Edward Kenway Is A Non-Assassin Protagonist Done Right | An Assassin's Creed Character Study

Assassin's Creed Valhalla had the opportunity to tell an enriching story without needing to play as assassin but severely dropped the ball when the perfect template was already created 8 years prior. Here is what Valhalla should have learned from the character of Edward Kenway
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Time Codes:
0:00 - Before We Begin...
1:04 - The Pitch
3:10 - Who Is Edward Kenway?
4:43 - The Opening Of The Game
8:32 - Valhalla's Poor Integration
10:32 - Edward's Costume/ The Jackdaw
12:59 - Edward's Motivation
14:37 - The Doomed Age Of Piracy
16:39 - Valhalla's Views On The Creed
18:37 - Edward's Breaking Point
21:19 - Eivor's "Character"
22:53 - Edward's Completed Arc
24:16 - ...My Final Word To Ubisoft
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#assassinscreedvalhalla #assassinscreed #blackflag #ezioauditore #edwardkenway #eivor #likeaviking #ac4 #characterstudy #analysis #videoessay #review #wrathofthedruids #darbymcdevitt #holdubisoftaccountable #ubisoft #valhalla #odyssey #ezio #creed #pirates #vikings #netflix

[@fanzy1012]

I actually started to think that ubisoft is da real abstergo Templars using ppl for stories and now they got a wrong Dna

[@anthonybudo1593]

note the triangles, in valhalla they clearly have Masonic (Illuminati) signs built in, there are more such hidden symbols to be found in the older games, it's probably infiltrated like every government, I wouldn't be surprised, the last 2 testified like the one for sell stupid 😉🤫

[@fernosbonos5394]

not a bad distinction

[@thenoteworthy1298]

The best way to keep a secret is to not to. 😏

[@toaster6701]

Alright we must form our own brotherhood To defeat them

[@garethmcguinness377]

In Black Flag, if you read all the stuff available in the modern day section, Ubisoft is canonically partnered with Abstergo to work on "Assassin Games". They even be a subsidiary, I can't remember lmao So uh, do with that what you will

[@rickblaine9670]

Great analysis. The Golden Age of Piracy and Edward were perfect as a setting and as a protagonist, because the “pirate’s creed” is what happens when you take the Assassin’s Creed too literally. Edward takes to the extreme the toxic idea Altair only flirted with in the first game, that the Creed gives you permission to do whatever you want.

[@sonofsueraf]

You made the Jackdaw connection to Edward much stronger with this video. Best Black Flag analysis I've watched.

[@sososnagahae8169]

He didn’t start off as an assassin but definitely developed into a great one

[@IAmKentori]

It's people like this guy who will be rewarded if they keep pushing, this is exemplary work! Keep it up!

[@willismakesmovies]

Thank you so much for the kind words!

[@AxisCorpsRep]

random thought, but the OST for blackflag slaps the hardest in the whole series, only surpassed by the most iconic song; Ezio's Family. but that holds a special case as a whole, blackflag's OST is better

[@metallord6960]

@That clone trooper in the back on the high ground HEAVE A PALL O HEAVE AWAY WAY HEY ROLL AND GO THE ANCHOR'S ON BOARD AND THE CABLE'S ALL STORED TO BE ROLLICKIN RANDY DANDY O!

[@MrKarateHandlesYou]

​@@metallord6960took me a second but I got the tone right.

[@Screwthenewhandlesystem]

How the hell does your channel not have more subscribers. Coming from someone who reads a lot and has watched dozens of hours worth of video essays you and Whitelight are seriously some of the best writers I have had the privilege of coming across. I don’t pass the term lightly, but this channel really is underrated.

[@parsaamini984]

This is how I view AC 4 Edward is a pirate but he also feels like an assassin. Valhalla’s protagonist is not an assassin because he or she doesn’t feel like an assassin. In my opinion AC one to Ac origins are good games but when odyssey and Valhalla came out the games were not about assassins at all.

[@wintertrooper7918]

Odyssey makes sense because it's before the actual formation of a true organized faction that we come to know as assassins (sadly though they failed to actually capitalize on that)

[@parsaamini984]

@@wintertrooper7918 true but still odyssey is my least favorite.

