Welcome back to the Isu Codices. This month, we are looking into two different projects that were both released as English translations in August 2021.
First, we have “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Blood Brothers,” a prequel to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla written by Feng Zisu that follows the Sons of Ragnar as they began the Viking expansion into England, encompassing the five issues first serialized by Tencent Animation, then published in English by Tokyopop in the United States.
After that, we have the second volume of “Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun” by Minoji Kurata, encompassing the serialized issues 5 through 8 from Monthly Sunday Gene-X, translated to English by Viz Media. For information on the others in the Eight Tigers, or other elements of Chinese history addressed here, see the previous annotation.
In the interest of chronology, we will first address “Blood Brothers,” then “Blade of Shao Jun.”
Before we start, a note on nomenclature: Old English and Old Norse use letters not often found in modern English. The letter Æ (as in “Ælla,” “Æthelred,” or “Ælfred”) has been alternatively designated as “A” or “E” in various sources, and the letter ð (as in “Loðbrók”) has been translated as “d” or “th”.
Furthermore, while the word “heathen” is used, it is not meant as an insult, but rather is just a statement of what certain groups or people were called, the most prominent being the “Great Heathen Army” that is more commonly known by that name than as the “Viking Great Army.”
Personnel Files
Ellen Kaye
As of October 2016, Ellen Kaye is the chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Abstergo Industries, and the leader of the Council of Elders (a governing body similar in its mission to the Black Cross agent, but not directly mentioned yet in the comics of any sort).
Kaye was regularly an obstacle to Abstergo Industries CEO Alan Rikkin, and seemingly allied herself with his daughter Sofia, even using his assassination to bring herself closer to the fatherless daughter by claiming his death was for a higher cause.
Lin (Descendant of Shao Jun)
While we learn some new things about what was being done with Lin in this volume of “Blade of Shao Jun,” here is a basic assessment of her involvement in her sole prior work: the 2016 Assassin’s Creed live-action film.
In 2016, Lin, a descendant of Shao Jun living in the 21st century, was imprisoned at the Abstergo Foundation Rehabilitation Center in Madrid as a test subject alongside other descendants of Assassins (whose identities and ancestors are relatively irrelevant for discussion here, but we will address if they come up in later installments). She was part of the prison break that led to the death of Alan Rikkin in October 2016, an event that included Callum Lynch (mentioned in previous volumes of these codices but never in depth).
There are more details that are being deliberately glossed over here (including identities and what was being done in that facility), but they will be addressed if they become relevant in later comics.
New Concepts
Bleeding Effect Instability
We have mentioned elements of the Bleeding Effect several times before. However, some of those dangers, taken not from direct possession but from other aspects, have been discussed a bit less. In particular, there is an element of the condition that is much more concerning for many: the fact that those with an uncontrolled Bleeding Effect case, without a Synch Nexus, have a tendency to descend into homicidal mania.
Master Templar Daniel Cross is a clear example of Bleeding Effect-induced mania, made extremely volatile due to using an early Animus coupled with ineffective treatments for his Bleeding Effect itself. At first, in 2000, he was acting as intended, a sleeper agent in the Assassins and then major figure in the Great Purge. However, by 2012, he was physically assaulting Templar recruits and even murdered the remaining members of Templar Delta Team after the Assassins they were hunting had left. This madness culminated in a psychotic break on the last day of his life in the Abstergo Rome facility, running through the facility during a semiautomatic handgun indiscriminately at scientists and assailants alike while ranting in Russian and English until he was assassinated by Desmond Miles.
Continued belowA more recent example explicitly brought up was the death of Victoria Bibeau in Atlantis in the ruins of Atlantis under Thera, Greece in 2018. Layla Hassan, overcome with anger from the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus and the memories of Deimos/Alexios of Sparta, released a pulse of energy that caused her to collide with a hard surface and die soon after. Layla was thereafter essentially ostracized from her Assassin cell to the point that only Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane, who had both dealt with something similar, but different, with their friend Desmond Miles, would even associate with her, and she was on constant medication along with staying away from the Staff thereafter unless absolutely necessary to survive.
Notably, the event with Shao Jun’s memories influencing Lisa Huang’s muscle memory is not even the first time that Shao Jun’s memories have influenced succeeding generations. When Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia interacted with Nikolai Orelov in 1918 following the shooting of her family, she also suffered from this effect, causing her to believe herself to be Shao Jun for some minutes at a time and deal quite a bit of damage.
