Natakas
Natakas (c. 460s BCE – 420s BCE) was the son of Darius, the assassin of King Xerxes I of Persia. He was also the brother of a number of siblings, including Neema. Through his relationship with Kassandra, he became the father of Elpidios and an ancestor of Aya of Alexandria, one of the Hidden Ones' Egyptian co-founders.
Biography[edit | edit source]
Hiding in Makedonia[edit | edit source]
- "We always run. Ever since I was a child. My mother would find a way—no matter if it were by the side of a road or in a cave somewhere—she'd find a way to keep us warm. Safe. Like we had a home. I don't know if I'll ever feel that again."
- ―Natakas discussing his past with Kassandra, c. 429 BCE.[src]-[m]
Born sometime in the 460s BCE in Persia, Natakas and his family became targeted by the Order of the Ancients following his father's failed attempt to assassinate King Artaxerxes I, and had to flee their homeland for their own protection.[1]
Over time, Natakas' mother and siblings perished, but Natakas and Darius survived and eventually sought shelter in Chalkidike in Makedonia, Greece, successfully losing their pursuers. In time, Natakas created a small memorial for his family outside the shelter.[1]
Kidnapped by the Order[edit | edit source]
Around 429 BCE, the Order of the Ancients came to Makedonia to find and kill a "Tainted One", the eagle-bearing misthios Kassandra. Unaware that Natakas and Darius were hiding in the region, the Order allied with the Spartan army, who aided their search efforts. During their investigation, the Order stumbled upon Darius and Natakas' camp while the latter was there alone, and captured him.[2]
The Order took Natakas to a cave they were using as a hideout, where he was held hostage by six Ancients and a Spartan ekdromos. Darius set out to save his son and ambushed the Order members with the help of a group of mercenaries he had reluctantly allied with. When one of the mercenaries mentioned Darius' name, Natakas used the distraction to knock down the Order leader. The mercenaries then killed the Spartan ekdromos and one of the Order members while Darius assassinated the leader, forcing the remaining Ancients to flee.[3]
As the Order leader mentioned that he had called for "the Huntsman", Darius, recognizing the name, became worried and decided it was time for him and Natakas to go into hiding once more. Before leaving, Natakas thanked the mercenaries for their help and learned that they hoped to join the crew of the "Eagle Bearer". His interest piqued, Natakas asked the mercenaries who this "Eagle Bearer" was, and they proceeded to tell him stories about the famed misthios' deeds.[3]
Meeting Kassandra[edit | edit source]
Not long after this encounter, the Huntsman and his Order arrived in Makedonia in search of the "Eagle Bearer" and attacked the village of Potidaia to lure them out. Seeing the village in trouble, Natakas went to help and in the process met Kassandra, saving her from a sneak attack by one of the soldiers hired by the Order. He then learned that Kassandra was the famed "Eagle Bearer" hunted by the Order, and formally introduced himself.[4]
When the Order Elite leading the soldiers confronted Natakas and Kassandra alongside his guards, the misthios told Natakas to leave while she dealt with them. After Kassandra dispatched the guards, Natakas met her at the village outskirts, and they worked together to save the remaining villagers from the Order's soldiers.[4]
Sometime later, Natakas interrupted a fight between Kassandra and his father, who believed the misthios had been sent by the Order. Natakas informed Darius that Kassandra was the "Eagle Bearer", leading him to withdraw his sword and Hidden Blade. As they retreated back to their shelter, Natakas told Kassandra to look for them so that her questions could be answered.[5]
At Natakas and Darius' hideout, the latter told Kassandra about his life in Persia and his assassination of King Xerxes I, as well as his conflict with the Order of the Ancients. The misthios subsequently agreed to aid the two in their mission to eliminate the Order of Hunters. Before they began, Natakas requested Kassandra's help to hunt a wild boar, which he cooked. The two then bonded over dinner as they discussed their pasts, finding that they had a lot in common.[6]
Hunting the Hunters[edit | edit source]
Natakas and Kassandra began their hunt of the Order in Potidaia, where they investigated a mysterious plague affecting the locals. Meeting with the village's magistrate, he refused to do anything about the plague, so Natakas and Kassandra decided to split up and look for clues. During his search, Natakas learned that the water supply had been poisoned, before Kassandra discovered the culprit to be the village healer Timosa, an Order member, and killed her.[7]
