Now that Ezio’s story has been told, it is time to loop back to the modern day thread to find the Apple of Eden and hopefully turn the tide in the shadow war against the Templars.
Streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/newdarkcloud
To understand why Lucy was killed off, we must first understand the business of the games industry as it was back the mid-to-late 2000s. At the time, it was commonly understood that most IPs get a trilogy, and maybe a spin-off or two, before making way for the next IP to take its place in the cycle. This was an era before franchises were expected to persist in perpetuity. In that context, Lucy’s voice actress, Kristen Bell, had signed on to a contract for a trilogy of Assassin’s Creed games. This also lines up with what we know about the original plans for Assassin’s Creed.
However, as we know now, plans changed. Ubisoft decided to annualize the series to capitalize on how wildly popular it had grown. Unfortunately, despite their desire, Kristen Bell’s contract was set to expire after Brotherhood, being the third game in the franchise. According to this oft-cited interview with Patrice Desilets, the creative lead, she requested royalties as a condition for her contract renewal(*). Rather than pay her, they opted to part ways. And since she was no longer part of Assassin’s Creed, her character was set to be killed off.
So if you, like me, feel like the plot point of her being a double agent comes out of nowhere, that’s because it did. Lucy was originally meant to be the deuteragonist of the modern day storyline. It was decisions from corporate that denied us both that and a fitting conclusion to the series where Desmond steps up to become a modern day Assassin.
In retrospect, it was this exact moment where Assassin’s Creed began to stray from the light. Although I didn’t realize that at time as I was too busy having fun with what we’d later call the Ezio trilogy.
(*)Unfortunately, I do not speak French so I can’t verify this myself, but this is such a commonly cited interview for that tidbit I have to assume my information is accurate.
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