History Lessons
Ragnar Loðbrók
Ragnar Loðbrók (hereafter called Ragnar Lothbrok) is a legend as a Viking hero, as well as in the role of a Danish and Swedish king. He is known from Old Norse poetry, Icelandic sagas, and near-contemporary chronicles, and distinguished himself through many raids on the British Isles and the Holy Roman Empire. He also appears in Norse legends.
However, there are no records of whether or not Ragnar Lothbrok himself existed, with him possibly being an amalgamation of various other figures, or entirely mythologized in the first place. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla operates on the assumption that Ragnar Lothbrok did exist, but it also includes other pseudo-mythical figures or outright mythological deities, and so is not necessarily an accurate source.
Halfdan Ragnarsson (Unknown – 877)
Halfdan Ragnarsson was one of the six Sons of Ragnar, alongside Björn Ironsides, Ivarr the Boneless, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, Ubba, and Hvitserk (the latter of whom might just be Halfdan under a different name, or perhaps his epithet as it means “white-shirt”).
Following the death of Ecgbergt I in 872 and of Ricsige in 875, Halfdan did away with puppet Saxon rulers, and instead became the first Viking King of southern Northumbria from his seat in Jorvik. It is possible that he was also co-ruler of Denmark for a time with his brother Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye at least in 873 according to Frankish sources. Halfdan died in the Battle of Strangford Lough in 877, trying to press his claim as the King of Dublin.
Assassin’s Creed further identifies Halfdan as a Seventh Solution Sage of Thor, though that is kept to their fictional depiction and thus irrelevant to this discussion beyond that one minor note. It also depicts him as becoming increasingly paranoid perhaps from lead poisoning, but there is no other record of such an occurrence.
Ivarr “the Boneless” Ragnarsson (Unknown – circa 873)
Ivarr the Boneless was one of the six Sons of Ragnar. Aside from his physical disability, sagas also make note of his wisdom, cunning, and strategic and tactical genius in battle.
The origins of his nickname are uncertain. The Old Norse wording in the Norse sagas is “Ívarr beinlausi,” but the word “bein” translates to both “bone” and “leg,” meaning it could also mean “Ivarr the Legless.” Several sagas reference him lacking bones/legs, but a passage in the saga known as The Tale of the Sons of Ragnar indicates that it may refer to male impotence. In the Tale of Ragnar Loðbrók, his affliction is noted as the result of a curse placed on him due to Ivarr’s father being unable to restrain his lust for his third wife, Aslaug, long enough.
In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, his “bonelessness” appears to refer to his physical flexibility as shown in combat, and the note on his potential impotence is instead an insult by his enemies.
Ælla of Northumbria (815 – 867)
In addition to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (which has very limited information about this period of Northumbrian history), Ælla (alternatively “Aelle”) is also mentioned in Scandinavian sources, such as the Norse sagas. According to those sources, Ælla captured Ragnar Lothbrok and put him to death in a pit of snakes, with the campaign of the “Great Heathen Army” (see below) being in retaliation against the execution itself.
Accounts of how Ælla of Northumbria died are inconsistent between the Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons, be it by Ragnar’s sons (Ivarr and Halfdan) torturing him to death by the method of the blood eagle (see below) or falling in the Battle of York itself on the 21st of March, 867, but the latter seems more likely according to modern historians. Either way, his death is placed on the day of the battle itself, unlike in “Blood Brothers.”
Edmund the Martyr (circa 841 – 869 or 870)
Edmund the Martyr (also known as St Edmund or Edmund of East Anglia) was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death, canonized as a patron saint of England after his death (a status he kept alongside Edward the Confessor until being replaced by Saint George in the 15th century).
Almost nothing is known about Edmund. He is thought to have been of East Anglian origin and was first mentioned in an annal of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written some years after his death.
What is known is that in 869, the Great Heathen Army advanced on East Anglia and killed Edmund. According to Welsh monk Asser and the aforementioned Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he died in battle, but by later tradition he met his death at an unidentified place known as Haegelisdun, after he refused the Danes’ demand that he renounce Christ: the Danes beat him, shot him with arrows and then beheaded him, as ordered by Ivarr the Boneless and his brother Ubba.
