Staff of Hermes Trismegistus
The Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, also known as the Staff of Hermes or the Caduceus, is an extremely powerful Piece of Eden created by the Isu philosopher Hermes Trismegistus which grants a variety of abilities to its wielder, most notably biological immortality.
From its creation until the 6th century BCE, it was wielded by Hermes himself before he passed it on to Pythagoras who, in turn, passed it on to his daughter, Kassandra, decades later. Becoming its Keeper for more than two millennia, Kassandra passed the Staff to the Assassin Layla Hassan in 2018. In 2020, the Staff was acquired by the former Hidden One Basim Ibn Ishaq, who had survived centuries trapped in suspended animation, after Layla dropped it while inside the Isu Temple holding Yggdrasil.
Owners[edit | edit source]
- Hermes Trismegistus (c. 75,100 BCE – c. 2296 IE)[1]
- Loki and Aletheia (c. 2296 IE)[2]
- Hermes Trismegistus (c. 2296 IE – 6th century BCE)[2][3]
- Pythagoras (6th century BCE – 421 BCE)[3][4]
- Kassandra (421 BCE – 2018 CE)[4][5]
- Layla Hassan (2018 – 2020)[5][6]
- Basim Ibn Ishaq (2020 – present)[6]
History[edit | edit source]
Isu Era[edit | edit source]
The Staff was forged in the year 2200 of the Isu Era[1] for Hermes Trismegistus, a craftsman and engineer who resided in the realm of Elysium ruled by Persephone.[7] At one point, without Hermes' knowledge, Loki of the Æsir nation, attempting to save his lover Aletheia from dying from a fatal wound, replicated and preserved her consciousness into the Staff. Exploring the calculations provided within the Staff, the two resolved to meet in the distant future once Loki was reborn as a human.[2]
Aletheia would secretly bide her time in the Staff until the moment came that she could interact with and guide the Staff's wielder to master its power[8] and unwittingly serve her own purpose.[2] Meanwhile, Hermes made use of the immortality provided by the Staff to survive the Great Catastrophe, living to see the humans thrive and develop their civilization.[3]
Ancient Greece[edit | edit source]
Pythagoras' ownership[edit | edit source]
Around the 6th century BCE, Hermes met the Greek philosopher Pythagoras along with his protégé Kyros of Zarax in a remote desert. Declaring the former a worthy successor, Hermes handed over the Staff to Pythagoras before disappearing. Pythagoras later parted ways with Kyros,[3] embarking on a journey to learn about the Staff.[9]
Living abnormally long using the Staff, Pythagoras fathered a child with Myrrine of Sparta and later left her to discover more about his search, eventually travelling to Thera and discovering the sealed ruins of Atlantis, an ancient repository of Isu knowledge, with which the Staff was connected. There, he spent years attempting to uncover the secrets of the place, only to find its entrance sealed by four artifacts.[10]
During the time of the Peloponnesian War, in 429 BCE, the Spartan misthios Kassandra, Pythagoras and Myrrine's child, reached the entrance to the sunken city and encountered her father, still alive thanks to the Staff's power. Following the encounter, Pythagoras tasked Kassandra with finding the four artifacts that, combined with the Staff, would allow the pair to either permanently seal off Atlantis or open its gates to acquire the knowledge contained within.[9]
Ownership under Kassandra[edit | edit source]
Eight years later, in 421 BCE, having encountered all the artifacts and defeated their respective protectors, Kassandra returned to the ruins. After listening to four messages from Aletheia, Pythagoras considered opening Atlantis, to learn more about the origins of humanity, but after a brief argument with his daughter, he relented to seal Atlantis and entrusted the Staff to her. No longer artificially sustained by the Staff's power, he then passed away. Kassandra, now in possession of the Piece of Eden, sealed the city and left the vault.[4][11]
Some time later, Kassandra began to hear the voice of Aletheia coming from the Staff and eventually witnessed her apparition-like hologram on the Island of Triton. Aletheia explained to Kassandra that her role as the Keeper of the Staff was to hold onto it until she met the "Heir of Memories".[8] Kassandra then visited four different tombs under the directions of Aletheia and slowly began to understand that the Heir of Memories Aletheia spoke about did not yet exist.[12]
Under the last direction from Aletheia, Kassandra descended back into Atlantis and used her hybrid Isu-human blood to gain entrance to the outermost part of Atlantis: the Throne Room. There, Aletheia presented Kassandra with three fictionalized simulations of the Sister Realms—Elysium[13], the Underworld,[14] and the last days of Atlantis[15]—wherein the misthios would be shown the order, chaos, and judgment that the Staff could deliver and, as such, learn how to resist the corruption of its powers.[16]
After enduring through the simulations, Aletheia explained to Kassandra that the other objective of the trials was to make her say goodbye again and again to her loved ones, as the immortality the artifact bestowed would make her live many years beyond their life span. Kassandra then fully embraced her role as the Keeper and fully obtained and controlled the power of the Staff.[16] During the following millennia, Aletheia and the Staff accompanied Kassandra on her quest from the former to destroy all the Pieces of Eden.[17]
