how the senator demanded the Anhk, which Lucius refused, resulting in his death. Weke had tried to take back the stolen Ankh from the senator, but failed.
In modern times, Desmond asks Lucy what 'vultur' means in Latin and demands the van to be stopped. Without hesitation he shoots Geier in the leg. He tosses Lucy a mobile phone, which he took from one of the mercenaries, who attacked them earler. Desmond asks to dial the last received number, and Herman's phone starts to ring, reveaiing him to be the traitor. He kills Geier as he remembers his father's riddle. The answer lay in the traitor's last name which was Geier, which means "Vulture" in German. Later Desmond talks to Lucy, having doubts about his actions of how he killed all those people in cold blood. Lucy told him that his changes in his behaviour may go hand in hand with his sessions in the Animus.
At night, the modern Assassins arrive in Monterrigioni, but they have no idea how to get inside the crypt. Desmond says that another session in the Animus might reveal the answer.
Tome 3: Accipiter
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Alongside Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Ubisoft released the third comic book titled Accipiter.
In the past, Aquilus, seeking revenge for the murder of his father, continues searching for the Ankh and his discoveries lead him to Rome. Meanwhile, his cousin Accipiter, also an Assassin, is leading the Alamans to strike at Lugdunum and Italy.
In the present Desmond gets new abilities through the Animus, while a new danger approaches him and Lucy.
Trivia
- The comics are available in Canada and France, and have recently been translated into German and Dutch as of 2011.
- While the first comic shares enough discrepancies with the games to suggest it is not canon to the series, the second comic, 'Aquilus' has been confirmed by Ubisoft to be part of the Assassin's Creed Universe, both in the Universe video and in the Encyclopedia.
- The cover of the 2nd tome shows Aquilius with a split eagle's beak on his hood. This is not how he appears in the comic itself.
- Aquilius uses a dagger, instead of a Hidden Blade to assassinate his targets.
- A major contradiction of the first comic is that Subject 16 is alive. Official guidebooks for Assassin's Creed state that Abstergo's doctors "were too late to save him" after he cut a vein to produce the messages seen by Desmond through Eagle Vision and it has been explicitly stated by Alexandre Amancio that Subject 16 is physically dead. Lucy appears to react uncaring towards him and is irritated by his presence later in the first comic, which contradicts greatly to the visible guilt and grief she shows about him during the games.
- Another contradiction is how Lucy explains how much Desmond's bloodline has contributed to the work of the Assassins , referring to his other ancestors, as if they come from one single bloodline.
- The progression into Assassin's Creed II's main events via the Modern Times's Assassins and Animus greatly differ, some characters being entirely omitted as of the first comic.
Gallery
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Aquilus, Altaïr and Ezio sketches. -
An inner cover for the 3rd tome.
