Source plot synopsis — includes the ending
=== Setting and characters ===
As with previous games in the series, Odyssey features a narrative set in the modern-day, which follows Layla Hassan, an Assassin and former Abstergo researcher who was introduced in Origins. Assisted by fellow Assassins Victoria Bibeau, Kiyoshi Takakura, and Alannah Ryan, Layla's goal is to find the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus and the lost city of Atlantis by using data processed by her portable Animus device. The device recounts a secret mythological history set during the Peloponnesian War, which was fought between the city-states of Greece. The game's historical plot is set in 431–422 BC, four centuries before the events of Assassin's Creed Origins and the creation of the Hidden Ones, the forerunners to the Brotherhood of Assassins.
The game's main storyline follows the player character, the elder of two siblings known as the Eagle Bearer, a legendary mercenary with Ikaros as a constant companion. As a child, the Eagle Bearer was exiled from Spartan society after they attempted to stop a Spartan elder from throwing their younger, infant sibling from Mount Taygetos at the urging of the Pythia, who determined that the child, if allowed to live, would be responsible for the potential glory or downfall of Sparta. As punishment for inadvertently sending the Spartan elder falling to his death, they were thrown off the mountain by their father Nikolaos, who was compelled to do so by the Spartan leadership. They survived the fall and ended up in the care of a con man named Markos, based in Kephallonia, where they work various odd jobs under his direction. As a wandering mercenary or misthios, the Eagle Bearer has opportunities to fight for both the Delian League, led by Athens, and the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta. In conjunction with the Eagle Bearer's attempts to reunite their fractured family, parallel quest lines deal with the destruction of the Cult of Kosmos (a secret organization spanning the Greek world) and the discovery of artifacts and monsters from Atlantean times.
The game features a number of historical personages players can encounter and interact with, including Alkibiades, Aristophanes, Euripides, Democritus, Sokrates and many others. It also includes historical and mythical Greek locations such as the Agora of Athens, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, Lesbos, and Macedonia. The game features several creatures from Greek mythology, such as Medusa, the Cyclops, the Sphinx, and the Minotaur, depicted here as experiments of the Isu, the same race that created humanity and most of the artifacts encountered throughout the series.
Plot
Odyssey's story begins in 480 BC, where King Leonidas leads the Spartan army against a Persian charge during the Battle of Thermopylae. The skirmish is won, but a captured enemy informs Leonidas that the Persian army has learned of the mountain path and will surround the Spartans by morning. Nevertheless, Leonidas resolves to hold off the Persian advance.
In 2018, Layla Hassan recovers Leonidas' spear. She extracts the DNA of his grandchildren, Alexios and Kassandra, from it to use in her Animus to find the location of the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus. Whichever sibling is selected by the player is designated as the Eagle Bearer.
In 431 BC, at the onset of the Peloponnesian War, the Eagle Bearer is hired by a mysterious merchant named Elpenor. The plot is to assassinate the "Wolf of Sparta" in the city of Megaris. After befriending a naval captain named Barnabas, the Eagle Bearer leaves Kephallonia having been given command of his ship, the Adrestia. In Megaris, the Eagle Bearer learns that Nikolaos is not their biological father and has another adopted son, Stentor. They also learn that their mother Myrinne left Nikolaos and Sparta shortly after the incident at Mount Taygetos. The Eagle Bearer travels to Phokis to confront Elpenor, who reveals himself to be a member of the Cult of Kosmos, who are aware of their lineage. Disguised in Elpenor's mask and robes after killing him, the Eagle Bearer infiltrates a secret Cult meeting in Delphi, where they discover that not only is the Cult targeting their family, but their younger sibling had survived the fall from Mount Taygetos and subsequently manipulated by the Cult into becoming their champion known as Deimos. Accompanied by Barnabas and Herodotos, the Eagle Bearer embarks on an extended journey across the Greek world. Eventually they reunite with Myrinne, who had assumed the alias of Phoenix, the oligarch of the polis of Naxos. Myrinne persuades her eldest child to convince the Spartan regime to reinstate their citizenship and ancestral estate, while they continue to undermine the Cult's activities in the Greek world together.
