Ac The Golden City - Tumblr Posts

So, I finished AC The Golden City. And I have thoughts:

Hytham is baby

Basim is a sassy tease

Hytham is bABY

Basim cares more easily for people than he cares to admit

Hytham is my boi, my big-hearted loving boi

Basim will most likely take anything you say he can't do, turn it into a challenge, and prove you wrong

HYTHAM QWQ

Basim calls Hytham "my friend", after almost every sentence <33

I didn't think I could love Basim's brain and Hytham's heart more

"In the grove you were elegant - the picture of grace," Basim said. "Now you fight like a vicious dog. I can't decide which version of you I like more."

"Really?" Basim grinned. "You know I do so love a challenge, Hytham."

"You'll be shocked, I'm sure, to learn that arrogance is a fault of mine." - Basim, and no, we're really not that shocked

"If we're lucky Isaac thinks he's taken me out of the fight." "Should you be out of the fight?" Hytham couldn't help but observe, as Basim winced again when he tied off the bandage. Basim smiled at him, and it was not a pleasant expression. "Your sense of humor is one of the many things I like about you, my friend."

"In the grove you were elegant - the picture of grace," Basim said. "Now you fight like a vicious dog. I can't decide which version of you I like more." - Basim to Hytham

hytham & basim: and my father's love was nothing next to god's will

ocean vuong, prayer for the newly damned / desireé dallagiacomo, origin story / jaleigh johnson, assassin's creed: the golden city / traci brimhall, lullaby on mount moriah, and: dioskouri / elizabeth lindsey rogers, questions about the father / amatullah bourdon, and my father's love was nothing next to god's will

I see the fire in Hytham where he is often seen docile and attributed to soft spoken words. Basim above all knows it to be true, and is reminded in kind at so many points throughout their 6 year journey together.

I find it interesting then, that where Hytham burns, Basim settles like an unnerving chill.

How Basim is kissed by the sun despite the cold he bears, and how Hytham holds the northern sky in his eyes all while warming the hearts of those around him with his touch, i'll never know.

"We're all living the same story over and over again, Hytham. That we learn from it each time, I suppose, is the best we can hope for." - Basim

Original tags because they're GREAT:

thinking about how basimloki has deeply held trauma about himself and his children being imprisoned. and then how basim loses his mind when hytham is captured in the golden city that he risks his life, the mission, and the integrity of the brotherhood itself to get him back

let's play a game called, "is it fanfic or canon?"

Hytham’s reaction to the Golden City novel (set 5 years before the start of Valhalla):

Google books preview

-

-

(I wish I could see Hytham’s reaction in the last one)

06/05/2023: I read it and it’s glorious, everything I’ve ever wanted to see in a backstory for Hytham and Basim’ bond.

so i just saw a pedro pascal interview earlier where he said this after responding "i dont know" to being asked if he wanted kids

and i immediately thought of them

It's absolutely wild to me that HYTHAM is the one to help Eivor back on her feet and out of Valhalla when Odin tries to drag her down.

It could've been anyone, and yet the game shows us a man who couldn't be assed to fear Odin at all.

To everyone else, Hytham may as well have defied a god, but that meant shit all to a man from the Levant who travelled miles away from home and found family with Eivor and the people of Ravensthorpe.

He saw a friend in need, a friend who fought and bled beside him as they eradicated the templar order from England together.

To have envisioned him in that vulnerable of a dream state speaks volumes on how highly Eivor thinks of the man.

EDIT - I think this also ties in beautifully to his views about Basim in "The Golden City". I love Hytham, he is so fearless and earnest.

Assassin's Creed: The Golden City in a nutshell:

Hytham: Stressed. Just so stressed all the time. When not stressed is ready to throw down with anyone.

Basim: "I'm always a slut for vikings!" *Proceeds to cause problems on purpose*

no actually mirage was insane for making hytham and basim’s first meeting and the foundation of their entire relationship as hytham talking about how much he looks up to the hidden ones and only feeling confident to do something when he sees someone else do it first and basim being the one to show him how to do it!! their first meeting is a total and complete act of trust of basim calling down asking hytham to jump and have faith in him. what the fcuk

Fear stems from a lack of control, and this man just confessed to finding comfort in letting the world do with him as it pleases.

Do you understand just how incredible Hytham really is? Basim sure does.

First of all, loveee your bytham fics! Wondering what your opinions on the merge between loki and basim are. Do you think Basim is evil? You write him so soft, but it never toes the line of ooc!

First of all anon thank you for the ask! <3 I'm glad you like my lil fics I'm trying my best :)

Second of all you brought up a particular subject I love to rant/ramble about so buckle up lmao.

More under the cut. WARNING SPOILER ALERT for: AC Odyssey, AC Valhalla, AC Mirage, AC: The Golden City.

All images have alt-text :)

My opinions about the merge are varied and long, so I'll start off by answering your question first.

Do I think Basim is evil? No. Absolutely not.