[@QuatarTarandir]

You are totally right. As much as I can see the opinion that AC 4 isn't an Assassin game, at least you can still do Assassin stuff. I've only played Origins so far, but I felt like an Assassin more in Ghost of Tsushima than Origins (which sucks because I liked the story). Also pirates are just cool and Edward's story is great (and I'm not even an Edward fan)

[@omni-orc]

I love unity and its story but i love the story about Arno dealing with loss and learning to accept it with the death of Farnese but even I must say that the brotherhood part of it wasn't the greatest. I think the best game that talks about the morals of the creed is Rouge but black flag is good too. Love all 3 games for there specialties though.

[@JL32506]

I take particular issue with Rogue. It does this great job of giving us different men that fell in with the Templars for different reasons, and it does a great job of humanizing them... that said, Shay becomes so comically evil by the epilogue of the game that it's all basically pointless. Not to mention that the Assassins are all comically evil and stupid.

[@matthewmcshane399]

i loved edward's story in black flag, but i also appreciate what they did and tried to do for eivor's character in valhalla. i view it less as playing as an assassin but more as playing someone in a faction the assassins, templars and the Isu to an extent would try to enter and manipulate for their own ends in this never-ending conflict and appeal to their sense of wanting glory and importance, but eivor ends up rejecting that and simply wanting to help their people survive and live a good life.

[@johnnirmalrajiv6678]

2:00 . Neither did I. I'm like Edward in that Way. :)

[@adamlast7924]

I love this video. Thank you for all of your work. I love these long analyses of the characters and would love a longer in depth look into Edward. He's my favorite assassin and Black Flag is my favorite game. This was phenomenal.

[@alexman378]

The fact Vikings were an earlier form of Scandinavian pirates makes this even more interesting, since Edward was also a pirate. Your idea that the Vikings killed all the Assassins of England which established the Templars better in England is a fascinating concept. Too bad it came from the mind of a 20something KZbinr and not the million dollar brainboxes at Ubisoft.

[@imranmat102]

this channel is great keep it up

[@marcuspoblets]

The more I age, the more I keep realizing that reviews and deep dives won’t really matter unless you experience things 1st hand, as we all have different personalities. Play the game, watch the movie, do the deed, and learn for yourself whether the game or the movie is good for you. Some people will say it’s good while you won’t like it, and some will say something’s bad, while you’ll enjoy it. I loved both AC4 and Valhalla. I just do. That’s it. But this video did explain a lot of good points. I just wanna say that in the end, it falls to what each of us like.

[@davischris]

I completely understand and agree to a degree as to what you're saying but I wouldn't class this as a review. Maybe for the valhalla sections but it's more pf a character study and seems to be more of a video for people who have already played it and want more content about the game or for people intrigued about the games

[@HansYuan]

Everything you said is true, but it's also possible for a review to account for different tastes, e.g. "If you like x kind of games, you will/won't like this..." Logically, we should also discard any opinion that can't be justified by any sort of analysis beyond "well I just like it" because that's not at all helpful to anyone who's on the fence. Additionally, with the advent of increasingly open-world games, players have to sink a big amount of time into games these days before they have an accurate picture of what the game is like, so reviews still save them time. If you have to spend, say, $30 and 10 hours on a game before you realize you either like it or don't like it, that's already a loss if you don't end up liking it, especially if you have limited time to play.

[@bratedzonic]

😊😊

[@D-F-T]

In the Black Flag novel, Edward actually does NOT wear the robes all too often. He wears them for certain activities such as assassinations and infiltration but the bulk of the time he just wears casual clothing. In fact, most of the Assassins canonically just wear regular clothes most of the time.

[@Pakilla64]

Black Flag was the beginning of the end for AC. This is when Ubisoft realized that all you needed to sell any game was to slap the name "Assassin's Creed" on it.

[@metallord6960]

I've finally come up with an interpretation for the "nothing is true, everything is permitted" thing. No single ideology is necessarily true, but all are permitted for people to follow provided they don't put their ideologies before morality and basic human decency.