At the Battle of Pylos, The Eagle Bearer meets Deimos. The encounter leads to a fight which results in The Eagle Bearer's capture. They are taken to Athens, where the Cultist Kleon enjoys popularity as leader of the city-state following the death of his rival Perikles years prior. Thwarting Kleon's plans, The Eagle Bearer escapes captivity with the help of their Athenian allies. At the Battle of Amphipolis, The Eagle Bearer joins Brasidas' Spartan forces to confront Kleon's Athenian army. During the battle, the leaders of both armies die, ushering in the end of the first half of the Peloponnesian War. Afterwards, the Eagle Bearer returns with Myrinne to Mount Taygetos to confront Deimos. Depending on key decisions made by the player at predetermined points of the game's narrative, the Eagle Bearer either redeems or kills Deimos. Their actions have a direct bearing on the fates of their extended family members and determines whether they will have a successful family reunion for the main plotline's epilogue.
After eliminating the Cult, the Eagle Bearer returns to the sanctuary in Delphi, where they find the Cult's pyramid-shaped artifact and Aspasia, who reveals herself to be the Cult's original leader. Disgusted by what the Cult had become as a result of Deimos' influence, Aspasia secretly helps the Eagle Bearer dismantle it, with hope that its original ideals of peace through order may survive. The Eagle Bearer touches the artifact and receives visions of future conflicts. They then destroy it and decides Aspasia's fate. At some point during their lifetime, the Eagle Bearer also meets their biological father Pythagoras, who is revealed to be a descendant of the Isu like Myrinne and Leonidas, and inherits the Staff of Hermes from Pythagoras to safeguard the secrets of Atlantis, gaining biological immortality in the process.
In the present, Layla encounters the Eagle Bearer in Atlantis, who warns her that the world needs balance between the Assassins' and Templars' ideals; either side prevailing over the other will result in the world's doom. Layla also learns that she is the prophesied one who will bring balance between the concepts of chaos and order. The Eagle Bearer gives Layla the Staff before dying.
Legacy of the First Blade
Set during the events of the main campaign, this expansion focuses on the Eagle Bearer's conflict with the Order of the Ancients, the precursor organization to the Templar Order introduced in Assassin's Creed Origins. The Order is hunting the Eagle Bearer in an attempt to end their bloodline, which they believe is too powerful and a threat to their vision of peace. In fighting against the Order, the Eagle Bearer receives aid from Darius, a character first mentioned in Assassin's Creed II, who is also being pursued by the Order due to his history with them. A major plot element in the expansion concerns the Eagle Bearer's desire to settle down and start a family.
The Fate of Atlantis
In 422 BC, after inheriting the Staff of Hermes from Pythagoras, the Eagle Bearer meets the Isu Aletheia, whose consciousness is stored inside the Staff. Aletheia explains that their duty as the Keeper of the Staff is to help the "Heir of Memories" unlock the gate to Atlantis by finding three tombs with symbols required to open the gate. The Eagle Bearer locates the tombs, allowing Layla to find the symbols in the present. She then relives a memory of Deimos to learn the correct order to activate them, allowing her to access Atlantis.
After being joined by Victoria, Layla is informed by Aletheia that she created simulations to help the Eagle Bearer master the Staff's powers. Layla enters the Animus to relive the Eagle Bearer's memories of the simulations and learn how to wield the Staff.
