The actor behind Assassin’s Creed Origins’ Bayek has commented on the vitriol surrounding Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ Yasuke.
Earlier this week, Ubisoft finally pulled back the curtain on Assassin’s Creed Red, now known as Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and its dual protagonists: Naoe and Yasuke. The former functions as a stealthy Shinobi, while the latter takes a more straightforward approach to combat, since he’s a Samurai and all.
Historical evidence shows Yasuke was a retainer of Japanese daimyō Oda Nobunaga, which therefore made him a Samurai in the Sengoku era. The modern understanding of Samurai as having a rigid caste system is something that wouldn’t happen until the later Edo era, which didn’t even begin until decades after the setting of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. That means that Yasuke being given a prestigious role under Nobunaga automatically qualified him as a Samurai, despite the fact he’d only relatively recently come to Japan.
Despite the evidence, there are those that have rejected Yasuke existing as the first Black Samurai in Japanese history. Now, Abubakar Salim, who portrayed protagonist Bayek in Assassin’s Creed Origins in 2017, has commented on the online vitriol surrounding Yasuke in the tweet below, pointing out that he went through a relatively similar hate campaign four years ago.
What’s hilarious is having been and gone through the Assasins Creed Origins journey, and seeing the Yasuke/Shadows stuff unfolding.I mean, I’m sure your hill has a lovely view.May 17, 2024
“I’m sure your hill has a lovely view,” Salim adds in the tweet, referencing the frankly odd hill that many are choosing to die in over the matter of Yasuke’s proven existence as a Samurai. Yasuke didn’t just exist by Nobunaga’s side – he was there when the daimyō was betrayed and cornered by vassal Akechi Mitsuhide, a pretty pivotal moment in Japanese history – and one that could be a pivotal moment in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, if this fan theory is anything to go by.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches later this year on November 15, across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X systems.
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