 What's everybody? I'm the hook and I'm the blade and together. We're you know Welcome to the hook pod blade cast the only assassins creed podcast the only one the only one that exists Tim what's something you don't like about you? You know, I'm really not a fan of my toes. You know, it's okay. It's normal to have toe related anxiety Today, we're gonna start off with a segment that we like to call the Valhalla news roundup We got a bunch of new pieces of information from the PlayStation magazine and what I'm gonna do Tim is I'm just gonna throw these at you one by one and I want you to respond to each one With anything from a word to a full sentence, but no longer than a full sentence Okie-dokie number one no fetch quests and characters that disappears shortly after Wow Side quest characters will remain in the world and may move to your settlement. Nice Some side quests will adopt a Shakespearean five-act structure. Whoa This isn't going as I'd hoped You're Raven whose name I can't pronounce what is spelled like sign in Confined monasteries for Avor to plunder I I'd want to plunder things What does Avor have against monasteries is my question. Yeah I think that's probably gonna be The big narrative question of this game the hidden blades positioning fits with Avor's culture to be upfront in your battles So it's his philosophical reason to do so Yeah, I mean that's very Social stealthy I'm curious if this means that we're gonna get a moment where the assassin gives him the hidden blade and then all he Does is just rotate it on his I Just pictured that he's like, okay. No, this is like this doesn't work for me Spends it or no or rather. He just like rotates the entire like van brace exactly. Yeah It just and it's upside down. Does it make sense to do it like that? Not at all, but You know, I guess we'll see how it goes your settlement storylines will parallel and overlap And as it evolves you as a leader will have to make tough decisions I bet the location for your settlement is decided by a quote very specific narrative reason We haven't heard that one yet There are a lot of very specific narrative reasons for things and yeah There's a lot of unique and specific narrative Decisions of this game and you know what I think that's a good sign, you know Hey, I think that's a good thing Valhalla will bridge the gap between the hidden ones in the assassins as well as the order of the ancients and the Templars I've said this to you. Yeah, I'll say it. I'll say it here, you know, so that people will know I think that there's a chance that will at least see the beginnings of like a Masyaf. Yeah I like an alamute castle. Yeah I can confirm that Tim has said this to me before and isn't just making it up on the spot right now but that is something he said and I Now believe that that is completely true But I really am curious how they're gonna make that interesting Beyond the level of a group of hidden ones being like we need a new name We a new castle. Oh Hidden ones that's so dorky and ancient Egypt sounding We need a new band name guys I like the idea like maybe it's just like they got a new lead singer Which is like a four and then order of the order of the ancients is also like if they're having a new name Darby was spired by Edgell's saga. I know I'm not pronouncing that right could be Eagle Ejial Eagle There are too many questionable letters in that name An Icelandic saga that features a family as they fight with another Viking family over land and treasures I looked up the book and I went to add it to my reading list and then realized I'm probably never gonna read it How long is your reading list at this point? 120 books, you know, you also have to read the Michael Crichton novel that Ashraf said got him into Vikings, right? Yeah, probably won't read that one either. I also keep hearing that. I'm supposed to watch The Last Kingdom on Netflix Will I probably do that? Maybe I have a personal vendetta against Timothy Chalamet. He's not in that. Are you wrong show? In the king what's the medieval show that he's in it's a movie and it's called the king Look, okay, I'm gonna just lay this out there. I don't have a Netflix account Yeah, and also I think it's a tradition now for you to just think I'm talking about something else No, but it's funny because that was both times we're not planned All right, that wraps up our inaugural segment of the Valhalla news roundup, let's jump into the actual topic the the meat and potatoes of this episode if you will We're here to talk about the fall in the chain. The fall in the chain are a pair of graphic novels They're like little three issue collections that were Released between 2010 and 2012 so we're kind of going back to the the early days as assassins creed was really solidifying what it was going to be and It's a really interesting comic to look back on because first of all, it's a Really fucking good comic both both of the books the fall and the chain are fantastic and second of all It's kind of your first glimpse at what assassins creed's ambitions were as a trans media franchise of saying absolutely We can cover multiple time periods. We can track this story Over many settings and we can tell stories that intertwine with each other across various forms of media And honestly, I mean those early comics were really off to a great start I mean it was only until recently when we got like all these different spin-offs of the games and Manga's and whatnot. It just always just it's all disjointed nowadays But back then it was very focused and this comic I think really showcases that