News thatAssassin’s Creed: Valhallawould include afemale version of protagonist Eivormade waves across the fan community, as the practice was heavily appreciated by most players. With the feature allowing players to choose the character’s gender in previousAssassin’s Creedtitles, likeSyndicateandOdyssey, it seems like an obvious choice, although it seems some developers didn’t initially intend it to be a choice at all.
According to reports from “Seiiki” Dell’Aria, the designer of the recently revealedAssassin’s Sisterhood Symbol, the choice of gender for these protagonist’s was caused by disagreements with formerAssassin’s Creed: ValhallaDirector Ashraf Ismail. Dell’Aria proclaimed on twitter that an unnamed developer at Ubisoft had indicated that Ismail had shot down the original intentions of developers forValhalla,Odyssey, andSyndicate.
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The Ubisoft employee, analleged victim of Ashraf Ismail’s misconduct, claims that the original intent for Eivor inAssassin’s Creed: Valhallawas for the character to only be played as a woman. It was only after a disagreement with the former Creative Director that the character was changed to be playable as either gender, with the male Eivor eventually going on to be the more prominent figurehead of the upcoming title. Additionally, Dell’Aria claims in the expanded thread on Twitter that the same disagreement is what led to the player being able to choose between Kassandra and Alexios inOdyssey, as well as Evie and Jacob Frye inSyndicate.
At the moment, it should be noted that this is all merely a rumor, although Dell’Aria claims to believe the source and is only remaining quiet on who it is out of respect and allow the developer to come forward on their own. However, considering the timing of allegations towards Ubisoft higher-ups, and the awkwardtiming ofValhalla’s dual gendered Eivor, there is enough to lend some credence to these claims. The whole situation becomes all the stranger as well, as a female assassin in theAssassin’s Creedseries had been a consistent request beforeSyndicateoffered the ability to play as Evie.
Of course, fears that the market for a female-ledAssassin’s Creed, or even a female-led video game at all, is nothing new to the industry. This same issue almost halted the creation of the highly successfulShantaeseries before it even had the chance to get off its feet. So it may be a blessing enough that players are given a choice onEivor’sgender inValhalla, but hopefully, the positive response to the character will eventually lead to a female-ledAssassin’sCreedin the future.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhallais set to release November 17th, 2020, for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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