Modern times[edit | edit source]
In 2018, Layla Hassan and her cell of Assassins managed to find the entrance to Atlantis using Kassandra's genetic memories that were recovered from her DNA sample on the Spear of Leonidas. While in Atlantis, she met Kassandra, who had been using the Staff's power to survive until that time. Believing Layla to be the Heir of Memories that Aletheia had mentioned, Kassandra passed the Staff down to Layla and instructed her to destroy it and all other Pieces of Eden once she was done with them.[5]
Following Kassandra's death and her experience with the misthios' memories, Layla found the locked seal to the Throne Room of Atlantis. There, the virtual consciousness of Aletheia contacted her and directed her to visit the four tombs that Kassandra had visited before her time as Keeper in order to decipher the symbols at the entrance of the room and find the right passcode.[18]
Once inside, Layla once again relived the genetic memories of Kassandra, this time of her experiences within the simulations. While in the Throne Room, Victoria Bibeau accompanied Layla and attempted to stop her from continuing, noticing her instability caused by the Staff,[19] amplified by her brief sojourn into the genetic memories of Deimos, Kassandra's brother, that had caused a sort of corrupting Bleeding Effect.[18]
Soon, the pair were ambushed by members of Sigma Team, elite Templar operatives under the command of Juhani Otso Berg that had them bugged since the discovery of the lost city. Layla used the Staff to kill most of the ambushing party, leaving only one Sigma Team operate alive to allow him to return to his leader and deliver a warning. A worried Victoria then reluctantly let Layla return to the Animus to relive Kassandra's memories of the Underworld simulation.[19]
When Layla reached the memory where Kassandra fought a simulated Hades,[20] Victoria noticed Kassandra's brutality at the moment and pulled Layla from the simulation. An enraged Layla, influenced by Kassandra's hysteria, emerged from the Animus and Victoria actively tried to convince her to stop the simulations, causing Layla to strike her with the Staff in a fit of rage. Immediately contrite, Layla attempted to ensure Victoria's safety but soon returned to the simulation.[21]
With Aletheia doubtful of Layla's role as the Heir of Memories after this violent episode, Layla discovered that she had, in fact, murdered Victoria. Still, she continued into the simulations despite Aletheia's doubts. After finishing the last simulation, Layla awoke to discover that Otso Berg himself had come to Atlantis' throne room to confront her and take the Staff. Using the Staff as a spear, Layla defeated Berg and stabbed him in the spine, leaving him paralyzed but stable. Taking the earpiece from Victoria's corpse, she then called for an extraction.[22]
Following Victoria's death, Layla's cell disbanded due to her recent outburst,[23] and shortly after, Aletheia stopped communicating with her.[1] In late December 2019, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane covertly contacted Layla and offered their assistance to help her deal with the effects of the Staff,[23] having had a similar experience in their former cell years prior with an Apple of Eden.[24] By January 2020,[23] Layla had officially joined Shaun and Rebecca's cell.[6]
In the meantime, the Assassins received an encrypted message along with some coordinates that led them to Eivor Varinsdottir's resting place in New England.[25] While Layla explored the Viking's memories to attempt to figure out a way to normalize Earth's magnetic field, the Staff was kept inside a glass case so as to prevent Layla from being influenced by it. The team's research eventually led them to Hordaland, Norway, where the Yggdrasil supercomputer was abnormally increasing the field's energy.[6]
After reaching the Yggdrasil vault, Layla used the Staff to survive the chamber's dangerous radiation in order to reach the supercomputer, but dropped the Staff upon interfacing with the Animus-like device. She entered the digital network of the Grey, finding the consciousness of Basim Ibn Ishaq, who had been trapped within the simulation since 877 CE, and unknowingly released him from the device.[6]
Basim actually was Loki's rebirth and quickly picked up the Staff from where Layla had dropped it, healing himself with it and finally reuniting with his lover. He then traveled to New England and met Shaun and Rebecca, explaining Layla's "sacrifice" to them and requesting a meeting with the Mentor of the Assassin Order, William Miles, to discuss actions against the Templars. After the two Assassins departed, Basim stayed with the Staff and used Layla's Animus to explore Eivor's memories.[6]
Functionality[edit | edit source]
The Staff of Hermes' most prominent ability is to bestow its wielder with biological immortality. It has the power to preserve its owner and protect them from the passage of time as well as to sustain them. Pythagoras was able to stay alive for decades inside Atlantis with only the Staff, and without requiring sustenance.[5] The Staff also possesses instantaneous regenerative functions which are similar to the regenerative abilities possessed by the Shrouds of Eden, as shown by its complete revival and full regeneration of Basim Ibn Ishaq's body back to its prime.[6]