The kingdom of East Anglia was devastated by the Vikings, who destroyed any contemporary evidence of Edmund’s reign.
Burgred of Mercia
Burgred (also Burhred or Burghred) was an Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from 852 to 874.
Burgred may have been related to his predecessor Beorhtwulf. After Easter in 853, Burgred married Æthelswith, daughter of King Æthelwulf of the West Saxons.
Also in 853, Burgred sent messengers to Æthelwulf, seeking aid in subjugating the Welsh rebelling against his rule between Mercia and what would be known as the Irish Sea, succeeding in repressing the rebellion due to Æthelwulf’s prompt response.
Fourteen years later, in 867, following their successful campaigns against East Anglia and Northumbria, the Great Heathen Army arrived in Nottingham in Mercia. In response, Burgred appealed to his brothers-in-law, King Æthelred and Alfred for aid against the invaders. Wessex and Mercia did not end up doing any serious fighting, as Burgred ended up paying the army off. However, the Vikings’ march in 874 from Lindsey to Repton, wherein they sacked the Mercian capital of Tamworth, drove Burgred from his kingdom.
Following his departure, the Vikings appointed a new Mercian king, Ceolwulf, to replace him, demanding oaths of loyalty in return. Burgred, on the other hand, fled to Rome, where he eventually died and was seemingly buried in what is now Santo Spirito in Sassia, located in Rome.
Æthelred I of Wessex (845 or 848 – 871)
King Æthelred I of Wessex rose to power roughly concurrently with the arrival of the Viking invaders, ruling as King of Wessex between the years 865 and 871 CE, a reign that ended with his death in late April of 871. He was succeeded by his brother Ælfred (mentioned below).
During his reign, the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia were close allies, and he carried that alliance further by creating a unified coinage between the two kingdoms of southern England for the first time.
Alfred the Great (848 or 849 – 899)
Alfred the Great (a modernized spelling of his name “Ælfred”) was king of the West Saxons from 871 to circa 866, and king of the Anglo-Saxons as a whole from that point to 899. The youngest son of King Æthelwulf, Alfred succeeded his three older brothers, Æthelbald, Æthelberht, and Æthelred, who each reigned in turn before him.
Continued belowAfter ascending the throne, Alfred spent several years fighting Viking invasions. Alfred defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, becoming the dominant ruler in England. Details of his life are described in a work by 9th-century Welsh scholar and bishop Asser.
As shown in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, he was temporarily forced from Wessex due to a defeat to Viking leaders Guthram and Ubba’s Viking forces at the Battle of Chippenham in January of 878, seeking refuge in Athelney. However, with defeat of Ubba in the Battle of Arx Cynuit, Alfred returned, and in May of that same year won a decisive victory in the Battle of Edington. With that victory, he made an agreement with the Vikings, creating what was known as the Danelaw in the North of England. Alfred also oversaw the conversion of Guthrum to Christianity as part of his surrender.
Alfred had a reputation as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and level-headed nature who encouraged education, proposing that primary education be conducted in Old English rather than Latin and improving the legal system and military structure and his people’s quality of life. He was given the epithet “the Great” in the 16th century.
Great Heathen Army (865 – 878)
The “Great Heathen Army” (also known as the “Viking Great Army”) was a coalition of Scandinavian warriors (mainly Danes, but also other Germanic tribes) who invaded England in 865 CE and continued to fight a way of conquest until 878 CE with their defeat against the Wessex forces of Alfred the Great at the Battle of Edington and the signing of the Treaty of Wedmore, which solidified their holdings in northern snd eastern England as “Danelaw,” where the laws of the Danes held sway over those of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (a state that persisted for another 76 years, but we will not go into that more unless Eric Bloodaxe comes up in the comics).
While Vikings had been engaging in raids on centers of wealth such as monasteries since the last 8th century, the Great Heathen Army, a name derived from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 865, was much larger, amongst the largest of its kind, and aimed to occupy and conquer the four kingdoms of England: East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex. To this effort, they succeeded only in the first two kingdoms, making peace with Mercia and, as previously noted, being defeated by Wessex.
Legend has it that the force was led by three of the five sons of the apocryphal Ragnar Lothbrok, including Halfdan Ragnarsson, Ivarr the Boneless, and Ubba.