This is because I really don't think it's ever as simple as someone being 'good' or 'evil'. You could say I'm getting too pedantic about it, but from the very first game in the Assassin's Creed the idea that nothing is ever just black or white has been stressed upon constantly. 

For this reason I believe Basim is a fantastic character to focus on in this series. He is the poster child of 'morally grey'.

So yeah, I've seen Basim (or Loki) being called a villain but I don't think that's true. I think he's an antihero.

But before I get to that, let's talk about the merge. I've seen the merge being described as something unfortunate, something that ripped away Basim's own personality and changed him into something he wasn't. I genuinely believe that that is not true.

Basim is who he has always been.

The thing to remember is that Loki has always been a part of him. He manifested himself as Nehal in Basim's early childhood, because young Basim was getting traumatised by nightly terrors. What he thought were visions of Djinn was, in his words, “a crippling memory from a past life”. The Djinn was Loki's nightmare, and poor little boy Basim was reliving it every single night. 

Enter Nehal.

From little asides in the game, from their own conversations, it is clear Basim and Nehal had a very close bond. She banters with him, teases him, scolds him, fights with him. In the House of Wisdom, Basim tells us he used to sneak in there as a child with his best friend, and they spent many nights reading together (this is one of my favourite things about his childhood <3). Nehal has a distinct personality of her own, with her own interests, her own perspectives, her own opinions that she offers to Basim constantly. None of it is ever forced on him, he rejects her opinions and her advice many times over the course of the game. And while she (often vocally) disagrees, she respects his choices.

Then the events of Mirage happen. Basim discovers the 'truth' about Nehal, that she's not real, that she's just a part of him. Just waiting for him to accept her.

I want to take a step to the side and bring up Eivor's potential-merge moment from AC Valhalla. Because the difference between that moment and Basim’s is astounding. Throughout the game, Odin is there as an intermittent voice in the back of her head, posing questions on her moralities and her choices specifically when she kills someone with power, whose death would have major consequences. He isn't there to give her companionship or even friendship, his appearances to her look like a political advisor offering his opinions in statecraft to a leader. (Fwiw, I have not yet taken his advice once in my Valhalla gameplay lmao).

Odin: You have earned your place here, Eivor. Seize it! Eivor: Stand aside! My people need me! Odin: I have given you everything you wanted. Everything you needed! Eivor: You gave me nothing! It was all me! Odin: Yet I cleared your path. I guided your axe! Eivor: You were a fly, buzzing in my ear! Odin: How dare you deny me! Everything you believe in stirs before you! Yet you question all! You question the very gods!

And later:

Eivor: Your corpse hall is nothing but a dream! Odin: Nothing but a dream? A dream is as real as anything in this world! Do dreams not inspire? Do dreams not make us fearful? Do they not push men to their greatest glories! Eivor: Then I am done with dreaming! Odin: Stand and face me, you feeble-armed thrall!Leave me now and you are nothing! With me you have wisdom! Glory! Power! What more do you need! Eivor: Everything else.

Compare it to Nehal and Basim’s:

Basim: It is done. Nehal: No, Basim. It is only the beginning. For us. For what lies ahead. A deeper understanding of the world we left behind. And our place in it. Basim: All my life I wrestled with who I was. Who I was meant to be. And there you were. All this time. The side of me I resisted. A reflection of who we once were. Nehal: Of who we shall be once more. There is so much that awaits us. A new world. Let me show you. Basim (shakily): I will never see you again, will I? Nehal: (shakes head) Basim: Will I be… alone? Nehal: You are never alone.

So there it is. Odin tries to make Eivor choose him. He tries to bend her will, tries to trap her, to tempt her and goad her into accepting him. 

Loki/Nehal does none of those things to Basim. Instead, he/she offers Basim companionship. A complete understanding of his self. Purpose and surety in his life. Something that Basim has been lacking, has been desperate to find his entire life.

Basim is scared, sure. Who wouldn't be? But he asks if he will ever be alone. And Nehal tells him, never. He will never be alone.

Because, and now we come to Loki, he won't be.

Let's talk about Loki. Is he evil? And you know what anon, I have to give you a resounding no for that too.

Loki is, let's face it, a bit of a pathetic asshat. He gripes, he connives, he grumbles and makes annoying faces behind Odin's back. But he's not evil. He just, idk, really loves his gf and his kids man.

From one of my many conversations with @project-zorthania on discord:

Odin (who is also an asshat lbr) condescends to Loki. None of the Aesirs treat Loki with any trust or respect. Now I'm not saying Loki was completely innocent. I'm not sure how much of the original Norse mythology is supposed to be canonical in this series, and by all accounts Loki is a hell of a troublemaker. But at the core of it all is the fact that the Aesir have never trusted him because he's half-Jotunn. He's always been the outsider.

Loki's wife Sigyn is mentioned once (and not by name) in this series, so the central point of his motivations is his mythologically canonical girlfriend, Angrboda. Aka Aletheia.

