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ASSASSIN’S CREED MIRAGE: AN ISU NAMED MILAD?
VORTEX COLLABORATOR: Nikolas, December 18th, 2023
Translated by: Stefania Attention! This article contains spoilers for Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
Although the AC Mirage's map is smaller than that of its immediate predecessors, the game features three Isu sites: one that can only be visited in the final mission (the Isu prison in Alamut); another cannot be explored but can only be observed from a hole in a rock (the site of the excavations in the desert), and the last one can be freely visited (the site of the oasis north of the Aqarquf dunes). We know from the events of the game that the Isu site of Alamut was a prison for Those Who Came Before. Curiously, the name “Alamut” can be translated both as "Eagle's Nest" and "Nest of Punishment". About the site of the oasis, however, we can most likely say that it’s a tomb. But who was it intended for? _______________ MILAD’S TOMB? Once you reach the oasis north of the Aqarquf dunes, in order to reach the Isu tomb the player will have to dive into the lake, pass through a short underwater tunnel and then emerge into an underground cave. After passing the latter, the player will find themselves in a well-preserved Isu room. Three of the four sides of the room will respectively present a niche dug into the wall and sealed by an energy barrier, which can be deactivated by recovering some fragments and placing them on the corresponding pedestals. Each of the three niches contain an Isu artefact: the Samsaama curved dagger, the Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar double-edged sword and, inside a sarcophagus, the Isu armor called Milad's Outfit. Based on this information, we can say that the site of the oasis is the tomb of an Isu called Milad. However, things are more complicated. This can be understood by analyzing the legends behind each of the artifacts. Milad’s outfit This outfit is shown as a variant of the Isu armors with a mask that we’ve already seen in Origins,
Milad is a legendary character featured in the Persian poem Shahnameh (Book of Kings), but very little is known about it. It’s about a conquering king, father of a certain Gorgin. Now, considering that the Shahnameh narrates both historical events and legendary antiquities, it’s possible that, within the world of Assassin's Creed, the king Milad of the poem is a distorted memory of an ancient Isu warrior. However, it’s also possible that Milad was a simple human who came into possession of an Isu armor. If this were the case, in the sarcophagus there wouldn’t be the body of a Precursor but rather that of a man. The Samsaama
Taking into account this legend, we could imagine that this dagger belonged to an Isu clan called ?Ad, or that it was obtained in ancient times by a human named ?Ad. As with Milad, in this case too the distinction between humans and Isu in ancient legends is not very clear. The Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar Literally "Sword studded with emeralds" in Persian, this weapon appears in the story of Amir Arslan, where it’s used by the hero of the same name to defeat the demon Fulad-zereh (literally "steel armor"). Unlike Milad and the tribe of ?Ad, Amir Arslan is a legendary hero who lived in a relatively recent time, since in his story he mentions the people of Roum, in other words the Romans of Constantinople. According to other sources, however, the Shahnameh reports a version in which the Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar was forged precisely for Milad. We will talk about it later.
_______________ SOME THEORIES From this analysis, it’s clear that the three Isu artifacts belong to three distinct legends. Milad, whether man or Isu, was not the legendary possessor of the Samsaama, while the owner of the Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar is uncertain and depends on the versions. However, we know from an in-game note that Nehal dreamed of the Isu site where Milad's tomb is located and was somehow drawn to it. So who could Milad have been within the Assassin's Creed lore? First hypothesis It’s possible that the character of Milad is no one in particular and was only included as a reference to Persian legends. Nehal's dream would only be functional to allow the player to head towards the oasis beyond the Aqarquf dunes. This hypothesis would be supported by the presence of Isu objects dating back to very different Middle Eastern legends. Second hypothesis Going back to what we said before, we know very little about Milad, except that he was a conquering king and father of a certain Gorgin. The latter was a warrior, imprisoned by a certain Kay Khosrow and subsequently saved by the hero Rustam. It’s curious to note that Gorgin literally means "Wolf", and that this would make Milad "father of the wolf", creating an interesting parallel with Loki and his imprisoned son. So, considering that Nehal seems attracted to the Isu site and not scared - unlike what happens with the Alamut site - a second hypothesis could be that Milad is the name of Loki among the "Persian" Isu. In this case, the Isu site of the oasis would not be a tomb, but rather a deposit of the panoply that belonged to the Norse Isu.
If we rely on the holographic sequence activated by Nehal in the Isu prison of Alamut, we can see the similarity between the Samsaama and the dagger held by Loki's jailer. If this were not a simple resemblance but an identity, then Milad could be the jailer himself, and Nehal would have been drawn to the site of the oasis by the very memories that connected Loki to his tormentor. Furthermore, the jailer could be identified either as a Persian Isu allied with Odin, or as Odin himself, however called by a local name, namely Milad. The only point against this theory would be that Nehal/Loki/Basim would have no problem wearing his tormentor's outfit. _______________ STRANGE DIVERGENCES Considering these three hypotheses, we can say that we have no real idea of who Milad could be within the Assassin's Creed universe: human or Isu? Already known or unknown character? However, there is one last fun fact. On Wikipedia, under “Milad (Given name)” you can read this: “A handsome and desirable young man, this name literally means "Son of the Sun". Using the sword forged by Kaveh the Blacksmith, In the 12th Story of Shahnameh, he is resurrected as the Zoroastrian God of Spirit, and goes on to play a prominent part in the story of Shahnameh.” And under “Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar”, you can read: “Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar was forged by Kave for the Legendary Persian Prince Milad. After Milad's death in the 7th story of Shahnameh the sword was carefully guarded by Fulad-Zereh, not only because it was a valuable weapon, and indeed the only weapon that could harm the demon, but also because wearing it was a charm against magic.” So, according to these two versions, Milad would be the owner of the Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar. However, if one consults the Shahnameh, as well as the Persian Wikipedia page, Milad turns out to be only a minor king, about whom little or nothing is known, while the sword, as already mentioned, belongs to another literary tradition and is absent in the Shahnameh, or at least in some versions of it. What's interesting about this divergence between the English Wikipedia page and the Persian version is that, in the Shahnameh, we actually can find a blacksmith named Kaveh who helped a hero – not Milad, but a certain Fereydun – take down an evil entity – not Fulad-Zereh, but a certain Zahhak. This episode tells how the hero Fereydun defeats the evil Zahhak and chains him in a cave inside Mount Damavand. It’s curious to note how this story, narrated in the Shahnameh and reported in different ways by Wikipedia, combining the legends of Milad and the Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar, is strangely similar to the fate of Loki seen in Mirage, where the Isu is imprisoned in the heart of a mountain by a jailer – perhaps – in possession of the Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar. For the moment, however, we do not have enough elements to make further hypotheses and we will wait for any future statements from the developers. ABOUT NIKOLAS Translator from French and novelist. His love for Myth and History has led him to become passionate about Assassin's Creed since the release of the first chapter. For years he’s been following the evolution of the franchise with enthusiasm, both in the main chapters and in its various incarnations in the expanded universe, with particular interest in the representation of historical events and their reinterpretation within the narrative universe.
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