Later, Natakas requested that Kassandra find one of his informants in the Swamps of Thermes, which inadvertently resulted in a meeting between the misthios and the Huntsman.[8] After killing the remaining members of the Order in Makedonia, Kassandra met up with Natakas to put together all the clues she had gathered on the Huntsman to track him down.[9]
Once Kassandra had defeated the Huntsman, Natakas and Darius arrived and dealt with the last of his soldiers. However, before dying, the Huntsman revealed the truth about Darius' past to Natakas and Kassandra, which the old man had intentionally kept shrouded in mystery. This caused Natakas to become furious with his father, claiming that the moment he drew his blade against the Order, he had doomed their entire family. In response, Darius revealed that he never stopped blaming himself for the deaths of Natakas' mother and siblings, causing his son to eventually forgive him.[10]
Afterwards, with the Huntsman dead and the Order of Hunters dismantled, Natakas and Darius decided to leave Makedonia to go into hiding from the Order of the Ancients once more. Before that, they met with Kassandra at their hideout one final time, where they bid the misthios farewell after she promised to continue fighting against the Order if their paths happened to cross again.[10]
Fighting the Order of the Storm[edit | edit source]
A few years after their encounter with Kassandra in Makedonia, Natakas and Darius traveled to Achaia, where they looked for a way to leave the Greek world. However, they were tracked down by the Order of the Storm, another branch of the Ancients led by the Tempest, who set up a naval blockade with the help of the Spartan forces in Achaia.[11]
While looking to charter passage for himself and his father aboard a ship, Natakas' eagerness to help refugees targeted by the Tempest forced him to hide. Worried, Darius joined forces with Kassandra anew, and they helped Natakas and the refugees at the Teichos of Herakles. Following their escape, Natakas argued with Darius, and the latter eventually acquiesced to fight against the Order's oppression.[11]
Natakas subsequently went to Patrai to spy on the Tempest, learning that she was working on a new fire weapon, the Chimera's Breath, for her ship. He was soon joined by Kassandra, and the two watched a demonstration of the weapon before investigating around the city in the hopes of locating the Tempest. After attacking her mercenaries, they captured and interrogated one of them, discovering that the Tempest was aware of Kassandra's presence in Achaia.[12]
After helping Darius and Kleta sabotage the Order's operations around Achaia, weakening its position, Kassandra met with them and Natakas to organize their final attack on the Tempest's fleet. If successful, this would remove the blockade and allow Natakas, Darius, and the refugees to leave Achaia.[13]
Deciding they needed a place to hide in the meantime, Natakas took Kassandra to an abandoned home at the Ionian Watch, on a cliff looming over the village of Dyme. There, the two continued to bond as they spoke about their difficulties in making friends due to being constantly on the move.[13]
Settling down[edit | edit source]
Starting a family[edit | edit source]
Once the Tempest had been killed by Kassandra, Natakas and Darius decided to go against their initial plan of leaving Greece and instead chose to stay with Kassandra in Achaia, as Natakas had developed feelings for the misthios and both he and his father wished to settle down. They moved into the abandoned house at the Ionian Watch, where Natakas and Kassandra later had a son together, Elpidios. The family enjoyed a quiet life for a time, as Natakas and Darius looked after Elpidios while Kassandra was away performing mercenary work.[14]
Natakas loved the peaceful life at the Ionian Watch, playing hide-and-seek with his son and his father. One day, after Kassandra returned to Achaia from a contract, she went to collect shellfish with Natakas while Darius took Elpidios home to prepare dinner.[15]
During their time together, Natakas and Kassandra spoke about their son and the impact he had on their lives. Near a cliff, Natakas showed Kassandra a charm that his mother had given him to protect him. He threw it into the water, proving that he trusted Kassandra to protect their family.[15]
Death[edit | edit source]