(Side note I adore Aletheia. Every time I saw her in Odyssey I lit up like a light bulb. She's so badass. Dikastes of Atlantis who was instrumental in getting Juno banished for human experiments, a human-sympathising Isu who was also a hacker. And now she's also a mother of three. Hot damn.)

Loki is already unhappy with the Aesir. The one truly joyful facet of his life is his lover and their children. He loves his kids, wants to keep them safe and spend more time with them. He tries to sneak his son into Asgard to keep him close. Odin discovers the son and imprisons him.

The interesting thing about Asgard (and Elysium/the Underworld/Atlantis in Odyssey) is that we don't truly know what they looked like. All these mythical places are seen through the lens of the protagonists, our player characters. Sure, there's some Isu-ness in the architecture, the dialogues, the 'devices'. But on the whole, Atlantis still has ancient Greek architecture, the people still wear chitons and sandals because that is what Kassandra expects to see. Similarly, Asgard is just a more grand, magical version of what a Norse city would look like.

I am stressing all this because we know that that's not actually the case. The Isu were an advanced civilisation, sure, but they weren't actually gods. The Nornir were confirmed to be compilers of a great calculating software. Yggdrasil was a simulation chamber. Thor's hammer was probably an advanced weapon with, idk, sci-fi electric laser stuff going on. 

Loki's son was probably not a giant wolf.

I would like you to picture a young boy being snuck into a new strange place by his father. Imagine him being locked up instead. Imagine a teenage boy breaking his chains and trying to run. Imagine Odin beating that boy bloody and chaining him again, all because a probability machine told him that the boy would be the cause of his (eventual, inevitable) death.

That is what happened to Fenrir. Is it so hard to imagine Loki's rage? How he lost what little respect and faith he had in the Aesir?

Here’s some notes found in Urdr’s Well in Asgard, clearly written by Loki to Fenrir. The first is from my own gameplay taken a week ago, the second is from Zorthania’s stream from last year:

Here's a snippet of conversation between Loki and Angrboda (from one of the Animus Anomalies):

Lastly, here is a picture of a Literal Baby 🥺:

I could go on about this for hours, man. There’s so many more notes and hints and conversations that paint a picture of a flawed (Isu) man just trying to look out for his family.

When Loki merges with Basim, he is driven by two things: vengeance, and the need to bring his family back together. He needs to accomplish these goals no matter who or what stands in his way. But he’s more than just Loki now. He is Basim, and Basim has more than just these goals. If there’s a greater cause that’s not in the way of his own personal ones, then he’ll gladly and enthusiastically work for it.

And that brings me back to my final point. Basim is not a hero, he is not a villain. He is an antihero. This is from the Wikipedia article for antihero:

Post-merge, Basim continues to do his work as a Hidden One. He does so well, in fact, that despite whatever qualms Rayhan must have had about him (making Hytham spy on him even lol), Basim is made the bureau leader for Constantinople. Sure, his personal agenda is very much active. But at the same time, he fights the Order of the Ancients on behalf of the Hidden Ones. He ensures their strong presence in Constantinople by the end of TGC. He recognises that Kjotve is a major problem because he’s a high-ranking member of the Order. 

During Valhalla, you see him ensure that Hytham’s place in Ravensthorpe is secure, that their shared mission of re-establishing the Hidden Ones in England is successful. You see hints and implications of Basim finding more resources and information that could be important for the Hidden Ones and forwarding them to Hytham. He’s still a Hidden One. He’ll always be one.

From the ending of AC Valhalla:

William Miles: So what next? Where will Basim go? Basim: As far as I can, William. William Miles: I feared as much. Basim: Do not. I cherish the Creed that guides us. I always have.

I do not think Loki and Basim are two different beings at this point. After the merge, Basim is just Basim, just an “Enhanced” version. Basim always refers to himself as himself, even when he could be talking about Loki. He speaks of Fenrir as if he was his own son. And yet he never claims the name Loki for himself. I’ve always thought that was so fascinating. It implies a true and complete merge of the two personalities, and yet, Basim was not the one consumed in that merge. Loki is accepted, but Basim continues to be the dominating identity.

Basim is who he has always been in both Valhalla and Mirage, and no, that doesn’t mean he was always evil. It means he never was just ‘the bad guy’ and that he was and continues to be a flawed, selfish, kind, helpful, dangerous, charismatic, complex man.

Thank you for the ask and sorry for the HUGE ramble lol! <3 you are so brave if you managed to read the whole thing <3

just casually thinking about how throughout the entirety of 'The Golden City', you're reading Hytham's pov on just how incredible Basim is. Hytham thinks Basim is wise and dangerous and kind and everything that he hopes to be a fraction of someday.

you never get a glimpse into Basim's mind and what he really thinks of Hytham until the second time they spar, and it's then you finally read the forbidden line

and suddenly all that praise that Hytham had been throwing Basim's way was being reciprocated every step of the way.

unfuckingbelievable.