Bayek of Siwa
Bayek is a fictional character in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed video game franchise. He serves as the protagonist of the 2017 title Assassin's Creed Origins, in which he is portrayed by British actor Abubakar Salim through performance capture, though his first appearance was in the tie-in novel Assassin's Creed: Origins – Desert Oath, which further explores his backstory. The character has also made minor appearances or been referenced in subsequent games and spin-off media of the franchise.
Within the series' alternate historical setting, Bayek lived during the final years of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, shortly before it was annexed by the Roman Empire as the Province of Egypt. Born and raised in the remote settlement of the Siwa Oasis, he dedicates his life to ensuring the security and welfare of the Egyptian people as the last of the Medjay, a title he inherited from his father. In Origins, Bayek fights against the imperialist incursion of Roman troops into Egypt as his tragic past of conspiracy, loss, and death is gradually revealed. Alongside his wife Aya, he is the co-founder of the Hidden Ones, the precursor organization to the series' fictional Assassin Brotherhood, which is inspired by the real-life Order of Assassins. As leader of the Hidden Ones, he sometimes used the alias "Amun" when signing off on letters of correspondence.
Bayek's character has been received positively by critics and fans of the Assassin's Creed series, and he is regarded as one of the franchise's best and most popular protagonists. As with the series' other protagonists, Ubisoft has released various merchandise promoting the character.
Creation and development
The character's name Bayek is a play on the Egyptian hieroglyphic word for falcon or vulture, in line with a longstanding tradition of naming protagonist characters in the series after birds of prey. Bayek shares a symbiotic relationship with his eagle, Senu, who aids him in reconnaissance. Senu is considered to be the living precursor to the series’ Eagle Vision, and can be upgraded to distract and attack enemies. For the majority of the game, Bayek is not an Assassin but a Medjay, a well-known and respected man in ancient Egyptian society, and as such there is less emphasis on him to lurk in the shadows or blend in with crowds compared to previous Assassin's Creed protagonists. As the player character, Bayek also serves as a lens through which players could understand the importance of religion and ritual daily life in ancient Egypt, and the larger societal issues at play in Ptolemaic Egypt such as class conflict between ethnic Greeks and native Egyptians. Bayek's narrative journey also reveals the origins of staple traditions in the series, like the feather ritual, the cut finger, and the leap of faith.Jean Guesdon, the Creative Director for Origins, noted that a holistic approach is essential in order to create an authentic in-game world, and remarked that "small details help make it feel real". This meant that every team involved in the development of Origins, including but not limited to audio, animation, narrative, level design teams, had to learn as much as possible about the history of ancient Egypt, which informs their approach in integrating the culture into more than just the environment. One of the ways this is accomplished is through the quest system for Origins, which allows players to learn more about ancient Egyptian civilization through intimate moments with other characters. For example, the "Bayek's Promise" quest involving finding twelve different stone circles throughout the in-game world. Locating each circle triggers a flashback conversation between Bayek and his son Khemu while the two stargaze. These conversations approach topics like love, family, and loss, with each tying to a specific Egyptian deity represented in a constellation and provides insight into the family's culture and religious beliefs. According to Guesdon, the purpose of presenting these side quests and complex non-player characters with their own personal stories is about reinforcing the connection between the player and ancient Egypt, and that by emphasizing on personal storytelling, the writing team built their interpretation of ancient Egyptian culture into the foundation of nearly every quest in Origins.
While Bayek's story arc is filled with themes of revenge, political turmoil, and civil war, the developers made it a point to ensure that players do not lose sight of his core personality. Bayek is described as more mature and stoic in nature compared to previous protagonists, but is also characterized as an intense individual. He is also depicted as playful and possesses a loving nature, with a particular fondness for children and cats and readily shows his tender side during these interactions, even as he carries his grief of losing his son with him.
In July 2020, a report by Jason Schreier from Bloomberg claimed that Bayek was originally meant to be incapacitated or killed off early in the story, and the game's narrative would continue with Aya as the player character. Senior game writer Jana Sloan van Geest responded to fan comments about the report and explained that while she loved Bayek as a character, she admitted that Aya's personality is "underdeveloped", and confirmed Bloomberg's story about the character's role being reduced over the course of development.
