Assassin's Creed - Mercury

Last weekend I completed Assassin’s Creed III. With all of the hints about the First Civilization dropped throughout the plot, I began to wonder what it would be like to play an Assassin from that era in a future game. Here is my line of thought that led to this piece of speculative fan art:

1 The three Precursors we’ve met in the series so far are named after Roman gods (Juno, Minerva, Jupiter) In this case, I chose the Mercury, as the fleet-footed messenger of the gods would seem the most at home free running across rooftops.

2 The basic design elements that tie together the Assassin’s we’ve played as so far (Altair, Ezio, Connor, and Desmond) included a white hooded garment with red accents and the hidden blade. The three seen in flashbacks also had Assassin logos on their belt buckles.

3 First civilization fashion seems to be silken Roman-style togas for the women and Egyptian style wrap-around skirts with no shirt (but sometimes a cape) for the men. Both genders were barefoot with jointed metal headpieces and belts that called to mind designs from the Thor and Transformers movies. Thin metallic cables looping under the arms were also common.


With these elements in mind, I set to work designing Mercury. To call to mind the god he was named for, I chose a pose from the statue Flying Mercury by Giovanni de Bologna. A placed a headdress with winged carvings under his hood to reference his winged hat, but could not justify the winged sandals against the other character shown thus far. Instead, I leave those as an addition in the legends describing how he moved.

To give a sense of the First Civ’s advanced tech, I made his hidden blades into energy weapons, projecting shapes based on weapons he’s examined. I alos gave him the Apple of Eden, since an illusion casting artifact seems right at home with the trickster god.

For a story, I picture Desmond surviving his encounter with Juno, albeit with his mind shattered. Minerva would help him to repair his damaged psyche by guiding him through the memories of an ancestor, much like Subject 16 did in Revelations. It would give that store meaning, and make it seem less like filler to stretch the Ezio arc by another game.

The first half of Mercury’s story would take place in the last days of the first civilization, while the second half would focus on the few remaining precursors trying to guide the humans who have inherited their world. He would travel to ancient cities such as Babylon, and have adventures inspired by mythology rather than the historical narrative of the other titles, taking a different name to each culture he visits.

Anyway, these are just the thoughts of a fan who had a bit of a brain worm that he had to get onto pixels. I hope you enjoy it.