#and he ends up being something else

[teecupangel]

What if Desmond, Ezio, Edward, Connor, and Haythem ended up in the witcher universe where they meet Geralt?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zswe2lSkID4&pp=ygUJV2l0Y2hlciAz

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5F6EJmTk80g&pp=ygURV2l0Y2hlciAzIGdlcmFsdCA%3D

Okay, since the two youtube links (especially the first part) focus more on the first part of Witcher 3, that’s where we’ll focus the setup of this idea.

So we’ll throw them in White Orchard, the first ‘area’ of the game. And this is a world currently embroiled in war and conquest, not a pretty sight, that’s for sure. Their main priority would be to find a way to get back to their world because those monsters and all these unfamiliar names? Yup, definitely not their world.

For this scenario, let’s say we’ll take each of them during the ‘epilogue’ of their story. For Desmond, that’s when he’s just died after saving the world. For Ezio, it has to be after he finds Altaïr’s Library (maybe even after he retires from the mentor role). For Edward, it will be around the time of the epilogue showing him and his children in the theatre. Ratonhnhaké:ton’s would be after finding out his tribe had left without telling him anything. As for Haytham… Well, Haytham would be taken just after he dies.

So there’s gonna be pure awkwardness between Haytham and Ratonhnhaké:ton, not to mention that he doesn’t necessarily lie and say that he’s actually an Assassin to his own father but he definitely didn’t tell him outright that he’s a Templar or correct his assumption.

Desmond and Ratonhnhaké:ton notice it right away and they both kept quiet for different reasons. Ratonhnhaké:ton believes that the truth should come from Haytham and not anybody else. Desmond says nothing because he’s following Ratonhnhaké:ton’s lead.

So, they’re stranded in an unknown place and, strangely they can understand each other and the other people they talk to (who thinks they’re traveling mercenaries of all things). According to Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton, they hear everyone speaking their native language (not English) while Desmond and Haytham hear English instead.

So something definitely fishy is going on, that’s for sure. For now, they need to stay together and keep their heads down while looking for information.

Ezio is their de-facto leader with Desmond serving more of a second-in-command role. Funnily enough, Desmond doesn’t notice it as all he’s doing (in his eyes) is keeping everyone from doing dumb things (and he’s weirded out by the fact that he understands Edward’s personality so easily even when he shouldn’t know him at all). Ratonhnhaké:ton mostly keeps to himself but follows Ezio’s orders whenever he must. He only speaks up when he believes he has something worthwhile to say but he’s closer to Desmond than to anyone else, mostly because he knows Desmond understands him without him trying to ‘speak up’ as Haytham likes to say. Edward knows Haytham is hiding something but he’s waiting for his son to say it so he doesn’t push. He tries to connect with Ratonhnhaké:ton as well but mostly, he sticks by Haytham because he can feel the slight animosity between Haytham and Ratonhnhaké:ton (and Desmond who is in Ratonhnhaké:ton’s corner and who is also questioning why Haytham is with them and not… someone worthier in Desmond’s eyes). Haytham plays the devil’s advocate and keeps them focused on their goal of finding a way out even though the urge to help and build their own Brotherhood as a way to help the people of this wartorn land was definitely building on the surface, no matter how much Haytham tries to snuff it out.

By the time Geralt and Vesemir reached White Orchard, Haytham had given up and they have a budding Brotherhood already set up. The inn the two witchers go to is actually the first bureau they built and Desmond serves as the ‘bartender’ (with Edward playing the owner). Geralt and Vesemir are surprised by how polite everyone was but they both know something is wrong.

Something is definitely strange and they’re not sure what it is yet.

So the inn they go to is witcher-friendly and they learn about how the griffin that attacked them will ‘be taken care of’.

“So there’s a witcher here already?” Geralt asked curiously.

Desmond kept smiling politely as he replied vaguely, “We deal with our own problems.”

And that only makes Geralt wary because a lot of people die when they deal with problems outside of their ‘range’.

Geralt goes to fight the Griffin still, especially after receiving the ‘request’ from the Nilfgaardians. During his fight, a group of five hooded figures helps him out and Geralt is impressed by their coordination. It was clear that three of them were more inexperienced but the other two could definitely handle their own.

Together, they all defeat the griffin and Geralt tries to find out who they are. The two most experienced of the group talk to him, telling him about how they were simply a band of ‘samaritans’ and they don’t mind if Geralt takes the head as a trophy as long as they can share what they can harvest from the carcass.