[@leeroynaggins]

I came to this game series backwards, I think. I’ve just finished AC 3 and Black Flag and I’m now playing Unity. But I started my AC experience with Odyssey and Valhalla, which like the filmmaker says, are kind of devoid of assassins. Odyssey because it takes place before there ever were assassins, and Valhalla takes place in a land the assassins abandoned. One of the most interesting parts of Valhalla for me was finding those abandoned assassins bureaus and reading their letters and memoirs. These games start out in a grounded, historical world but eventually end up in mythical places. And now that I’ve started playing the older games which are focused on the struggle between the Templars and Assassins, I see these other AC games as focused on the Isu as ancient god-like beings similar to the way the Marvel movies portray Asgard as a kind of high tech mythology. Anyway I had such an adventure playing Odyssey and Valhalla. And so far I’m liking Unity a lot more than AC 3 or Black Flag…

[@KicktheSky34]

7:55 I like that you're dressed like Cole McGrath.

[@moonsets-on_you]

All of Edward's growth as a person in Black Flag annoys me bc we never got a sequel with him as a fully-fledged Assassin. "Killing" Woodes Rogers as his first real proper assassination through the Brotherhood was so cool bc it made the constant meaningless killing you did the whole game feel significant. Edward's sequel is technically already mapped out. We know he discovered the Shroud so just make the game about that. Make it his AC Brotherhood in which we get tht profound, wiser Edward and how he rises to tht leadership role the London Brotherhood would inherit. Add Assassin tombs like AC2, Blackbox Assassinations, and a variety of locales. mostly urban ones bc hes no longer a pirate, but he could sail the seas for the pieces of Eden. ubisoft has all the pieces--including for other main characters who's stories arent incomplete but fail to reach their full potential like connor, arno, and bayek.

[@P.Whitestrake]

Shoutout to Matt Ryan. His acting & the way he spoke as Edward Kenway added so much colour to the character.

[@Mikeh2077]

Black Flag broke the formula for Assassins Creed; much like New Vegas did for Fallout. While you aren’t an Assassin at the beginning, the world is still assassins creed with all its elements(parkour, stealth, hidden blade, etc) Like New Vegas, you aren’t a vault dweller, but the fallout is still there from a Classic standpoint. (Choice, consequence, etc.)

[@captainunrelatedpopcornfir4177]

Nice video

[@willismakesmovies]

Thank you! :)

[@sleepyhyrule6894]

If Ubisoft just started a new series with odyssey instead of capitalizing on Assassin's Creed profitability, it would be ok.

[@safi6749]

Odyssey could have been its own game and it would have been way better that way

[@Alexmustdie-zy6kz]

@@safi6749except it wouldn’t have worked like that as Oddessy gives us more lore about the Assassins Order since Kassandra is the grandmother of Aya one of the founders of the hidden ones that would become the assassins order same with Evior being the reason the Assassins got a foothold in England again after it being taken over by the Templar’s for so long

[@safi6749]

@@Alexmustdie-zy6kz idk all this stuff still fails to justify their presence apart from maybe one or two things

[@JL32506]

@@Alexmustdie-zy6kz That would have been a funny easter egg, but it's just not relevant to the philosophical themes and heart of the AC games that came before it.

[@nickolaskech5846]

I love when he say "todah"

[@HushtheMag]

Odyssey was a great game. Valhalla was brilliant too! I spent over 200 hours just immersing myself in that beautiful game, I love the levelling up and grinding aspects of the new games. Imagine crying over a game because it has too much content lol. I have played all the Ass Creed games (and read all the books) practically when they first game out, and though I always preferred the old style of gameplay and the stories, I welcome the new RPG style, I feel it breathes new life into the games. The fans are never happy, if they kept the same gameplay formula in Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla Then the fans would cry because "Hurr durr it's the same game!" but Ubisoft decided to change it up a bit and now they're like "Hurr durr this isn't Assassin's creed!"