That night, after having dinner with his family and putting Elpidios to bed, Natakas was awoken by an attack on Dyme by the Order of Dominion and its leader, Amorges, who had tracked them down. After being reunited with Kassandra and Darius, the latter decided to fight the Order to give his family time to escape. Kassandra protected Natakas and their son as they fled the besieged village, but upon reaching the shore, she decided to head back and save Darius.[16]
While Kassandra was away, Natakas tried to hide with Elpidios, but the child's cries attracted the attention of Order soldiers led by the Magus Gergis. Natakas attempted to fight them to protect his son, but was ultimately overwhelmed and killed by the soldiers, who subsequently took Elpidios.[17] His body was discovered soon after by a devastated Kassandra and Darius.[16]
Legacy[edit | edit source]
Natakas' death was a hard blow for both Darius and Kassandra, and grief-struck, they parted ways after raising a memorial to him on the yard of their home. Seeking revenge, they individually tracked the Order of Dominion and Amorges to Messenia, where they resumed their partnership and worked together to retrieve Elpidios and avenge Natakas, destroying the Order in the process.[18]
After defeating the Order, Kassandra returned to Natakas' memorial, recovering mementoes of him before finally saying goodbye, and keeping his bow.[19]
Personality and traits[edit | edit source]
Having lived most of his life on the run from the Order of the Ancients, Natakas was taught how to survive on his own by his father Darius. Unlike his father, however, Natakas did not focus solely on his own survival as he possessed a strong desire to help those in need.[11] Because they never remained in one place for too long, Natakas never made any true friends and as such longed for the day he could finally settle down and start a family of his own.[13]
Following the birth of his son, Natakas became a devoted father, looking after and playing games with Elpidios.[15] He also loved his quiet life in Dyme and would do anything to protect his family, as shown when he gave his life to keep Elpidios safe from the Order.[16]
Skills and equipment[edit | edit source]
Trained by Darius, Natakas was a skilled fighter and could hold his own in a battle. He was notably skilled in the use of a bow and carried one with him at all times.[20]
Romantic life[edit | edit source]
Natakas met Kassandra in Makedonia, where they worked alongside Darius to fight against the Order of the Ancients and bonded as they spent time together and discussed their pasts. The two noticed that their backgrounds were similar as they had both lost most of their families at a young age and led lives that required them to be constantly on the move.[1]
After reuniting in Achaia a few years later, Natakas and Kassandra quickly resumed their friendship and continued to bond. Before the attack on the Tempest's fleet, believing that they would never see each other again, the two decided to spend the night in an abandoned house in Dyme. While waiting for Darius to arrive, they drank and joked together, reminisced of their time in Makedonia, and discussed their difficulties in making friends.[21]
Following the Tempest's death, Natakas, having developed feelings for Kassandra, decided to stay with her despite the risks. Darius also chose to stay, wishing his son to be happy and believing they had both lived on the run enough. The two subsequently moved into an abadoned home in Dyme alongside Kassandra, with whom Natakas later had a child, Elpidios.[21]
Because Natakas and Kassandra were forced to spend most of their time apart due to the latter's work as a misthios, the former tried to make the most out of their time together. He also put his faith in Kassandra that she would protect their family, so much that he decided to get rid of a protective charm given to him by his mother.[18]
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
Natakas is a character introduced in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey's downloadable expansion Legacy of the First Blade, where he is voiced by the Iranian-Canadian actor Khalid Karim. If the player character is Alexios instead of Kassandra, then Natakas is replaced by his sister Neema.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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Closeup of Natakas -
Darius and Natakas talking at their hideout -
Darius and Natakas at ease at the Ionian Watch -
Natakas as he appears in Assassin's Creed: Rebellion -
Natakas' avatar in Rebellion's character menu
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Legacy of the First Blade (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Rebellion – The Hunter's Hounds
References[edit | edit source]
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