Geralt knows they’re hiding something and tries to get it out of them by using Axii but then he feels something block him. It wasn’t just that his Axii was too weak… something about these two hooded figures blocked Axii specifically.

Another curiosity that makes Geralt wary.

Anyway, the thing with the Nilfgaardians happened as it did in the game and Geralt said nothing about the hooded figures, although he has heard the whispers of the Nilfgaardians guards talking about how they were being attacked by hooded figures, taking their supplies and such. They seem to believe they’re a band of rebels, and might even be remnants of the Temerian army with how organized and strategic the attacks were.

Geralt returns to White Orchards to tell Vesemir what he found out but stops when he recognizes one of the patrons. He sits on the other side of that person and asks him straight out if he’s the leader of the rebel army making the Nilfgaardians’ life miserable.

Ezio (who had been with Ratonhnhaké:ton to assist and gauge their recruits’ skills in the Griffin fight) simply smiles and asks Geralt if he knows how to play Gwent. Geralt tries to push the issue and Ezio tells him he’d talk if they play.

And that is how Geralt learned how to play Gwent in this one because Gwent is an integral part of Witcher lore, damn it.

And Ezio does talk. Not about everything, of course, but enough for Geralt to understand that they’re not necessarily an army nor are they truly allied with the Temerian army at all, but they’re more… on the side of the people.

Their conversation is cut when they hear that Nilfgaardians are outside and they’re looking for the Witchers and…

The ‘Prophet’.

Geralt goes outside to find out what’s the problem now while Ezio and Desmond both looked at one another because only a few people know that Ezio was Desmond’s Prophet and all those people shouldn’t be in this world. Not even the Kenways know about Ezio’s title as the prophet.

They don’t go outside, of course, that would be too risky.

Until Desmond saw the man next to a woman with black hair and purple eyes currently talking to Geralt.

Before Ezio could stop him, Desmond opened the inn doors loudly and ran outside as he shouts the name of the man next to Yennefer of Vengerberg.

“Altaïr!”

.

… you might have excluded Altaïr in the ask, nonny, but it’s me. I’ll include him anyway XD

.

Unorganized Notes:

So this could be a case of more Assassin protagonists getting booted into Witcher 3 but not in the same place as Desmond and the others or Altaïr could have been a special case and got booted near Yennefer for some reason.

Altaïr and Yennefer do not necessarily get along. They’re both stubborn and, really, just allying with the Nilfgaardians for a bit irritated Altaïr.

Unfortunately for him, he and Yennefer needed to ally up while he looks for people ‘like him’ because he holds an important piece of information.

The Wild Hunt is looking not just for Ciri but for someone else. They’re hunting Altaïr because they say he ‘knows’ who they’re looking for. They share the same stench after all.

So it’s more of the enemy of my enemy is my ally deal between him and Yennefer.

Altaïr believes it’s Ezio, the prophet, that the Wild Hunt wants. Ezio believes it’s Desmond they want because why would they want the prophet when the chosen one (which sounds like what this ‘Ciri’ is as well) is with them as well?

This does end with Altaïr joining Desmond and the others and they decide to leave White Orchards after they got chased by the Wild Hunt.

They start building bureaus all over while keeping hidden from the Wild Hunts so they see Geralt from time to time, acting more like reoccurring NPCs in Geralt’s story.

Altaïr stole a few of Yennefer’s magic books. Yennefer knows and made sure Altaïr could only take the ones she didn’t mind losing. Mostly the basic spellbook and grimoires and maybe a copy of bestiaries and such.

Fuck it, Altaïr learns magic. He’s weirdly good at it. The others also learn a bit of magic with varying degrees of success and ease. Desmond is good at it as well but everyone believes it’s because Desmond is good at anything he does while Desmond believes it’s because of his connection to Altaïr (the Bleeding Effect). It’s not.

[turtleblogatlast]

Leo learns something about himself 🏳️‍⚧️

Based roughly on this old post.

Bonus:

[Leo is taking the fact that he was born biologically female simultaneously very well and also not so well but overall he’s mostly coping with the fact that it was Draxum that just essentially gave him the turtle equivalent of ‘The Talk’.]

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Remember: The burning sensation is part of the process.

[halflifebutawesome]

I am a good person. I am a powerful person, I don't believe in evil. I think that evil is an idea created by others to avoid dealing with their own nature. I understand my own nature, good and evil have nothing to do with it.