because it's not 15 issues long. It's a very succinct story Yeah, they really took the opportunity they had presented to them as well because You know as most people know Daniel cross the main character of these comics features in Assassin's Creed 3 and I went back and I watched the Daniel cross scenes from Assassin's Creed 3 like all two of them and Like while it's not I mean, it's not amazing. He's he's kind of The way that they portray him and this is out of necessity due to the fact that they only could put him on screen for like Five minutes or whatever is very much like the extreme version of what he is in the comics I mean in the comics he has schizophrenia Type of affliction based on his experiences with the genetic memories and then in the game. He's all like get out of my head You know it's it's much more violent like a cartoon version of what that schizophrenia affliction would look like Yeah, I mean he's so wasted in that game I mean like I I won't get too deep into it just because we're talking about this Daniel cross But yeah, just compared to this Daniel cross like there was there was there seemed to be like no What's the word they just they weren't true to what they built up in this in this book? Yeah I mean yes and no like I think with the limited role that they chose to have for him in this game I I believe that and this might not be the case I believe that the comic came first and that while they were developing Assassin's Creed 3 They knew that this comic was being written so they went Okay, we can maybe pull from that and work it in here Right and with that in mind if he's just gonna be sort of a mini boss The Desmond has to take down on his way to fuck up Warren Vidic then yeah to include him and They want to hint at the depth of his character They want to hint at who he is and they want to be true to it They have to kind of play it way the hell up So like there's this conversation you can hear if you don't kill him immediately if you just sneak around He calls Warren Vidic on the phone and he talks about how he has to get back into the animus He mentions in a Kenti Kenya by name That's all like pretty accurate to the vibe of him in the comic for sure for sure It's just that they have to be really on the nose with it So that you know that like this is that guy right and yeah, and I guess that does kind of Bring up the issue or I guess the the the wrinkle that not everyone that plays Assassin's Creed 3 is gonna have read this comic yeah, exactly and But but I would argue and you know not to get too much to hung up on like what he is in the game But I just in terms of him coming from the pages into the game and whatnot I think he should have been like an Otso Burke. Yeah post Vidic He should have been like the like the guy's gonna fuck your shit up Just because he was built up in this comic as we'll get into like as like a fucking like He's like the Darth Vader of Assassin's Creed in the comic book. Right. Yeah I mean he's like rogue one esque Darth Vader, you know, like he is he's a force we reckon with There are some parallels like with the idea of Anakin. He's aimless. He's he doesn't have a purpose He sees both sides as having the as giving him the purpose that he's seeking in life and he chooses one over the other for more personal reasons than for Ideological reasons and that's part of what makes him such an effective enforcer for either side is that he's skilled and completely devoted Because to him these organizations are the only thing giving his life structure and meaning. Yeah I mean, I agree with you and none none of this like none of what happened is really Daniel's fault at the end of the day Yeah, like he's a victim. Yeah, he is I feel like it's implied that I mean he was being Stuck into the animus since he was a child. Oh, no, that's confirmed. He's he was in the animus as a little boy Right. Yeah, and they particularly exposed him to it in the most raw and and Traumatizing way. Yeah, cuz he's like walking down the street naked and alone and and let's real quick before we get too far into this too Let's kind of give a brief overview of the events because a lot of the people listening to this Either won't have read the comic necessarily or we'll have read it such a long time ago that they don't necessarily remember all the events So right if I were to give like a very quick boilerplate summary it would be that Daniel Cross he is a a sort of alcoholic bum drug addict loner loser who Has these hallucinations of a Russian family He gets sort of intercepted by the assassins because he has this assassin tattoo. They train him. They harness his potential Because he can see in these hallucinations He has the experiences of his ancestor Nikolai Orlov and as far as the assassins know at the time. This is like 1999 2000 There's no way to their knowledge to actually experience genetic memories But they do know that genetic memory exists This makes Daniel Cross like a super assassin Jedi type of dude with that kind of ability He undergoes this mission To get close to the mentor the mysterious shadowed leader of the assassin brotherhood In trying to get close to the mentor. He meets assassins all over the world. He experiences all of their training cells Finally the mentor finds him. He meets him and he kills the mentor because he is a sleeper agent All of the genetic memories he's experiencing are flashbacks to animus experiences that he was forced to have as a small child Wherein he was programmed to get close to the mentor and take him out for the Templars after this he becomes You