[@muddy_redneck4483]

block flog was pretty good

[@khitai8227]

Having to constantly log in to Ubisoft connect to play a fakking single player game is annoying AF. And the Authenticator issues with Origins fk it

[@nathanielh21]

I actually have to agree on the “Valhalla did the integration incorrectly” bit. A grievance I have with that particular angle for Valhalla and Odyssey is that they seemed to direct their focus more towards the mysteries surrounding the Isu and their legacy than actually giving them real involvement with the Assassins and/or Hidden Ones. As a standalone concept it’s not the worst thing, but their method of execution just felt too centered on that one particular aspect of this universe to really feel properly connected to Assassin’s Creed

[@komlat253]

The pirate thing kinda kinda carries this hard . Edward was too mean and gray for me. Too selfish.

[@ricardomiles2957]

17:53 I don't think that's really a new message, i'm fairly sure that every AC game, with AC2 being somwhat the kindest at it since the focus was on Ezio, portrays the Assassin's Brotherhood as being ineficient on their operations or turned in to a blind Cult until the protagonist comes to a realization at end of his journey. And in fact despite leading to the decision of letting Rodrigo Borgia live, Ezio understood that simply offing Templars without helping the people achieves nothing.

[@thegoldenwolf9008]

It seems as though Ubisoft is now recognizing their mistakes from the past couple games and are going back to the good old days with mirage

[@GILGAMASK5677]

The RPG trilogy & Mirage hold the Myths of the Assassin's Creed timeline, Altair, Ezio & Edward's story the legends of the times be it Crusade, Renaissance, Caribbean The China, India and Russia anthology games holds secrets and views of certain times, Adéwale, Connor, Avéline, Arno, & the Frye Twins their respective revolutions and cause to freedom And it was up to Desmond, Initiates & Layla to pick up the pieces and continue the fight in the modern day 💪🏽

[@His_Name_Was_King]

The fan favorite....

[@aligergeri5686]

DUDE its 2022

[@badreedinedjellali1328]

Honestly I think Edward is more of an alley to the assassin's and not really an assassin's like ivor Is more of an alley

[@TheKuno]

#holdubisoftaccountable

[@joselovos6007]

This was a great game, but not a fan of the ending

[@symonpalmer20]

Hear, hear, Black Flag is an exceptional, excellent fourth Assassin's Creed, I enjoyed Unity, Rogue and Syndicate on the back of Black Flag, because I was looking for more of what Black Flag gave, Unity gave a beautiful, city crammed full of life, with a love affair at it's heart. Rogue gave a 'flipside' story which nodded at Black Flag. Syndicate, with it's two character storyline based on the twins wanting power, wealth and fame (be that infamy first). However while I enjoyed playing them, it was Black Flag I returned to after every other I played, and I returned to Black Flag, to live through Edward's story, over and again. Origins and Odyssey are ACs I am still trying to enjoy / understand, but Valhalla. Nope, not an Assassin's Creed, a game of viking life and legend, OK I can see that. But an Assassin's Creed game. NOPE. DEFINITELY. NOT. Ubisoft has some work to do, not least to thank the original games for what they are and thereby the AC players for giving them the loyalty and wealth to grow to be the gaunt Ubisoft is, problem with being a gaunt is, your head is so far up in the clouds you can't see what player dreams you are stepping on. Right, off ma soapbox. Peaceout.

[@clairvoyantcrypto4577]

True Odysee story took decades, you gotta pay to play smh

[@daniel8181]

Your assumption about valhalla actually sounds interesting, it would never happen.

[@giorgiociaravolol1998]

All I hear is Templar propaganda, you tyrant Jokes apart, it's true that Edward's story is basically a spinoff to the main story of assassins VS templars, the guy just wanted money and got lost in the process. But I'm confused. Despite the character being well designed, for me Black Flag is on the same level of the new trilogy origins/odyssey/Valhalla. It's a spin off with some elements of assassins, nothing more or less. Plus the guy in the animus is absolutely anonymous, he's just there to make a game and that's about it. Nothing in behind. Meanwhile Desmond was really present. Based on this considerations, I'll give the story a 6. I'd liked more the story of odyssey that included a cult that is a previous version of the templars. Plus YOU make the choices, no one else. You're part of the game, not a spectator.