Battle of York (867)
The Battle of York (not to be confused with the identically named battle in 1813 taking place in what would be known as modern day Toronto, Canada) was fought between the Vikings of the Great Heathen Army and the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria in the city of York.
In “Blood Brothers,” the Battle of York took place in November 866. However, historical record seems to place it on the 21st of March, 867 instead.
Due to a civil war between rival kings Ælla and Osberht over who was the rightful king of York, the Vikings, led by Ubba Ragnarsson and Ivarr “the Boneless” Ragnarsson, were able to conquer the city with little trouble. Despite an alliance between the two rival kings in the spring in an attempt to force the Vikings out of the city, their forces were defeated, with both Ælla and Osberht being killed in the slaughter of their forces.
Following the Vikings’ victory, they would initially set up a puppet king named Ecgberht, who ruled the newly established Kingdom of Jórvík until he was repelled from the city and killed in 873 and replaced by Ricsige (more on that under Halfdan Ragnarsson).
Blood Eagle
“The birth of a blood eagle is a sight to behold, my friend! First, I slice the length of your spine. Now, I pull back the flesh. Out come the lungs, and we spread them like wings.” – Ivarr the Boneless, Manstone Rock, Sciropescire, England, circa 873 CE
Continued belowThe “blood eagle” is a ritual execution method purportedly performed by the Norse as offerings to Odin. According to certain translations of skaldic verses in sagas, victims would be laid prone before having their ribs severed from their spine, followed by the executioner(s) pulling their lungs through the wounds to display a macabre set of “wings”.
The historical authenticity of the practice is currently debated among scholars, with some believing that the idea was created by later Christian historians who misinterpreted certain metaphorical verses in older Norse sagas, or perhaps by the authors of various sagas who misunderstood the metaphorical nature of alliterative Norse kennings.
American philogist Roberta Frank reviewed the historical evidence for the ritual in her Viking Atrocity and Skaldic Verse: The Rite of the Blood-Eagle, coming to the following conclusion: “By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the various saga motifs—eagle sketch, rib division, lung surgery, and ‘saline stimulant’—were combined in inventive sequences designed for maximum horror.” For example, allusions to leaving one’s foes face down on the battlefield, their backs torn as carrion by scavenging birds, was instead interpreted as warriors personally tearing open victims’ backs as a form of torturous death.
Battle of Reading (871)
The Battle of Reading (not to be confused with an identically named battle in 1688) was a victory for a Danish Viking army led by Halfdan Ragnarsson and Bagcsecg against West Saxons led by King Ælthelred and his brother, Alfred, the battle taking place on about the 4th of January, 871 at Reading, Berkshire. It was the second of a series of battles that took place following an invasion of Wessex by the Danish army in December 870, following the Battle of Englefield on December 31.
Æthelred and Alfred brought up the main West Saxon army and joined the local levy forces of Æthelwulf, Ealdorman of Berkshire, for an attack on the Danes to follow the West Saxons’ victory at Englefield. The West Saxons fought their way to the town, slaughtering all the Danes they found outside, but when they reached the town gate the Vikings burst out and defeated the West Saxons with a successful counter-attack. Among the dead was Æthelwulf, whose body was secretly carried off to be buried in his native Derby. According to a late source, Æthelred and Alfred only escaped due their better knowledge of the local terrain, which allowed them to lose their pursuers by fording the River Loddon. Their surviving forces regrouped at Windsor, and battled again four days later (see the Battle of Ashdown below).
Battle of Ashdown
The Battle of Ashdown was a West Saxon victory over a Danish Viking army on about 8 January 871, with much the same forces as those from the Battle of Reading (see above).
The location of Ashdown is not known with certainty, but is thought to be either Kingstanding Hill in Berkshire or near Starveall, a short distance north of the village of Aldworth and southeast of Lowbury Hill.
The Vikings arrived first at the battle ground and deployed along the top of the ridge, giving them the advantage. They divided their forces into two contingents, one under their kings, Bagsecg and Halfdan (simplified to just Halfdan in “Blood Brothers”), the other under their earls (identified in “Blood Brothers” as Blueshield, Ulf Stensson and Björn Stensson). When the West Saxons heard this from their scouts, they decided to copy the formation, with Æthelred facing the kings and Alfred the earls. The king then retired to his tent to hear Mass, while Alfred led his forces to the battlefield. Both sides formed their forces into shield walls.