In the simulation of Elysium, the Eagle Bearer meets Persephone, the strict ruler of Elysium, and learns of a human rebellion led by Adonis against her regime. The Eagle Bearer helps both sides of the conflict while also meeting and assisting Hermes Trismegistus, who offers to teach them about the Staff, and Hekate, who secretly seeks to undermine Persephone's rule and take over Elysium. The Eagle Bearer eventually helps Adonis and his rebels to attack Persephone's palace, where they defeat Hermes in combat and confront the ruler. Depending on choices made by the player, Persephone either allows Adonis to leave Elysium or blinds him, before banishing the Eagle Bearer to the Underworld.
In the Underworld simulation, the Eagle Bearer is forced to defeat Cerberus before being confronted by Hades. He explains that Cerberus' death has opened numerous rifts between Tartaros and the Underworld, releasing souls confined to Tartaros back into the Underworld. To contain the chaos, Hades instructs the Eagle Bearer to find new guardians for each of the Underworld's gates, promising to teach them about the Staff in return. The Eagle Bearer does so, and in the process is reunited with several of their deceased friends and adversaries, including Phoibe, Brasidas and Elpenor. After finding all the guardians, Hades betrays the Eagle Bearer and reveals his intention to turn them into a guardian as well, forcing the Eagle Bearer to fight him.
Following Hades' defeat, Poseidon arrives to take the Eagle Bearer to Atlantis, where he appoints them as Dikastes, his second-in-command. The Eagle Bearer is then tasked with exploring Atlantis to enforce Poseidon's laws and to ultimately pass judgement on the city. During their journey, the Eagle Bearer discovers that many Isu regularly disobey Poseidon's laws and commit crimes against humanity; the most egregious of which is "Project Olympos", a genetic engineering program led by Juno and Aita that combines abducted human subjects with Isu artifacts to create hybrid beasts. After defeating Juno and Aita's latest creation, the Hecatoncheires, the Eagle Bearer deems Atlantis beyond saving and, alongside Poseidon, activates a mechanism to sink the city. With the trails complete, the Eagle Bearer is congratulated by Aletheia for proving themselves worthy of wielding the Staff and embraces their new role as the Keeper.
In the present, Abstergo agents led by the Templar Juhani Otso Berg track down the Assassins, but Layla uses the Staff to fight them off. Seeing the negative influence the Staff is having on Layla, a concerned Victoria tries to take it away from her, only to be accidentally killed by Layla in a fit of rage. Having witnessed this, Aletheia is unsure if Layla is fit to wield the Staff, but the Assassin convinces her to let her prove herself. After defeating and crippling Otso Berg, an exhausted Layla contacts her team to be picked up.
Those Who Are Treasured
In 421 BC, the Eagle Bearer, exhausted by their adventures and pressured by their new responsibility as the Keeper, decides to take a vacation on the island of Korfu. After six months, Barnabas and Herodotos find them and are concerned that the Eagle Bearer has become sedentary, inviting them to take part in a treasure hunt. During their search, the Eagle Bearer stumbles upon a group of pirates who are looking for an artifact hidden on Korfu, and finds the key to the chest in which the artifact is held. After being forced to surrender the key to the pirates, who captured Herodotos, the Eagle Bearer confronts and kills the pirate captain, who has found the artifact: an Apple of Eden. As the Eagle Bearer approaches the Apple, it interacts with their spear, de-powering it.
Speaking with Aletheia, she informs the Eagle Bearer of other Isu artifacts hidden across the globe and claims that, as the Keeper, it is their duty to find and destroy them. However, the Eagle Bearer refuses to abandon their friends and life in Greece, leaving to find Barnabas, who the Apple has corrupted. After fighting Barnabas and separating him from the artifact, the Eagle Bearer decides to inform him of their immortality, which Barnabas agrees to keep secret. Now aware of the dangers of Isu artifacts, the Eagle Bearer accepts Aletheia's mission and leaves Greece to begin their new journey alongside Barnabas after gifting their spear to Herodotos. Centuries later, the Eagle Bearer, left to continue their journey alone, travels to Egypt and places a scroll given to them by Herodotos in the Library of Alexandria.
