Japanese People: Yeah, Yasuke was a samurai
Japanese historians: Yeah, Yasuke was a samurai
Literal descendants of samurai: Yeah, Yasuke was a samurai
Dudes on this app pretending that they ever cared: yAsUkE wAs oNlY a rEtAInEr, iM oFfEnDeD
https://t.co/k2feDCVMLl
THOUGHTS: Chiming in on the conversation about Yasuke in Assassin’s Creed Shadows and the historical accuracy behind his story🚀
I feel like many people are forgetting that a key element in Assassin’s Creed’s handling of history, is the Animus, a device that reads genetic memory to view history as exactly as it was, unaffected by the perspective of a victor who rewrote, specifically the Templar Order/Abstergo.
So many points in our history, from the moon landing to JFK, Philadelphia Project, WWII, the Borgia, Alexander the Great’s rise to power, Jesus Christ turning water into wine, parting the Red Sea and the true identity of Adam and Eve and Toba Catastrophe among many others, have been reinterpreted and tied into the science fiction lore of Assassin’s Creed, the technological advanced ancient humanoid first civilization, the Isu and their tech that is left scattered on earth to be used by humans at various points in history, and to be highly sought after by the two warring factions, the Assassins and Templars.
The idea being that history happened in some way, yet the powerful Templar Order, who’s characterized by Abstergo in the present day have rewritten history to hide traces of their conspiracies and minimize or erase the role of prominent members who exposed or went against their plan for their New World Order.
That’s the core of Assassin’s Creed’s identity (detailed analysis video available on my channel)
So for Ubisoft to take Yasuke, a character whose life has been largely shrouded in mystery, and use certain loopholes to give him a more significant role that would later be erased from history is no different from any other historical event or conspiracy theory or pseudo-scientific theory that the franchise has expanded upon or present as a fact that goes hand in hand with the mythology of the games.
I understand that some may have wanted both characters to be Asian to match the setting, but I see no problem with this anymore than I find no issue in Ezio being the protagonist for a game in Constantinople, and it’s a good thing that the two protagonists are unique characters and not mere skin that we swap.
I hope the game will present both characters in a meaningful way, with genuine emphasis on the way the world reacts to them, a female Shinobi and an African Samurai/warrior, unlike Odyssey which showed no meaningful world reaction to a male or a female Spartan, which felt more or less like an erasure of the oppression women have suffered across history,
I also hope for their stories to neatly tie with the lore of the franchise, rather than a merely localized story about random historical conflicts that we see in any movie or game.
Assassin’s Creed has quite a unique identity and boundless potential to tailor history in a way that is not mere fantasy with dragons and monsters, but a convincing revival of conspiracies, pseudo-science and various theories that make the world quite special and in a way that feels convincing that things may have happened in another way and were hidden be certain entities that we can neither prove or disprove of.
Discuss🎤 #AssassinsCreedShadows #Gaming #PlayStation
Japan, 1579.
A shinobi embarks on a journey to fulfill an impossible promise while a legendary samurai finds new purpose confronting the demons of his past.
Welcome to #AssassinsCreedShadows
Assassin's Creed Codename Red becomes Assassin's Creed Shadows.
Tune-in for the Official Cinematic World Premiere Trailer on May 15, 9 AM PT.
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