Aya of Alexandria

an essay by Mademoiselle Bellec
Twitter: @MlleBellec

 

Heritage

Half-Greek and half-Egyptian, Aya was born in Alexandria (ca. 88 BCE). At an early age, her parents sent her to Siwa to live with her aunt Herit. For Aya, her aunt Herit was the most important person in her life. She loved her from the very bottom of her heart and respected her like nobody else. Herit was her family and the person who raised her while her parents stayed in Alexandria being scholars.

 

Youth in Siwa

 

Aya grew close to the three years younger Bayek and they eventually became a couple. She was also close friends with Hepzefa.
She loved her aunt's friend and neighbour Nefru like she was family.

Aya idolized her parents which were scholars in Alexandria and so it has always been her dream to study at the great Library of Alexandria one day. She embraced the new way of living while Bayek's family, especially his father Sabu, was holding onto the old way of living. That's why Bayek's father doesn't approved their relationship, while his mother Ahmose actually liked Aya.

Aya loved to learn new things. And while Bayek was trained by Kensa in fighting and surviving, he in return practised with Aya. This is how they spent their youth.

 

 

Leaving Siwa

 

 

In 70 BCE, Bayek decided to leave Siwa to find and warn his father who was hunted by assassins. Bayek left secretly without saying goodbye to Aya. Although he admitted that it was a big mistake to go withought telling her, he was too scared to look her in the eyes and say goodbye.

Bayek arrived in Zawty, met the young boy Tuta and was confronted with his violent and alcoholic father Paneb. Bayek was nearly strangled to death by Paneb. Just in time, Aya who followed him, knocked Paneb down and the three could escape, heading towards Thebes.

Arriving in Thebes, Aya and Bayek lived with Tuta's mother Imi and his little sister Kiya for quite a long time. Later, Tuta got killed by his own father and for the first time, 18 years old Aya had witnessed the grief of a mother who lost her child. Aya and Bayek wanted to stay and support Imi a little longer but Imi told Aya, that she and Bayek must move on as they have a mission to complete and it would have been Tuta's will that both of them would carry on. This marks an very important moment to understand Aya's character later, when she loses her own child.

 

 

14 years of Exile

 

Many events later, Bayek, his father Sabu and Aya had to flee and live in exile. They were hunted by the assassin Bion who was sent by Raia, a member of the Order of the Ancients. Although the novel doesn't state how many years they lived in exile, it's likely that it has to be around 14 years (they left Siwa in 70 BCE and Khemu was born in 56 BCE).

During this time, Bayek was trained by his father to become a Medjay and he in return was practising with Aya. It was always very important to Bayek to gain the attention and respect of his father - he was his idol, he wanted to be just like him. During their years in exile, Bayek enjoyed to spend time with his father so much, that he lost sight of his relationship with Aya. For him, it was always taken for granted that they love each other, that she stays by his side, even in exile and that she is fine with their current life. In 56 BCE he proposed to her but she refused to be his wife - not under this circumstances. During these 14 years, Aya felt lonely and out of place. She knew that Sabu doens't respect her because of her heritage, she was embracing the new way of living while the Medjay were continuing the old way of living. Aya felt like a refugee, always on the run. There was no time and no place for dreams and a normal life, they could have been killed anytime by the assassin Bion. She was missing her aunt so much and she felt like loosing Bayek's love. She was afraid of the day when he would be Medjay and would leave Aya home alone, not knowing when he would return, just like Bayek's father did with his wife Ahmose.

After she refused Bayeks proposal, she explained her feelings to him and also apologized for not talking to him earlier about this. While she felt so lonely, she was also very happy for Bayek to finally get the love and the attention of his father. She knew that this was everything he has ever wished for and it was so hard for him to get. She doesn't wanted to stand between Bayek and his father Sabu.

Bayek and Aya made up but she decided then to head back to Siwa as she got the information that her aunt Herit is sick. As Herit is the person she holds dearest to her heart, she had to return, no matter what.

On her way back to Siwa, she was thinking about Bayek all the time. It hurt her to leave his side but she had no choice.