Æthelred would not cut short his devotions and Alfred risked being outflanked and overwhelmed by the whole Danish army. He decided to attack and led his men in a charge up hill. Battle then raged around a small thorn tree and finally the West Saxons were victorious, though whether it is thanks to Alfred or to the possibly intentional misdirection of Æthelred (who joined the battle later and may have caught the Vikings unawares) is unclear.
The Great Heathen Army’s forces suffered heavy losses, including King Bagsecg and five earls, Sidroc the Old, Sidroc the Younger, Osbern, Fræna, and Harold. The West Saxons followed the Viking flight until nightfall, cutting them down. However, victory proved short lived, as it was followed by two defeats at Basing and Meretun.
Continued belowFoot Binding
Foot binding was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls in order to change the shape and size of their feet; during the time it was practiced (between roughly the 10th century and dying out by the early 20th century), bound feet were considered a status symbol and a mark of beauty. Feet altered by foot binding were known as lotus feet, and the shoes made for these feet were known as lotus shoes.
The prevalence and practice of foot binding varied in different parts of the country, with the feet of young women bound to raise their marriage prospects in some areas. However, foot binding was also a painful practice that significantly limited the mobility of women, resulting in lifelong disabilities for most of its subjects, including the inability to walk quickly and significant pain and discomfort while walking.
Having possibly originated among upper-class court dancers during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in 10th century China, the practice of foot binding gradually became popular among the Chinese elite during the Song dynasty. Foot binding eventually spread to most social classes by the Qing dynasty. The practice and application of foot binding varied, with the more severe forms of binding possibly having developed in the 16th century (during which we see it in “Blade of Shao Jun”). It has been estimated that by the 19th century, 40–50% of all Chinese women may have had bound feet, rising to almost 100% in upper-class Chinese women.
A number of attempts were made throughout history to end the practice. In 1664, the Manchu Kangxi Emperor attempted to ban foot binding, but failed in doing so. In the later 19th century, Chinese reformers also challenged the practice; however, it was not until the early 20th century that the practice of foot binding began to die out, following the efforts of anti-foot binding campaigners and campaigns. Despite foot binding no longer being practiced, some Chinese women who had their feet bound were still alive in 2007; as of that year, this number had dwindled to only a small handful of elderly Chinese women.
Eight Tigers (continued)
We previously went over several members of the Eight Tigers, specifically Gao Feng, Qiu Ju, Liu Jin, Ma Yongcheng, Luo Xiang, and Gu Dayong. However, we will address the remaining two members of the eight: Wei Bin and Zhang Yong.
Wei Bin
Wei Bin was given command of the san qian ying garrison, which was made of 3,000 foreign warriors (culturally, not racially or ethnically) who had surrendered to the throne, sometimes pejoratively called “barbarians” in their society at the time. Wei Bin is also known for building the Hongshangshi, also known as Sir Wei’s Temple, in 1514. This plot of land was officially endowed to him by the Zhengde Emperor after he used divination to find a suitable burial place in Peking’s southern suburbs, and the temple was famous for its crab-apple orchards and other unusual trees. After Liu Jin’s execution, Wei Bin, much like fellow Tiger Gao Feng, was made one of the heads of the Directorate of Ceremonial.
Interestingly, Wei Bin was made to retire upon the ascension of the Jiajing Emperor, meaning that historically, for all of his importance to the Templars in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, he would have had little to no political authority by the time he is a threat to Shao Jun herself in the period he is seen in the manga.
Zhang Yong (1470 – 1532)
Aside from being a native of Xincheng, Baoding, Zhang Yong is mostly absent from historical records until his time with the Eight Tigers. Under the Zhengde Emperor, he took control of many important posts, developing a tight bond with the Emperor that led to Zhang Yong disregarding the government’s policies and plans, such as successfully acquiring privatized land despite opposition from the Ministry of Revenue.