know a Templar superstar basically he experiences the memories of Nikolai's son in a kenti and Sees how he gets trained pretty viciously by his father Hopefully that gives you an overview. Is there anything important that I left out Tim? Um, no I mean just aside from Daniel Cross is a handsome motherfucker. Yeah, I guess if you like dudes whose mouths and noses are way too close together Yeah, okay. Well, hey Plenty of women in this book do Plenty, I mean like just one really everyone else kind of thinks he's a loser There's some weird stuff with women in this book. They're either like taking me Daniel or Daniel. We talked about this Or or both or or both Yeah, there's some weird stuff There's like a very explicitly implied date rape that goes on in the background of a comic panel That is never dealt with at all. Yeah Yeah, he's in the bathroom throwing up I think and the guy's like yeah, just one more drink in her and she won't be able to turn me down Not funny or cool at all, but that is there great strategy like and Daniel goes I love this his he's like he kind of makes these flirtatious overtures at Hannah an assassin lady Who finds him and he's like you're like a you're like a hot ninja And then like a year later when they've turned him into handsome Squidward because he's in the same with purpose now She's like hey Daniel. I Couldn't maybe like I can maybe stay over and he's just like He's like nah. No need Hannah. I have all the companionship I need in my fucking head I Think I'm just gonna hallucinate for the night. I think I'm gonna chill with the voices tonight, Hannah. I Think I'm taking a trip to Russia tonight. You know what I mean Hannah I'm going to pretend to be Nikolai and pretend to have sex with his wife Coincidentally never ages visibly. I don't know if you noticed this but Nikolai he gets older every single panel of the book His wife just stays looking 30 for the whole thing. Nikolai is literally like a skeletal grandpa And you see his wife and she looks like baby-faced. I don't know are they trying to say something about Russian women cuz I Did not notice that to be honest with you. I didn't notice this They gave her like an eye wrinkle and called it a fucking day I was too busy at looking at his mustache to really notice anything else. What a good mustache It's a good mustache. I know I hope that if a that kid is worth his salt when he gets older He'll have a mustache like that, right? That's what Daniel Cross needed was a mustache. That would have solved all his problems Yeah, yeah, cuz it would have given some surface area between his nose and mouth. I am really curious what Sorry, it took me a moment to realize how funny that was I'm really curious what happened in a Kenti after the chain because the last time we see this guy in any official Assassin's Creed media. He is like a little little kid and That dude would have such an interesting life after that childhood You'd have to wonder if he like eventually could come into contact with an assassin. They're like, hey Like what the fuck is what do you how do you have one of our hidden blades? Child they say pretty explicitly someone in the book like Warren Vidic or someone on the Obstergo side says that That the Oral of Family had two generations of assassin activity. So let me ask you Do we know if Nicolai's father was an assassin? Um, I don't think I you know what? Yeah, dude, are you okay? I Am legitimately like having a stroke thinking about this. I want to say He mentions at the beginning that like this like my father wanted this life for me. So perhaps oh, yeah Okay, so I just googled it. I literally googled Nicolai Oral of Father Andre immigrated to Russia and became a devoted member of the Narodnaya Volia Which is a left-wing terrorist offspring of the Russian assassin brotherhood. So I suppose yeah So so Andre was an assassin which confirms that in all likelihood in a kenti was not and that makes sense Maybe I mean because he had no knowledge of what the of what the Templars are He and he probably didn't even have any knowledge like that those men were assassins So he'll probably just try and survive on his on his lonesome. Um, that's the thing is he'll probably have to be on the run forever because I'm sure the assassins are going to try and hunt the Oralovs down Forever. Yeah, and we don't really know what happened to the you know the piece on his necklace even really Yeah, about the whole staff thing. I will say it's interesting for Nicolai to Horde that knowledge just because like I can understand if he's like, yeah, I mean like these assassin guys They don't really know what they're dealing with or whatever, but like is that information really? Being used effectively if you don't even like tell your son about it You know, like he's just keeping it to himself and like I feel like whatever he saw for him to hoard on to that knowledge And not share it with anyone and even like other assassins Seems a little selfish to me, you know, I yeah that makes I agree with you like I think that Nicolai is one of He's a really interesting character because he's not like any other assassin We've really seen before in terms of his relationship to the brotherhood. We do see that he is devoted We do see that he's passionate about the cause and what they are trying to do But it feels to me like once he interacts with the staff and he has this this sort of vision of what it's capable of He starts to maybe See the assassins and their conflicts is maybe not that important in the grand scheme of things Yeah, because that's kind of when he decides