In the Ezio trilogy, fans get to see the young man grow into a Master Assassin bound to the fate of Altair and Desmond. InAssassin’s Creed 3, players get to see the growth of Connor throughout his life and learn about his family even more inAssassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. It’s not uncommon for the games and/or supplemental material to give fans deeper looks at some characters, but it’s not typical of the franchise to go backward in terms of a character’s story. After seeing what happens toBasim inAssassin’s Creed Valhalla, players get to go back in time and step into his shoes inAssassin’s Creed Mirage.
The result is what amounts to two different versions of Basim, based on these events. And while theAssassin’s Creed Mirageteam was not necessarily beholden to the events ofAC Valhalla, the two games are inextricably linked. Game Rant recently spoke with narrative director Sarah Beaulieu and actor Lee Majdoub (who voices Basim inAssassin’s Creed Mirage) about these versions of the character, his struggles with mental health, and more.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: Basim, even at this stage, is a very complex and emotionally conflicted character. How did you approach the writing and performance of Basim with these complexities in mind?
Beaulieu:With the writing, we started from Valhalla as you know, andBasim from Valhalla is very different from the Basim in Mirage. I keep saying that, but it’s true. The little clues we had about Basim was that he’s pretty quiet; he didn’t say much in Valhalla. We had this blank page we wanted to fill in Mirage, telling the backstory and how everything happened. It quickly led us to think about it as a tragedy.
It’s not a funny story, that’s for sure, and he is led slowly toward his destiny. The thing that we know from Valhalla, it’s not very positive. So writing Basim was a lot about building the character’s flows, his fears, what inspires him, and everything. Then, building on that and trying to intertwine his life as a Hidden One and his life as a person who has very, very bad issues. You know, intertwining this version of Basim to the Basim from Valhalla. It’s a story of a very complex and tragic character, very Shakespearean.
Majdoub:As far as the approach for performance, early on, it was a lot of conversations with Sara and the team. I’ve always been a big fan of Assassin’s Creed, and I’ve always been pulled into the story of theparticular assassin of whichever game you’re playing. What was intriguing about Basim is that, if you’ve played Valhalla, you know a bit about his later life. When they told me we were doing Basim and we were going to learn about his earlier life, it was really, really intriguing.
For me, it was a goal as a performer and someone who loves stories to make something different. How do we show the arc of someone who starts at point A and gets to point B, knowing what we know about Valhalla? What’s beautiful, too, is that if you haven’t playedValhalla or know about Basim’s story,it still works. If you’ve never played Assassin’s Creed, it still works as a standalone story. For me, it was about bringing dimension to Basim, and again, tragedy is probably quite the accurate word.
I wanted to bring this lightness to him because, you know, he starts off as a street thief and his goal is to become a Hidden One. He wants a better life and a better life for his loved ones. That’s his motivation; he just wants to do better and knows he’s meant for more. For me, like a lot of us, I think struggling and trying to figure out who we are with our identity and our place in the world is a big thing. And Basim’s story is exactly that.
Beaulieu: It’s a game about identity. That was one of the big pillars of the game and the story itself.
Majdoub: Yeah, it was really cool to be brought on board with this.
Beaulieu: Yeah, and just now, you said something important: bringing a light into Basim’s character. Because of Valhalla, a lot of players have said Basim is the bad guy, and he’s the one I don’t want to play because he’s bad. He’s not a good guy.
Bringing this lightness into the character, at the very beginning of the game, was a challenge, but I think we managed to do it. He’s a good character, he’s complex, but he’s a good one.
Q: Yeah, there are basically two different versions of Basim, the one we get to meet in Mirage and the one we saw in Valhalla. What was it like working backward? Because for most Assassin’s Creed games, you know, time usually moves forward in terms of character development.
Majdoub: I don’t know about you, Sarah, but for me, it was something as an actor where we didn’t have to be tied into who Basim is in Valhalla.
Beaulieu: Exactly.
Majdoub: That was very freeing. It was more about the story of telling, ‘Okay, how does he become the beginning of this vessel?’ Because there’s still a lot of time that goes on between Mirage and Valhalla to inform him. I think that was the key, there being quite a bit of freedom here. That was really cool for me. I didn’t have to be definitely pulled into exactly how he talks, how he moves, or where his register sits because he’s a different person.
Beaulieu: One thing that was very important in Basim’s writing was the last scene in Mirage, which was one of the first ones I wrote. It helped because it settled what I wanted the character to become at the end of the game. It helped us be on the right track from the very beginning and ensure the character would evolve in the same direction, always toward that scene.
We wanted to tell another story. We didn’t forget about the Basim from Valhalla, but we kept him in a corner. That’s not all Basim is, you know?