As with previous games in the series, Odyssey features a narrative set in the modern-day, which follows Layla Hassan, an Assassin and former Abstergo researcher who was introduced in Origins. Assisted by fellow Assassins Victoria Bibeau, Kiyoshi Takakura, and Alannah Ryan, Layla's goal is to find the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus and the lost city of Atlantis by using data processed by her portable Animus device. The device recounts a secret mythological history set during the Peloponnesian War, which was fought between the city-states of Greece. The game's historical plot is set in 431–422 BC, four centuries before the events of Assassin's Creed Origins and the creation of the Hidden Ones, the forerunners to the Brotherhood of Assassins.
The game's main storyline follows the player character, the elder of two siblings known as the Eagle Bearer, a legendary mercenary with Ikaros as a constant companion. As a child, the Eagle Bearer was exiled from Spartan society after they attempted to stop a Spartan elder from throwing their younger, infant sibling from Mount Taygetos at the urging of the Pythia, who determined that the child, if allowed to live, would be responsible for the potential glory or downfall of Sparta. As punishment for inadvertently sending the Spartan elder falling to his death, they were thrown off the mountain by their father Nikolaos, who was compelled to do so by the Spartan leadership. They survived the fall and ended up in the care of a con man named Markos, based in Kephallonia, where they work various odd jobs under his direction. As a wandering mercenary or misthios, the Eagle Bearer has opportunities to fight for both the Delian League, led by Athens, and the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta. In conjunction with the Eagle Bearer's attempts to reunite their fractured family, parallel quest lines deal with the destruction of the Cult of Kosmos (a secret organization spanning the Greek world) and the discovery of artifacts and monsters from Atlantean times.
The game features a number of historical personages players can encounter and interact with, including Alkibiades, Aristophanes, Euripides, Democritus, Sokrates and many others. It also includes historical and mythical Greek locations such as the Agora of Athens, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, Lesbos, and Macedonia. The game features several creatures from Greek mythology, such as Medusa, the Cyclops, the Sphinx, and the Minotaur, depicted here as experiments of the Isu, the same race that created humanity and most of the artifacts encountered throughout the series.
Plot
Odyssey's story begins in 480 BC, where King Leonidas leads the Spartan army against a Persian charge during the Battle of Thermopylae. The skirmish is won, but a captured enemy informs Leonidas that the Persian army has learned of the mountain path and will surround the Spartans by morning. Nevertheless, Leonidas resolves to hold off the Persian advance.
In 2018, Layla Hassan recovers Leonidas' spear. She extracts the DNA of his grandchildren, Alexios and Kassandra, from it to use in her Animus to find the location of the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus. Whichever sibling is selected by the player is designated as the Eagle Bearer.
In 431 BC, at the onset of the Peloponnesian War, the Eagle Bearer is hired by a mysterious merchant named Elpenor. The plot is to assassinate the "Wolf of Sparta" in the city of Megaris. After befriending a naval captain named Barnabas, the Eagle Bearer leaves Kephallonia having been given command of his ship, the Adrestia. In Megaris, the Eagle Bearer learns that Nikolaos is not their biological father and has another adopted son, Stentor. They also learn that their mother Myrinne left Nikolaos and Sparta shortly after the incident at Mount Taygetos. The Eagle Bearer travels to Phokis to confront Elpenor, who reveals himself to be a member of the Cult of Kosmos, who are aware of their lineage. Disguised in Elpenor's mask and robes after killing him, the Eagle Bearer infiltrates a secret Cult meeting in Delphi, where they discover that not only is the Cult targeting their family, but their younger sibling had survived the fall from Mount Taygetos and subsequently manipulated by the Cult into becoming their champion known as Deimos. Accompanied by Barnabas and Herodotos, the Eagle Bearer embarks on an extended journey across the Greek world. Eventually they reunite with Myrinne, who had assumed the alias of Phoenix, the oligarch of the polis of Naxos. Myrinne persuades her eldest child to convince the Spartan regime to reinstate their citizenship and ancestral estate, while they continue to undermine the Cult's activities in the Greek world together.