to like, you know, fuck this shit. We're going to America and we're gonna get away Yeah, all of this Yeah, the last thing he does is just track down that last piece and then he's done I mean, he doesn't even bother like like even yeah, he just is like I don't care anymore. I'm just here for for the staff I'm not gonna kill you just to kind of reference the the book Yes, he gets a letter from Vladimir Lenin basically saying what we really need you to do now is kill Sarnicholas Who has abdicated the throne, right? It's 1917 the Russian Revolution is in full swing But he still needs to die because in the eyes of Lenin and the other assassins his life represents you know the image of monarchy and autocracy that Revolution seeks to quell so he says Nikolai listen do me a favor just kill this motherfucker But Nikolai goes and he you know accosts Sarnicholas and he's like basically I'm actually here Because I've seen you wielding the staff and I thought the staff was destroyed But I just want to make sure that it's that it's gone and Sarnicholas is like look at the staff And he's like, yeah, this is a bad wood replica. It's not the real staff at all So he breaks it with his leg. He's like, I'm not gonna kill you because I don't really care about this shit I'm going to America now. Goodbye Yeah, he doesn't he doesn't really care to just to talk with Tony collect but Nicholas for reasons I maybe don't fully understand. He's like I do know this one motherfucker who's wearing like a shard of Something around his neck that yeah has the same properties as what you describe of the staff So he goes and collects that and that's what the assassins are looking for when they hunt him and in a kenti down in America Yes, and and also I they have some form of idea that there was knowledge linked to this staff into the incident that left him You know all tattered in the factory or the Tesla thing, right? Yeah, just leaving that completely gone, you know and leaving only him surviving I mean they knew something had to have happened and also Yeah, what this is really kind of all in service of is creating a really interesting story where Nikolai has this experience where he's confronted with the whole of time and You know the the awareness of this greater Reality beyond himself beyond the assassins and Just decides that really the only thing that makes sense for him to do is to step away from this life and and Live a normal life with his family Which of course the assassins deprive him of and that's what's also really interesting is a we have a character who Leaves the assassins for really interesting reasons. This is no assassins creed rogue. You slaughtered innocent sort of thing, right? Yes, also we have an assassin's brotherhood that is pretty They're not they're not the coolest guys ever are they huh? No, they're nice. Yeah, they're they're they're no Italian brotherhood Which makes some sense when you consider that if the assassins in Russia are doing what they're doing in service of the Bolsheviks and in service of the revolution Well, we know from history that After taking over the Bolsheviks were also not that fucking cool, huh? No, they were not that nice They kind of didn't do a great job or restore much peace all things considered. Did they yeah It was just like salt in the wound of anything So I guess if you're going to turn the Russian Revolution into an assassin tumblr conflict You kind of have to make it so that the that the assassins are Not the coolest guys, right? Yeah, I mean there's definitely a lot of of gray area with that I mean the assassin that is tussling with with with Nikolai You know he says that you were intended to be with your family We take care of our own but how are you even gonna believe what he's saying? And that's the thing is perhaps he's telling the truth, but he also could not be in that You know the the whole Red Scare incident they weren't intended to be kept together and they just were trying to get to Nikolai You know and well, I mean we kind of know that he wasn't completely lying considering that His daughter survives Are we certain that they are still alive though after the Red Scare incident? Well, this is pretty subtextual, but it's not like the subtlest thing ever But Daniel Kross goes to the church and he's talking to that woman and he says he's visiting family And then they both look right at the camera and wake Legitimately thought that was just his oh like awakening of faith. I think that the woman there is supposed to be Who would she be okay, so I guess it'd be his daughter if anything it couldn't be his wife because she doesn't age I mean it's a great point. I don't know. I think that it's definitely implied that that is an aura love woman I gotta say That I got I did not get that impression at all. Mm-hmm. That makes sense. Like I believe I I I don't know maybe I thought he said he was visiting family because I mean Christ is all of our family but But I would like to to touch on something though I did have something to say about Daniel in this and So if you don't mind if I do bring up this this this incident in the modern day Give me just one second because I'm seeing if the internet will answer our question about About whether or not his family is the Russian woman or Christ No, yeah, no problem. Yeah, okay, I can confirm the woman in the church is Nadia or love Who said who said that it's in the biography on the Assassin's Creed wiki Nadia married and had at least one child a son many years later in 2002 She met a young man in a church in Moscow not realizing that it was