[@ninetaledgundamx]

meh, people complain if they keep the formula the same. Others complain when they changed it. I'm happy they did. Edward Kenway was a good character but Rouge and Unity were meh. I didn't even remember their names and I 100% them. Syndicate was fine, the twins had good personalities but dealing with the Templar and Assassins was becoming tiring. they're both awful groups. I like Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla. While yes the main characters are lacking, except maybe Bayek. I think the game has a fun enough story plus a great world and mythos to keep it afloat. Yes, the game has Assassins creed in the title but doesn't really deal with assassins. So what? lol. Gaming should be something that you want to do and enjoy. If you don't enjoy the newer ones, that's fine. but as an open world RPG, the games are fun. That's how I play them. as an open world RPG's

[@willismakesmovies]

Some great points! If you play the newer games for their gameplay then your experience will undoubtedly be better and it’s great to see people still enjoying the franchise

[@ninetaledgundamx]

@@willismakesmovies Whelp. Ubisoft just announced Assassin's creed infinity. So maybe this is where my enjoyment of the franchise ends. are you planning on doing making a video of what you specifically dislike about the newer assassins creed games?

[@willismakesmovies]

@@ninetaledgundamx at the minute i think i’m happy leaving assassins creed for a while, i’ll watch how infinity looks from the sidelines and maybe once that’s came out i’ll do a video on the newer games but i’m not really a fan of just spewing out negative points so i’d like to give them another chance in a few years prehaps

[@ninetaledgundamx]

@@willismakesmovies fair enough. Looking forward to whatever you drop. Thank for the hard work.

[@cactusjack4206]

If it doesn't deal with Assassin's creed then they can make a different game? They didn't have to milk and ruin the Assassin's creed franchise, Valhalla would've made a great game if it was just called Valhalla. If I buy an Assassin's creed game I want it to be about the creed, instead they milk it.

[@donrog5035]

Well well welll, you really should have played the game if you wanted to make this comparison because clearly you understood nothing of Eivor as a character. A game is made to be played , you cant analyze a game or a game character in just watching cutscenes on KZbin. That doesn’t work like that. The immersion, the investment in the game won’t be the same. So clearly you begin with a perspective way too biased. If you played the game you would know that the game is very focused on Eivor as a character, you will know what his character arc is about. And because his character arc isn’t about becoming an assassin he is failed as a character ? wtf Beside the Isu and the first civilization is an important part of the lore so the fact that Valhalla explore this part of the lore instead of just another conflict between assassin vs templars is great for me. This game developed the AC lore more than any other AC since AC III. I get that you don’t want to play the new game but before doing this kind of videos, the bare minimum is to play those games. Because now , as someone who played this game(Valhalla), I can easily see that you understood nothing. Whether Edward is a better character than Eivor is up to debate but in no case Eivor is a bad character/protagonist. He is a great character and easily in my top 5 or 3.

[@davischris]

I mean.... gameplay is cool n all but when you watch videos and walk throughs an explanations of the story (as he did and as that is what the video is about, story not gameplay) playing it means nothing from a story standpoint

[@donrog5035]

@@davischris There are clearly a difference between watching a gameplay from a game and playing a game. A game is made to be played not to be watched. The connection you have with the game won’t be the same if you don’t play it. It’s basic knowledge at this point. So of course playing the game matter the most. Beside his explanation of the story of Valhalla is just wrong. He would have known it if he had played the game.

[@davischris]

@@donrog5035 or can be argued the over valuing of said gameplay is covering up from the lack of story or a story that is just not as good as you'd want it to be

[@donrog5035]

@@davischris Well If you played the game and you didn’t like it , it’s fair , the game wasn’t for you. But anyway, it doesn’t change the fact that in order to talk about a game you have to play it.

[@nekoluxuria7721]

@@donrog5035 you don't have to play the game itself to criticize the story dude.

[@bigoredneck1993]

I disagree with you on valhalla you didn't play the game all the way through to understand the story

[@lmaook14]

Valhalla is much better than Odyssey

[@JamesSmith-ny2gb]

Hard to say

[@komlat253]

Wow haha