At the Battle of Pylos, The Eagle Bearer meets Deimos. The encounter leads to a fight which results in The Eagle Bearer's capture. They are taken to Athens, where the Cultist Kleon enjoys popularity as leader of the city-state following the death of his rival Perikles years prior. Thwarting Kleon's plans, The Eagle Bearer escapes captivity with the help of their Athenian allies. At the Battle of Amphipolis, The Eagle Bearer joins Brasidas' Spartan forces to confront Kleon's Athenian army. During the battle, the leaders of both armies die, ushering in the end of the first half of the Peloponnesian War. Afterwards, the Eagle Bearer returns with Myrinne to Mount Taygetos to confront Deimos. Depending on key decisions made by the player at predetermined points of the game's narrative, the Eagle Bearer either redeems or kills Deimos. Their actions have a direct bearing on the fates of their extended family members and determines whether they will have a successful family reunion for the main plotline's epilogue.
After eliminating the Cult, the Eagle Bearer returns to the sanctuary in Delphi, where they find the Cult's pyramid-shaped artifact and Aspasia, who reveals herself to be the Cult's original leader. Disgusted by what the Cult had become as a result of Deimos' influence, Aspasia secretly helps the Eagle Bearer dismantle it, with hope that its original ideals of peace through order may survive. The Eagle Bearer touches the artifact and receives visions of future conflicts. They then destroy it and decides Aspasia's fate. At some point during their lifetime, the Eagle Bearer also meets their biological father Pythagoras, who is revealed to be a descendant of the Isu like Myrinne and Leonidas, and inherits the Staff of Hermes from Pythagoras to safeguard the secrets of Atlantis, gaining biological immortality in the process.
In the present, Layla encounters the Eagle Bearer in Atlantis, who warns her that the world needs balance between the Assassins' and Templars' ideals; either side prevailing over the other will result in the world's doom. Layla also learns that she is the prophesied one who will bring balance between the concepts of chaos and order. The Eagle Bearer gives Layla the Staff before dying.
Legacy of the First Blade
Set during the events of the main campaign, this expansion focuses on the Eagle Bearer's conflict with the Order of the Ancients, the precursor organization to the Templar Order introduced in Assassin's Creed Origins. The Order is hunting the Eagle Bearer in an attempt to end their bloodline, which they believe is too powerful and a threat to their vision of peace. In fighting against the Order, the Eagle Bearer receives aid from Darius, a character first mentioned in Assassin's Creed II, who is also being pursued by the Order due to his history with them. A major plot element in the expansion concerns the Eagle Bearer's desire to settle down and start a family.
The Fate of Atlantis
In 422 BC, after inheriting the Staff of Hermes from Pythagoras, the Eagle Bearer meets the Isu Aletheia, whose consciousness is stored inside the Staff. Aletheia explains that their duty as the Keeper of the Staff is to help the "Heir of Memories" unlock the gate to Atlantis by finding three tombs with symbols required to open the gate. The Eagle Bearer locates the tombs, allowing Layla to find the symbols in the present. She then relives a memory of Deimos to learn the correct order to activate them, allowing her to access Atlantis.
After being joined by Victoria, Layla is informed by Aletheia that she created simulations to help the Eagle Bearer master the Staff's powers. Layla enters the Animus to relive the Eagle Bearer's memories of the simulations and learn how to wield the Staff.
In the simulation of Elysium, the Eagle Bearer meets Persephone, the strict ruler of Elysium, and learns of a human rebellion led by Adonis against her regime. The Eagle Bearer helps both sides of the conflict while also meeting and assisting Hermes Trismegistus, who offers to teach them about the Staff, and Hekate, who secretly seeks to undermine Persephone's rule and take over Elysium. The Eagle Bearer eventually helps Adonis and his rebels to attack Persephone's palace, where they defeat Hermes in combat and confront the ruler. Depending on choices made by the player, Persephone either allows Adonis to leave Elysium or blinds him, before banishing the Eagle Bearer to the Underworld.