her great-nephew Daniel cross without knowing it She also possessed Rasputin's shard of the imperial scepter which had splintered from its parent staff when the artifact was destroyed in the Tungask explosion by her father. So she is apparently Wearing the shard. Wow. I guess I just read those last pages with my eyes closed Nothing gets past me Okay, so we we answered that question so you wanted to say yes so when Daniel is doing his mission into the library of I guess I was Ivan the terrible correct at his library His underground secret library and he kills the assassin guarding it He finds the hippie the hippie the hippie assassin in peace man Effectively the dude almost You can cut that out that wasn't a good joke so I'm gonna leave all of that in he finds Ezio's codex Which is awesome Yes, it is and he reads it and and and he sees Ezio's you know account of the Minerva thing and that propels Daniel because he sees the mention of Desmond through Minerva and he's like who the fuck is desert Which is great because at that time Desmond's like what three? I mean Well, I do well in 2002 he was like he was ten years younger. So he was probably about 12 11 10 something like that. Was he that young in the first game? Well, okay How old is he in 2012 like 30 something? I would imagine then yeah, he's probably 20 in 2000 dude So I'm really bad at math. Okay the point being is like that basically is Supposed to be the incident that puts their eyes on Desmond or trying to find Desmond which is fucking awesome It's an excellent like prequel device However, it creates a wrinkle and here's why Just because I know we often praise the older games for having this like modern-day consistency and they do Well, no, but they more than today. Oh for sure for sure. So yes by comparison my point being here is We know that Daniel cross reads that and he's like, okay This fucking Desmond guy. He's important somehow. So absurd goat. We got to get him. Yeah, and So in the first game, you know, they retrieved as man. They're like, all right, you're gonna relive some memories for us because We want to get this apple of Eden or we want to get this piece of Eden And you know, we want to stick it in our satellite, which is not explicitly mentioned But yeah, anyway, the problem becomes is if Daniel cross discovered that Desmond was linked to this Minerva thing with Ezio Why when they capture him? They're bothering going back with Altair Like why even go through Altair's memories in the first place? You could reasonably suggest that okay So if they're investigating these bloodlines enough they'll know that the assassin Altair must have come into contact with a piece of Eden or multiple or however and So yeah, it's valuable information to be harvested there But if you're trying to figure out what the fuck Minerva is saying to him You would be it would stand again that you would go through Ezio's Memories and but I don't think they are trying to find out what Minerva is saying to him Well, why else why else would they think that he's in? You know a person of interest, okay? So I mean for one thing all that's written down so they know what Minerva said to him Yeah, but they don't know the context around it is there much context surrounding it I mean all they know is essentially what what Ezio heard and what he decided to write down So yeah, well, yeah But that that that creates an even bigger problem because then you have this whole thing where it's like, okay So in Assassin's Creed 2 we're gonna break out Desmond and he's gonna go You know and meet him and Lucy you're gonna hang out with Sean and Rebecca Yeah, and the idea that Lucy is this secret Templar isn't even an idea yet And so it gets more convoluted as it goes because the whole idea behind Project Saren was that we're gonna get Desmond Take him out of Absurgo and get him in a more comfortable place so that it'll it'll happen more Organically, okay, but if the objective is to just find an apple of Eden, which is the objective for Project Saren So you could stick it in a satellite Then why not just keep living Altaïr's memories He kept the apple and not only that but why would you be like, okay time to kill Desmond? Like if the whole plan is to if the whole plan is to take Desmond out of Absurgo and let him relive memories more organically Why is Alan Reichen being like kill that bitch? Like why is that? You know are you gonna tell me that Vidic and Lucy are planning this Project Saren situation not letting Reichen know Yeah, I don't I don't buy it. I don't buy it one bit. Okay Anyway, I just Couldn't stop thinking about that. I'd also imagine that okay So so if Daniel reads the thing he's like and Daniel's like who is this Desmond then The Templars are gonna be like, huh? Well, let's search our assassin databases for anyone named Desmond one of two things happens there one is There's no one named Desmond guess we'll worry about this in 10 years The other thing is Desmond is the son of William Miles And we know that William Miles is this really important assassin guy Wouldn't they just then just like capture him at that age like I don't know what drives them to go after Don't wait that long. Yeah, I mean the idea is that the maybe the whole ooh Daniel was the reason that Desmond got captured. Maybe that's a little Like they overstretched themselves. Maybe yeah I mean, that's a thing too or they look in the database and they go. Oh, there's like 30 Desmond's It's a really common name. There are a lot of assassins. We don't know who it is We have to spend the next 10 years narrowing that