The desire to see a confrontation of Arno vs Shay is a deeply flawed sentiment that undermines both characters’ narratives and the broader themes of Assassin’s Creed Unity and Assassin’s Creed Rogue. While it might seem enticing to pit these two protagonists against one another, such a conflict disregards the complexity of their arcs and the critical exploration of themes like fanaticism, disillusionment, and the cyclical nature of control and freedom.
The idea of framing Arno and Shay as opposing forces in a revenge-driven conflict imposes a shallow binary of "hero vs. villain" that is antithetical to the nuanced storytelling of both games. Arno’s journey is not defined by blind allegiance to the Assassin Brotherhood or a pursuit of vengeance. Similarly, Shay’s defection to the Templars is not a simplistic descent into villainy. Both characters grapple with the failures of their respective factions and reject extremism in their own ways.
Forcing these two into an artificial rivalry strips away the depth of their individual struggles. Their arcs explore self-realization, moral conflict, and growth (or the lack thereof). Reducing them to a superficial feud does a disservice to the thematic weight of their stories, flattening them into caricatures of what they truly represent.
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Thematic Dissonance and Their Individual Journeys:
Arno’s story in Unity deconstructs the Assassin's Creed's ideals about power and freedom. Against the backdrop of the French Revolution—when ideals like liberty devolved into oppression—Arno’s arc is about recognizing the perils of fanaticism and blind idealism. He watches how unyielding belief in freedom or vengeance consumes those around him, from Élise’s relentless quest for revenge to Germain’s pursuit of power.
Shay’s story in Rogue similarly critiques fanaticism from a different angle. His disillusionment with the Assassins stems from their reckless pursuit of Pieces of Eden, which leads to widespread destruction and loss of innocent lives. Shay’s decision to join the Templars reflects his desire for order over chaos, but it also exposes his inability to entirely escape the cycle of blind obedience. By killing Charles Dorian, Shay mirrors the very flaws he sought to escape from the Assassins, becoming a pawn in the Templars' machinations and perpetuating the destruction he once sought to prevent.
A direct confrontation between Arno and Shay would undermine the resolution already present in their stories. Arno’s arc is about breaking free from the destructive cycles of vengeance and fanaticism. His final moments of repairing his father’s broken watch symbolize his decision to move forward, embracing growth and balance rather than being trapped by past grievances.
Shay, on the other hand, is a tragic figure. Despite recognizing the flaws of the Assassins, he fails to rise above ideological rigidity, falling into the same trap as the Templars. His choices reflect a man who cannot escape his past, even as he seeks to correct it. This tragic repetition makes him a cautionary tale rather than an authentic foil to Arno’s progression.
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What Everyone Gets Wrong:
Ultimately, the thematic victory has already occurred. Arno embodies the true spirit of the Creed, rejecting the extremes of ideology and forging his own path forward. Shay, conversely, remains ensnared by the cycles he sought to break, unable to escape the trap of fanaticism. A confrontation between them would add nothing to these already powerful arcs and would only dilute their meaning.
There is no need for Arno to seek revenge or "defeat" Shay.
Just want to share with you guys my Tarot deck inspired by Dota 2. It's a work in progress and done with 100% watercolors. I've just finished 8/78 cards, and they are currently not in order. I will be working through all the major arcana then the minor.
A lot of time was spent on researching the lore and assigning which hero belongs to which arcana. Honestly, I've played Dota 2 for 10 years but I didn't really pay attention to the lore so it has been an exciting and educational journey for me.
I will post more artworks in the future when they're done. If you're interested in seeing the latest ones or my other works, please check out my instagram @syao.laurant
It was bad enough that the Invoker was living right next to Magina and he could do nothing about it. But then Christmas came and it all got worse…
Magina put a Christmas tree into his yard, as always. It was a nice tree, not too small, very straight and very pretty. It took him all morning to decorate it, because it had to be perfect. He liked Christmas because of all the lights. It was too dark during this time of the year but all the lights changed the gloomy winter atmosphere into something delightful. Into a time to look forward to.
It wasn’t his intention to show off with the decorations he put up, it was simply his way to light up the darkness of winter.
Satisfied with his work, Magina stowed the packages of the decorations away and impatiently waited for night to settle. It was an amazing feeling when he usually hated the darkness. It brought back too many painful memories but during Christmas, the darkness was always specked with light.
Despite the cold, he settled on his porch, wearing a thick jacked and in addition to it was wrapped in a blanket. He had a book with him and tea in a thermos flask. He snuggled into the cushions of the bench, sipped on his tea and started to read.
The lights flickered on automatically when the sun set behind the houses but it wasn’t dark enough yet to appreciate the decorations. Instead of staring at the tree in his yard and impatiently watching and waiting for complete darkness, Magina continued with the book.