In the Underworld simulation, the Eagle Bearer is forced to defeat Cerberus before being confronted by Hades. He explains that Cerberus' death has opened numerous rifts between Tartaros and the Underworld, releasing souls confined to Tartaros back into the Underworld. To contain the chaos, Hades instructs the Eagle Bearer to find new guardians for each of the Underworld's gates, promising to teach them about the Staff in return. The Eagle Bearer does so, and in the process is reunited with several of their deceased friends and adversaries, including Phoibe, Brasidas and Elpenor. After finding all the guardians, Hades betrays the Eagle Bearer and reveals his intention to turn them into a guardian as well, forcing the Eagle Bearer to fight him.
Following Hades' defeat, Poseidon arrives to take the Eagle Bearer to Atlantis, where he appoints them as Dikastes, his second-in-command. The Eagle Bearer is then tasked with exploring Atlantis to enforce Poseidon's laws and to ultimately pass judgement on the city. During their journey, the Eagle Bearer discovers that many Isu regularly disobey Poseidon's laws and commit crimes against humanity; the most egregious of which is "Project Olympos", a genetic engineering program led by Juno and Aita that combines abducted human subjects with Isu artifacts to create hybrid beasts. After defeating Juno and Aita's latest creation, the Hecatoncheires, the Eagle Bearer deems Atlantis beyond saving and, alongside Poseidon, activates a mechanism to sink the city. With the trails complete, the Eagle Bearer is congratulated by Aletheia for proving themselves worthy of wielding the Staff and embraces their new role as the Keeper.
In the present, Abstergo agents led by the Templar Juhani Otso Berg track down the Assassins, but Layla uses the Staff to fight them off. Seeing the negative influence the Staff is having on Layla, a concerned Victoria tries to take it away from her, only to be accidentally killed by Layla in a fit of rage. Having witnessed this, Aletheia is unsure if Layla is fit to wield the Staff, but the Assassin convinces her to let her prove herself. After defeating and crippling Otso Berg, an exhausted Layla contacts her team to be picked up.
Those Who Are Treasured
In 421 BC, the Eagle Bearer, exhausted by their adventures and pressured by their new responsibility as the Keeper, decides to take a vacation on the island of Korfu. After six months, Barnabas and Herodotos find them and are concerned that the Eagle Bearer has become sedentary, inviting them to take part in a treasure hunt. During their search, the Eagle Bearer stumbles upon a group of pirates who are looking for an artifact hidden on Korfu, and finds the key to the chest in which the artifact is held. After being forced to surrender the key to the pirates, who captured Herodotos, the Eagle Bearer confronts and kills the pirate captain, who has found the artifact: an Apple of Eden. As the Eagle Bearer approaches the Apple, it interacts with their spear, de-powering it.
Speaking with Aletheia, she informs the Eagle Bearer of other Isu artifacts hidden across the globe and claims that, as the Keeper, it is their duty to find and destroy them. However, the Eagle Bearer refuses to abandon their friends and life in Greece, leaving to find Barnabas, who the Apple has corrupted. After fighting Barnabas and separating him from the artifact, the Eagle Bearer decides to inform him of their immortality, which Barnabas agrees to keep secret. Now aware of the dangers of Isu artifacts, the Eagle Bearer accepts Aletheia's mission and leaves Greece to begin their new journey alongside Barnabas after gifting their spear to Herodotos. Centuries later, the Eagle Bearer, left to continue their journey alone, travels to Egypt and places a scroll given to them by Herodotos in the Library of Alexandria.
Sources and content license
Source and revision history ↗ · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Section headings and formatting adjusted. · Content license