Majdoub: Yeah, we get to dowhat Basim becomes, I think that’s really freeing. We can do the beginnings and show the light before the dark.
Beaulieu: Yeah, that’s a good way to word it.
Q: True, since Basim is technically two different characters in a way. Another important aspect of Basim that you touched on is there’s a lot of fear in him and the Djinni scene I saw seems like something right out of a horror game. How does channeling that inner fear impact everything about Basim?
Majdoub:I think it’s just an extra layer that you add to a character. For me as an actor, I just love playing characters that have so much dimension because it just gives you so much more to chew on. I think that that fear really helped inform him. He is constantly in this push and pull between trying to live his life free of fear and putting this smile on his face, knowing full well that he is tormented by his nightmares.
I think there’s kind of this element of parallel for me too. Like, is this some kind of commentary for him on, ‘Oh, does he have anything going on with mental health?’ Is he suffering from anxiety?
We’re talking about this more and more in our lives. I found it really cool that we hit on it in Mirage, taking place in ninth-century Baghdad, in this male character who is willing to talk about it as well, about his fears and everything. He’s scared that he’ll be judged, he doesn’t know what it means, and he’s just trying to do what we all do and do his best with it.
Beaulieu: He’s trying to do his best, yeah. Roshan is not easy to satisfy, he has his duties, and so on.
Majdoub: YeahRoshan is like a classic parentwho’s just like get over it, shove it down, don’t talk about your emotions.
Beaulieu: Ever.
Majdoub:That’s how you deal, yeah.
Beaulieu: The way we framed it with the narrative, in ninth-century Baghdad and his specific visions, comes from a very personal experience, which is sleep paralysis. When you have to deal with trauma, fears in general but trauma especially, how does your body react to that, and how can we show that on screen in an effective way? Having a character saying ‘I’m afraid’ is not very effective, right? You have to show these things, and these very specific moments of encountering the Djinni, but not being able to do anything except experience the fear, not being able to move to where we want, is something that was pretty obvious to me right away. We could use sleep paralysis with what we did. So yeah, it’s a game about trauma.
Majdoub: Yeah. I mean, it is definitely a game about trauma.
Q: I didn’t even make that mental health connection, I should have. Basim’s pretty open about it too, isn’t he? We tell a lot of people not to talk about it, but Basim was just like, yeah, another bad dream.
Majdoub:Yeah, yeah. I mean, even for me, I mean, I struggle with anxiety. I’m still working on constantly figuring out who I am, like where’s my place in the world? And it’s incredible to play a character that’s kind of parallel with that, trying to find his place.
Even with the sleep paralysis, it’s using what you know and it makes stories even better and makes. The great thing about video games is that you, as a player, get to be pulled into that and kind of experience it for yourself through that avatar.
Beaulieu: Yeah, and the idea was really to as much as possible, connect the player to Basim in many ways. We all have fears, and we all have trauma. We all have things to deal with, and you were talking about identity, which is huge. I really hope that players will connect with Basim in that way because that’s how he was built, written, and performed.
Majdoub: That was a thing for me too. My hope as an actor is that people always connect with the performance. Whether they hate the character or love the character, you know you’ve done a good job. For me, it was always like I just want them to be pulled in because I love this character, and I love whatUbisoftdid with him. It’s really cool.
Beaulieu: We love what you did with him.
Q: Changing gears a little bit, what would you say was the most important thing to Basim in life before joining the Hidden Ones?
Beaulieu: Joiningthe Hidden Ones[laughs].
Majdoub: I think it’s the pursuit of a better life for him and his loved ones.
Beaulieu:Exactly, yes. That would be a good way to put it, yeah.
Majdoub: I think that’s a solid throughline in Mirage. What is he willing to do to have a better life for himself and his loved ones?
Beaulieu:Seeking justice too. That’s something very much assassin, but seeking justice and trying to do good things with his life.
Majdoub:I think he’s a weirdly noble character, trying to seek like the noble within himself.
Beaulieu: Yes, but with a lot of weaknesses - he’s working on it.
Majdoub: I think that’s great though. You don’t want a character who is just like, ‘I’m Noble!’
You’ve got to have a little bit of that light in the dark, right?
Majdoub: The light in the dark, yes. And that works for theAssassins' codeas well.
Beaulieu: Yeah, it does. That’s a good line. You have to keep it.
Q: Yeah, I can see that sort of nobility in him, the way he interacts with the locals, children, and stuff. I don’t want to call them minor details, but they help him stand out. I don’t think the Valhalla version of Basim would be chatting with children all nicely. So what do those minor details, that nobility, bring to his character?
Beaulieu: Without spoiling anything in terms of narrative, I will say your experience with the children at the beginning and everything is there for a reason.