[epicfirestormer]

Will never get over how Starscream and Skyfire's relationship is always doomed. There's never an iteration of them where they both stay on the same side at the end. They always end up being against each other, tearing each other apart (whether intentionally or not). They always end up losing each other, be it by a snowstorm, by the war, or by death itself. They never receive a happy ending together, one if not both of them is doomed to suffer.

Skyfire is doomed to be an Autobot, by forces out of his control. Starscream is doomed to be an Decepticon, by his own self destructive tendencies. They are both doomed, because of who they are. They always try to save the other, in their own way. But it never works. They are doomed to fail, whether they stay together or not.

[habken]

bakugou seems the type to just kind of hunker down and go bush if he did end up getting lost in Australia if he goes camping while he's there, he's spiteful, resourceful, and he 100% read up on what to look out for in Australia so he knows not to stick his hands in any holes (though he might still box a kangaroo just to prove to himself he can lol)

Deku flies over to Australia in a panic and finds him munching on some bush tucker with twigs in his hair and going "what took you so fucking long"

very fun concept to think about deku frantically flying over to Australia to retrieve bakugou who’s been home aloneing it up down under

[sforzesco]

I love how much Lucullus can't stand Pompey, and also this

Pompey the Great: A Political Biography, Robin Seager

with something from this thrown in for extra flavor

Crassus and Pompey, on the other hand, ridiculed Lucullus for giving himself up to pleasure and extravagance, as if a luxurious life were not even more unsuitable to men of his years than political and military activities.

Plutarch, Lucullus

⭐ places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app / tip jar!

[wyyvoren]

How does one even angst cumplane

well it’s simple. you put them in a situation.

[notarealblogatall]

do i actually think force-sensitive jude law is going to get redeemed or do i just think he’s funny

[lokh]

also i think if roleswap laios and canon laios met theyd immediately start fighting.

[ghastlyaffairs]

for something as trivial and simple those feelings sure are hard to get rid of

also made a gif a version for fun + alt version with no tears under the cut

the gif is in very low resolution...this is a feature (i could make it bigger but that would require saving each frame individually and than glueing it all together. also i feel like low resolution suits it better. aesthetically and fits the mood)

[thevalleyisjolly]

I think part of the reason why Ten and Donna's relationship is so compelling to me is that they share the same main character flaw. In RTD's memoir, he described how he created each of the main companions with a central character flaw. Rose was selfish, Martha was selfless to the point of self-denial, and Donna was self-absorbed. And while all of those flaws were mirrored in Ten in different ways, I think Ten's central flaw was, like Donna, being incredibly self-absorbed.

While I don't dispute that Ten could be arrogant and vain, I think the degree to which he was those things sometimes get exaggerated. Every Doctor has had instances where they behaved arrogantly, as if they were the ultimate authority in the room and were owed everyone's attention and even unquestioned obedience. Many Doctors have preened over their looks or boasted about their intelligence and their achievements, whether as a strategic move or (more often) just because they felt like reminding everyone they were the smartest person around. Arrogance and vanity are recurring character traits across many of the Doctor's regenerations, and while Ten has displayed them more loudly and infamously than other Doctors, I think the unique flaw that better defines this regeneration's character was his propensity for getting completely caught up in himself.

Consistently throughout this regeneration, he ignored or just failed to recognize other people's needs because he was so preoccupied with his own issues. Infamously with Martha, but also with most of his companions past and present at some point (Sarah Jane, Mickey, Jack, Donna) and certainly with countless ordinary people that got caught up in the danger around him. The thing that makes this self-absorption rather than callousness or deliberate cruelty is that it wasn't because he considered them unimportant. Ten frequently affirmed how important every life was and how valuable the most ordinary life was, and he really believed it. But as much as he believed it, he constantly struggled with the practice, with prioritizing ordinary people when he himself was embroiled in turmoil (whether active danger or his own personal issues). He believed fundamentally that each life had value and importance; he just saw whatever he was going through or doing at the moment as having even more value and more importance.

Ten didn't lack compassion for others. Indeed, he felt very strongly for people who were in distress and regularly put himself at risk to try and help them. But he often struggled to look beyond himself - his own concerns and demons and ego and fears. If someone's needs or feelings align with his own or seem to be relevant to the issue at hand? Good! He'll try to help if he can. But if someone's needs clash with his own, or their opinions challenge his own view, or their feelings push uncomfortably against his own emotional state? All of a sudden, he's very busy, he becomes rude and dismissive, he clams down, he acts ignorant, and if all else fails, he runs away.