list down to the right Desmond. Yeah, we're gonna have to vet all these Desmond's I Did not mean to ramble too much about that that that was just my Observation because look it's an awesome detail. This is what makes it makes it like a cool prequel item Because it's like it gives purpose to Daniel finding this, you know, this Desmond connection But what I will say too is I don't know if you agree on this But in terms of like the modern to historical stories, they run parallel to each other, but they don't they don't really like Intersect like Daniel isn't looking for the shard. He doesn't find it. He's not like there's no kind of like He's only there living those memories because he wants to be Right and that's kind of neat though, too. It's kind of beautiful Lots of family. So he's living his family Historical memories. Okay. Well, make me feel like a piece of shit. I guess I just Okay, but if what you're saying is an observation and not a criticism then you're completely right and I agree with no No, I know I do agree with you. I guess I'm just so used to all of the historical stories somehow Aiding or giving context to the modern-day goal. It's interesting because It's an inconsistency that Obstergo is totally cool with letting Daniel just chill in his memories for like 14 months Like I mean, yeah, I get that they wanted to reward him after helping them out so much But at the same time like are you guys just gonna wait 14 months to enact your purge Well, they were enacting it already. They were just putting him in the animus to kind of like reward him for it Yeah, I mean, yeah, they didn't really use him in the purge. Interestingly enough They they let him dick around in russia and mind what they did They did have to like occasionally like mine him for information like hey like what the fuck Happened with these pressure plates. Yeah Like hey man, listen, I know you're like busy in there and ship Can you wake up a little bit and just tell us how to get to the basement of this one building? I'm so sorry. I'm really sorry to interrupt and he's just like Pressure plates There's pressure plates in there Okay, cool. All right, we tried it there with pressure plates. Thank you Daniel. Go back to sleep Thank you Daniel. Good night That was it. We'll see you in seven months, buddy That's all I needed buddy. I'll be sure to change your your bed pan in two hours Because Because you're just you're in a fucking coma at this point catatonic state right now, man I love this book and you know what here's the other thing too We talk about the desmond thing as far as this being a good prequel For me what really solidifies this as an excellent prequel is one it looks at the story of assassins creed and the context of The world and the fact that when we get into the assassins at the start of assassins creed too and we learned that like they're these kind of This disassociated scattered underdog cells and that they are really up against it with the Templars being this huge Obstergo corporation, right? Yes, and it says how did it get here? Well, you know, we talk about a purge We talk about a time that the assassins they used to be doing better But now they do a lot worse. So in the book you get this one-two sort of punch of their guy losing the election, which is implied to be Al Gore, I guess, right, you know because he invented the internet. They really liked him for that They wanted him to be the president and then you have The fact that all of them fucking die Yeah, yeah, I mean it it's I mean it sets the stage for how they are in the first game like The way Vidic is like those were the last of your kind You fuck and that's what I miss about the story. It was just knowing What the stakes were and I talked about this before Yes, we talked about just recently about how like it's like the assassins are doing the fucking greatest In one instance and then they're getting, you know destroyed and the other, you know, there's not a balance In Assassin's Creed gold, they have enough money to like, you know, just bribe Aliyah Yeah, the funds are in college Hundreds of thousands of dollars Yeah, we're gonna pay for your school, Aliyah, you know and like And then the next minute it's like, oh, yeah But there are only these three people in the whole world that care about this potentially catastrophic Templar plot. So it's like really hard to tell Who's who what's what who's winning Right and that's the thing is I just don't think they care anymore They just use it to their advantage when they want to when they want to do a piece of like transmedia content Because they kind of have to I mean the only people that are listening to Assassin's Creed gold The only people that are currently reading any of the mongas that they're putting out or, you know Any of the spinoff comics that they do for the games the only people who are taking in those things are fans And so I feel like for nowadays like Assassin's Creed gold They have to take some aspects from the modern day to kind of like quench our thirst for it At the same time it doesn't matter enough to Ubisoft as a whole To bring it home in the in the games But the other thing I wanted to say about How good of a prequel this is that not only does it take that That opening in the story of how did the assassins get to be this? You know disadvantaged in the context of the grander story But it also uses that as an opportunity to tell what really is a pretty Well constructed and well executed personal story for Daniel. Yes I think it really is one of the not just one of the best stories in Assassin's