Building this relationship between Basim, the kids, and the community, you know, he’s, he’s a street thief, but obviously, he’s not alone. There’s a bunch of people around, and you’ve met a couple of characters already. In every character building, you use the other characters to build the character himself or herself. In the case of Basim, he’s surrounded by very different characters starting from the street thieves, the kids, and then a character called Dervis who is leading the kids and everything. Basim is built by these people at the beginning of the game, and things will evolve.
Majdoub: I found it was really, really cool to see that because my introduction to Basim ends up being this, ‘Oh, okay. He’s part of a foster family.’ You know, like the group of thieves is this foster family. He’s even like this big brother to these younger kids. And immediately, I was like, ‘Okay, I know who this guy is.’
He’s someone who is battling the selfish wants that he has versus the selfless needs of others. Yes. He’s trying to find that balance of like, what am I meant for? But also what are my needs in order to help the kids, to help my friends, to help myself?
Beaulieu: It’s the ‘what do I want versus what do I need?’
Majdoub: I think it informs the character so much. You get to see he is quite selfless, even though he might be misaligned or whatever he is. A lot of his decisions come from selflessness.
Beaulieu:Yes, even though he’s a little bit cocky at the beginning of the game.
Majdoub: It’s a cover, you know? He’s a young kid, he’s like ‘I got it. I got it.’ I know what I’m doing.
Beaulieu: He’s a bit cheeky like that, yeah.
Majdoub: I thought I knew everything when I was in my 20s, and now I’m like, ‘Oh, I know nothing.’
Q: That cockiness could be a cover for his mental health and his anxiety too, right?
Beaulieu: Yeah, absolutely. He’s always torn between what he has to do as a Hidden One, meaning pursuing justice and taking care of the people and everything, and what he wants to do and what he needs, which is understanding who he is and what’s happening to him. It’s been there for a long time, so he has to deal with it. And it becomes a question of choices: what do you do? Do you do that for yourself, for others?
Can you even do things for others if you don’t know how to care about yourself?
Majdoub: It’s funny you say that. I had to learn that lesson in my life too, of like you can only care so much for others if you’re treating yourself badly and not taking care of your needs and requirements. The more you learn about yourself and the more self-care you take, the actual genuine care of others you can take.
Yeah, I think that’s also his kind of struggle is what’s the priority here? Do I do what I need to do for myself? Or do I do what is needed of me by others?
Beaulieu: Exactly, yeah. That’s supported in the game by Roshan and Nehal, Basim’s best friend. And she has a totally different view of what Basim should do, and Roshan is more about ‘That’s the Hidden Ones.’ That’s what we do, we - not I - ever. Just forget about yourself; it’s not about you. Nehal, on the other hand, is more about ‘don’t trust anyone but yourself,’ and that’s two different views influencing Basim and building his character. He’s conflicted, and people don’t help.
Majdoub:Ain’t that the truth [laughs].
Q: Through AC Mirage, Basim develops a lot of strong relationships with locals, the Hidden Ones, obviously there’s Roshan. I thought his relationship with Nur was pretty quickly endearing too. Could you speak a little about Basim’s relationships with the Hidden Ones and other characters?
Beaulieu:Yeah, there’s a lot of them. Nehal, Nur is one, and Roshan is very much at the center of it all. There are also the people you come to see in the Hidden One Bureaus. One of our goals during AC Mirage was for Basim to encounter alot of Hidden Ones, within Alamut mostly, but also the Bureaus in Baghdad. They all show a different face of the Hidden Ones, and they all have their own character.
You also have Fuladh, and he’s seen in one of the trailers. You can hear him and see how he behaves. We have a lot of wise people inside the Hidden Ones, but also cheeky, proud Hidden Ones. We tried to build Basim’s character along them, but I would say he’s more of a loner. Even though he’s in the Hidden Ones, players will feel that especially in Alamut, he’s still pretty quiet and confesses a lot to Roshan, but not the others.
That’s how we built the Hidden Ones alongside Basim, to show how lonely he is inside a community.
Majdoub:I think it’s like with any dynamic. Whether you’re looking at like a family dynamic or friend dynamic, you always have the ones that you look up to for guidance, you have the ones that you know know more than you, but there’s like an animosity. You just don’t want to accept the fact that they know better than you do. You’ve got the younger ones that are coming up with you, and there’s an element of camaraderie, but also competitiveness.
I think it’s all there within the Hidden Ones and the characters that we meet. It’s interesting that you talk about Basim being a loner, a lone wolf, but also in a sense, he tries to fit in.
Beaulieu:Exactly.
Majdoub: Again, it’s that question of where’s my place? I think it’s also the struggle of being introverted and trying to be extroverted, the balance of that.
[END]
Assassin’s Creed Miragereleases October 5 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. An iPhone 15 Pro port is slated for early 2024.
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