The Chamelon arch storyline in "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" is incredibly fascinating because John Smith embodied the Doctor's self-absorption on a much more recognizable, human scale. He was happy to be benevolent and kind when people acted within the sphere of what he knew. As a teacher, he recognized when a brilliant student was downplaying his intelligence to avoid attention from school bullies, and he tried to encourage Timothy within the bounds of what a teacher could do. But when people started disrupting his own little world of happiness -particularly Martha or his students interrupting romantic moments with Joan- then he became curt and dismissive and even more obstinate about his preferred way of things. All things that the Doctor also does, but which we notice less because he's usually the perspective we're rooting for to solve everything and save the day so is it really a big deal if he's rude towards another character? And then there's the original act of self-interest that Joan calls the Doctor out on at the end - he brought death and destruction to this village that he chose on a whim, without thinking of anyone else, all because he personally didn't want to confront the Family even though he was capable of stopping them.

All this to say that this flaw is part of what makes his relationship with Donna so compelling to watch. You have these two fundamentally self-absorbed characters on a journey together and they inspire each other to start doing better than they were before. They're growing together in the same direction with each other and because of each other. Donna, seeing the whole wide universe with all the good and the bad of it, realizing not only how small her worldview has been until now but then reaching out to make connections with people she wouldn't have given the time of day to before. The Doctor, absorbed with all his own burdens and traumas and memories and promises, being furiously and desperately shouted at by his best friend to do something. Save someone. It doesn't matter how small the act or how insignificant they are in the greater scheme of things. Never mind the greater scheme. Never mind us, never mind you. Just look at the person suffering in front of you now and help them.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Market based mistakes.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[gracelesstars]

"Back when you first came into my life, I recalled a place that I knew as a child A special place One that I held close to my heart Won’t you lead me in a dance down this winding road where light and shadow entwine to take hold of the thoughts of the one left far behind? Know that, sometimes, I want to turn around and see the things that I’ve passed on the journey, but know with love on my side, with courage and pride, I’ll fight I will carry on"

R.I.P. Akira Toriyama

[heybiji]

Roshan walks with the two Potts, gazing around at the fields and forests painted in warm colors by the setting sun. He remarks, "It is a lovely view from here."

Gazing outward, past the broken walls he had put up 20 years ago, Arthund nods and says, "Forgot. Forgot how... how pretty it all is."

I recently finished running an original oneshot for some friends, The Reaching Woods. It was a story about a little village surrounded by a big wall and the nearby forest's sudden overgrowth threatening to crush it all. It was also a story about blame and guilt.

Arthund Potts, when we met him, could barely speak at all. Too many years spent drinking and weeping. If he was even conscious he was all grunts and sloppy gestures. The scene above was at the end of the oneshot (okay, eighteenshot), once the party returned from the dark, evil woods.

[froschli96]

You know what, fuck it, I have to speak my truth! (this is gonna be a rant, so anyone who actually likes assassin's creed revelations and/or the secret crusade, be warned or maybe don't read this at all)

remember how altaïr talks to king richard at the end of ac1, and richard is like "[humans] come into the world kicking and screaming, violent and unstable. it is what we are. we cannot help ourselves."? and how altaïr answers "no. we are what we choose to be." and how that ACTUALLY has meaning bc he himself was "violent and unstable" at the beginning of the game but he has learned and is now CHOOSING to be a better person who cares about others and humanity at large? remember how his calmness and gentleness was something that he ACQUIRED over the course of the story?

and remember how in revelations they then suddenly had a PRE-AC1 altaïr say about the first of his targets "no man should pass from this world without knowing some kindness." and be all wise and calm and collected during a nice little chat with al mualim, who suddenly acts all fatherly? (like, this is suddenly supposed to be a positive relationship? what??)

also, during the confession the target says to altair: "you put too much faith in the hearts of men, altaïr. [...] humans are weak, base, and petty." and altaïr answers: "no. our creed is evidence to the contrary." KJASJFJDKL???? like, it’s almost insulting how close this exchange is to the one with richard. you know, the one that was actually earned after a whole game of character development. like WTF??? cool congrats now that development means nothing. like, apparently that was just altaïr reverting BACK to being the exemplary assassin who understands and believes in the creed that he was apparently just born as. (i also hate how having a young inexperienced altaïr saying this implies that altaïr's faith in humanity is a sign of naivete instead of a sign of the wisdom he has gained after being confronted with counter arguments for a whole game, and also something that distinguishes the assassins from the templars who use humanity's supposed wickedness to justify controlling them like in AC1, but whatever)

altaïr’s development in AC1 mattered BECAUSE he is not NATURALLY a good person, it actually said something about humanity's capacity for both bad AND good and how humans don't have to be forced to be good through mind control bc they can by their own free will choose to be better when taught how and when allowed the freedom to grow. but no. apparently altaïr has just always been calm, wise and gentle. and he just sort of forgot about that during AC1 bc…. ? bc of adha?? bc of abbas???