 

 

Marriage

 

 

In 56 BCE Bayek returned to Siwa and eventually married Aya. She gave birth to their son Khemu in the same year. She renounced her dream to be a scholar in Alexandria and instead became a mother and wife. She also accepted that her husband became a Medjay. A few months later, Bayek was travelling to Alexandria to track down Raia, a member of the Order of the Ancients. Bayek promised to her that next time, they will travel to Alexandria together, to visit her parents and introduce her little family to them.

 

 

Losing her child

 

 

In 49 BCE Aya's and Bayek's son got killed by the Order of the Ancients. They burried Khemu at the Mountain of the Dead. Bayek felt guilty for his death and full of rage, he started his quest of vengeance and left Siwa to hunt down the men who killed his son. Aya on the other hand wasn't able to cope with her loss and his husband's thirst for revenge so she decided to return to Alexandria rather than to deal all alone with Khemu's death. She joined her cousin Phanos in the great Library of Alexandria and started her studies. She was learning about philosophy, ancient history, mathematics and she was also studying various languages. Aya's brilliant mind attracted the attention of Appolodorus. He introduced her to Cleopatra and Aya became close friends with her.

Aya was plotting the assassination of those who worked for pharaoh Ptolemy XIII as she thought he was responsible for Khemu's death. In 48 BCE, Aya assassinated Actaeon and Ktesos - members of the Order of the Ancients. Her action caught the attention of the Phylakitai Gennadios and she later realized that reckless actions do not solve her problems. 

 

 

Trusting Cleopatra

 

 

ya believed Cleopatra to be the key to free Egypt of oppression and to strike down the Order of the Ancients, her son's murderer. She considered Cleopatra both friend and an ally. While Bayek's goal was always to kill the murderer of his son, Aya, from the very beginning, pledged herself to a bigger course though.

 

"I will never stop mourning what we have lost. Never. But I must make a world that is larger than our griefs, so that no mother ever again lives what I have lived." - Aya to Bayek in The Lizard's Mask

 

While I totally agree that trusting Cleopatra blindly was a mistake, it makes her human. No character can be flawless from the very beginning. To become Amunet she had to take this journey where she made mistakes.

 

 

Aya and Bayek

 

 

 

 

But it's not only her. People easily forget that it was Bayek who has left Aya - twice.
First, when he decided to leave Siwa without any word to search for his father Sabu. Second, 23 years later when he left Siwa again, thirsty for blood and vengeance.

Bayek's way to deal with the loss of his son was pure anger. Aya's way to deal with her loss was engaging herself into something bigger. She decided to fight not only to kill her son's murderer but also for the sake of every mother in Egypt.

While Aya always respected Bayek's decisions, it was Bayek who always tried to convince Aya otherwise and never showed understanding towards her decisions. If you carefully pay attention, developing The Hidden Ones is the very first thing she was doing on her own. Neither Bayek nor Cleopatra told her to do so. This is the first time she wasn't acting for somebody else but for herself.

I want to be honest with you: I like Bayek. He is an amazing character. But like I said, a character cannot be perfect from the very beginning. When I read the novel, I realized Bayek was an selfish asshole. Honestly, that is what I thought when I read how he treated Aya. But this only makes his character authentic because he evolved to such a strong person later, so I don't blame him. This is what makes him interesting, it's a character developement and it's important. It makes him human.

The same goes for Aya. People often find her cold and they reduce her to her blind trust in Cleopatra. Well, I cannot blame them for not buying the novel or the comic, but it's a shame though. I think it was wrong from Ubisoft for handeling her character so poorly in the game. If you only play the game, you will never understand who Aya really is.

 

People say that it was Aya who broke up with Bayek and hate her for breaking his heart, but that's not true. They both decided to end their relationship. When Aya said, that everything has told them their love is impossible, she's right. Reading the novel will make you fully understand that it's absolutely true. Bayek and Aya, from the very beginning, wanted different things. As teenagers, Bayek wanted to become the Medjay of Siwa and continuing the old way of living. Aya instead wanted to embrace the new way of living and study in Alexandria. They managed to live a life together though. In 48 BCE, Bayek wanted to continue the fight in Egypt, while Aya has realized that the Order is not an Egyptian problem only, that the roots of the problems are in Rome and she travels there.