Creed media But maybe one of the best like video game tie-in comics ever. Yeah, I I agree with you There definitely I think was a lot more attention From the brand itself because I mean you look at nowadays and the comics are now Finishing off stories that started in the games You know the the the comics are these just kind of Things off to the side that the real fans are experiencing But I feel like when this was coming out It was like people were still like, you know just wanting anything from Assassin's Creed they could get it was still This like new and cool thing. I'm not saying it's not cool anymore But you know what I mean like they're kind of more like throwaway promotional tools now where the only real value to the brand Of them having these comics on the shelf is that people walk into a store and see Assassin's Creed comics on the shelf Right. It's not like they're really telling Involved stories. Yeah, I mean because because I mean this is the perfect example of like this was an extension of the games This was an extension of Assassin's Creed. This has something to do It's impactful. It has something to do with the brand But oh you can start playing odyssey and anything that happened in the comics in the past year Is going to mean nothing. Yeah in terms of odyssey story Yeah, there might be like a character mention or like a or like a single name that you know The I mean the most eagle-eyed fan will recognize but let's be real I mean this is a franchise that they literally they did a theatrical big budget blockbuster movie and it did not incorporate or intertwine with the events of the games at all If anything it feels like it's a completely different continuity and it doesn't and there are inconsistencies So if you can't make if you can't take advantage of that kind of a storytelling opportunity Like we're going to put a big movie in front of everybody and have that Make the games a richer experience the way that this comic makes the games richer experience You're you're completely losing sight of what the goal should be on a storytelling level of having a trans media franchise I agree with you The other thing I wanted to sort of celebrate about the book was that I just love the way it's paced the sort of rhythm of how the Modern day and historical scenes flow into each other You know one thing that any assassin's creed story kind of has to ask itself is what the relationship is between the modern and the historical and you bring up an excellent point that It's not like they're looking for something in the past It's just that these stories are playing out sort of next to each other on the page And the fact that they found clever ways to weave in and out of that Uh is super impressive. Yeah, and I'm not and I'm not saying that so much as like I I didn't like it. I I I suppose no, I just feel like at the end when uh, Kenya Is just kind of staying there with the hidden blade like that doesn't really say much and like that doesn't that's a Like a reveal for me like oh, you know like like that that now adds context to what we see in the modern day It's kind of just like That's that's where that's the story ends in me and which is why I feel like and this is something I knew we were gonna have to talk about I feel like the fall is better than the chain Yeah, oh, yeah, but I mean can we address? Like what kind like what name what kind of name is the fall in the chain? Like the fall you could say all the fall of you know, russia. No, no, it's about the fall of the assassins But what does the chain mean like the chain of what? That I cannot answer is that am I an idiot? No Yeah, the chain feels less like it's not as necessary to the story as the fall was Although I do really I found the training of You know kenti to be emotionally very effective He goes through some really tough shit at the hands of his dad And I also liked the wrinkle that once daniel goes from experiencing nicolai's memories to experiencing And I can see his memories that he's like Fuck nicolai all my homies hate nicolai like he crumbles up a picture of him and he's like fuck you dad And it's like dog you were that guy a moment ago that that is an excellent point It definitely like the bleeding effect definitely had a An effect on like just the way he was even viewing the memories from his own perspective The bleeding effect is fucking like Hey listen the bleeding effect will fuck you up Like and this is the best portrayal of it in any of the assassins creed media And it uses it to tell a story that in some ways is about like mental illness and is about You know the psychological effects the the story in a lot of ways is awesomely dark And that's kind of the central. Oh my god like this the shot of Bellamy in a fucking in coma Just being harvested for memories like that shit is like, oh fuck Like there's an actual shot where you just see a bunch of templars murder a bunch of children too Yeah, like fucking youngling style. I feel like that's still emblematic of the fact They were really going for it with the dark shit in this book. No. Yes. Yeah, I agree with you. Assassin's creed was very um Mature around this time and then you know in especially in this comic And then you get the comics, you know more recently where there's like exploding teeth Which is like the most cartoonish and goofy thing I've ever seen I mean and I think that really just goes to show something that Was really important in the early games and in the early vibe of the world was just How fucked up it is to imagine strapping someone to a bed and harvesting their