His positions included espionage and direct military command. For example, he had control of the Eastern Depot, a secret police and intelligence operation center run by eunuchs that reporting directly to the Emperor. Zhang Yong also was given control of the firearm-trained Shen-Chi garrison, and by 1510, had been appointed Suprene Commander of the military, sent to deal with the Prince of Anhua’s rebellion (mentioned in the Isu Codices Volume 17). His power was such that in October 1511, he was able to successfully request to be able to select 6,000 troops from the Capital Garrison to be trained as assault forces for crises (approved due to the Emperor’s attention being on another rebellion), and on July 1514 being put in charge of an operation to defend against invading Mongols.
Continued belowDuring Liu Jin’s reign, Zhang Yong was his right-hand in the battlefield and at home, and though he did not get along with Liu Jin, Zhang Yong’s military prowess meant that he could not be removed from power. Zhang Yong even conspired with scholar-official Yang Yiqing to remove Liu Jin from power, becoming the most powerful member of the remaining Eight Tigers after Liu Jin’s execution.
However, after Emperor Zhengde’s death, Zhang Yong’s status fell to that of a regular eunuch, and he was ordered to retire by the Jiajing Emperor. By 1529 he had begun to regain some power, and was made the Grand Secretary of Integrated Divisions. He died shortly after this appointment.
New Issues
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Blood Brothers (Chapters 1-5)
In Scandinavia during 866, the skald known as “Blueshield” was attacked by wolves in the wild, only to be saved by brothers Ulf and Björn Stensson. As Blueshield revealed while traveling to their settlement, he had been sent by the Sons of Ragnar to recruit soldiers for an army to invade Britain, a request he told to their other brother, Jarl Sten.
The jarl, touched upon hearing of the conversation, came forward and recalled to his brothers how he had fought with Ragnar Lothbrok 20 years ago, an experience raiding that he remembered fondly. To that end, he decided to join them, praising their bravery but telling them to rely on one another as well as their shields and time itself, sailing quite some time across the North Sea to the Kingdom of East Anglia.
Upon arrival on the 20th of September, Sten, Ulf, and Björn decided to scout ahead, coming to a horrific sight. Blueshield and some other Vikings eventually caught up to the Stensson brothers, who had passed a line of crucifixes with corpses nailed to them leading to a church, wherein they found Ivarr the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson. Ivarr showed his cruelty, shooting one emissary sent by King Edmund of East Anglia for fun, then ordered the other to take the 2,000 pounds of silver that had been a gift from Edmund, to exchange it for 100 powerful horses within ten days. As Ivarr explained to Björn, he wanted horses, not money, because he planned to launch an attack.
And attack he did, an assault on York in Northumbria. On the 1st day of November, while the newly crowned King Ælla was in attendance of an All-Saints’ Day Feast in the York Minster, s messenger came with news of around 100 attacking “heathens.” On learning of the Vikings, Ælla gave a demand to his towering chief of guards that the army of about a hundred axe-wielding foreigners were to be beheaded to prove Ælla was the mightiest king of England. To that effort, the chief did his best, but was defeated by the Stensson brothers, who each received rewards from Ivarr. They also heard that in the fighting, Ælla has fled the city when learning that he would lose.
Encouraged by victory and his own overzealousness, Ivarr decided that rather than leave to plunder elsewhere, the Vikings would instead stay in Northumbria and establish their own kingdom.
Following the Battle of York, the Sons of Ragnar set about ravaging Northumbria for the next few years (apparently between the years of 868 and 869) after having occupied York (renamed “Jorvik” in Old Norse, with its Old English name being “Eoforwic” beforehand) as their seat of power. This so-called “Great Heathen Army” killed many of the Anglo-Saxons occupying England, taking over much of the eastern and northern petty kingdoms.
Burgred of Mercia bent the knee to the invading Norse and Danes in 868 CE, lest he fall to their axes, and in doing so managed to keep his life. On the other hand, two other kings, first Ælla of Northumbria (found and subjected to the blood eagle as a sacrifice to the Norse Allfather Odin), and then Edmund of East Anglia (peppered with arrows to an extreme degree, and thereafter known as “Edmund the Martyr” or “Saint Edmund”) were killed in 870 CE. Within less than five years of their arrival on the shores of England, the raiders had conquered three of the four kingdoms of the island, setting their sights on Wessex in the southwest.