The Staff also prevented the wielder from physically aging, allowing them to maintain the same appearance as when they first received the artifact. Once the Staff was relinquished, all of its effects were removed near-instantly, as seen when both Pythagoras and Kassandra aged rapidly and passed away within moments of giving up the Piece of Eden. This demonstrated the limits of the immortality granted by the Staff—it did not make the wielder truly "immortal", but rather preserved their body, shielding it from the passage of time. Whether physical contact between the wielder and the Staff is required to impart such longevity is unknown. Those who passed ownership of the Staff onto another individual, either willingly or by force, at a point that was past the former owner's natural lifespan would die almost instantly. This passage of ownership required both parties to maintain simultaneous physical contact on the Staff.[5]
Aside from its life-giving powers, the Staff of Hermes was the key to sealing off Atlantis,[4] and could take the form of whatever its user wished, given that Kassandra came back to Atlantis to greet Layla Hassan with the Staff in the shape of an Apple.[5] The Staff can also easily corrupt those who do not possess the strength to wield it, as exemplified by Layla losing control of her emotions while wielding the artifact and accidentally killing Victoria Bibeau with a single hit of the Staff.[21]
The Staff is capable of preserving the consciousness of one or more biological beings, as exemplified by Aletheia having a copy of her consciousness "living" within the artifact. The exact process required to achieve this is unknown, though it might be similar to the Isu's failed sixth method of salvation.[2] The individual inhabiting the Staff is unable to physically interact with the outside world, but they can mentally communicate with the Staff's wielder and project a hologram of themselves, which is also only visible to the wielder.[8][21] They also have some degree of control over the Staff's powers, such as being able to have it generate a map with the locations of other Pieces of Eden.[26]
In a possible though untrue simulation of Kassandra's memories, Pythagoras made use of the Staff's powers in a fight against his daughter after refusing to relinquish the artifact to her. In this simulation, the Staff enhanced Pythagoras' fighting prowess, allowing him to move like a man in his prime despite his age, and could create blasts and balls of energy, as well as teleport Pythagoras for short distances. Pythagoras could even channel the Staff's power into himself, firing the same energy blasts from his hands. However, given the nature of the simulation, it is unclear if the real Staff possessed these abilities or if they were just an invention of the Animus.[4]
Weapon statistics[edit | edit source]
{{#section:AC:CST/Weapons|"Staff of Hermes Trismegistus"}}| Rarity | DPS (Lvl 99) | Default Engravings | Availability | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Description | ||||
| It's been discovered as the key to the unknown world of Atlantis—who knows the untapped potential it holds. | ||||
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
The Staff of Hermes Trismegistus first appeared in the 2010 Facebook game Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy as Hermes Trismegistus' gift to Pythagoras in Chapter 2 of the "Divine Science" pack of memories. In these, the Staff is described as adorned with living snakes, capable of speech, and presenting intelligence so that the Staff chooses Pythagoras as the successor of Hermes Trismigestus. Similarly, it's implied in these memories that the Staff passed hands multiple times before Hermes bestowed it to Pythagoras.
The Staff reappears in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey as an important item in the Atlantis quest lines and The Fate of Atlantis DLC episodes. Furthermore, the Staff is acquired as a weapon after the memory "Ancient Revelations". Despite its name, it is registered as a spear and shares the same animations as all other spear weapons, differing only in stats and Engravings.
In the puzzle book Assassin's Creed: Where's the Assassin?, the Staff of Hermes appears in the first page, "Athens", as an unlisted bonus item to find. Although bonus items are generally marked out in the solutions page, the authors neglected to do so for "Athens", so the Staff is not circled.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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Hermes Trismegistus holding the Staff -
Pythagoras holding the Staff -
Kassandra wielding the Staff -
Close-up of the Staff -
Layla holding the Staff -
The image of the Staff on Layla's laptop
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
- Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun (cameo)
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice – Tokyo XXI (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Where's the Assassin? (non-canonical appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Nexus VR (mentioned only)
References[edit | edit source]
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