oh don’t get me started on the whole abbas thing. (it doesnt even make sense that abbas is so hung up about his father and "his family’s honor", like what about the whole point of al mualim not allowing parents to be close to their children bc it would make them weak? like, my dude, you’re not supposed to HAVE any family aside from the brotherhood)

they used the throwaway character that had like 5 lines and made him into altaïr’s main antagonist in revelations… like, abbas wasn’t supposed to be this ONE dude who had personal beef with altaïr, he was just supposed to show how while altaïr’s revered by many, a lot of his brothers also hate him, bc 1) altaïr is a shitty person at this point and 2) bc there’s no real feeling of community and family in this version of the brotherhood, but just a pervasive sense of competition and jealousy — these assassins don’t care about their goal of safeguarding humanity bc they’re too hung up on petty squabbles and divided by rivalries (you know, the things that made malik hate altaïr even before solomon’s temple and that he overcomes in the end which enables him to forgive and to reconcile with altaïr so they can work together and stop al mualim? (you ever just think about "we are one. as we share the glory of our victories, so too should we share the pain of our defeat. in this way we grow closer. we grow stronger." and cry? bc i do. all the time. malik, the man that you are))

and now abbas is altaïr’s childhood best friend turned lifelong enemy?? like, bowden bent over backwards to come up with an explanation for why altaïr is an arrogant ass at the beginning of AC1, when the explanation is right there: he was raised to kill without asking questions and was constantly praised for how good he is at murder, which resulted in him becoming arrogant and disregarding human life. like, it doesn’t have to be some shakespearean family feud type shit. and guess what, this "simple" explanation actually plays into the story’s themes, who’da thunk!

(like, abbas might not have been a "fleshed out" character in AC1, but he had a specific function and now that function is gone. mr bowden, mr mcdevitt, you know characters are allowed to simply exist to tell us something about their worlds and the systems they live in and sometimes that’s more important and also more interesting than having every single character have a detailed backstory to explain all their behaviors, right?)

with all of this revelations loses all nuance in regards to the levantine brotherhood and also the creed in general. like, altaïr being a master assassin at the beginning despite being a terrible person and not actually understanding the creed is a criticism of the brotherhood and the creed itself. like, it said something about the order that someone like altaïr was able to get that high in rank, simply bc he's good at killing, which also tells us what is considered important in the al mualim era assassin order. when you make altaïr’s arrogance the result of his personal conflicts instead of how we was raised by a brotherhood that only valued one's ability to kill, you lose that characterization of the assassin order itself!

and by suddenly making al mualim a semi good "father figure" you also downplay his manipulation of not only altaïr but all those under his care. (altaïr says something about al mualim being "as a father" to him exactly twice in the codex, but he doesn’t mean by that that he WAS a father to him, what he means is that he was the CLOSEST THING he had bc HE DID NOT HAVE PARENTS, not because his mother died in childbirth and his father was executed when he was young btw, BUT BECAUSE IT WASN’T ALLOWED, like his parents actually lived but weren’t allowed to be close to him, he says he came to view al mualim’s "weak and dishonest" love as enough and even better BECAUSE HE HAD NOTHING ELSE, BECAUSE AL MUALIM ISOLATED HIS ASSASSINS FROM THEIR FAMILIES. al mualim "loved" him bc he was good at killing people for him! hm, i wonder if this could be trying to say anything about cults and indoctrination and the inherent contradiction in fighting for peace and free will by taking children away from their parents and raising them to become killers?? like, altaïr wasn't ~the special orphan boy~ taken in by al mualim bc his father died a hero's death, it was "the way of the order" to have al mualim be the closest thing to a parental figure for everyone to ensure absolute loyalty! altaïr saying al mualim was like his father is not supposed to make you go "oh, he must have actually been a good guy for altaïr to consider him a father", it should make you go "oh that's kinda fucked up that he considers the dude who made him into a killing machine and who manipulated him a sort of father figure"!)