Continued belowOn the 4th of January, 871 CE, in Reading, Wessex, the vikings routed the Wessex forces, sending them off to Ashdown, where they engaged once again four days later. Despite their efforts, the vikings were defeated and driven off, tricked by Ælfred and with Blueshield having died in battle.
Thereafter, Blueshield was given a viking funeral, put in a ship and sent out to sea (whether or not it was set alight is not shown, but can be implied).
Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun, Volume 2 (Chapters 5-8)
As this volume contains four issues, we will continue the pattern set by prior installments of the Isu Codices: chronological analysis. As such, we will not be separating out the chapters individually, but dealing with the entire story, barring elements already directly addressed in the source game.
There is more to show in this volume, but most of the elements in the 16th century are essentially rehashes of what went on (barring some added focus on Shao Jun’s guilt complex and the addition of one new Assassin (Xiao Hu, the son of a man who was tortured to death in Macau).
1517
Imperial Palace, Beijing, China
A 12-year-old Shao Jun led her 15-year-old friend Zhang Qixie along, despite her protests about potentially getting in trouble for being out in the middle of the night. As Jun told Qixie after they eluded a guard, she had been trained to run without making noise, to climb pillars, and to act as a spy for the Zhengde Emperor.
However, she notes that the Emperor did not want her to be “just another girl,” having not been asked to bind her feet and chest, a common practice for women to be desirable for the Emperor, and both practices that Qixie had partaken in. The difference proved to be a hindrance, as Jun wanted to show her friend a tunnel high up, in a place where Qixie could not easily reach without pain due to her feet. As they realized, foot binding not only displayed beauty and status, but also prevented any escape from the palace, since climbing toward a tunnel Jun wanted to show her was too painful for Qixie.
Qixie did not let Jun dwell on the failure, noting that they are each different, but unite and amazing animals: a butterfly and a rabbit. After Jun told Qixie another story of adventure, she swore to herself that she would return to protect Qixie, and that one day they would travel through that tunnel together. But before then, she would have to leave to act as a spy to look in on the invading Mongols on behalf of the emperor.
2019
Yokohama, Japan
Lisa Huang feels the pain of doing the “right thing” from Shao Jun’s life in comparison to her own. However, both of them feel close to someone, be it Lisa to Mari or Jun to Qixie. Still, she is worried over doing something wrong and making things worse, much like Shao Jun’s feelings in 1526 Macau.
After she leaves, Dr. Kaori Kagami holds a video call with her superior (later revealed as Ellen Kaye, see above), who requests an update on the research into Shao Jun. Kagami tells that Lisa has been revealing previously unseen sections of Shao Jun’s memories (translation: there are elements in this manga that are not present in other installments of the franchise covering the same events). That said, her superior warns her not to make the same mistakes as she did that led to how things got out of hand when she worked at the Madrid facility in 2016 (as shown in the 2016 live action Assassin’s Creed film).
As Lisa walks the streets of Yokohama, lost in thought about the Shao Jun experience she had endured that day, she is surprised by her cousin Mari, who is delighted to see her.
While Lisa and Mari catch up in a café (including Lisa explaining what the Animus sessions have been for), they are approached by Kiyoshi Takakura, who has clearly been overhearing their conversation. He steps up to their table and states that there is no substance to the Animus treatments at all, and promises to explain more if Lisa will meet him privately at a shop at 5pm the next day. He drops a small card with the address onto the table, and before he leaves, he whispers to Lisa about how he, too, is an Assassin and that the war with the Templars has not ended.
Continued belowLisa and Mari are taken aback by the bold interruption to their conversation, with Mari concerned that Kiyoshi clearly looks like a yakuza hitman (which technically, he is) and that going to meet with him would be extremely dangerous. Lisa decides to meet him, as while she is curious what Kiyoshi meant about her treatment, she is far more interested to learn what he knows of the Assassins and Templars. In reply, Mari declares that she will go along with her then, in order to pull Lisa away if things are too dangerous if nothing else.