Only when he couldn’t make out the words on the page anymore did he close it and put it down next to him. He sighed as he admired his yard, alight with colours. It was so pretty, it had been worth the effort of decorating half of the day. Content, he lingered, until the temperatures dropped further, now that night had settled.
He shivered and decided it was time to head inside, he could enjoy the sight of the Christmas tree for all the following nights as well.
Even inside of the house it was brighter than usual at this time of the day, with fairy lights around all the windows, and Magina trudged through the house without switching the lights on. It was cosy and he smiled, satisfied with how it had turned out.
It was on the next afternoon, when Magina came home, that he saw the Christmas tree in the Invoker’s yard. It hadn’t been there the day before, though the Invoker’s house and yard were always fancy and exclusive.
The tree was huge and the fairly lights blinked and glittered, outshining everything else in the street.
For several minutes, Magina stared at it. It was pretty, though he would never admit that out loud. But it was the Invoker’s tree and no matter how much Magina would enjoy such a tree from another neighbour, he couldn’t let the Invoker have a nicer tree than he himself had.
It was…
It hurt his pride, that was it. If he could, he’d kick the Invoker out of his house and out of the neighbourhood, but the man had a right to be here, no matter how much Magina detested him.
But then at least, the Invoker shouldn’t have the grandest Christmas tree in the street. And Magina would make sure he wouldn’t.
Magina spent the next day shopping. A bigger tree, more decorations, everything had to be fancy. Then he discarded the current tree in his yard, to replace it with the new one. The old decorations were still useful, they were simply added to the new ones. The more the better, Magina thought. Regarding Christmas lights that was his attitude anyway, but today he had to think even bigger.
It was already late in the afternoon when he was finished, perfect to compare the two trees, his and the Invoker’s. And yes, his was bigger now. Brighter. Better.
Too exhausted to admire the new tree (but happy that he had achieved his goal), Magina got into the house, ate something and fell into bed. He could look at his tree the next day (or night), no need to stress himself today.
The next night, Magina was very proud of his Christmas Tree. It was amazing, definitely better than before. It shone, it sparkled, and it was bigger and better than his neighbour’s tree. Satisfied, Magina sat on the porch and drank a cup of tea. He watched the neighbours drive past and the one a few houses away, who had started with Christmas decorations that day. The house belonged to a couple, both rather quiet and reserved, but always polite. And though everything about them, their style, their house, their garden, their car and all, was always rather low-key, they seemed to have taken Magina’s and the Invoker’s decoration as example and were now matching theirs accordingly.
Because the man had been working since lunch and he wasn’t through yet. Whenever he finished with a part of the decoration, it flickered on, illuminating the garden and the man. It was fascinating to see how the darkness lessened with every light that was put up.
The woman came out and brought him something to drink. Magina couldn’t see much of them this far away, but they seemed to talk for a few minutes before the man leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.
He only worked for maybe half an hour more, the huge tree in the garden the last thing he decorated. Once he was finished, Magina was frowning. He liked that his neighbours decorated their gardens, enjoyed all the colours and lights, but when he compared their and his tree, he wasn’t sure if theirs wasn’t a tad bigger. It didn’t bother him as much as with the Invoker, but the fact they had started decorating a few days later and now, now that Magina had improved his own tree after the Invoker had one-upped his, it seemed like it had been done on purpose. Like a challenge.
With a hint of annoyance, Magina pushed the thought away. He was probably a bit sensitive after the Invoker had pulled his stunt. Surely the other neighbours hadn’t put up a bigger tree than his to annoy him.
He left the porch as he tried to stay calm, but the thought wouldn’t leave his head. And when he looked out of the window, he was sure that their tree was bigger.
It shouldn’t be an issue, they could decorate their garden however they wanted to, but Magina slept poorly, the sense of being mocked following him through the night.
Since he knew he was being stupid, he tried to ignore his neighbour’s gardens. It worked for a day, but then the Invoker actually scaled his tree up. Again.
Magina stared, mouth open and eyes wide, as the Invoker shuffled through his garden, hands filled with fairy lights and a tree, bigger than Magina’s and also bigger than their neighbour’s, standing there.
Maybe it had not been designed as a challenge when their neighbour had decorated the tree, but this, from the Invoker, it definitely was one. There was no way it couldn’t be one, especially when the Invoker saw him and waved. He waved! As if they were friends and always happily greeted each other. (They didn’t.)
Magina grit his teeth and slammed the door shut behind him in anger as he vanished into the house. He got his wallet and his keys and then left to buy an even bigger tree, more lights and decorations. He would not be bested by the Invoker.