and then in revelations they suddenly portray that relationship as positive and healthy??? like, it would be one thing to give it some nuance by delving into the psychology behind al mualim’s "love" and maybe showing how al mualim did care about altair in a complicated, fraught sort of way (like, you know, there’s a lot of interesting things you could say about al mualim at several points addressing altaïr as "my child" in AC1 and how that parallels Garnier referring to the people he drugged and abused as his "children", and what that says about how the templars view the people who they say they want to save and in whose best interests they supposedly act (in any case, al mualim doesn’t use that phrase because he has any real parental feelings but rather to patronize and to invalidate any objections, like in a "mother knows best" way))

but they even fucking DARE to parallel that relationship with that of altaïr and darim in revelations, by having the reflection in the puddle of darim hugging altaïr showing altaïr hugging al mualim…. like their relationship wasn’t inherently abusive but just tragically cut short because al mualim was just "corrupted by the apple"… like WHAT???? so it’s not the very real problems like grooming, manipulation and indoctrination and the hierarchical structure of the brotherhood itself (all of which are antithetical to the assassin ideology), it was just the evil apple all along. great. that’s DEFINITELY a lot more interesting.

god im sorry i really dont want to spread negativity but this is driving me INSANE. like, somebody please tell me im not crazy bc i feel like somehow most of the fandom is in agreement that revelations and the secret crusade have better storytelling and characterization than ac1.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, can we talk about how, even IF we completely ignore AC1 and treat revelations altaïr as his own character…. the narrative still doesn’t really work?

basically, the whole point of his story in rev is that "he gave his whole life to the brotherhood", this obsession led to him not using his time with his family which has him ending up dying alone in a dark library and this in turn makes ezio reevaluate his life choices…. except. he doesn’t? neglect? his family? or whatever? like, his devotion to the assassins is sort of painted as this tragic flaw that leads to a lonely death bc it supposedly comes at the cost of his family, but… his wife has joined the assassins, (at least) one of his sons is in the brotherhood and even when he goes to protect the assassins against the mongols, he takes his family with him (except for the son who stays behind bc he has a family of his own and who, ironically, ends up dying bc of that)… like, you can’t describe altaïr as a good husband and father in the database and have his son tell him that "everything that is good in me began with you, father" when they say goodbye, and then want to make us believe that he put his family behind the brotherhood and that that is a character flaw that leads to his tragedy.

because you HAVE to have a character’s tragedy be the result of a character flaw. like. that is how tragedies work. otherwise it just becomes tragedy for the sake of tragedy which is… boring bc it has no purpose. and we know it is SUPPOSED to have purpose bc ezIO FUCKING QUITS BEING AN ASSASSIN AFTER WITNESSING IT!

it’s like they want to have their cake and eat it, too — they didn’t want to actually make altaïr a bad husband/father, but still wanted to make his life a tragedy where he loses his family which is why instead they outsource all responsibility to abbas who now has to be the reason for ALL the deaths.

like, they try to make at least maria’s death kind of sort of the result of altaïr’s rashness or whatever but like… these guys KILLED THEIR SON and TOLD HIM THAT ALTAÏR HAD ORDERED HIS DEATH. like, altaïr losing it in response to that is not rash, it’s fucking logical and justified! if anything the scene made me angry at maria for trying to stop him. like, GIRL, he was YOUR son too??? but god forbid we give female characters actual real emotions, she has to fill the role of "voice of reason who dies for altaïr’s man pain" i fucking guess.

like, it’s this weird mix where his tragedy is simultaneously painted as his own fault but also not really bc abbas is the one responsible for all the shit that happens. it just… it just doesn’t really go together.

the only way to make his story make sense narratively and to give it actual purpose is by looking at it in the context of ezio’s story, bc the things he sees in altaïr’s memories are supposed to be a revelation (ha!) to ezio specifically. and i guess that’s maybe the crux of it all — altaïr’s story in revelations was conceived of first and foremost to support ezio’s story and development. which is probably also why many people maybe don’t notice bc, having skipped ac1 and started with ac2, the majority of people mostly care only about ezio and only really appreciate altaïr’s story in as far as it serves to push ezio forward. (tho i’ve also seen a few people say that ezio is also written kind of weird in rev, but i’ve never really been an ezio girly myself so i can’t speak to the truth of that)

like, altaïr dying alone in the library doesn’t really have to make sense for his character, i guess, bc it’s only really supposed to be a cautionary tale for ezio.

so, i guess, for once, they actually had a MAN dying for another man’s character development, which is pretty woke actually. ubisoft, i take everything back jksdsfjhgdsahfhsdhfghfdsgjhsdgjh