Upon arrival the next day, Kiyoshi ushers the cousins in, and requests they sit at his table. He does not delay, and immediately informs Lisa that her Dr. Kagami is a Templar, reiterating that the Assassins and Templars may be ancient, but they both still exist and are very real. As he explains, Kagami is using Lisa to obtain information about a treasure, and truly does not care for her wellbeing, as proven by how Lisa is being put through such lengthy Animus sessions. After all, prolonged Animus usage can lead to the Bleeding Effect, which, over time, can become increasingly dangerous to the point that the user may no longer be able to tell their ancestor’s life apart from their own, losing all sense of time and self. According to Kiyoshi, the Bleeding Effect is especially dangerous for younger users, to the point that she may be rendered brain dead if treatments continue, at which point she could no longer be helped. If she is to continue, he advises that she focus on finding the treasure (likely the Precursor box) as soon as possible to allow the Assassins to prevent the Templars from using it to control all of humanity (if they did not already).
Given Kiyoshi’s lack of credentials and how, as far as Lisa can tell, he is just trying to manipulate her (which he is more or less admitting to), she decides to continue the treatments to curb her violent tendencies, and out of curiosity about how the story of Shao Jun concludes. In spite of Kiyoshi’s pleas, she ignores his warnings, storming out of the room after saying that the only way to stop her would be for him to kill her.
With Lisa gone, Mari asks Kiyoshi what they should do now. Kiyoshi explains to Mari that the Bleeding Effect could get a lot worse, and may lead to Lisa ultimately losing control and hurting those close to them. For some specific examples he recalls, there are the cases of Layla Hassan lashing out at Victoria Bibeau and killing her with the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus in Atlantis in 2018 (in the end of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: The Fate of Atlantis – Judgment of Atlantis), as well as Desmond Miles ending the life of Lucy Stillman with his Hidden Blade in 2012 (in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, which admittedly is not a completely accurate view given Juno physically forced him to do it rather than it being typical Bleeding Effect-induced violent tendencies). Mari is insistent on wanting to help Lisa in kind for how Lisa was the only one to defend her when Mari’s father used to beat and abuse her as a child. In spite of warnings about it being very dangerous and being unable to turn back once she starts helping the Assassins, she declares her intention to help Lisa to both Kiyoshi and an elderly woman in a wheelchair, presumably Japanese Mentor Saeko Mochizuki.
Lisa is lost in thought on the streets of Yokohama. She is glad she left the conversation for her own safety, but is unsure if leaving the possible truth behind was wise. As she turns back to return for Mari, she starts to see a hallucination of a Ming dynasty-era guard amongst the civilians, causing her to instinctually adopt a combat stance due to Shao Jun’s muscle memory. As more memories flash through her mind and she collapses on the pavement, Lisa realizes that the guard was not real, and that she may already be losing her mind to what she concedes must be the Bleeding Effect.
Continued belowAs Lisa comes back to her next Animus session (barring some momentary reservations after her Bleeding Effect experience in the street), she eventually comes across the name Qixie, who Kagami knows as Empress Zhang, daughter of an embroidered uniform guardsman (the secret police of the era) and wife of the Jiajing Emperor. This point in Shao Jun’s memories is the furthest that Abstergo had reached in her prior research using a different descendant (Lin from the live-action film), before the takeover of the Madrid facility by the subjects in 2016. The problems then still bother Kagami, who wants to make sure that there are no leaks of the information they find, but also to record everything Lisa’s Animus session reveals, even as it delves even further into the past through Shao Jun’s reminiscence on a time in her childhood.
After recalling the memories from 1517, Lisa awakens from the simulation, tears in her eyes from an influx of emotion over relief that even the great Shao Jun had someone who she cared for and wished to protect, much like how Lisa herself has a desire to protect her cousin Mari. Such a desire almost led to her being thrown from a balcony while trying to protect Mari from her abusive father earlier in her life.
Kagami is a little troubled by this, recalling a previous conversation that she once had with Kaye. She was warned that not only does the Bleeding Effect cause the user to experience hallucinations, but also to have the ancestor’s physical capabilities and combat skills imprinted upon them, leading Kagami to wonder if she is setting Lisa up to be a formidable enemy to Kagami herself.
Realizing that her cousin’s life hangs in the balance after her talk with Kiyoshi about Templars valuing their new world order over any individual life (especially an Assassin like Lisa), Mari tries to call her phone, only for Lisa, still in an Animus session at that moment, not to pick up.
It’ll be a bit more time until the next volume of ‘The Blade of Shao Jun’ is translated, along with another Chinese project, so unless another project is announced or released (or we go into other, less current projects), we’ll see you again next time with the next parts of the story to be released in January!
