One of the statues in the Sanctuary in Assassin’s Creed 2 may provide clues toward the plot of Assassin’s Creed Origins — or what comes after it.
Ezio Auditore’s family home contained a secret room with seven statues of legendary historical Assassins. One of them, of course, is Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, protagonist of the first Assassin’s Creed game.
Another is Amunet.
Note: We’re about to discuss some thousand-year-old potential Assassin’s Creed spoilers. If you don’t want me to drop some sick historical knowledge on your head, stop here.
We don’t learn much about Amunet from Assassin’s Creed 2, but what we know is pretty crucial: She is the Assassin responsible for Cleopatra’s death in 30 BCE, 19 years after the events of Assassin’s Creed Origins.
Cleopatra features heavily in Assassin’s Creed Origins. Aya, Bayek’s wife, is one of Cleopatra’s agents.
The game begins while her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII, is still Pharaoh of Egypt, and a shitty Pharaoh at that. It tracks Cleopatra’s rise to power, and the machinations of Cleopatra, Julius Caesar and Ptolemy in their respective attempts to consolidate power in Egypt.
Here’s a little background on Cleopatra:
SHE’S A BIG DEAL
Cleopatra’s reign technically began in 51 BCE, when she and Ptolemy XIII took the throne together. The Ptolemy familly generally married siblings to keep the dynasty running. At this time, Cleopatra was 18 and Ptolemy was 10 years old.
Cleopatra was understandably not thrilled at being married to and, more importantly, forced to share power with, her younger brother. She attempted to subordinate him mere months into their rule.
A flurry of court drama and backstabbing ensued, and by 48 BCE (three years after Cleopatra and Ptolemy became rulers), Cleopatra was exiled from Egypt and hooking up with Julius Caesar.
HEY, I THOUGHT THIS WAS ABOUT AMUNET
Oh, yeah.
According to Assassin’s Creed lore, Amunet kills Cleopatra with an asp in 30 BCE. She is named for the Egyptian goddess Amunet: the hidden one.
That’s a very good name for an Assassin. Almost … too good. It’s been theorized that Amunet is a codename, or that the Amunet who killed Cleopatra is, in fact, the goddess.
Given that Ubisoft is releasing a DLC called Curse of the Pharaohs, which involves actually fighting with creatures of Egyptian myth, that second theory doesn’t seem so bizarre. And Assassin’s Creed has always danced a fine line between fantasy and science fiction, magic and reason.
She may also be hidden in plain sight in Origins as an NPC. There’s at least 19 years between Assassin’s Creed Origins and the death of Cleopatra. I would not be surprised if Amunet is introduced in the game, potentially as a child, and brought back later.
And if she’s not in Origins, I suspect we almost certainly will see her in The Hidden Ones, the second of the large, story-driven DLC that Ubisoft will release for Assassin’s Creed Origins.
Ashraf Ismail, the game director for Origins, said that in the Hidden Ones, “we see Bayek’s role expand, and the next step in the Brotherhood’s story.” It takes places “years” after Assassin’s Creed Origins.
As the first Assassin, it seems likely the Bayek will be training disciples in The Hidden Ones DLC. One of those disciples could be Amunet.
We know that at some point, the Assassins and Cleopatra will cease to see eye-to-eye.
As a major player in Origins, there would be no better way to tie the story together than by ending it with the assassination of Cleopatra.
I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Amunet when I play Assassin’s Creed Origins. If you spot her, let us know!