memories their ancestors memories And now it's literally something that's happening when you play a video game. Apparently like yeah the importance in the darkness and the Sacrifice associated with that act of like we're going to go in there and we're gonna Zoom into your dna and see what happened to your ancestors That was explored really creatively in this book and has been completely forgotten about in the story Over multiple games and especially like in what we just talked about with Assassin's Creed gold. I mean I don't quite remember Maybe you can correct me here, but I don't really even remember like much negative side effects of the bleeding effect that Aliyah experienced in Assassin's Creed gold Like they're always worried about it. They're like we can't put her in for long But it's purely a cheap tension Creating device and it's not really right anything actually Yeah, she gets all the benefits of like being able to not be claustrophobic and stab people But she doesn't get any of the negative effects because the bleeding effect in the animus and the assassin temple or conflict Like it's it's very fucked up A lot of that stuff is fucked up and it's explored so so well here Especially with how Daniel is in his adult life You know we interpret him at first like oh this fucking loser But you gotta think about it like he never had a chance at a normal life I'm just glad that he was able like to take those piercings out and get a haircut and then like A couple haircuts and how handsome he become he became a couple other interesting things I wanted to point out before we wrap this up is that um this Whole comic book was originally going to While they still were planning all of the daniel cross story was there from the beginning The historical stuff was going to follow etzio and not nicolai really is that is that true? And I learned that in the book itself because the version I have is the titan release of it Which has some behind-the-scenes stuff in the back interesting You I have that because you have the ubi workshop subject for collection Yeah, which I guess is inferior because you get nice behind-the-scenes info and it gives me like a few pages Of what their like early demo pages of what the etzio stuff was going to look like which is pretty cool. Wow That's I had no idea they talk about they talk about going to st. Peter's burger teaches me Sorry, I completely just steamrolled the No, no, no go back to it I just was literally I was sitting the dumbest shit ever I was like, you know the look play podcast teaches me so much Like like like a dumbass. Just keep talking about st. Peter's burger Well, now I don't want to All I was saying is that they they also had some really kind of unintentionally funny pictures of the creative team on the fall like Drawing shit in st. Peter's burger and they're all like really thoughtful Like pictures of just some dude sitting down with a notebook and like looking at the skyline I was like you canadians. What are you up to? What are you doing? Yeah, what are you guys doing? I guess to kind of to summarize our thoughts on all this the fall in the chain They're both really good books and they do a great job of presenting a vision of assassin's creed as a trans media franchise that has a lot more internal consistency And takes a lot more creative advantage of its storytelling opportunities Then a lot of the stuff these days has given us. Absolutely. I I completely agree. I mean This was my second time reading it after um, I enjoyed it even more than the first time I had read it Yeah, I feel like now that we've seen how Assassin's creed can kind of go off the rails It's a lot easier to appreciate what this book was doing Whereas if you write it when it came out or shortly thereafter That was just that was assassin's creed, baby. That's what it was Yeah, and now and now we're just looking back at the good old days So, you know, I think that about does it for this episode, but we want to thank you guys for listening Especially if you've listened to our other episodes We had a lot of fun on this one one thing that you can do to support the podcast If you don't already is subscribe to our youtube channel But obviously we're available on multiple platforms. So anything you can do to support us Sharing the podcast with your friends who like assassin's creed leaving comments on our youtube video on our reddit posts Interacting with us on twitter We are at hook blade on twitter if you want to talk to us there We really appreciate you guys engaging with us and telling us what you think And we're definitely gonna need some ideas for future episodes because we have really tiny smooth brains and we can't think of that many things Yeah, I mean, yeah See like tim couldn't even think of a thing to say I couldn't even think of another word if there's a sentence So we really need your help guys, please We're also definitely open to having guests on the show So if joining us to talk about something you really care about is something you're interested in Drop us a line and let us know Yeah, there is an application process You first have to do a phone interview and then we will actually fly you out in person And uh, and then we'll have you know, hey listen just we'll have our people talk to your people Uh, thanks for listening Thank you. I've been the blade And I wait Hold on. Hold on a second right there Yeah, I I have been the hook. I'm the blade And that's that's the black This has been the hook blade podcast Or the hook pod blade cast whatever you want to call it. Um, thank you for listening