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Assassin's Creed Origins: Bayek, the new Assassin
Markuz & Hephaestus, June 13th, 2017
Translated by: Stefania The announcement of Assassin's Creed Origins has finally invaded the internet and all the feeds and timelines of the fans’ social profiles with its trailers, screenshots and artwork. After our analysis about the locations of the game, therefore, we thought to write one of our brief analyses about the new Assassin and protagonist of the new chapter in the saga, Bayek. Coming to our aid is the "Cosplay Guide" that Ubisoft prepared for E3 2017 and that (miraculously?) wasn't leaked anywhere. Through this document and some screenshots we can more accurately see some of the details of our new protagonist and, consequently, have some more information on his social extraction.
The outfit Let's start with his outfit, the element that strikes the most when you first see the character, going from top to bottom. Bayek wears the classic Assassin hood, of course, but this time the fabric that creates the hood at the base also wraps around the neck of the protagonist to protect him not only from the enemies' view but also from the heat as it is white-gray. Moreover, the hood is not decorated and is, in fact, ruined on the edges, has some holes, in some parts is ripped and roughly sewed, probably indicating Bayek's social and economic status.
Under the hood there is a "Usekh" or "Wesekh", a kind of ornamental collar that was often used in ancient Egypt and can also be found in various pictorial representations. In general, jewels were very popular in ancient Egypt, regardless of the social class. They were heavy and rather bulky and were worn mainly for their aesthetic function, also because the Egyptians were usually dressed fairly subtly with white linen fabrics and jewels offered a good chance of contrast. Specifically, the Usekh collar was draped around and supported by the neck and shoulders, and was typically adorned with closely placed rows of colored stone beads, or it was made entirely of metal. In the case of Bayek, the Usekh seems to be made of leather with metal parts (bronze?) and has triangular and rectangular motifs, colored in blue and red.
On the left shoulder, under the Usekh, Bayek has a sort of pauldron with a metal or maybe fabric plate on which you can see the Eye of Horus, a symbol of protection, in some cases of royal power and good health. Under the Usekh and the hood there are two drapes, a white one ending under the sash and a yellow and brown one, decorated but ripped, on the left side that at knee level becomes reddish. The yellow and brown drape falls both in front and behind and it's kept steady by various belts. Most of the fabrics found in Egypt were made of linen fiber which is probably one of the materials of the drapes of Bayek's outfit, but that wasn't the only textile fiber used: sheep wool, goat hair, and palm fiber were used as well.
At waist level we can see the classic red sash, which is worn by more or less all of the Assassins. This time it is very thick and visible and a part of it falls both in front and behind the character. Between the chest and the waist, there are also five belts, essential to support the various fabrics but also the quiver and the two leather bags. The lower belt has unadorned metal (bronze or gold?) plaques lacking any kind of design. Remaining at waist level, Bayek has a leather bag on the front, which also has two pockets on both sides (probably containing various objects used to create distractions). On the lower back there is another gray and brown leather bag, probably used for additional small equipment.
The equivalent of the lower part of the traditional Assassin outfit is made of... rags. Or rather, torn and ripped white-gray fabrics, showing once again the social origin of our new protagonist. They should represent the Egyptian "shenti" or "shendyt", namely the traditional men's garment worn around the waist. Some versions of the shenti had cords to tie the garment, and in other versions the fabric was knotted around the waist or kept in place by a knotted belt (Bayek has a knotted belt thanks to which the outfit sticks to the body). Going down, you can notice brown pants that reach the knee, leaving the rest of the leg naked (indicating the high temperature of the location), and sandals / shafts as a protection from frontal attacks, obviously made of leather, considering Bayek's social extraction. In fact, for the Egyptians, the footwear had a special meaning and the material it was made of indicated the wealth of the owner. Since the Egyptians were usually barefoot, sandals were worn on special occasions or when their feet could have been injured (which makes sense considering the role of Bayek as an Assassin). Equipment The equipment is, obviously, the second element that attracts attention when you first look at an Assassin’s Creeed main character. For what we have seen so far, the equipment consists of five elements directly visible on the character.
To use the Blade, Bayek had to somehow lose the left ring finger (as Altaïr did) and now the Blade seems to be pulled thanks to a twine that starts from the base of the ring finger and goes directly inside the gauntlet. Moreover, the gauntlet seems to have a metal cover and it is decorated only on the upper side, with the same colors of the Usekh (blue and red).
The "standard" version of the Pelte featured in the screenshots shows an extremely "minimal" version of the classic "A" of the Assassin crest, and it is the only element of Bayek's outfit that directly and not only visually evokes the Brotherhood. Together with it, in the "standard" version of the shield there is once again the Eye of Horus and the representation of a falcon, the animal through which Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, and god of sky (which contained the sun and the moon), war and hunt, is usually represented.
Bayek also has a bow, which in its standard form could be the so-called "composite Egyptian bow", but it’s not going to be the only kind of bow he will use. As shown in some screenshots, Bayek will also use bows that shoot more than one arrow at a time (you can see five arrows in the screenshot here)
Finally, although not shown in the Cosplay Guide, a screenshot shows us that Bayek also has a spear that can be used together with the shield instead of the Khopesh.
And that's all for our first analysis of Bayek, his outfit, and his equipment. What do you think? Do you like Bayek as a character? Let us know in the comments!
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