Portrayal
Bayek was British actor Abubakar Salim's first major acting role. The role of Bayek was originally advertised as an animated TV series that involved motion capture. Salim recalled that when he reached the audition room, he was asked to read a completely different character, which lasted two rounds, before being informed that the role he auditioned for was in fact the protagonist of the next Assassin's Creed video game. A self-confessed fan of the video game series, Salim initially reacted with shock, as well as elation at the realization that he would follow iconic series characters Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad and Ezio Auditore da Firenze. On developing a voice for Bayek, Salim said that it was a collaborative creative process with the developers, and they worked a lot on building the in-universe world and defined the rules as they went along. He noted that while there are no recordings which show how an ancient Egyptian accent would really sound like, it was important that they could develop, with assistance from multiple experts on ancient Egyptian culture, an accent that was recognizable but not too similar to the modern Egyptian accent. Salim recalled that the script for Origins contained many phrases and slang from the developer's idea of the historic Egyptian language to make dialogue a little more colourful, and that he was particularly fond of the Egyptian swear words.To perform his role, Salim wears a lycra suit and a large helmet, with an attached camera directed towards his face. He noted that the motion capture process would take place in one space without transitioning to another physical set or any interference from lighting issues, and that the camera's precise position is not important as it would be taken care of by staff in the editing room; the focus is on his interactions with the other actor. For performance capture of combat situations, he is given a stick with a ball attached and a dustbin lid to simulate a sword and shield respectively. For Salim, a motion capture performance felt liberating compared to theatre performance in front of a live audience or for film performance where camera positioning is very important. In a later interview, Salim reflected that his work for Origins gave him a better insight into the development process for video games, which eventually inspired him to pursue a career in video game development and establish his own studio, Silver Rain Games.
Appearances
''Assassin's Creed: Origins''
In Assassin's Creed: Origins, the player experiences Bayek's life as part of a simulation played by another in-game protagonist, Layla Hassan, through her Animus device. The game's backstory establishes that Bayek served as the last Medjay of Siwa, acting as a protector for his people, until 49 BCE, when his son Khemu was killed during an altercation with five masked men who sought to open an underground vault in the Temple of Amun. Seeking to avenge his son, Bayek abandoned his Medjay duties and went into a self-imposed exile for a year while hunting down the masked men responsible for Khemu's death. After killing his first two targets in the Bent Pyramid and Siwa, respectively, and acquiring an Apple of Eden from one of them, Bayek travels to Alexandria to reunite with his wife Aya, who reveals that she has also killed two masked men, leaving only one target. Bayek identifies and assassinates him, but is not convinced that all of the masked men are dead.Later, Bayek meets the deposed Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, who confirms that the masked men are members of the Order of Ancients, the same organization that removed her from the throne and seeks to control all of Egypt by using her brother Ptolemy XIII as their puppet. After Cleopatra confirms there are more Order members at large, Bayek tracks them down and eliminates them while Aya convinces Pompey the Great to ally with Cleopatra. However, Pompey is later assassinated by Lucius Septimius, a member of the Order, forcing Bayek and Aya to sneak Cleopatra into the palace to meet Julius Caesar, where she impresses Caesar and secures his support in her civil war against Ptolemy.
During a battle between the two rival pharaohs and their forces, Bayek kills Pothinus, Ptolemy's regent and an Order member, but is stopped from killing Septimius by Caesar. Following Ptolemy's death during the battle, Cleopatra secures the throne as undisputed ruler of Egypt and cuts ties Bayek and Aya, which leads them to realize that Cleopatra and Caesar are now allied with the Order. In response, Bayek gathers his allies to form a secret brotherhood to counter the Order and protect the people of Egypt from the shadows, vowing to fight for justice and freedom instead of revenge.
Bayek and Aya later discover that the Order have stolen both the Apple of Eden and Alexander the Great's Staff of Eden, using them to open the vault in the Temple of Amun and access a map with the locations of more artifacts. Bayek subsequently tracks down Flavius Metellus, the leader of the Order and the man responsible for Khemu's death, to Cyrene, where he kills him and recovers the Apple. Afterwards, he ends his spousal relationship with Aya on amicable terms once they both come to the conclusion that they can never return to their old lives. Instead, they both choose to fully dedicate themselves to their brotherhood, naming it the Hidden Ones, and part ways, with Bayek remaining in Egypt while Aya, now calling herself Amunet, travels to Rome.