When he worked on the better tree, it was no fun anymore. Magina enjoyed decorating for Christmas, but this was more of a fight. He was angry at his neighbours for involving him into such a petty contest. He’d rather sit on his porch and enjoy the way the lights sparkled in the night than think about how to get a bigger and better Christmas tree.
The next day another neighbour participated in the competition for the best tree. Magina groaned in frustration, especially when the Invoker followed suit a day later.
Magian sat down on his porch, rubbing over his face with his hands. He didn’t want to see the stupid tree in the Invoker’s garden, he didn’t want to see his tree, he didn’t want to have less Christmas decorations than his neighbours. But he was tired, exhausted actually, from the shopping and decorating he had been doing all week.
He was exhausted from the pressure of being better and from the fear of not being good enough. This was supposed to be a fun season, full of lights and laughter, but instead it was horrible. It would almost be better to sit in the dark than have a smaller Christmas tree than the Invoker and not the energy to do something about it.
He didn’t even mind about all the other Christmas decoration (at least not as much), though other neighbours had started to compete in this strange competition about who would have the biggest, the grandest, the most breath-taking Christmas tree.
Suddenly someone touched him on the shoulder.
Magina jerked away, but relaxed when he found his friend Lanaya standing in front of him. Her black hair, braided and hanging over one shoulder, gleamed in the sparkling lights from the decorations. Her eyes seemed darker than they were and she had a bright pink shawl wrapped around her shoulders. “Magina, you are awfully discontent this Christmas.”
True. It was probably more than evident but it was probably also evident why he couldn’t enjoy the season. “Stupid Invoker and his stupid tree,” he muttered, avoiding said tree by staring at his own. It was pretty, it was big, and it was able to light up the darkness of the late autumn nights. But it wasn’t enough.
“You are beating yourself up because of Kael’s Christmas tree?” Lanaya turned until she was able to look at it.
Magina refused to turn. “He makes me and my tree look stupid, he wants to annoy me, he wants to humiliate me and ruin Christmas.” And he was succeeding with all of it.
Lanaya sighed as she focussed back on Magina. She pulled the pink shawl tighter around her shoulders, then held a hand out. “Come, I want to show you something.”
Reluctantly Magina took the offered hand and Lanaya’s cool fingers curled around his. She pulled him up from the porch, but then didn’t release her hold. Instead she pulled him along, out of his garden and down the street.
He was confused, but followed without comment.
At the end of the street, Lanaya stopped. “Turn around.” She motioned behind Magina, in the direction they had been coming from. The shawl slipped a bit, and she pulled it back up. She had to be cold, wearing so little when the temperatures outside made it clear that winter was coming, but she didn’t complain.
Ignoring her state of dress, Magina did as she had told him.
And blinked.
The street was bathed in light.
“Do you see how pretty our street is? How bright all the decorations are shining? How awesome it is? And not because there is one big tree in Kael’s garden, but because everyone, you, me and even the strange on-off boyfriend of Kael, have decorated.
I think making this into a competition was stupid, but in the end, it led to us having the most wonderful Christmas decoration in the whole town. Don’t you think?
And when you look at it all, don’t you think it doesn’t matter if Kael’s tree is bigger than yours? Don’t you think this is pretty enough as it is? To me, it looks like Christmas. It feels like Christmas. And it is enough.”
She was right.
It did.
It was.
Though it was night, the whole street was bright and colourful. From somewhere Magina could hear Christmas music and laughter. And in a rush, all the tension that had built during the last week left. Naya was right, it was amazing, what they had done in their neighbourhood, and it was enough. It was time to let the competition go and enjoy the sight.
“So…” Lanaya bumped her shoulder into his. “Can we go back? I’m freezing, because I just wanted to invite you to drink a cup of tea and eat fresh cookies. Still warm, I took them out of the oven like, ten minutes ago.”
Cookies and tea sounded like a wonderful idea and together they headed back to Lanaya’s house.
Later, when he trudged back home, Magina saw the Invoker in the garden. He stood in front of his Christmas tree and he sparkled. There was no other word for it. He always wore bright clothes, white and yellow, sometimes dark purple to offer a contrast. But he always had some kind of golden highlights on his clothes, like some royal.
These highlights, they sparkled from the Christmas lights all around him, making him appear to be a part of the decoration.
When he saw Magina, he raised his brows, as if to say ‘now what’? But Magina merely nodded. If the Invoker wanted to bait him into continuing this competition, he’d not succeed. It was Christmas, it wasn’t about who had the biggest tree, it was about family, about friends, about kindness and light. Yeah, it had taken him a little push from Naya, but he’d not get bothered by his annoying neighbour today.
Instead he tried to see the beauty of his Christmas tree. Or maybe better, of their Christmas trees, almost side by side, lighting up the night until the memories that lingered in the darkness couldn’t hurt Magina anymore. At least for a while.