They love each other. It's love, no one can deny this fact. But they have reached the point where they, due their duty, grew appart, so they decided to sacrifice their personal lives for the greater good.

One thing, that you realize only when you pay attention to the little details is that Aya was asking Bayek several times what he really wants to stand for. There have been three situations:

1) In 70 BCE, when Aya and Bayek were teenagers, Aya was asking him if he really wants be the next protector of Siwa. During this time, Bayek was not sure himself if he really wanted to be the protector or if he had to do this job because of his bloodline. Bayek gave no honest reply.

2) In 48 BCE, during the Way of the Gabiniani mission, Bayek and Aya had a conversation:

 

Aya: We must serve greatness. What greatness do we serve now?
Bayek: We are parents.
Aya: We were parents.
I love you, Bayek of Siwa. But what are you of now?

Bayek gave no answer.

 

 

3) And the last time was during the converstation when they broke up:

 

 

 

Bayek finally could give her the answer. He wants to stand for a new creed, something bigger, a new beginning. All the time, Aya seem to knew that Bayek hasn't found what he actually was looking for because he never could reply when she was asking him this question. Now he finally does and dropped his son's eagle necklace into the sand, stating that he's not a husband, not a father and not a Medjay anymore. To never forget how all of this has started, Aya made the eagle's skull the Hidden Ones insignia.

 

 

Who she really is

 

And this gesture is probably the one who describes Aya the best.

She cares.

The game might portrait her as cold, that's wrong, cause she cares. She is not selfish, she is just not the type of a person who trumpet her feelings and thoughts around, but for god's sake, she cares about people.

 

For instance, when Tahira died in The Hidden Ones DLC, Kashta became furious and announced to kill every Roman. As she very well remembered what this thirst for vengeance caused to Bayek 9 years earlier, Aya prevented him from going down the same path.

 

 

Her greatest moment, which prooves that Aya - who is now Amunet - is a compassionate person, took place in 30 BCE:

Cleopatra and Mark Anthony joined forces to battle Octavian for control of Rome, but they ended up retrating to Alexandria. While she has left Egypt 14 years ago, Aya never forgot where she came from and headed back to Egypt when her people really needed her. In August 30 BCE, while Octavian battled the Egyptian forces, Aya, now known as Amunet, inflitrated Cleopatras war chamber.

Amunet:
"Egyptians are dying, fighting a war they cannot win. I have witnessed this before. Witnessed a nation change because leaders misjudged the shifting winds.

Cleopatra, my former friend. Give up this battle. Spare our beloved Egypt further suffering."

 

 

Amunet's appeal swayed Cleopatra. Knowing that Octavian would not stop until she was dead and that if he captured her she would be paraded through the streets as a trophy, shamig Egypt. Cleopatra accepted a vial of poisen from her old friend and agreed to call for the retreat of Egyptian forces and cessation fo hostilities. She agrees to drink the poisen, on one condition: that Amunet take her son Caesation and train him to be a Hidden One, someone who could make a positive difference in the world... but from the shadows instead of with the luxury and pomp that Cleopatra has surrounded herself with.

Amunet took the son of Cleopatra and Caesar who both brought so much suffering into her life, with her and gave him the chance to live. She promised to raise him to be a Hidden One. And instead of just cutting Cleopatra's throat, she gave her the chance to end her life without pain as she would die a horrible death if Octavian would get her. While Aya was furious when Cleopatra betrayed her many years ago, there's no more hatred in Aya because during the years she learnt that hatred only brings suffering.

 

 

When she set sails back to Rome, she remembered Bayek and how she has left Alexandria like this 14 years ago. She doesn't regret that she choose this path. It was her decision, her's alone. And although they do wander on different paths, Aya and Bayek will always have a bond they share, a connection which will remain. Because Aya is as loyal as a mountain.

 

 

 

 

Mademoiselle Bellec

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